I want to read from Luke, something that the Lord is working in me for you.
“Whosoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings, and does them, I will show you to whom he is like; He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that hears and does not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” Luke 6:47-49
Each year, at this time of graduation, I feel the implications of your being scattered. I want to give to you a rather sober line of thought. I cannot help but have the seniors in mind primarily, but I suppose most of us feel the same way.
In a sense, we are houses. These houses of ours, or that which has been wrought within us for these one, two, or three years, will soon be put to a severe test. I would be surprised if some of you have already begin to see the first signs of this.
The foundation on which we have build our spiritual lives is very important. In this parable, the Lord compares two kinds of houses. He does not assume any structural difference, or a difference in design whatsoever. He simply talks about two houses.
These houses were seemingly built alike, and were subjected to the very same tests. Note that what is said of the one that stood, is also said of the other house that fell. As you read the description, the storm that beat against those two houses was identical. The Lord is picturing both houses subjected to the same kind of a test - the winds blew and the waters beat against that house.
I remember a stormy sea down in Valparaiso, Chile, in the South Pacific after a storm. We went down to the shore to watch. The waves came along and banged against the buildings. Some of the water came up in the middle of the road, and shot up like a geyser from the road. Nice buildings, built right up to the shore just crumbled like so many matches from a box. They crumbled as these waves came relentlessly, mercilessly. With a big boom they hit those things, the water splashed in the air. Down they came, but others did not.
I feel very serious this morning, as I have an ache in my heart. Ahead, there will be some mighty big waves and strong winds that will bang away at what we experienced while a student in Bible school. At times, nature is so diverse from our anticipation, and things occur so unexpectedly that you may wonder what happened?
You know already that the reason one house stood was because it was built on an adequate foundation. You already know, as well as I do, that the other house fell because it was built upon the sand. Here, the Lord is giving us three essential parts of a foundation that is necessary to make us stand against the storms that blow against our Christian experience.
Notice what the Lord is indicating here. There are three integral parts of a foundation, three absolutely essential parts without which we cannot stand. The Lord, speaking about the house built on the sand, states categorically that the waves beat vehemently, and immediately it collapsed into great ruin. As we are subjected to the strains and stresses that are yet to come, there are three things that I want to enumerate to you.
1. Whosoever comes to Me - Relationship
2. Hears My sayings –Spiritual hearing
3. Does them – Heart obedience
“I will show you to whom he is like.” Luke 6:47
One of the essential things, and I would judge the first in order of sequence, is coming to the Lord, the idea being, our having a personal relationship with Him, as a person.
You may recall that I have said more than once, when the Lord called His disciples, it reads like this: “And he called to Him whom He would (the sovereignty of God), that they should be with Him.” The problem is, we put the emphasis on “going,” forgetting the going comes from our being with Him.
I have said to all of you, that our first calling is to be with Him. We cannot go unless we are first with Him. We cannot preach unless we are with Him. First, we are with Him, then we are sent by Him. This is dependent on our having a personal relationship, which is far more than a mere acquaintance. It is one thing to be acquainted with the Lord. It’s another thing to have a personal relationship with Him. In Luke 13:23:
“Then said one to Him, Lord, are there few that be saved?” Luke 13:23
It is very easy to get interested in statistics? Here, this man was unsaved, yet he wants to know how many are going to be saved. He forgets about the primary fact that he needs to be saved. He should be wondering whether he will be among those who are saved. It did not dawn on him to ask the Lord, “Lord, will I be saved?” No, he asks, “How many will get into the kingdom?”
It is strange how our interests are deflected from primary things, to secondary issues. People tend to argue. We get so easily distracted with secondary issues, and so this man, “Lord, are there few that be saved?”
The Lord answered him and said, Strive to enter in at the strait gate. In other words, never mind how many are saved. Your getting in is the real issue.
“When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; and He shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence you are; Then shall you begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I know not whence you are; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” Luke 13:25-27
“We have eaten and drunk in Your presence.” In other words, “Lord, we have a personal acquaintance with You. Do you remember, we sat down in Hardy’s Restaurant, and I brought You a cup of coffee and a piece of pumpkin pie? Do you remember that I sat right across from You at the table, and we talked about different things?”
The Lord says, “Yes, I remember.” “By the way Lord, when You healed that woman, You did it right in front of my house. You were standing on my sidewalk. I will get in, won’t I?”
The Lord responded, “I do not know you.” “But Lord, don’t You remember me, I was there?” He says, “I do not know you.” They thought they would make it through with a casual acquaintance, but the Lord says, “No.” Lord, save us from being satisfied with a mere acquaintance with you, instead of personally knowing You.
The message in t his parable about coming to Him, does not mean as a casual acquaintance, but as having a personal relationship, which is a vital reality.
“It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to Me.” John 6:45
Anyone not taught by God is still untaught, and I do not care how many doctrine books you may memorize. “Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to Me.” Do you know that the object of Bible teaching is not knowing, but coming? Of course, we should know, but that is not the goal. The goal is coming. The truth we learn is to bring us to Him, and until we commit ourselves to the implication of that truth, we have not learned, even though we make 100% on the test.
We tend to make “knowing” the goal, but that is the intermediate stopping point. What we know is to bear upon our will, to bring us into the implication of this truth. “Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to Me.” The final test of what we have learned is not the grade we make, but whether we come, whether we respond to the truth, and to the Person of that truth. We stop short in our learning process.
The Book says, “Every man that has heard, and has learned.” “Oh, I learned! I got a hundred” in my test. “Wait a minute. Have you learned of the Father? Have you come to Him?” “Come? No.” “Then you haven’t learned. You only gathered information.”
Do you know that there is a difference between gathering information and learning? The gathering of information is necessary to the learning, but it is not complete in itself. The proof of the learning is to come to the Person of the truth. All truth is to bring us to Him who said, “I am the truth,” so that through the truth there ought to be a constant transformation unto Him. The final test is coming, not knowing.
Someone said, “I heard that before. I know that.” But, what have you done with what you heard? “Nothing.” “Then you do not know it.” Do you know why God brings the same truth over and over again? It is not because the hearers have not heard, neither because they do not know, but because they have never responded. They know, but they have not responded. Without response, the truth is barren, so He sends truth in an effort to cause somebody who has known to respond.
The end of truth is not knowing, it is coming. The end of the coming is a Person, and Jesus is the Person. This belongs in this foundation that will hold you, when the waves dash against you with a roar and a bang. You may tremble, but you will stand. This kind of a believer of the house that stood, digged deep. There was an excavation process.
Luke 14:25-30: “And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said to them,” You will never hear Him say, “It is fun to go to church. It is fun to be religious.” Oh no! He told the people the truth. There is a difference between fun and joy. If I wanted fun, I would not go to church, but would seek a comedian.
We are to dig and restore a solid foundation upon which we can stand, when we face difficulties. Only God knows what you will have to face in coming years.
“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” Luke 14:26-30
Do you notice how incongruous our present way of thinking is with the thinking of the Christ? Hating his own life also! Of course this does not mean you go and kick yourself. It simply means that we say NO to the demands of our self-life, in order to say YES to the Christ; that we allow no claims to stand between us, and His claim upon us.
“Whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” It does not say may not be My disciple, rather, it says can not be My disciple. “Which of you intending to build a tower, sits down first and counts the cost.” The Lord believes in our counting the cost. This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This kind of a relationship, of which the Lord spoke when He said, “Whosoever comes to Me,” necessitates renunciation of our self life.
Whosoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings, and does them.” Luke 6:47
This involves a complete abandonment to Him without reservation or qualification, without which an individual cannot stand the onslaught of things, without bringing catastrophe to their house.
May each of us “count the cost,” and build a foundation that will stand the onslaught of all that is before us.
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Walter Beuttler (1904 - 1974)
Walter H. Beuttler was born in Germany in 1904. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1925. In 1931 he graduated from Central Bible Institute. He served on the faculty atWalter H. Beuttler was born in Germany in 1904. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1925. In 1931 he graduated from Central Bible Institute. He served on the faculty at Eastern Bible Institute from 1939-1972. During a campus revival in 1951, God called Beuttler to “go teach all nations,” and for 22 years he travelled around the world ministering the word of God. He retired in Shaverton, PA with his wife Elizabeth. There he continued his ministry until he went to be with the Lord in 1974."Spiritual hunger presupposes a spiritual capacity. Such hunger originates with God (John 6:44). This hunger is, in fact, God Himself hungering for Himself through our spirit on our behalf. It is the call of God for the truth for which we hunger and is at the same time a divine guarantee of its satisfaction when this hunger is not diverted into other channels and thereby destroyed. “Blessed are they that hunger—for they shall be filled.” The earnest seeker after the God of the Word as well as the word of God, can expect to find in these notes “treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” (Isa. 45:3)."