Monday, September 3, 2012

Bible Truth #406 - Luke 6:46-49

46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
48  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.
49  But he that heareth, and doeth 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.

I’m sure that most Christians are familiar with this parable, and have heard it called the parable of the wise and foolish builders. God’s Word tells us that wisdom comes from Him (Job 38:36, Proverbs 2:6) and that wisdom of a man is not wisdom at all, and will perish (Isaiah 29:14).

In verse 47 Jesus said, all those who come to me... Who will come to Him? It certainly won’t be a lost man because Jesus said in John 3:20 that those who do evil (lost men) hate the Light and will NOT come to it - and of course the Light is Jesus (John 8:12, John 9:5).

Jesus continues in the same verse, and heareth my sayings,... again, who will hear His sayings? Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:43 that they do not understand what He is telling them because they CAN’T HEAR HIS WORD! Is He telling them they are deaf? No! He is referring to their spiritual ears. They can’t hear with their spiritual ears because the are spiritually DEAD, therefore spiritually deaf (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13). So lost men not only won’t come to Jesus, neither can they “hear” Him.

He continues in verse 47 - and doeth them,... Do you think a lost man doing what Jesus said would please God? A lot of believers would say yes, of course. Please let me remind you what Paul told us in Romans 8:8 - they that are in the flesh (i.e. all lost men) can not please God! So there isn’t a lost man anywhere that will do what Jesus said. Only those whom God has quickened will even hear the spiritual truths Jesus spoke, and then act on them.

The question remains - whom will God quicken? The obvious answer is He will quicken only His children. Before you jump to the incorrect conclusion that everyone on the planet is a child of God, please read again Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in John 8:42-47. Everyone is NOT a child of God.

The Gospel of John also records that we become children of God not by human decision (John 1:13). Two things:
- you can’t “become” a child of God unless you weren’t a child of God to begin with,
- we “become” a child of God not by human decision.

It is only these people, God’s children whom He has quickened, whom Jesus said was like a wise man who built an house by digging deep and laying the foundation upon a rock. Jesus is the rock (Romans 9:33; 1 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Peter 2:8) upon Whom one’s faith is properly set, and which will stand against any test. So the idea of God choosing to whom He gives wisdom perfectly reconciles with the idea of God’s sovereignty in Election in choosing those He placed in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

Just as wisdom comes from God for a select few, so too salvation comes from God for His chosen, a select few.

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