"The Punch Line"

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25

Wise man or foolish? Which will we choose to be? Will we be someone who builds on the rock or the shifting sand? The choice is ours to make and the key to making it is in understanding that the wise and foolish builders were the punch line! You know how the preacher is coming to the end of his sermon and he says that he has one last point ...intended to drive his message home. That's what Jesus was doing when He said, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them ..." He was delivering His punch line, His final illustration to drive His message home.

I say that because of the word, therefore. Therefore is a word you use to indicate what you just said matters to what you are about to say. "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them ..."  What sayings? The stuff He had been laying out before them in the preceding verses. Stuff that made His point. You choose! You choose to enter by the narrow gate. Vs.13 You choose to be known by the fruit you bear. You choose to be a good tree with good fruit or a bad tree bearing bad fruit. Vs. 16-19 You choose to enter the kingdom of heaven by doing the will of the Father. Vs. 21 You choose to call Him Lord or to actually make Him Lord. He had just told them that calling Him, "Lord, Lord" wasn't enough.  Vs. 21-23

Therefore ... the punch line! Wise or foolish?

We choose to make Him Lord when we not only say it with our lips but with our actions as well. We choose to make Him Lord when we hear His sayings and do them! That is when we truly build our lives on the rock. That is when we choose the path that takes us through the narrow gate. That is how we become a good tree with amazingly good fruit. That is how we enter the kingdom of heaven. It's when we choose to to say, "Lord, what would you like me to do?" Then, because He is Lord ... we listen and obey!