Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: It is better to obey than to sacrifice to God. It would be better for you to obey God and to come to church, to do what's right than to be a hypocrite and not obey the voice of God. Building upon the rock Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. As we turn our attention to the topic of faithful living before God, Raul will challenge us to anchor our lives on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. It's all too easy for us to give him lip service and then go our own way, but we'll find that any other paths we forge for ourselves are shaky ground. Raul will show us that Jesus wants our fully committed heart, and he calls us to stand on him for our sure foundation. Here is Raul Ries in Luke chapter 6 beginning in verse 46 with the lesson building on the rock.

Raul Ries: Now today we have so many people building their lives on sand. All you have to do is kind of look around and you can see that people don't have a good foundation. Many people today are living lives of disobedience to God. Nothing solid concerning sand. I mean if you're a builder, you know that you never build on sand because when the earthquake comes or the floods come or anything that has to do without foundation, it's not going to stand. It's temporal, not permanent. And I think that it's really wise for us to understand that it takes a long time to build a house.

First of all, you have to count the cost in what you're building. Otherwise, if you're not counting the cost in what you're going to build, then it's not going to be lasting. Here in the parable, Jesus is calling us to build a solid house. A house built upon a rock. And that rock, of course is Jesus himself. There are too many people today that are living lives built upon the sand, which the sand represents a life of unsteadiness. A life of disobedience. A life that will not last. And I feel that God in his mercies and in his love and his grace not only has spoken to us this morning, but he's going to speak to each one of us individually.

As we pay attention and as we hear what the spirit has to say to the church today let me begin by reading the parable beginning with verse 46 of Luke chapter 6. He says, but why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you who he is like. So first of all, Jesus here is making the proclamation that you if you call him curious or Lord, Lord and you're not really doing what he says in his word, it's vain to call him Lord.

It's of no use. You're only making a proclamation that has no depth and has no foundation for your proclamation that you're making about himself. And then he says also that whoever comes to him and hears his sayings. So we can come to church and we can hear the radio, we can watch TV we can read sermons and we can do all those things, but if we do not apply those truths to our life, it is vain. It is emptiness of life. You're building on a wrong foundation. Look what he says in verse 48 because in verse 47 he said, whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, then I will show you who he is like.

And here is what he's like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep in his foundation and laid it on a rock. And when the floods come what are the floods? The problems in life, trials, temptations all of the circumstances that we find with in our life. That's the reason that many believers fall apart when they're not settled upon the rock, when all of the trials of life will come against your life. If you don't know him personally and if you're not really settling to the word of God and applying the word of God to your life, when the floods come and the winds begin to beat upon the foundation it's either going to stand or it's going to fall.

It all depends on your building ability how you're building upon Jesus Christ in your own personal life. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and when the flood came and the streams beat be hemly against that house, it could not shake it for it was founded on the rock. And who's the rock? Jesus. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built his house on the earth without a foundation. So what Jesus is saying, there are a lot of people they will come and they will sit and they will hear but learn nothing in their lives especially when you're not learning the lessons that Jesus Christ wants to teach you.

I believe that the only people that can learn those lessons are people that start out building a true foundation upon the rock. You have to count the cost. You see life is like a race. There are so many people that run marathons. Many of those people just run to get a t-shirt. There's others that will start the race and they'll start running and just in a mile distance they'll just quit. They'll jump on and say, hey I ran. And then there's others that will run three or four miles or some that will jump in in the middle of the race and they'll cheat and say, I ran in the New York Marathon.

But those that are running in the race, they've been training for months and months and months and eating the proper food. And they have disciplined their life. You know see anybody can start a race, but I want to ask you the question, can you finish the race? That's the question. Anybody can come to church, but are you going to heaven? Are you being obedient to the word of God, to what God says in his proclamation of his word? Because we're all running in this race, but not everybody is going to finish right. I hope you do.

But because the winds blow and the storms come and the suffering of life, some people become bitter by life and embittered not only embittered, but they become disappointed. They get depressed, they get angry at God and they blame God for everything and they're not willing to actually receive his grace and his love and his mercy and forgiveness that he has to offer them because they're selfish people self-bound self-sustained. You see our Lord's emphasis on this parable is on a life of obedience. Those that listen and do what is right. It is so important for believers to obey what God says in his word.

This was one of the emphasis when you go back to the Old Testament, you will see that as God was speaking to his own people, the Jews, the whole basis was done in obedience to God listening to God. Listen to Joshua 1:8 what it says. Joshua says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then if you listen and if you do and you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success.

You see? He gives you the principles to success, and that's how obey the word of God. In Psalm 1 verse 1 through 3 he says, oh how happy is the man or woman who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his or her delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night. Then here it is. He will be or she will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in season, whose leaf also shall not wither.

And whatever he or she does shall prosper. Shall prosper. Why? Because I am obedient to the word of God. I say 119 says, if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. You see? Obedience is the key to the child of God's life. Don't you remember way back in the Old Testament when Abraham was getting ready to not only love his child, Isaac was the child of promise. And one day the Lord came to Abraham and he said, Abraham, I want you to do me a favor. I'm going to test your faith.

I want to really see if you are listening to me and I want to see what kind of a foundation you're building upon. Because remember his wife could not have any babies for a long time. And it's pretty neat because when they had this child as he became of age, the Lord came to him later in life. Once the child already was an adult he said, I want you to do this Abraham. I want you to take your son Isaac on a three-day journey to Mount Moriah to Jerusalem. And I'm going to ask you, I've never asked this of any man in the whole history of the Bible.

I have never ever asked anybody for this, but I'm going to ask you. And this is what I'm going to ask you. I want you to kill your son for me. Imagine that. Abraham didn't even think about it. You know what he did? He got up in the morning he got his donkey settled up, he got his servants together, got his son Isaac, and didn't even tell his wife. He got up and they rose early in the morning and they left to Mount Moriah, three-day journey. And can you imagine as Abraham is traveling a three-day journey, can you imagine what's going through his mind?

Here is my son Isaac the one that God promised and not God wants me to kill him and to sacrifice him to God.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible rich resources to help propel you into a closer relationship with Christ. You can also email Raul your prayer requests and Bible questions as addresses pastor Raul at somebodylovesyou.com. Now let's continue with more of our study building on the rock.

Raul Ries: And as they began to walk up Mount Moriah and he was carrying the wood Abraham had had the knife and they were going up to this Mount Moriah. When they got to the top of Mount Moriah, which today is Mount Calvary as they sat there all of a sudden Isaac said, Dad you got the wood the altar but where is the sacrifice? Imagine that. And what did his dad say? He said, Hey son verse 8 of chapter 22 of Genesis he said, Son God will provide himself a sacrifice. What an incredible word that is. Abraham stepped out by faith 2,000 years later where Jesus Christ would be killed and crucified.

What was God doing? God was testing the heart of Abraham and his son. Are you willing to kill your son for me, Abraham? And when he got up to the Mount Moriah, his son said, Father, the wood, the altar, but where is the sacrifice? And he said, God will provide himself a sacrifice. And what did the Bible say? Isaac submitted himself to his father even as Jesus submitted himself to God the Father. And he tied him up and he put him on the altar. And Abraham took the knife out and he raised the knife up to kill his son.

And out of heaven the angel of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ stopped Abraham and said, Abraham, God has seen your obedience. You don't have to kill your son. God was just testing you. What are you going to do when God tests you to see if you're going to be obedient or not? And that test of obedience will come the blessing afterwards as God will use your life in a greater way. But if you keep disobeying the Lord and his word then how can God really speak to you and how can God really mold you and shape you and make you into what he wants you to be?

He can't. He can't do it until what? Until you submit your life to him. He's not going to force himself upon you. It's like the master potter with the clay. He molds the clay the way he wants to do it as the clay submits and he doesn't like what the clay looks like, he breaks it again and starts all over again. So we have to submit our lives to Jesus Christ if we want God to use our lives. Again the negative in the Old Testament Saul, the king of Israel. Here is God's people asking Samuel the prophet that they do not want God to rule over them.

They don't want a ocracy, they want a monarchy. And when Samuel heard that he was so upset, he went to God and said, God, these people are rejecting me. He says, Wait a minute, Samuel, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me from ruling over them. Go ahead, listen to their voices and do what they say and I will show you what kind of a king I'm going to give to them. A king they will bring their children into bondage, a king that will abuse their children, a king they will actually will do wrong and not right and will bring judgment to the nation.

And as God chose through the people Saul the king all the way through we see the story is God gives Saul an opportunity by testing him. As the winds come, as the storms come and they beat upon that house God wants to check the foundation. And what does he do? King Saul is ordered in 1 Samuel 15. Samuel comes and says, God wants you to go to the Amalekites and he wants you to kill the king. He wants you to kill all of the women, all of the children, all of the sheep, all of the lambs.

He doesn't want you to take anything for yourself, but to get rid of it all. Why? Because those people, the Amalekites were the ones that had hindered them from coming from Egypt to the Promised Land. And the Amalekites are a type of our flesh. Remember our flesh is very strong. You have a problem with drinking or a problem with drugs or or sex, whatever it may be, or anger, tantrums, whatever it may be, and God has been dealing with you and he's asking you to get rid of the Amalekites, what are you going to do?

Obey or disobey? And as Saul went to actually kill the Amalekites the Bible says that Saul went ahead and he took of the best of the spoils. He took King Agag alive and he took all of his men and the women and the children. And on his way he went down to actually wait for Samuel to come to offer to the Lord all of the spoils, but Samuel never showed up. So he went ahead and he again disobeys God and he steps into an area where he's not supposed to be in the priesthood and he offers a sacrifice to God which he wasn't supposed to.

And then Samuel showed up. And Samuel said, Hey you should have done that, Saul because you're not a priest. And so he said, Well I have done everything God has asked me to do. And Samuel said, Shut up. Rebuked him immediately. He says, why are you lying, hypocrite? I can hear the bleeding of the sheep. I can hear the lambs and the sheep crying out. Why have you done this, Saul? He says, it wasn't really me, it was the people. Notice that. A man full of excuses. Well you see it's not really me, it's my upbringing.

It's my mom, it's my dad, it's fault why I've turned out the way I've turned out, baloney. You have a will. You have a will in your life. You can't blame it on your parents. Psychologists will do that. But you know what? What's really amazing is that you have to deal with your life and your life has to be crucified to the cross. That's right. You have to crucify your will to the cross. Why? Because as Saul disobeyed God and did not listen to the voice of God the Lord told him this. Saul I'm going to tell you something.

God says that you are no longer going to be the king of Israel because you have disobeyed the Lord your God. It is better to obey than to do what? It is better to obey than to sacrifice to God. It would be better for you to obey God and to come to church to do what's right than to be a hypocrite and not obey the voice of God. Building upon the rock Jesus Christ. You know what happened to Saul? As Saul was told that he would no longer be the king he said, I have sinned against the Lord.

He wasn't being repented because he kept excusing himself over and over and over. And this is what the Bible says. As Samuel began to walk away, Saul ran up to him and he grabbed the hold of his skirt and he ripped it. And when Samuel turned around he said, you should have never done that because now God has ripped away from you the kingdom completely. And the Bible says this the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a demon came into his life into the day he died and ruled over him. Why? Because he was rebellious and disobedient to God.

In the last chapters of the book of 1 Samuel when Saul and Jonathan go out to the battle against the Philistines the Philistines win. Jonathan is killed and Saul is wounded. And as Saul is laying there in in the last chapter of 1 Samuel, it tells you that literally that Saul literally killed himself, but that's not true because in the next chapter, 2 Samuel chapter 1 it says this that Saul tried to commit suicide because he didn't want to get captured by the Philistines because he knew that they would mess with him. You see? They eventually cut his head off and they hung in a pole.

But as he was sitting there wounded in Amalekite, remember the Amalekites? And Amalekite walked up to him, a young man and said, are you okay? And Saul said to him, Hey who are you? He said, I am an Amalekite, a servant of somebody else. He says, why don't you go ahead and kill me? And the Bible says this young man took the sword and killed him. If you don't take care of the problem that you're facing in disobedience to God as you began the race, if you don't take care of it at the end of your life, the Amalekites will win over your life.

They'll kill you. You see? That's why God speaks his word how we need to build upon a solid foundation of obedience and not disobedience.

Guest (Male): Well as we've heard today, King Saul's hypocrisy wasn't lost on the Lord and his downfall serves as a warning for us to cultivate a healthy fear of God. Daily standing on Christ is our sure foundation. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's lesson in its unedited form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165 and ask for Raul's teaching titled Building on the Rock. To help broaden your understanding of what it looks like to live a devoted life before the Lord, we'd like to offer you Raul's series titled Called, Chosen, and Committed.

It's a 10-part study that includes today's lesson as well as nine others and it's available on CD and flash drive. In every message you'll discover how to find strength and surrender and joy in obedience with Jesus as the bedrock of your life. To order Called, Chosen, and Committed, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you Raul's 10-lesson series on CD for $22 or on thumb drive for $13. That's 800-634-9165 or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. This ministry is completely listener supported and your partnership is a great blessing to us.

Join us next time as we continue in this series with a call to learn from the mistakes of Moses and the Israelites. The world is watching us and if we want to represent the Lord well, we should obey his word and reflect his heart to those around us. Now here's Raul once again with a closing thought from today's teaching.

Raul Ries: God wants us to obey his word completely. If we don't obey what God says and how can God truly bless my life in the way that he wants to bless my life. Even when the early church stood before the council, Peter, James, and John, and they were going to be prosecuted as they stood before the government, they said this, it is better that we obey God rather than man. Obedience is the key. Building on the rock simply means what? It means to obey whatever Jesus Christ commands me in his word. But to build upon the sand means to give Christ lip service, but not to obey his will.

There's a lot of people that give lip service to God, but they don't obey the word of God. You want to make sure that you are building upon the rock Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.