Monday after the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 31, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 7:22-29 (NKJV)
7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “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: 25 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.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Devotion
Jesus speaks of “these sayings of Mine.” What, in particular, are “these sayings”? Earlier in this chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus spoke about judging, being judged, having a plank in your eye while trying to remove a speck from your neighbor’s eye, casting pearls before swine, and so on. All of Jesus’ “sayings” revolve around repentance and forgiveness.
There are many “preachers” today who claim they are teaching Jesus’ sayings, yet they are truly those who “practice lawlessness.” How do they do this? They do this by failing to preach as Jesus directed: “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). While the Law echoes throughout their sermons with refrains of “You need to do this… Once you do this… This is how to do…,” their preaching is a law of “you do it.” In other words, it is a faith built on self, a faith built on sand.
However, when a person is brought to repentance by the working of the Holy Ghost, and that person trusts in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, that person “hears these sayings of Mine, and does them.” God has put the faithful on the firm foundation of Christ. In Christ, the Christian will withstand the onslaught of the devil in this world, and will spend eternity with Christ.
Prayer: Grant to us, Lord, we beseech Thee, the Spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do anything that is good without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live according to Thy will; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
