Like a Rock
"For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard, did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it" (Hebrews 4:2).

Did you catch that? "For indeed the gospel..." What's the gospel? It's the good news of Jesus and it "was preached to us as well as to them; but the word," - the gospel -"which they heard, did not profit them." Why didn't it prosper them? It was "not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."

This may sound strong, but this verse says that you can hear the Word (the gospel) but unless you mix it with faith, the Word will not profit you.

What is faith? Faith is believing what God said is true and acting on it. In other words, believing the Bible, believing God, is only profitable if you act on what you believe.

In Matthew 7, Jesus talked about two men who built houses. The first man built his house with a solid foundation. It was anchored in the rock. This man was compared to a man who heard the sayings of Jesus, the Word of God, and acted on what he heard. He was not just a hearer of the Word, but he was a doer of the Word.

The second man built his house on top of the ground, in the sand, without a foundation. Jesus compared this man to a man who heard His sayings, but never acted on them.

Both houses probably looked beautiful and strong. To everyone passing by, the houses looked alike. But when the storms came, the house that was built on the sand, the house built by the man who only heard the Word, was completely destroyed.

The house built on the rock-the house built by the man who heard and did the Word, the man of faith-did not fall. His house and all it contained was safe.

One thing to note here is that both houses went through the storm. Jesus never promised that there would not be storms in our lives. He never said that once we acted on the Word, that Satan would quit trying to attack us. But what He did say is that even though the attacks come, even though Satan still comes against our households, if we hear and do Jesus' sayings, we will weather the storm. We may go through it, but we will not be destroyed.

Psalm 34:19 says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all."

The key is to do the works of the Word. We must not only hear the sayings of Jesus, but we must do them. James 2:17 says that "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

But what are the works that we are to do? In John 6, the disciples asked Jesus this question point blank. They said, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" (v. 28). Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" (v. 29). In other words, the work of God is to walk in faith. We must believe God's Word so completely, that acting on it becomes second nature. Only then will we be like the man who built his house on the rock.

Remember, Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."

Learn more practical steps about being a doer of the Word in Dr. Ollison's book,
The Practical Handbook for Christian Living.