Founded on the Rock

[ the vital basis for success, safety and a life that

pleases God ]

b y D e r e k P r i n c e

BOOKS BY DEREK PRINCE

Appointment in Jerusalem

Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose

Bought with Blood

The Destiny of Israel and the Church

The Divine Exchange

Does Your Tongue Need Healing?

The End of Life’s Journey

Entering the Presence of God

Extravagant Love

Faith to Live By

Fasting

Foundational Truths for Christian Living

God Is a Matchmaker

God’s Medicine Bottle

God’s Plan for Your Money

God’s Remedy for Rejection

God’s Will for Your Life

The Grace of Yielding

The Holy Spirit in You

How to Fast Successfully

Husbands and Fathers

Judging: When? Why? How?

Lucifer Exposed

Marriage Covenant

Orphans, Widows, the Poor and Oppressed

Our Debt to Israel

Pages from My Life’s Book

Promised Land

Receiving God’s Best

Rediscovering God’s Church

Rules of Engagement

Self-Study Bible Course

Shaping History through Prayer & Fasting

Spiritual Warfare

They Shall Expel Demons

Through the Psalms

War in Heaven

You Shall Receive Power

Derek Prince Ministries

P. O. Box 19501 • Charlotte, NC 28219

www.derekprince.org

Founded on the Rock

[ the vital basis for success, safety and a life that

pleases God ]

b y D e r e k P r i n c e

D E R E K P R I N C E M I N I S T R I E S

C H A R L O T T E , N O R T H C A R O L I N A

FOUNDED ON THE ROCK

© 2007 Derek Prince Ministries-International

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-892283-46-7

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the

Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, © 1982.

This book was compiled from the extensive archive of Derek

Prince’s unpublished materials and edited by the Derek Prince

Ministries editorial team.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by means of any information storage and retrieval

system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the U. S. A.

Founded on the Rock

1

he Bible is a model of good teaching and it

follows various principles of teaching. One

Tin particular is that it starts from the known

to lead people on to the unknown. It never starts

with the unknown, it starts with what is known and

proceeds from there to the unknown. One of the

ways that the Bible does this is to take very simple,

familiar, everyday experiences and activities and

give them a spiritual application. There are various

examples. The Bible speaks about a farmer sowing

his seed, about a fisherman catching fish in a dragnet

or a soldier putting on his armor. In a completely

different kind of context, it speaks about a bride

preparing herself for her wedding. Those are just a

few examples of this principle.

The Christian Life—A Building

The particular, familiar activity I want to focus

on is that of constructing a building. This picture of

the Christian life is used at least as many times as

any other picture in the Bible.

We are going to turn, first of all, to the epistle of

Jude, which is a word of exhortation to us as

believers.

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But you, beloved, building yourselves up on

your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

keep yourselves in the love of God.

Jude 20-21

Scripture says here that we must build ourselves

up in our most holy faith. It is one of the ways in

which this metaphor of building applies. We are

responsible to build ourselves up.

Then in Ephesians 2 it speaks about a holy

temple in the Lord:

... in whom the whole building, being fitted

together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in

whom you also are being built together for a

dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:21-22

That is speaking about the collective Christian

community that we are to be built together in the

Holy Spirit as a place for God to dwell.

Then, speaking about Jesus as a living stone,

Peter says:

Coming to Him [Jesus] as to a living stone,

rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and

precious, you also, as living stones, are being

built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to

offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God

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through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:4-5

There we are compared, each one of us, to living

stones that are being built together into a holy

temple that the Lord is going to occupy.

Then let’s look at one final example from Acts

20. It is the farewell of Paul to the Ephesian elders

whom he loved with a special love because it was in

Ephesus that his ministry had perhaps the greatest

impact of any other place. In his speech in Acts 20,

Paul is saying farewell and telling them they will

never see him again in this life. It was a very moving

situation for all of them. This is really the final

exhortation he wanted to leave with them:

So now, brethren, I commend you to God

and to the word of His grace, which is able to

build you up and give you an inheritance among

all those who are sanctified.

Acts 20:32

Paul is telling us that the main means for

building us up is the word of God’s grace, the Bible.

He says it is able to build us up and to give us an

inheritance among all those who are set apart for

Jesus Christ by faith in Him.

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The Foundation Is Jesus

I am not a builder, but I know one thing: In any

permanent building, whether it is built of brick or

stone, concrete or timber, the vital area is the

foundation. The Bible deals specifically with this,

and it is an issue of great importance for every one

of us.

The foundation sets limits to the building that

may be built above it—both in size and in weight.

The foundation sets the limits, and this also is true in

the Christian life. You cannot build more successful

Christian life than your foundation will permit. This

is the vital issue: What is your foundation? Have you

laid the right foundation?

There is only one foundation that is adequate

and all-sufficient. It is the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul, writing to the Corinthian Christians uses two

metaphors. He uses the agricultural metaphor but

then goes on to use the building metaphor.

For we are God’s fellow workers [working

together with God] ; you are God’s field [that is

the agricultural metaphor and] you are God’s

building [that is the construction metaphor].

According to the grace of God which was given

to me, as a wise master builder [Greek,

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“architect”] I have laid the foundation, and

another builds on it. But let each one take heed

how he builds on it. For no other foundation can

anyone lay than that which is laid, which is

Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:9-11

Paul says there is only one foundation for the

Christian life and that is Jesus Himself. Anything

that is not built on that foundation will not stand the

test of time and of trial. So, it is very important for

every one of us to assess what our life is built on.

Are we truly built on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we

have a personal relationship and a knowledge of

Jesus that makes us able to relate personally to Him?

The question of laying this foundation in Jesus is

extremely important, so I want to take some time to

deal with the issue of how we can have this

foundation—the foundation of Jesus—in our lives. I

would invite each reader to examine his or her own

life—your spiritual condition and spiritual

experience—and check as to whether your

relationship with the foundation is right.

Let’s begin in Matthew 16 with some basic

teaching. Jesus is talking to His disciples:

When Jesus came into the region of

Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,

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saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man,

am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist,

some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the

prophets.” [Then He makes it very personal.] He

said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the

Christ [Messiah] , the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are

you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has

not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in

Heaven. And I also say to you that you are

Peter, and on this rock I will build My church,

and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against

it.”

Matthew 16:13-18

This was a crucial moment in the life of Peter

and in the whole history of Christianity. Jesus used

this encounter with Peter to establish the way in

which we can lay a foundation in Jesus Christ

Himself.

It has often been suggested that Peter is the

foundation of the church. I would have to say, if it

were so it would be a very wobbly building—

because a little later Jesus rebukes Peter by saying,

“Get behind Me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23). Later

still, Peter denied the Lord three times (John 18:15-

17, 25-27). Even after the resurrection Paul had to

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rebuke him for compromising with the truth of the

gospel for fear of his fellow Jews. (See Galatians

2:11-16. ) I, for one, am grateful that the church is

not built on Peter—nor on me!

What actually emerges from this passage, which

is very clear in the Greek testament (which is the

original version that we have), “You are Peter

[petros] , and on this rock [petra] I will build My

church” (Matthew 16:18). Petros in Greek means a

stone or at most a boulder, nothing bigger than that.

Normally it would be the kind of stone that people

would take up to stone someone with.

On the other hand, petra means a jagged rock

that extends from the bedrock. It is often used to

describe a cliff or something on that scale. The

important thing to remember is it is part of the

bedrock. What is the bedrock? It is just what Peter

had been going through: the recognition of Jesus for

who He is, revealed only by the Holy Spirit. No one

can know Jesus and who He really is unless God the

Father by the Holy Spirit reveals Him.

This is the petra—it is the bedrock on which our

Christian faith must be based. It is a personal

encounter and a personal revelation of Jesus—not as

the carpenter’s Son, not as a historical figure, but as

the eternal, uncreated Son of God. That is where we

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have to come if we are going to build on that rock.

The experience through which Peter passed must be

paralleled in our experience.

I have told people many times, “You can join a

church, you can go through a religious ceremony, or

you can say a prayer and still not be changed. But if

you really encounter Jesus, you will be changed. No

one encounters Jesus and remains the same.” Each

of us needs to ask: Have I ever had this life-

changing, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus

Christ?

Encountering Jesus

I would like to suggest four successive phases

through which Peter passed in his encounter of

Jesus.

First of all, confrontation. Jesus and Peter met

face to face. There was no mediator, no priest, no

one between them. It was a direct, personal

confrontation of Jesus. That is what our experience

should be too. Jesus said in another place, “I am the

door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved”

(John 10:9). There is only one way into the kingdom

of God—through the door. The door is not a church;

it is not a doctrine; it is Jesus. “I am the door.”

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Second, the confrontation was followed by

revelation, a revelation granted by God the Father

through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Flesh and

blood has not revealed this” (Matthew 16:17). You

cannot arrive at it by your natural senses, there has

to be a revelation. This is essential. No one can

know Jesus as He truly is in His eternal Sonship of

God without a personal revelation. You can study

theology, you can go to a Bible college, you can

even become a minister. But without this personal

revelation of Jesus, you cannot know Him. The

revelation comes only from God the Father through

Jesus Christ the Son.

Have you had that personal encounter with

Jesus? I have. More than fifty years ago in the

middle of the night in an Army barrack room during

World War II, I encountered Jesus. I had no

doctrinal knowledge, no evangelical language. I

could not even say I was “saved” or “born again.” I

learned all that later. But I was changed—radically

and permanently changed. I was not made perfect—

in fact, let me confess to you, I am still not perfect.

But I was changed for the better.

The third step is, there has to be an

acknowledgment of what the Holy Spirit shows us.

We have to say, “Yes, I believe. I receive.” We have

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to make some kind of response. It is not automatic; it

requires something happening in us.

And fourth, there has to be a public confession

of our faith in Jesus. That is what Jesus drew out of

Peter: “You are the Christ [Messiah]” (Matthew

16:16). Peter made it public. People speak about

“secret believers,” and I acknowledge there are

secret believers, especially in countries where

acknowledgement of that fact would mean being put

to death. But nobody can permanently remain a

secret believer, for Jesus said:

“Therefore, whoever confesses Me before

men, him I will also confess before My Father

who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before

men, him I will also deny before My Father who

is in heaven.”

Matthew 10:32-33

Jesus in His characteristic way does not give us

three choices, only two. We either confess or we

deny. If we fail to confess in an appropriate

situation, we are, in effect, denying. So, each one of

us at some point has to come to the place where we

openly acknowledge our faith in the Lord Jesus

Christ. This is a critical moment for many.

I discovered in the army after I had become a

believer that the best thing to do was to let

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everybody know the first moment you met them

where you stand. Then you never have to go back

and say, “I didn’t really tell you at the beginning,

but...” So, I did something every night in the barrack

room, which is not just a religious act. Wherever I

was, I would kneel down at my bed and pray. That

revealed just what kind of person they were dealing

with. It was much easier that way. I saw other

Christians who waffled, who did not come right out

and say what they believed, and it was much harder

for them to go back afterwards and make the right

confession.

I want to recommend that practice. We do not

have to stand on a street corner and preach, we do

not have to be a teacher. We can be housewives or

students, but wherever we are, we should let people

know we believe in Jesus, that He is the Son of God.

Let me just review those four successive phases

of this encounter, which is so basic. This is how we

lay the foundation of Jesus in our lives personally.

First, there was a confrontation.

Second, there was a revelation granted by God

the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Third, Peter responded with an

acknowledgment.

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And fourth, he made a public confession.

What About Today?

The question might arise: Is such a revelation

possible today? Is it possible for people like you and

me to know Jesus just as genuinely and just as

personally as Peter and the other disciples did?

We need to see two important things. First of all,

Jesus was not revealed to Peter as the Son of the

carpenter. He had known Him that way for quite

awhile. Jesus was revealed to Peter as the eternal

Son of God. The Scripture says in Hebrews 13:8:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today

and forever.

There has been no change in Him; there never

will be. So, it is not a question of language, culture

or clothing, but it is a question of the eternal person

of Jesus. That is what Peter encountered; maybe for

the first time in his life. Peter really had a revelation

of who Jesus is.

Second, the revelation was granted through the

Holy Spirit. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the

eternal Spirit, the timeless Spirit. Time, fashion,

history, customs, language—they do not change the

Holy Spirit.

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For those two reasons it is equally possible for

you and me to have this direct, personal revelation

of Jesus, just as it was possible for Peter. First of all,

because it is the eternal Son of God who is revealed;

and secondly, because it is the eternal Spirit who

reveals Him.

Building on the Foundation

We come now to the next important practical

issue: if we have laid the foundation, how do we

proceed to build on it? You remember that the

metaphors we cited at the beginning of this study all

spoke about building. So the next vitally important

and practical issue is how to build on the foundation.

For this, I want to look at a well-known parable

of Jesus—a parable about the wise man and the

foolish man. Each of them built a house, but they

built it different ways.

“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 [the

bedrock, petra] : 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. But everyone who hears these

sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be

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like a foolish man who built his house on the

sand: and the rain descended, the floods came,

and the winds blew and beat on that house; and

it fell. And great was its fall.”

Matthew 7:24-27

First of all, it is important to see that each house

was subjected to the same test. Neither house was

free from being tested. The same storm that hit one

house hit the other. The Christian life is not a storm-

free life. We will go through storms. God has never

guaranteed that we will not. In fact, Paul and

Barnabas said to the early church, “We must

through many tribulations enter the kingdom of

God” (Acts 14:22). If we are on a road that has no

tribulation, it is questionable whether it leads to the

kingdom of God, because that is what Paul said.

It is not in the scope of this message to explain

why we go through tribulation but, believe me, God

has a purpose in it. If someone is going through it

now, don’t give up. God will bring you through and

you will find at the end that He has dealt with you

and taught you things you could not learn any other

way. I know that from personal experience.

The wise man builds in two ways: by hearing

and doing the words of Jesus, the words of the Bible.

How can we build on the foundation? In just the

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same way: by hearing what the Bible says and doing

it. We cannot be just a hearer only, because the

Bible has no promises for them, but only for the

hearer and doer. It is practical. It is applying the

teaching of the Bible and the teaching of Jesus in our

own lives. We find as we go on in this that God will

continually open up new areas in which we need to

apply the truth.

I have been a Christian now for more than fifty

years, but God is continually showing me new ways

in which to apply His Word—new areas of my life

in which I need to apply it. My building is not

complete; it is still being built. But I thank God it

has passed through a number of storms successfully.

Dig Deep

Another parable of Jesus is very similar, but

there is an important addition. Jesus says:

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and

do not do the things which I say?”

Luke 6:46

That is an important question. It is futile to call

Jesus “Lord” if you do not obey Him, because the

very title means someone who is to be obeyed. Jesus

wants us to beware of just having a vocal confession

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that does not affect the way we live. He goes on:

“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My

sayings and does them, I will show you whom he

is like:He is like a man building a house, who

dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

And when the flood arose, the stream beat

vehemently against that house, and could not

shake it, for it was founded on the rock” [the

bedrock, the petra] . But he who heard and did

nothing is like a man who built a house on the

earth without a foundation, against which the

stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell.

And the ruin of that house was great.”

verses 47-49

There is one important detail added in Luke

which is not in Matthew. I wonder how many

noticed it? It says the man who wanted to reach the

bedrock had to dig deep. He had to get a lot of things

out of the way before he could build on the bedrock.

That is also true with many of us. For most of us

who grew up in a nominal Christian culture, there

are a lot of hindrances and influences we must get

out of the way before we reach the bedrock. Others,

too, who have grown up in a completely non-

Christian culture will have to eliminate things, too,

but they will be different. I want to suggest five

hindrances that we need to dig out of the way.

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Tradition

Now, not all traditions are bad, some are good.

We do not want to throw out all tradition. However,

Jesus said to the people of His day, “You have made

the commandment of God of no effect by your

tradition” (Matthew 15:6). Even if we believe in

traditions and act on them, it does not mean they are

in line with the Scripture. According to my

observation, Jesus would say exactly the same thing

to the same Jewish people today. “By your

traditions you have made the Word of God of no

effect.” But let’s not just look at the Jews. This is

also true of many others of Christian backgrounds.

We have inherited traditions, ways of acting, things

we do, words we speak, which are not necessarily in

line with Scripture. So we must be very careful to

check these out.

Prejudice

The second hindrance we need to eliminate is

prejudice. There is really no one who has not had

some prejudice at one time or another. There are all

sorts of prejudices, such as racial prejudices.

Unfortunately, the world is full today of racial

prejudices. We know in countries like South Africa,

for instance, where racial prejudices eliminated

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certain people from being part of the church (where

there has been a wonderful change, let me add). A

terrible thought! But that is not the only area where

there is racial prejudice. The United States of

America has been full of racial prejudice and in

many places still is today.

I am from a British background so I know the

British people have their prejudices, too. I grew up

with many of them. I have had to dig deep to get rid

of them. My own family background is from India.

All my forbears served with British forces in India. I

remember as a boy of about twelve saying

innocently at a lunch, “I don’t see why you couldn’t

invite an Indian to lunch.” The reaction was one of

horror in my family. I thought, What is the reason

for this? Well, later on I realized that is prejudice.

Believe me, no matter what your racial background

is, very few people are free from all racial prejudice.

There is denominational prejudice. Most of us

react in a somewhat negative way to certain

denominations. My first wife Lydia, who is with the

Lord, was Danish. She grew up in the Danish

Lutheran Church and then she did something that

was terrible in their eyes, she was baptized as a

believer—which they call in Danish “a second-time

baptizer.” In her case, because she was a teacher in

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the Danish state school system, she actually went

before the Parliament so they could ascertain

whether or not she could remain a teacher. Lydia

continued to have a denominational prejudice with

the Lutheran Church really to the end of her days. I

do not justify that; I believe it was a weakness in

her.

When I hear about people belonging to a certain

denomination, I develop an attitude against them

without ever having met them. I think, " Well,

they’re going to be like that, and this is where

they’re wrong” and so on. Experience has taught

me, if possible, that I should never judge a person

till I have met them. I have met people from

“wrong” denominational backgrounds who are some

of the most “right” people I know. Also some who

were from the “right” background who were wrong.

So we must not give in to denominational prejudice.

Then there is social prejudice. Again, I am an

example of somebody brought up with social

prejudice, but I was not even aware of it. I just didn’t

know how the rest of the world lived. I was educated

in Britain at Eton and then at Cambridge University.

Then I got plunged into the British Army and I was

together with all sorts of people I never had been

together with. I began to realize how limited my

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knowledge of my own British people was. I thank

God for that experience, five and a half years in the

British Army; it cleansed me of a lot of social

prejudices. Having been from a family of officers, I

was used to being on that level, and when I was not

on that level I learned something. When you see

people from the same level, they look one way. But

when you see them from below they look different. I

have always tried to be sensitive to this, with the

Lord’s help.

There is also personal prejudice. Some people

do not like others who have loud voices. Some

people do not like people with red hair. There are all

sorts of silly, personal prejudices most of us have. I

have a prejudice against people who munch apples. I

really fight it, but the prejudice is still there in the

background because I just don’t like that noise.

Preconception

The third hindrance to get out of the way are

preconceptions. For instance, some people have a

completely false view of who Jesus is: gentle Jesus,

meek and mild, turning up at the Christmas party.

That is not the real Jesus. He was a very different

kind of person, very shocking, and prone to

eliminate our prejudices and preconceptions.

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There are many other ways we can have

preconceptions. For instance, preconceptions of

what it would be like to be a Christian. Growing up,

I thought to myself, If I were to become a Christian,

it would mean misery for the rest of my life. Like Pat

Boone, I thought, Heaven isn’t worth seventy years

of misery on earth! so I completely eliminated the

possibility of being a Christian—until I met Jesus.

Unbelief

A fourth hindrance—and something that is very

dangerous—is unbelief. Sometimes when I am going

to teach I will begin by getting everyone to renounce

unbelief, because many of us are still beset by

unbelief in various areas. Our minds are not really

open to faith.

Rebellion

Lastly, and I think the most important, is

rebellion. We might say, “I’m not a rebel.” Oh, yes,

we are! And if we have not yet discovered it, we will

go on being one. Every descendant of Adam is born

with a rebel inside. We have to identify that rebel

and deal with it. God has only got one remedy for

the rebel—and that is execution! God does not send

the rebel to church; He does not teach him the

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Golden Rule; and He does not have him memorize

Scripture. God puts him to death! But the mercy of

God is, the execution took place nearly two thousand

years ago when Jesus died on the cross. “Our old

man was crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). We

have to come to the place where we identify that

rebel inside us and willingly submit to execution.

The Word of God

Now I come to the Bible because this is as

important as anything else in the Christian life. What

is our attitude to the Bible? Is it the same as that of

Jesus? I just want to take one passage of John’s

gospel. Jesus said:

“If He [God] called them gods, to whom the

word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be

broken)...”

John 10:35

This is a very significant verse because in it

Jesus uses the two main titles for the Bible: the

“word of God” and “ the Scripture.” When He calls

the Bible “the Word of God,” it means that it

proceeded from God, not from man. It may have

come through human channels, but it is a word that

comes from God.

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The phrase “the Scripture” is a limiting phrase.

It means that which has been set down in writing.

God has said many things which are not set down in

writing. But by divine overruling the Bible contains

those things God said, which He saw needed to be

set down in writing. That is the Scripture—that

which is written.

Concerning that, Jesus made one, simple,

sweeping statement: “The Scripture cannot be

broken.” We can argue as much as we like about the

inspiration of the Bible or the authority of the Bible,

but Jesus has said it all: It cannot be broken. It is

absolutely authoritative. It will be totally fulfilled.

Everything in it will be exactly worked out. We can

take a stand against it and deny it, but we cannot

break it. In fact, if we deny it, ultimately it will

break us. The Scripture cannot be broken.

There is a type of study called “higher

criticism,” which subjects the Scriptures to all sorts

of ridiculous fantasies and ends up by making it a

totally ineffective book. If there is one thing the

devil wants to do in our lives, it is to undermine our

faith in the authority and accuracy of the Bible. But,

if we are like Jesus, we simply say, “The Scripture

cannot be broken.”

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Jesus Is the Word

Not only is the Bible the Word of God, but Jesus

Himself is the Word of God. This comes out in

John’s gospel in two places:

In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

And the Word became flesh and dwelt

among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as

of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace

and truth.

John 1:14

That refers to Jesus. He was the Word, He is the

Word. When Jesus was born, the Word became

flesh. But He always was the Word. Eternally He

was the Word with God.

When He comes back, how is He coming back?

What will His name be? This is a picture of Jesus

coming out of heaven in glory to establish His

kingdom on earth.

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a

white horse. And He who sat on him was called

Faithful and True, and in righteousness He

judges and makes war. His eyes were like a

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flame of fire, and on His head were many

crowns [diadems, royal crowns]. He had a name

written that no one knew except Himself. He was

clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His

name is called The Word of God.

Revelation 19:11-13

This is truly remarkable in the sense that when

He first came He was the Word, and when He comes

back He will be the Word. He always was the Word,

still is the Word and will be the Word.

That brings out something very important. There

is total agreement between Jesus and the Bible. Our

attitude toward one is the attitude toward the other.

We cannot believe in Jesus and disbelieve the Bible.

Can we absorb that fact? Jesus is the Word of God—

He is the Word made flesh. The Bible is the Word in

Scripture, or in writing. Our attitude toward the one

must be the same as our attitude toward the other.

There is total agreement between the two.

Five Vital Facts

I would now like to examine five vital facts

about the Word of God and our relationship to it,

which are contained in John’s gospel, in just three

verses. Jesus is, in a sense, taking farewell of His

disciples. He is warning them that He is about to

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leave and they will be left on their own for a while.

It is a very traumatic time for the disciples; they are

overwhelmed with this revelation. But in the middle

of it, Jesus gives a marvelous revelation of what the

Bible should mean to us as believers. He says:

“A little while longer and the world will see

Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live,

you will live also.”

John 14:19

Jesus made a distinction there between the world

—those who do not acknowledge Jesus—and His

own disciples. He said the world would not see Him

but the disciples would.

Then Judas asked Him a very relevant question:

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord,

how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us,

and not to the world?”

verse 22

The answer Jesus gave is just full of important

truth.

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone

loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father

will love him, and We will come to him and make

Our home with him.”

verse 23

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I want to bring out five vitally important facts in

the answer of Jesus. First of all, Jesus said He would

reveal Himself to His disciples, not to the world.

What is the distinguishing mark between the

disciples and the world? The answer is keeping the

Word of God. True disciples keep the Word of

Jesus. They are not marked out by denominational

labels; they are marked out by the way they relate to

the Word. That is what makes us, or otherwise

prevents us, from being true disciples. It is our

relationship to the Word of God. Keeping God’s

Word distinguishes disciples from the world.

In every congregation every one of us is in one

or other of those two categories. If we are disciples,

we keep the Word of God. If we do not keep the

Word, we belong to the world—the world that is not

under the Lordship of Jesus.

The second truth is, Jesus said, “If anyone loves

Me, he will keep My Word.” So, keeping God’s

Word is the supreme test of the disciple’s love for

God. Love is the motivation for obedience.

It is very important to understand that, as

believers, we are not motivated by fear; we are

motivated by love. In a certain sense, the Law used

the motivation of fear: “If you do this, you will be

punished.” But that does not work. I have helped to

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Founded on the Rock

raise a large number of children. I discovered that

while children are under your control as a parent,

you can use fear—but once they leave you, if they

were motivated by fear, they will change. The only

motivation that will keep them loyal and faithful is

love. God and Jesus were wise enough not to build

on fear but to build on love. Keeping God’s Word is

the supreme test of the disciple’s love for God. Love

is the motivation for obedience.

Then Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will

keep My Word, and My Father will love him.” That

is another wonderful fact. Keeping God’s Word is

what causes God the Father to love us with a special

love. God loves the whole world in a certain way.

But God has a very different degree and kind of

love for true disciples of Jesus, for those who keep

His Word.

Looking back to the question that Judas asked,

“How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and

not to the world?” we see Jesus’ answer was, “If

anybody loves Me, he will keep My Word.” So, how

does Christ manifest Himself to us? Through the

Word. It is through the keeping of the Word that we

get to know Jesus better. We could perhaps have

some wonderful, spiritual experience—being caught

up to the third heaven or something. But that does

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Founded on the Rock

not happen to most people and it is not the basic way

by which God reveals Himself and Jesus reveals

Himself. It is through keeping the Word of God.

Finally, and this is an amazing statement: “If

anyone loves Me... My Father will love him, and We

will come to him and make Our home with him.”

There are only a very few places in the Bible where

the plural pronoun is used about God, but this is one

of them. Jesus says We—My Father and I—will

come to him and make our home with him. That is a

breathtaking statement, an amazing revelation that

God the Father and God the Son want to come and

make their dwelling with us. They want to make us

their personal abode. But how does it come about?

Through the Word. If we are not lovers of the Word,

if we are not obedient to the Word, God will not

make His dwelling place with us.

Let me say this as I close, and it is a very solemn

thought: We do not love God more than we love His

Word. So if we want to know how much we really

love God, how much place God has in our life, we

can find out. It is not something we need to

speculate about. Just ask yourself these questions:

How much do I love the Bible? How much place

does the Bible have in my life? Because that is as

much as you love God and that is as much place as

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Founded on the Rock

you give to God in your life.

Let me summarize those five statements about

the Bible because they are crucial. So many

Christians are in a kind of twilight zone, they do not

really know what is light and what is darkness. They

wish and they hope, but they are not really sure. It is

because they have not given the Word of God its

rightful place in their lives.

1. Keeping God’s Word distinguishes true disciples

from the world.

2. Keeping God’s Word is the supreme test of the

disciple’s love for God. Love is our motivation

for obedience, not fear.

3. Keeping God’s Word is the supreme cause of

God’s love for the disciple. God loves disciples

in a special way. He loves the whole world, but

He has a special love for disciple. But, those

whom He loves as disciples are those who keep

God’s Word. If we want to be specially dear to

God, then we have to keep His Word.

4. Through God’s Word, kept and obeyed, Christ

manifests Himself to us. The question was,

“How will You manifest Yourself to us, and not

to the world?” Jesus said, “If you love Me, you

will keep My Word. That is how I will manifest

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Founded on the Rock

Myself.”

5. Finally, through God’s Word, the Father and the

Son will come together to indwell us. That is an

amazing thought that just takes my breath away.

God the Father and God the Son want to make

their dwelling with us. But they will only do it as

we keep God’s Word.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word—

the Word of God, the Bible. This sure, authoritative,

infallible Word is a lamp for our feet and a light for

our path. I pray, Lord, for everyone who ultimately

is confronted by this message, that You will cause us

to be lovers of Your Word. That You, by Your

grace, will enable us to give Your Word, the Bible,

its rightful place in our lives that we may be truly

disciples of the Lord Jesus.

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About the Author

Derek Prince (1915-2003) was born in India of

British parents. Educated as a scholar of Greek and

Latin at Eton College and Cambridge University,

England, he held a Fellowship in Ancient and

Modern Philosophy at King’s College. He also

studied several modern languages, including Hebrew

and Aramaic, at Cambridge University and the

Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

While serving with the British army in World

War II, he began to study the Bible and experienced

a life- changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Out of

this encounter he formed two conclusions: first, that

Jesus Christ is alive; second, that the Bible is a true,

relevant, up-to-date book. These conclusions altered

the whole course of his life, which he then devoted

to studying and teaching the Bible.

Derek’s main gift of explaining the Bible and its

teaching in a clear and simple way has helped build

a foundation of faith in millions of lives. His non-

denominational, non-sectarian approach has made

his teaching equally relevant and helpful to people

from all racial and religious backgrounds.

He is the author of over 50 books, 500 audio and

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Founded on the Rock

140 video teaching cassettes, many of which have

been translated and published in more than 60

languages. His daily radio broadcast, Derek Prince

Legacy Radio (known as Keys to Successful Living

in some countries), is translated into Arabic, Chinese

(Amoy, Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghaiese,

Swatow), Croatian, German, Malagasy, Mongolian,

Russian, Samoan, Spanish and Tongan. The radio

program continues to touch lives around the world.

Derek Prince Ministries

P. O. Box 1950 1 • Charlotte, NC 25219

Tel: 704-357-3556 • www.derekprince.org

40

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Document Outline

- Founded on the Rock

- 1 Founded on the Rock

- The Christian Life—A Building

- The Foundation Is Jesus

- Encountering Jesus

- What About Today?

- Building on the Foundation

- Dig Deep

- Tradition

- Prejudice

- Preconception

- Unbelief

- Rebellion

- The Word of God

- Jesus Is the Word

- Five Vital Facts

- About the Author

Table of Contents

Founded on the Rock

1 Founded on the Rock

The Foundation Is Jesus

Encountering Jesus

What About Today?

Building on the Foundation

Dig Deep

Tradition

Preconception

Unbelief

The Word of God

Jesus Is the Word

Five Vital Facts

About the Author