Building on the Rock

Luke 6:46-49 (ESV)
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? [47] Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: [48] he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. [49] But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,” and not do what I tell you. One is reminded of Matthew when Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' [23] And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV
Lord, Lord, and we will do anything in his name but what he asks. We won’t listen to him. The tendency is to praise Jesus, and thereby never give him the time of day. Too often we try to overshadow his cross with our own works, with our own suffering. We will prophesy in his name. You see it on the T.V. day in and day out. People praise him. People use his name to sell all sorts of junk. People use his name, but do they listen to him?
Those who listen to Jesus, well they hear his words, forgiveness works through them. It permeates their lives. They realize there is salvation nowhere else but in his name. To build your house, your salvation upon your own works, is to build on sand. But when you rely on Jesus for your salvation, when you look to him for forgiveness, then your house is built on the Rock, Jesus Christ.