Matthew 7:24

Finally, the seventh section puts the seal on Christ's teachings. His perfect words are a rock foundation for anyone who builds on them. When the final storms come, that building will not be overthrown. This is the seal eternity will set upon Christ's word. Meanwhile, the authority of the Speaker shines through His decisive, unmatched sayings. This is the present seal: "He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes."

It is true that hearing is not enough. It is "everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them." In Luke it is, "Everyone who comes to me," and so on. The coming would speak of faith… It shows that if there is only hearing and no doing, the root of the matter is not there… Hearing, with the doing as well, supposes reality. Nothing but reality will do for God. Here it is clearly reality in contrast with mere profession.

He explains what really matters in the lives of those who call themselves His disciples: not only to hear His words but also to do them. The words of James often remind us of what the Lord Jesus says here: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

The parable does not teach salvation by works, but salvation by that living faith which leads to the works. Look back over the Sermon on the Mount. We see at once that nothing but genuine faith in Him could lead anyone to do the things He taught.

Now for the stability of a house the foundation matters most. If the foundation is not firm, it makes no difference how well the house is built. It will go down with the foundation. Christ and His words are here the rock that lasts; everything else, whatever it may be, is only sand. The one who puts His sayings into practice in a living way will build a house that survives the storm.

The rock on which a wise man builds the "house" of his life is Christ. He is the rock that went with the people of Israel through the wilderness. He is the rock on which His church is built. He is the living stone we come to when we believe in Him. And here at the end of the Sermon on the Mount He is also the unshakeable foundation of the practical life of faith. When the wise man builds the house of his life on the rock Jesus Christ, it does not fall but stands for ever. It means he directs his life by the Lord Jesus and His word. That is the only way we can prove our love for Him.

Often only a crisis shows whether a house stands on a solid foundation or not. At first glance a house may look as if it stands on firm ground. But a storm can prove otherwise.

Heaven is silent today: no bolts of fire come down from there to drive the guilty into eternal misery. But before long a real hurricane of divine wrath will break out. It will show beyond dispute where people really stand. Every unreal structure will then topple and fall. The finest moral and religious appearance will not shield you from judgement if you have not trusted, as a lost sinner, in the Saviour and in His precious blood.