Houses of Sand

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

The problem with the doctrines and structures of men is that they are built on sand and not rock.

I've told that to a man before indicating that the words of Paul were not the foundation or pattern for marriage and family and he pointed out to me that the words of the apostles and the prophets were the foundation of the church, and I believe there is a scripture to back that up.

HOWEVER, looking at these verses in Matthew seven more closely, I see that the words of Jesus are even DEEPER than the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. They are the bedrock that the foundation is built on.

And men who teach false doctrine are guilty of building their doctrinal houses on sand, or their false view of Jesus. Perhaps they are applying the words of Peter or Paul as the foundation, but still their foundation is built on sand.

You have to START with an understanding of who Jesus is and what He expects. You CANNOT assume you know and start building with the Epistles of Peter and Paul. Even their words, the very words of the apostles, are worthless without the bedrock of knowing Jesus.

Ignoring the words of Jesus to obey a warped understanding of Paul is not the Gospel. It is picking and choosing words from a book on which to build a religion devoid of God or any understanding of Him.

This is why you make sure you put first things first and listen to the Voice of the Shepherd first and foremost before the voices of the under shepherds.