In Matthew 7:22,23 Jesus has warned false prophets and false parishioners of their fate.  He specifically warns them that in failing to obey His Law (iniquity) they are sinning (1 Jn. 3:4).  Sin, the Apostle Paul tells us, produces death.  But before physical life-ending death comes to the sinner, other forms of “death” will plague his/her life until physical death occurs.  He addresses these different types of “death” in verses 24-27 by comparing the lives of those who obey His Law and those who refuse to do so.

“Therefore, whosoever, hears my Words (Genesis to Revelation–summarized in the Ten Commandments), and does (works, obeys, keeps) them, will be like a wise man who builds his house (lives his life) upon a rock (THE Rock–Jesus, meaning he obeys His Words), and the rains and floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it did not fall because it was founded upon THE Words of THE ROCK.  And every one who hears my Words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house upon the sand.  And the rains came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Notice that both men built houses that were meant to be permanent, comfortable, structurally sound, fit for them and their families to occupy safely.  Note also that the same rain, flood and wind hit both houses.  Everyone has “rains, floods and winds” in their lives.  Sickness, disease and other types of problems are common in the lives of all people regardless of the their spiritual condition.  A rock is ONE ENTITY IN ONE SHAPE.  Sand, on the other hand, is many entities of varying shapes.  I once “happened to see” a magnified picture of hundreds of tiny objects of various shapes.  As far as I could tell, no two of them were exactly alike.  The picture was in a magazine that I do not read.  I “just happened” to be in a situation in which I saw the picture.  The caption above it asked the viewer to identify the objects.  I could not.  I showed my sociology classes the picture and not one student could identify them.  THEY WERE GRAINS OF SAND.  This was another of the Lord’s “accidental happenings.”  I realized immediately that He was teaching me something to use in the ministry.  Sand is nothing more than tiny rocks.  The grains (rocks) were in so many different shapes that they could not possibly fit together so as to become one solid rock.  For this reason water and wind can easily change the form into which sand has been shaped by forces outside itself (wind, water, man, animals, insects, rodents, serpents, worms, etc.).  This makes it totally unstable.  The Lord was showing me why He used sand to describe the church foundations formed by man that can be shaped into whatever form man wants it to be.  The Catholics have one form, possibly two: traditional and progressive.  The Protestants have hundreds of foundations, the shape of the foundation depends on which cult is being discussed.  The various shapes are all unstable, changeable and therefore cannot be the foundation of God’s church which has only ONE Foundation–His Words.

As stated concerning Christ’s foundation statements, both men are involved in various winds, floods and storms in this life.  The difference is that the wise man who built his spiritual life on the Words of Jesus Christ–the Rock–will not suffer as will the foolish man whose spiritual life is built on a foundation of church sand–heathen doctrines and practices.  As a result of his rejection of the Lord’s Word, the foolish man’s house will fall, and great will be the fall of it.  Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 for a detailed teaching on this subject.

Notice in both the Old and New Testament references that the one thing that determines whether one’s “house” stands or falls when rough times arrive is THE DOING OR NOT DOING OF “THESE SAYINGS OF MINE,” which He calls His LAW.   L.J.