I want you to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Psalms, chapter 11. I'm going to speak this morning
on this subject, the foundations of God. foundations of God. And here's our text. Psalm 11,
verse 1. In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, flee as
a bird to your mountain. That's when David was running
from Saul, hiding from him. And that's what he's writing
here. Don't say flee as a bird to your mountain. But that's
where David ran. He ran from Saul for a good while. Verse 2, For lo, the wicked bend
their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the stream, that they
may, in the darkness, hiding shoot at the upright in heart.
David says, they're chasing me, running me down. They're trying
to shoot from the secret places and kill me. And I'm not going
to flee. I'm going to turn to God. If
the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The foundations be destroyed. Now, the civil foundations of
this nation the United States of America, the civil foundations
of this nation are three, our Declaration of Independence,
our bylaws, and our Constitution. Now, if those three foundations
are gone, we're in trouble, deep, deep trouble. If the foundations
be destroyed, what can the people of America do? Now here's what
I'm preaching about. The foundations of God will never
be destroyed. They can't be destroyed. Paul
said, nevertheless, the foundations of God standeth sure. The foundations of God are steady. The foundations of God are eternal. Having this seal, this is the
seal of the foundations of God, The Lord knoweth them that are
his. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, and let every man and woman that names the name of Christ depart from
iniquity." So the foundations of God are not going to be destroyed. The foundations of God are sure. and steadfast and eternal. Now watch verse four. Why will
the foundations of God never be destroyed? Why are we not
troubled? The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord God is in His holy temple. And the Lord's throne is in the
heavens. You know, God said to Solomon,
you going to build me a house? You gonna build me a house? The
heaven of heaven won't contain me, and the earth's my footstool. Our God's in the heavens. He's
in His holy temple and in His throne. And His eyes, watch this
verse in verse 40, His eyes behold. What do His eyes behold? His
people. His people, the eyes of the Lord
behold His people. He's omnipotent. Almighty. He's omnipresent. What did Hagar
say? Thou God seest me. His eyes upon
every one of us right now. Last night, I saw something I've
never seen before. Andy and Gabe and I were looking
at his laptop computer. And he said, I'm going to show
you something. I've never seen this before. And so they touched
that thing, rode in it, you know, and then they saw a picture of
the whole United States. And then they narrowed it down
to Kentucky, honestly. And then they narrowed it down
to Ashland. And then they narrowed it down
to my house. That's a picture of the house
where Doris and I live. 39 years. And they saw my trees and my
bushes are planted and all these things. You talk about the Lord
in His holy temples, His thrones in the heaven, His eyes behold,
not only where you live, but you and me, and we'll think about
that. That stunned me. They even showed
me the house where we raised our children across the street.
So does the basketball goal where my kids used to shoot. God sees
all things. That's right. And what's in it?
And His eyelids try the children of men. He not only sees us,
loves us, beholds us, He tries us. That's right. He tries us. That's right. Every one of us
go through trials and troubles. I had a dear friend, a preacher
friend, that when he was in his late 60s got cancer. And he gave me a verse of scripture. It says in Job, I'll just quote
it to you. He read this to me from the book
of Job. God knows the way I take. God knows the way I take. He
knows where I am. who I am, and when He's tried
me, I'm going to come forth like gold. And that's what this is
saying. Lord, the foundations of God
stand sure, having this seen. He knows His people. He sees
His people. He's aware of every thought of
your heart before you think it, and your words before you speak
them. He knows the way I take it, because
He planned it. keep planting. And when I've
been trying, I'm going to come forth like gold. Now we're going
to talk about these foundations. I told you that America has three
foundations, that if they're destroyed, we're goners. The
Declaration of Independence, our bylaws, and our Constitution. If that's gone, we're gone. But
God has three foundations. solid three broad facts that
every one of us will have to look into. And here they are.
Here's the foundation of God. The first one is the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. That's the first foundation.
Let me quote this to you. For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. That's God's foundation. That's
the first foundation. And listen to this verse. Isaiah
wrote, Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone, a tribestone, a precious cornerstone, and a
sure and he that believeth on him
will never make haste." Now let's talk about our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the sure foundation. He's
the triad stone. He's the blessed cornerstone,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, if Christianity, as some
skeptics and agnostics say, if Christianity is only the invention
of men, If Christianity, as somebody said one time, is an opium, is
an opium for the people, if Christianity is only a desire for a happy
hunting ground, how do you explain Jesus Christ? How do you explain his existence,
his existence in history? Men cannot deny. He did live. He came to this earth. He was
born of a woman. He was laid in a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ walked this earth. He died on a Roman cross. You
know that and I know that. Everybody knows that. And all
his disciples said he rose again. He was a Jew. He was an Israelite. He came from the tribe of Judah, a nation of people that were
no more. That's right. The Israelites,
the Jews, were under the heel of the Roman Empire. Their nation
was gone. Their land was gone. They were
slaves to Rome. But he left a mark. This Jesus
of Nazareth, this Jew, this Israelite, this man from the tribe of Judah,
he left a mark on this world. He left a mark as no other person
that's ever lived in all of this world. Who is he? Where'd he came from? Where'd
he come from? What is he to you? But I tell
you, he's the Christ. the Son of the Living God. Now
let me tell you this. Listen real carefully to this.
There have been many prophets. He's a prophet. There have been
many priests. He was a priest. There have been
many messiahs. He's the messiah. There have
been many religious leaders. And there are many gods. Capital
G or little letter G-O-D. Let me show you how he's different,
this Jesus of Nazareth. Let me show you how different
he is from all these Reformers and Messiahs and Prophets and
Priests and Gods that have ever lived in this old world. How
is he different? Number one, all of the Messiahs
and the Reformers and the Prophets came to earth to live. he came
to die. For this cause came either this
or that. Every one of them, all these
folks, came to live. He came for one purpose, to die
on that cross. Number two, all other prophets
and messiahs and reformers leave their monuments, and they leave
their memoirs, and they leave their gravesites, But nobody
can find the place where he was born. That's right. They can't find him. They go
to different places, but they can't find him. They cannot find
his death site, the place where his cross hung, where his cross
stood, and they cannot find his grave, because he's not here. He's risen. And all other Messiahs—listen
to this—all other Messiahs write books. There's no end to the
making of books. Everybody writes books and most
people don't read them. But everybody writes books and
memoirs. He wrote on the sand. You don't
have his handwriting anywhere except in the sand and on your
heart. He writes on our hearts. All
these messiahs and reformers choose their followers. They're
very particular about picking out the rich, the powerful, the
influential. All of them do. They get their
followers. Our Lord chose the poor, the
despised, and the weak. He chose the weak things of the
world to confound the mighty. All the messiahs and the prophets
and the reformers seek the help of people who can help them.
They round up all the people they can to push them and promote
them. He said, you come to me, all
ye that labor in heavy labor, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, learn of me, and you'll find rest. How is he different? All the
Messiahs and the prophets and the reformers promise to their
people, promise to their followers, happiness, success, riches. Our Lord said to his followers,
in this world you'll have tribulation and troubles, but be of good
cheer. I've overcome this world. I found a poem. Let's see if
I can quote it. I walked a mile with pleasure,
and he chattered all the way. But I was none the wiser for
all that he had to say. But I walked a mile with sorrow. Not a word, said he, but, oh,
the things I learned from sorrow when sorrow walked with me."
That's the difference. That's what our Lord said. In
this world, you're going to have tribulation. trouble, but you'll
be good children. I've overcome this world, and
all these things that Mac read about a while ago is our hope,
joy, and prayer. All of us—let me keep on talking,
keep on with it—all these Messiahs and these prophets and these
Reformers hold their followers with fear, hold their followers
with force. hold their followers with love,
do this and do that. Our Lord said to his twelve disciples,
will you go away? If you want to go away, you can.
But when I'm said to him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the word for the eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. and all the reformers have palaces
and headquarters and mansions, the son of man hath not where
to lay his head. The soldiers even gamble for
his only possession, his robe, his robe. I tell you this, what
he owned, the thorny crown that he wore and the cross that he
bore, they were his own, and they were mine. All of the Psalms
and the reformers of this world, they reward their followers. They reward their followers with
great titles. Doctors, priests, they give recognition
to their followers. Our Lord said, listen, whosoever
would be chief among you, let him be your servant. And all these prophets and messiahs
and these reformers, they say, follow me, I'll show you the
way. He said to his people, I am the
way. I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. All the messiahs and prophets
of this world, they claim to be messengers of God. He said,
I am God. I am a father of one, and he
that seeth me seeth not. And all the messiahs and prophets
of this world, they die. And you know what? They stay
there. They stay there. You can go visit their graves.
But our Lord Jesus Christ arose. And the angels came and said,
you seek Jesus who was crucified? He's not here. He's not living. He's not. He's not here. He's not in the grave. He's alive. I tell you this. All these things
that I've given you this morning, a person cannot be neutral about
Jesus Christ and about all the other religious reformers or
messiahs or whomever comes along. A person cannot be indifferent
to this person. He is all that he said he is,
or he's an imposter. What say you? The foundation
of God standeth sure, tridestone, precious cornerstone. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid Jesus Christ the Lord. What say you? I say this, Thou
art the Christ, Thou art indeed the Christ, the Son of the living
God, the Son of the living God, and I will confess Him. before
the Father, before all men, and before this congregation this
morning. I confess that I believe Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And whosoever believeth in Him
hath everlasting life. All right, here's the second
foundation. Here's the second foundation. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the first foundation. The second foundation I hold
it right here in my hand, this Bible, this Word of God, the
Holy Scriptures. If Christianity is a myth, if
it's a myth, if Christianity is the invention of men, if Christianity
has no divine authority, how can you explain this book? Your
pastor brought several thoughts on this, I believe, Wednesday
night. But this book, this holy word
of God, has endured the test of time. The first person who
wrote in this book was Moses 3,500 years ago. Where are the
books of men written even a thousand years ago? And the last person
to write in this book was John. on the Isle of Patmos just 2,000
years ago. So over a period of 1,500 years,
3,500 B.C., up until 2,000, there were 40 men. God used 40 men
to write these words. They were not authors. They were not scholars. They were not literary giants.
They were plain men who knew God and who knew his Son. Moses wrote of me, Christ said. Abraham saw my day and he was
glad. So this book has endured all
the years and years and years of time. It's still here. And what's this? This book has
endured the test, not only of time, but the test of change. A lot of change. You know, I'm
82 years old and born 1926, and I've seen some change. Oh, changing. You're talking about changes.
My, my, my. Changes over 6,000 years. But
I tell you this. But this has endured, this book
has endured the test of change over these numbers of years.
Most of these men who wrote didn't know each other. They never met
each other. And yet, you know what they came
up with, as God gave them understanding? Came up with one message. One
message. Came up with one great story
about Him who loved us. and gave himself for us, and
he came up with one gospel, the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the pastor said the other
night, in the book of Genesis, in the book of Genesis, who were
they writing about? The woman's seed. In the book
of Exodus, who were they writing about? The Passover lamb. In
the book of Leviticus, what were they writing about? The great
atonement. In the book of Numbers, the brazen
serpent. In the book of Deuteronomy, the
city of refuge. All of these men said the same
thing. The book of Joshua, Rahab's scarlet lion. The book of Ruth,
my kinsman redeemer. The book of Psalms, the Lord's
my shepherd. And the book of Isaiah, he's
a just God. Turn to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy
chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15, 2 Timothy 3, 15. Listen to this. And Paul wrote
to young Timothy, from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make you wise unto salvation. through faith
which is in Jesus Christ. All Scripture, from Genesis to
Revelation, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be
perfect, truly punished under good works. This book has endured
the test of time. It's endured the test of change. Still the same story. Tell me
the old, old story. Right on my heart, every word.
The old story. And what's this? It's endured
the test of time, of change, and of alteration. Yes, sir. No human alteration. This is
the same Holy Word of God that Moses wrote. It's the same Holy
Word of God that Isaiah wrote. It's the same Holy Word of God
that John, James, and Peter wrote. It's the truth about God. God
tells the truth about himself. And it's the truth about you
and me. God tells the truth about me.
Man doesn't tell the truth about himself, but God does. God's
Word tells the truth about me, can't hide it. And I'll tell
you this, the Scripture's profound, yet it's simple. For those who
understand it, for those who love it, it's simple. It's the
simplicity of Christ, yet it's so profound, it's unspeakable,
unsearchable. This Word is mysterious. All the way through it talks
about the mystery of God, and yet it's plain as a nose on your
face. Once you read it, once you see
it, once God reveals it to you, and it's hidden from the wise
and the prudent that He revealed it to us. He taught me. He taught you three broad facts. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word
of God, this scripture right here that we hold in our hands.
It's been translated. Listen, it's written in Hebrew,
as Paul said the other night, written in Hebrew, a dead language. It's been translated in over
a hundred different languages. That's right. Translated. And
yet it didn't lose its truth. Brother Walter Gruber uses a
Spanish Bible, translated from this Bible. And he got Walter
to sit down with me one day. And it's a better translation
than the King James. I mean, it's powerful, truthful.
Martin Luther, Almighty God put him under arrest. The Roman Catholic
Church is going to kill him. And a friend of his hid him in
a castle, a German castle. Luther was a German, you know. They hid him for eight months. And you know what he did while
he was hidden for eight months, how God put him in that castle?
Nobody saw him or heard from him except the people that fed
him. He translated the Word of God into German. That's what
God did, put him there to translate the word of God into the church.
One of the finest translations known to man. That's right. The
King James, the French translation, the Spanish translation, the
Heidelberg translation, all of them beautifully taught about
our Lord Jesus Christ. The infallible scriptures. And
then the third foundation. or Jesus Christ, the foundation
of God stands sure, the scriptures stand assured. And the third
is the grace of God, the grace of God which convicts and converts
a lost sinner from the error of his ways and saves a lost
soul and hides a multitude of sins. That's right, this grace,
this grace. Six hundred years ago, God raised
up some men. Six hundred years ago. This is
when Catholicism reigned the whole world. The whole world
was under Catholic domination and reign. The whole world. And
six hundred years ago, God chose some men from England and Scotland
and Germany and France and Switzerland. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli,
all these fellows, God chosen, and they printed the Bible. They printed the Bible and they
preached the gospel. And this was their message. This
was the message of those men in the days of the Reformation.
Christ alone, the Scriptures alone, grace alone. Grace alone. Christ alone, not law, not ceremony,
not idols, Christ the substitute. The scriptures alone, not customs,
not ceremonies, not decrees of churches and popes. Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God. And then the grace of God alone.
For by grace, it's what we read a while ago, are you saved through
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should focus
with his workmanship. Created by the grace of God unto
good works that we might walk in them. This Reformation that
these men, God raised them up, they knew one another. God raised
them up. gave us the liberty and freedom
we have in this day. That's right. This Reformation
found people steeped in ignorance and left them knowing God. This
Reformation 600 years ago found people without Bibles, and after
a while there's a Bible in every home. This Reformation found
people in superstitious darkness and left them in the light of
Christ, in the liberty of Christ, in the freedom of Christ. This
Reformation found people priest-risen, priest-ridden. That's right.
The priests controlled them, absolutely controlled these people.
And this Reformation left them, left them in the light of the
liberty of Jesus Christ, free, set free from the bondage of
the law. This Reformation found people
slaves of sin and slaves of law and left them walking with God
like Enoch of old. This Reformation found people
strangers to the grace of God and left them rejoicing in eternal
life. Oh, the great Reformation. How much we owe to those people. I'm a debtor, Paul said, to all
men. This Bible I'm holding in my
hand was translated by one of those men. Translated,
lifted out of Hebrew and Greek and put in English. That's right. I was sitting in my study one
Tuesday morning, and a fellow came in the door.
I looked up and there stood a young man, a young married man. Oh, I'd say he was about 25,
26 then. And he said, You Reverend Mahan?
I said, Yes, sir. He said, I want to talk to you.
He said, Several months ago, my wife and I got in trouble
because we didn't go to church and didn't know God and weren't
saved. And he said, so I bought me a
Bible. And he said, I sat down and started studying it. And
I started studying in Genesis. And then I read Exodus. Time
I got through Exodus, I called my wife and I said, honey, if
we're going to be saved, we got to have a lamb. I've seen it
here all the way through these books. We got a lamb, got to
have a lamb. She said, we don't have a lamb.
He said, we got to have a lamb. I have a sacrifice. And he said,
Brother man, he said, you preached last Sunday morning on television
and I heard you. And I was sitting down and turned
on the television and you came on and you said now this morning,
I'm going to bring you a message on behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. He said, I hollered to my wife,
Kathy, get in here. This man's going to tell me who
the lamb is. Bless your heart. I told him, he said, you told
me who that lamb is. He said, this was Tuesday morning.
He said, you're going to preach here Wednesday night. I said,
Lord, really? He said, I'll be here. And he
was, she was, and he listened and he listened and God saved
him. God, the word, the word, the
grace of God entered his heart and he started studying. He became
a, he became a student of the word. stood to the word and became
a preacher and preached the gospel. Right now he lives up in Kentucky
and he preaches and loves the gospel. I'll tell you three great
foundations. One, Christ the Lord. Number
two, the word of God. Number three, the grace of God. The grace of God converts a man,
changes a man. makes him a new creature in Christ.
And like you taught us this morning, that faith is the gift of God,
and it's the work of God, and it makes you do the work of God.
That's right. I want to close my message with
reading that scripture Mike read for us a while ago. This is our
hope, the hope the realization of what God has given us in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read it again, and then
Brother Gage won't leave us in a song. Revelation 7, verse 9. And this, after this I beheld,
and a glow of great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, kindreds, people, The doves stood before the throne,
before the Lamb, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and
palms in His hand, in their hand. And they cried with a loud voice,
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb. And all the angels stood around
about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts. And
they fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. And they said, Amen. Blessing
and glory and honor, thanksgiving, honor and power and might be
unto our God forever and forever. And one of the elders said, answered,
saying, what are these who arrayed in white robes, and whence came
they? And I said, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them, and they will hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat by the Lamb. There's our Lamb, the Lamb of
God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb, which is in the midst
of the throne, shall feed them, shall lead them unto the living
house of the Father. And bless your heart, God's going
to wipe away all tears from your eyes. The foundation of God's
plan is sure to have this sealed. The Lord knoweth His eyes is
upon them, and His eyelids are upon them, safe and sure. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You, Lord, that You've
been pleased to reveal this Word to our hearts. You've been pleased
to write it on our hearts. You've been pleased to make us
hear it, read it, rejoice in it, and love it. We thank You. I pray you'd bless the message
to the hearts of our people and wherever it may be preached again.
We ask you to bless your word. We thank you for our dear pastor.
We thank you for his opportunity to have a time of rest and enjoyment. And we pray for him that you
would bring him safely home to us. Continue his ministry here
for years to come. Thank you, Lord, for people that
you raised up here who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who love your
word, and love your wonderful, wonderful grace. We thank you
for them so much. We praise your name. And we pray
for our friends who are going through trials and difficulties. We pray for Marvin Stoniker We
pray, Lord, for Jack Shanks. We pray for Scott Richardson
and these faithful men through the years who've preached your
word. We pray for them. We ask you, Lord, to bless Marvin
tomorrow when he meets with the doctor and give the doctor wisdom
and skill. But we know who our great physician
is, our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the praise
forever. Amen. Okay.