We turn back to the 11th Psalm. I made the mention just a minute
ago about the Bibles. If anybody wants, can somebody
raise their hand if they want to buy one of those? Because
I'm going to order theirs. All right. One, two, three, four. I'm just going to order like
25. And if anybody wants to buy them, there they are. Like I
said, I feel totally awkward doing that. It's like I'm a Bible
salesman. I'm not. But this is a very good
Bible. I've been using it for a long
time. And Psalm 11. I've entitled this message, If
the Foundations Be Destroyed. Verse 11 once again, If the foundations
be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Now the word if is a hypothetical
if. It's the same if that Paul used
when he said, if Christ be not risen. And then he speaks of the disastrous
results that would take place as a result of Christ being not
risen. It's the same if that the writer
to the Hebrews used when he said, if these shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance is impossible. if these shall
fall away. He's making a hypothetical situation
and giving us the disastrous results if that is what takes
place. If the foundations be destroyed,
now thank God they can't be. Thank God they can't be. But
if they could, what would the righteous do? While it's true
that all man-made foundations will be destroyed, the foundation
of God cannot be destroyed. But if they could, what would
the righteous do? Now I'd like to read this 11th
Psalm, and I want us to notice that David speaks of the righteous
and the wicked. Everybody is in one of those
two groups, the righteous and the wicked. Before God this morning,
right now, I'm either righteous or I'm wicked. And I love saying
this. All of the righteous, without
any exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous if everything's in order. Verse 1, David says, In the Lord
put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, flee as
a bird to your mountain? For lo, the wicked bend their
bow. They make ready their arrow upon
the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold His eyelids try
the children of men. The Lord's looking at me and
you right now, trying us. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Why thought God loved everybody?
No, he doesn't. The wicked And him that loveth
violence, the very soul of God hates that person. Upon the wicked
he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest.
This shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the
upright. If the foundations be destroyed.
Now this verse of scripture came to me, I wasn't thinking about
it and I couldn't get it out of my mind. And I believe the
Lord put it there. And I believe it's his intention
for us to consider this verse this morning. If the foundations
be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Now the first question that
comes to my mind is what are the foundations? What is he speaking
of when he speaks of the foundations? Now, how would I answer that
question if we were part of a denomination? Baptist, Methodist, Catholic,
whatever, we would give our denominational distinctives that would make,
this is our foundation, we're this way or that way. But have
you ever thought about how unscriptural, how utterly unscriptural any
kind of denomination is? You don't find that in the Bible.
There are not denominations in the scripture. Just the very
idea of a denomination is wrong. Just flat out, it's wrong. We're
believers. We're Christians. We're disciples
of Christ. We're not part of the denomination.
So I'm not going to bring out any foundations of denominational
distinctives. Well, what if I use the five
solas of scripture that came from the Reformation. Most of us are familiar with
that. Scriptures alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone,
the glory of God alone. That would be good. I wouldn't
argue against that, the five solas of scripture, but it's
really not answering that question from the scriptures. What are
the foundations or what is the foundation? Or I could use The
five points of grace. Matt and I were talking this
week, and I despise the term the five points of Calvinism. That makes it sound like it came
from a man, and it didn't come from a man. It's the five points
of grace. I could use the five points of grace. Total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saints. That'd be good. But that's not
the way I want to deal with this passage of Scripture. I want
to see exactly what the Bible says, the foundations, or the
foundation is. And if we don't have this foundation,
what can the righteous do? I will perish like everybody
else without this foundation. Now turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 10, Paul says, according to the grace
of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have
laid the foundation. And another buildeth thereon,
but Let every man take heed how he build thereupon for other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Here is the foundation. Jesus
Christ. I love what the Lord said to
Peter when he'd ask the disciples, whom say men that I, the son
of mine, am? And they said, well, some say
you're Elijah or Jeremiah, one of the prophets. They put you
in some high cotton. They put you in some big company. He said,
but whom say ye that I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And the Lord said to him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto
you, Thou art Peter. And upon this rock, this confession
of me, who he is, I'll build my church. Jesus Christ is the
foundation. Would you pray for me as I attempt
to speak on this? He is the foundation of the knowledge
of God. And I will never know God apart
from Jesus Christ. And all I will ever see of God
is Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. Jesus, Savior. Christ, Prophet, Priest, and
King. He is the Savior, Prophet. He is the Savior, Priest. He is the Savior, King. He is God. I love saying that. Jesus Christ is nobody less than
God Almighty. Isaiah 9, 6 says, For unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called.
Wonderful! Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Are you saying that
Jesus Christ is those things? No, Isaiah said it. Inspired
by God the Holy Spirit. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. In John chapter 14, verse 9,
Philip said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. If you show us the Father, we'll
be satisfied. What a dull, dumb statement by
Philip. You ever made any of those? Sure
you have. And he said, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. Jesus Christ is God. A man or woman that doesn't know
Jesus Christ does not know God and is dead in trespasses and
sins. is the foundation of the knowledge
of God. There is no knowledge of the
living God apart from Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. Now listen
to this. He is God's purpose. He is God's motive. Everything that God does He does
for the glory and the honor and the exaltation of His Son. That's
God's agenda. It's to glorify His dear Son. You see, God does what He does
that in all things Jesus Christ might have the preeminence. For
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. He is the foundation of creation. All things, the scripture says,
were made by Him and for Him. Colossians 1.16. John 1.4 says
that all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything
made that was made. Now, He's God. He's God's motive. He's God's purpose. He's God's
reason. He's the Creator. He's the foundation
of all creation, and He's the foundation of all providence.
That's everything that happens in time. Everything that happened
to you this morning, you know what it was? It was Christ's
will being done. He is in control of everything
and everybody. He upholds all things, the scripture
says, by the word of His power. Paul said in Colossians 1, He's
before all things. Whatever it is, He's before it. You know what that means? He's
the cause of it. He's in control of it. And by
Him, all things consist. He is in control of everything
and everybody. He's in control of what's going
through your mind right now. You see, He's the Lord of Providence. And He Himself is the foundation
of salvation, so much so that when Simeon held the child Jesus
in his hands, and arms. He said, Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He is salvation. He's the foundation of salvation,
and He is salvation in everything. Now listen, everything that God
has for the sinner is in, by, through, and because of the Lord
Jesus Christ for his sake and mediated through him. Every blessing
that you have is given for Christ's sake. All of salvation comes
through him. Matthew 121 says, thou shalt
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, if the foundation be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Thank God this foundation cannot
be destroyed, but if it could, where would you be? Where would
you be? He is the foundation of all doctrine. He is the doctrine of God. What is election? Did God choose
you and then put you in His Son? No. According as He hath chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world. You see, the elect
have never been considered independently of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've
always been in Him. What is election without Christ?
What about union with Christ? Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. Every believer is united
one with the Lord Jesus Christ. What would that be without Christ? What about justification? Every
believer stands before God right now justified, without guilt,
without sin, perfect in Christ Jesus. What's justification without
Christ and His righteousness and His glorious work? What about
redemption? Actually having your sins paid
for? I'm aware of my sin. I'm ashamed
of my sin. But you know what? It's all been
paid for. And I've been forgiven. And I've
been justified. In whom we have redemption through
His blood. Even the forgiveness of sins. What about peace? Ephesians 2
verse 14 says, He is our peace. I have peace with God. And here's
why. He is my peace. Having made peace,
Colossians 1.20 says, through the blood of his cross. He's
the very foundation of our peace. What about the hope we have?
Now I have a hope. that I'm going to be accepted
on Judgment Day. What a hope that is. I'm going to stand before
God, a thrice holy God, and He's going to look at me and say,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. And that hope is completely
because Christ Himself is my hope. If Christ did well, so
did I. That's my hope. That's why I
expect to hear that. And I expect everything between
now and then to work together for my good and his glory. What
makes you hope that? Well, because he's in control
of everything. That's why. The Lord Jesus Christ is in control
of everything. And he's going to make sure everything
works together for my good and his own glory. And that's true
of every believer. He is the foundation of our hope. What about faith? He's the author
of faith. He's the subject of faith. He's
the object of faith. He's the giver of faith. If I
have faith, it's only in Him. And if I have faith, it's only
because He gave it to me. And He's the one who maintains
it. What about repentance? Well, He's exalted as a Prince
and Savior for to give repentance to Israel, even the forgiveness
of sins. And what is repentance? It's
repenting. It's changing my mind about anything
that's contrary to Him and His gospel. That's what repentance
is. He's the foundation of it. What
about love? Whom having not seen, you love. He's the object of our love.
He's the giver of our love. He's the subject of our love.
Think of this scripture. You're complete in Him. Colossians
2.10. You are complete in Him. Now, are you complete in yourself?
No. I feel so incomplete. I feel so inconsistent. I feel
so contradictory. But in Him, I'm complete, lacking
absolutely nothing, having everything God requires in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What's heaven? Beholding His glory. being with
him, looking upon his beautiful face. What about forgiveness? Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another even as God for Christ's sake. That's the only reason
you're forgiven. But do you need another reason?
Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And He is
the foundation of all teaching and preaching. They cease not
to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. So, what are the foundations? Well, first of all, the foundation
is Jesus Christ Himself. He's the foundation of everything.
He's the reason for everything. He's the cause of God's salvation.
He is salvation. What's the foundation of your
salvation? Jesus Christ who is nobody less than God and incapable
of failure. He is the foundation of the salvation
of every believer. Now turn to 2 Timothy chapter
2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 19 begins with a nevertheless. Nevertheless. Now let's look
at 18, verse 18 to see, or verse 17 to see why he said this. He talks about these men, verse
17, and their word will eat as doth a canker, a cancer, of whom
is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred,
saying the resurrection is past already, and they overthrow the
faith of some. They're making a mess. They're
creating so much damage. People's faith is actually being
overthrown by the wicked doctrine these men are promoting. What
wicked men! What are we going to do? Verse
19, Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. No matter what
A mess Hymenaeus and Thylidus make? No worry. The foundation of God standeth
sure having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. Now there is a group of people
that are his. Boy, I want to be one of those
people, don't you? I don't want to argue against it. I want to
be one of them. Having loved his own, which were in the world,
he loved them to the end. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. I pray for them. John 17. I pray
for them. I pray not for the world. but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. He said, My sheep, My sheep,
not any old sheep, My sheep shall never perish. I give unto them
eternal life. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of My Father's
hand. Now there is a group of people that He knows. The Lord knoweth. Now that doesn't
simply mean He knows who they are. I think of that great group
of people on Judgment Day to whom He will say, Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. And he knew exactly
who they were, and he knew everything they'd ever done. But he said,
I've never known you. I've never loved you is what
that means. I've never known you to be mine. But there is a great group of
people that he knows, and this is the foundation of God. I am
depending right now, not on my knowledge of him, but his knowledge of me. Paul said in Galatians chapter
4 verse 9, now that you've known God, or rather are known of God, then shall I know even as also
I am known. whom he did for... No. I am completely dependent. Here's the foundation of my salvation. It's not my knowledge of him.
It's not my faith or my preaching or my... My foundation. This is the foundation
of God. The foundation of my salvation
is right here. His knowledge of me. Isn't that exactly what the thief
meant when he said, Lord, remember me. Acknowledge me as one of yours. That's the only hope I have.
Lord, remember me when you come back in your kingdom as a mighty
reigning king. foundation of God. Now here's
what the foundation of God is. It stands sure having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are his. Turn to Hebrews chapter 6 and Verse 1, Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs, the fundamentals, the foundations of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection, maturity, not laying again the
foundation. Now what is the most important
part of a house? Everybody knows the answer to
that question. The foundation. The foundation. The house could not be any good
if the foundation is not good. Now what will happen if we're
always having to rip up and lay the foundation again? Something's
wrong. The superstructure will never
grow up, go up, if the foundation always has to be laid again.
Now what is the foundation? There's not a more important
passage of Scripture in all the Word of God than this right here.
So read with me. We shouldn't have to always be
laying this foundation again. And he named six things. Repentance from dead works, faith
toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and
of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Now,
that is the foundation. If I have to be laying these
again, the writer to the Hebrews says, you'll never go on to maturity. Now what is meant by these six
statements? And remember, this is the foundation
of God. This is foundational to the gospel, and if I don't
have this, I don't have Christ. What's the first thing he mentions? Repentance. That word repentance
means a change of mind. Repentance from dead works. Now what are dead works? Dead works are any works performed
by me or you before God saved us, before we were born from
above, before we were given a new nature. I don't care how religious
they are, I don't care how sincere they are, they're dead works
unless they're performed by a new nature, having believed the gospel. Now when I hear people speak
of, well I was I was saved when I experienced this. I started
going to church and I started changing my conduct and changing
my habits. And then after that, I learned
grace and I learned some things about the grace of God. And I
went from being an Arminian, I saved then when I believed
in free will, but then all of a sudden I've now come to believe
grace. Your problem is you've come to
believe some doctrines is all that is. If you're saved, you will repent
of everything before you heard the gospel of God's grace. Everything is dead works before
them. And if I don't see that, it's
because I don't have a new nature. a holy nature that sees the sinfulness
of those works before hearing the gospel. Now, that's what
repentance from dead works is. And that's the first thing he
mentions when he speaks of this foundation. Repentant, a change
of mind about your works. You used to think they were good
works, but you've repented of that. You see now they're dead
works. And the only way you can be saved
is by the free and sovereign saving grace of God. Amen? Amen? You repent of dead works. Now look at the next. Now, where
would the righteous be if you took that away? And the next
thing he says is faith toward God. Faith toward God. This is a foundational principle,
faith toward God. Here's faith toward God. Romans
chapter 4 verse 5, To him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly. That's faith toward God, isn't
it? His faith is counted for righteousness. Now, what is it
you believe when you have faith toward God? You believe on Him
who justifies the ungodly. You believe you can't be saved
by your works. You believe you're ungodly. And you believe justification
comes because He's the one who did it through the personal work
of Christ. He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. And that's always thrilling to
you. You know, I've... I'm more thrilled with that now
than I've ever been. How that God can be just and
justify the ungodly. Faith toward God. Now this is
foundational. It's having some understanding
of how God justifies the ungodly through the work of Christ on
the cross. I'm ungodly in and of myself. He took my ungodliness
upon himself, he put it away, he gives me a perfect righteousness,
and I stand before God just. God has justified me. That's foundational. Thirdly,
he speaks of the doctrine, verse 2, the doctrine of baptisms.
Now notice that, the doctrine of baptisms. The doctrine of
baptisms. Now, baptism, what is it? Well,
somebody goes in the water, they are immersed under the water,
and they come back out. Baptism means immersion. Now,
what is the doctrine of that? What is the teaching of that?
It's not simply a religious ceremony. In baptism, believer's baptism,
and this is what every believer is called upon to do to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. In believer's baptism, I'm confessing
I'm confessing that when Jesus Christ lived, I was in Him. And when He kept the law, I did
too. That's my only hope of obedience,
is that when He kept the law, I did too. And that's my righteousness
before God, because I'm united to Him. That's what baptism means.
When He died, when He died, I go under the water, and I confess
that when He died, I died too because I was united to Him and
I'm united to Him. When He obeyed, I obeyed. When
He died, sin was paid for. I was in Him. And when He was
raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead too because I'm
united to Him. That's what the doctrine of baptisms
is. All my hope is in union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. What He did, I did. That's all
my salvation. That's the very foundation of
my salvation. that when he please God, I please God too. Because I was, am, always have
been, and always will be in Him. Somebody says explain that to
me. I wouldn't dare try. I can't explain that. I just
believe it. Baptism. The doctrine of baptism, the
Union with Christ. Look what it says next. Now remember
this is foundational. What would the righteous do if
you took this away? Well, we wouldn't have any hope, would
we? No hope at all without this. Now look at the next thing he
mentions. The laying on of hands. The laying on of hands. Now does
this mean that you come down to the front of the church and
I lay my hands on you and somehow some kind of blessing is conferred
to you? That's creepy, isn't it? That's all you can call,
that's creepy. You know, men putting their hand
on other men. Why, you know? I despise that
kind of stuff. And that's not what that's talking
about anyway. Turn to Leviticus chapter 16 for a moment. Third
book in the Bible. Leviticus chapter 16. Verse 20, And when he hath made
an end, the high priest, of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle
of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live
goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the
live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children
of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat. and shall send him away by a
hand of a fit man into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let the goat go in the wilderness." Now there's the
laying on of hands. When Christ was on Calvary's
tree, All my sin and all of my iniquity
and all of my transgression and all of my filth and all of my
sin was laid upon him. it was transferred to him. I don't know else how to say
that. That's what that picture, the priest put his hands upon
the head of the goat and symbolically all the sins, all the iniquities,
all of the transgressions of Israel came upon Him. And He put them away. Now that's the very foundation
of my salvation, because my sin, my transgression, my iniquity,
which is so real, became His. And He bore it away. And that is all my salvation. What He did for me. That's foundational,
isn't it? What would the righteous do without
this? Well, your sin would still be on you. Your transgression,
your iniquity, it'd still be on you. But it has left you. What a glorious foundation. Now,
the next thing he mentions is the resurrection of the dead.
Now, the Bible speaks of three resurrections. First, there's
the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Now the
resurrection of Christ tells me of my justification. God said
I'm satisfied with what He did. He raised Him from the dead and
everybody He died for was raised with Him and justified. That's
my justification. And then there's the spiritual
resurrection of those who are dead in sins. And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. He gave you life. You
know, there was a time when you didn't believe. There was a time
when you knew nothing about repentance. There was a time when you knew
nothing about trusting Christ as your righteousness before
God. Oh, you'd been religious, no doubt. But you didn't know
anything about these things. Now you do. Why? He gave you
life from the dead. Regeneration. A new nature. One that was not there before.
This spiritual resurrection speaks of your new nature. And then
there's that final resurrection that's not taken place yet, the
resurrection of the last day, when all God's people will be
raised incorruptible. And there's your glorification.
You know, the whole gospel's in the message of resurrection,
isn't it? There we have justification,
we have regeneration, and we have glorification, all in these
three resurrections. And this is very foundational.
What would the righteous do without this? And then the last thing
he mentions is eternal judgment in verse 2. Eternal judgment.
And I love it that he said eternal judgment, not just judgment,
because everything God does is eternal. He's not bound by time
the way you and I are. We look at things in a sequence
of events. That's all we can do. We're creatures
of time. But not God. Everything He does is eternal. The eternal judgment, all judgment. Now, Judgment Day. You know, Judgment Day is only
the passing out of sentences. The judgment's already taken
place. When Christ died, all the elect were justified, all
those who don't believe are condemned, and we're just waiting for the
passing out of the sentences. But, oh, the eternal judgment
of Christ. Everything he does is eternal
because of who he is. And it never had a beginning.
It'll never have an end. You know, in that sense, I wouldn't
give anybody any hope of salvation until they believe the gospel.
But you know, the elect have always been justified before
God because of the eternal judgment of Christ. And we like it that
way, don't we? Eternal judgment. Now, if you
take those foundations away, what will the righteous do? Isaiah
chapter 28. This is the last scripture we'll
look at. Isaiah 28. Verse 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone. A sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make
haste. Now here's the foundation that
God has laid in Zion. This is God's foundation. This
isn't the foundation I put up. This is God's foundation that
every believer is placed upon. And there are three words that
are used to describe this stone, this precious foundation. First,
tride. It's a tride stone. You know
what that means? That means everybody who's ever
been on this stone is saved. It always works. Always. It's proven. Everybody who's ever trusted
Christ, there's not one that was ever damned. Everybody who
looks to Christ only, every one of them are saved. Not only is
it tried or proven, precious. Precious to God and precious
to the believer. To you therefore which believe,
he is precious. And he calls it a sure stone. A sure stone. You can put everything
on this stone. It saves for sure. And the scripture says, he that
believeth on him shall not make haste. I thought, what in the
world does that mean? Shall not be in a hurry. He that
believeth on this stone, he that is on this foundation, he's not
going to be in a hurry. Well, Paul quotes this passage
of scripture in Romans chapter 10 verse 11 and he quotes it
like this. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. So there's Paul's interpretation
of it and that's what it means. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Now that means two things. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. And I'm not going to be put to
shame. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel.
I'm proud of it. I'm proud of everything about the Gospel.
It glorifies God. It gives me a sure hope. I'm
not proud of myself, but I'm sure proud of the Gospel I preach.
It's the Gospel of God. It's the Gospel of Christ. We
love the Gospel. We're not ashamed of it. I cannot
stand to hear a preacher who I know holds to certain aspects
of the truth, that they try to present it in such a way as to
take the offense off and make it more palatable and pleasing
to the flesh, more likely to be believed, that man's ashamed
of the gospel. He's trying to make it pleasing
to the flesh. No, not any true believer. We're not ashamed of the gospel,
are we? We love the gospel just as it is. How it glorifies God
and gives us a sure hope. But not only am I not ashamed
of the gospel, I'm not going to be put to shame. On Judgment
Day, There can be nothing to be ashamed of, because I'm justified. Christ died for my sins, and
I have nothing to be ashamed of. I don't have to worry about
it. Well, you didn't do this, or you didn't do that, or you
did this. No, none of that. It's gone. It's gone. And I have nothing
to be ashamed of, because I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. Whosoever
believes on this foundation, he's not going to be ashamed
of it. and he's not going to be put to shame. Now we're all
aware of the Lord talking about the man who built his house upon
the sand and the man who built his house upon the rock, the
sure foundation. Now the man who built his house
without a foundation came up quicker. I guess he had more
money to put into the superstructures, probably a better looking house
than the other fellow's house. Went up quick. The other built his
house on a rock. And the Lord says the rains came
down. The wind blew. The floods came. And the one built on sand, what
happened to it? It fell. And great was the fall
of it. And if you or I are on any other
foundation than Christ, only, We're going to fall. But the
house that was built on the rock, it withstood everything, didn't
it? I'd like for us to sing as a
closing hymn how firm a foundation that every believer has. But
this foundation, this foundation is Christ himself, God's knowledge
of us. And when we see that, we'll sure
enough repent of dead works, and we'll have faith toward God.
We'll believe our only hope is as it's found in baptism, what
baptism signifies, and the laying on of hands. And we see the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, our resurrection, and the final resurrection,
and eternal judgment, and we'll build on the foundation that
God has laid. Now, if the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? Nothing but go to hell. That's
it. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that name that's above every name, that everybody here might
be enabled by your grace to build on the only foundation, to lay
on the only foundation. Oh, Lord, truly other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, laid by you, Jesus Christ. Lord, what a glorious foundation
he is. Give us all grace to lay upon
the foundation. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen.