Alright brethren, let's turn
to 2 Timothy chapter 2. Let's begin reading in verse
15. Paul is speaking here to Timothy. This is one a preacher who is
at the end of his ministry, speaking to a preacher who is young and
beginning his ministry. And Paul says to Timothy in verse
15, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study to show
thyself approved unto God. Do you remember Paul said to
the Corinthians, there must needs be heresies that they which are
approved may be made manifest. Those that have been assayed,
those that have been proven to have true faith and true ministers
of God. He says, study to show thyself
approved unto God. I don't want to be a messenger
that has a need to be ashamed. And that's God's messenger. He
will not have need to be ashamed. He'll rightly divide the word
of truth because God will be working in him. Verse 16, But
shun profane and vain babblings. shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will
eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who
concerning the truth have erred." They've erred from the truth. saying that the resurrection
is past already, and they overthrow the faith of some. That's a devilish
thing, to overthrow the faith of some. If men are drawn away
from following Christ, who then are they following? If faith
is overthrown and they're not following Christ, who then are
they following? Acts 20.30 says, ìAlso of your
own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them.î Whatever true child of God needs to focus,
we need to hear this next verse. Listen to this now. Verse 19,
ìNevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.î Having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let every one
that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now we
should not ever think that it's a new thing when men arise and
speak heresy. We shouldn't think that's a new
thing. Listen to this next word, verse 20. But in a great house
There are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also
of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself
from these vessels of dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every
good work. I'm going to just preach on those
verses, but let's read this to the end of the chapter. Flee
also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity,
peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the
Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach,
patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. If God, per adventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who were taken
captive by him at his will. Our subject tonight is the foundation
of God standeth sure. The foundation of God standeth
sure. In light of the happenings over
the past week and a half, tried to decide whether I should address
it from the pulpit or whether I should just write you an email.
I think everybody is aware that some people have begun to preach
some doctrine that is needless doctrine. But worse than that,
they've said that unless you believe this doctrine, you'll
perish in hell. But it doesn't matter, brethren.
When heresies arise, and no matter how much people may vent themselves
against the truth, the foundation of God stands sure. It stands
sure. It's like if you were to see
a concrete foundation down there on the shore, And those waves
come beat against it, beat against it, beat against it, and yet
that foundation just stands sure. Well, this word is even more
sure than that. God's foundation stands sure.
So as heretics rise and fall throughout the ages, God's church
stands unmoved and unmovable on Christ, our foundation. Paul speaks of two men who arose
from within the church and they began teaching lies. Their name
was Hymenaeus and Philetus. Scripture speaks of others who
did the same. Phygelus and Hermogenes, Demas
and Alexander the coppersmith, and then here, Hymenaeus and
Philetus. It's interesting that these men
came in pairs. They came in pairs. And whenever
you have Christ standing with you, Christ is your only strength. You can stand and preach the
gospel of Christ if the whole world turns against you. But
if Christ is not with you, if you've turned and you're preaching
doctrine and Christ didn't send His preacher to preach, you're
going to have to have somebody with you to agitate you and keep
you worked up so you can stand. And these men came in pairs.
But how do you know? Now this is a question I was
asked. How do you know when men have erred from the truth and
begun speaking heresy? How do you know that? Well, the
Scripture says if they speak not according to this word, There's
no life in them. And most heretics though, most
who preach falsely, will try to say they're getting it from
the Word. You're not going to have a heretic come and say he's
preaching in the name of the devil. They're going to all say
that they're doing it for the glory of Christ and they're trying
to honor the Word of God. But whenever a man takes an obscure
doctrine, That's irrelevant to salvation. And begins to focus
everyone's attention on that doctrine and tells men and women
that unless they believe this doctrine, they'll perish in their
sins. That's heresy. You've crossed
the line. If you just got up and preached
the obscure doctrine, that would be error. That would be bad enough. But to say now, unless you believe
this, you're going to die in your sin, that's heresy. That's heresy. We have to have
our focus on Christ. Christ is our banner. Christ
is the banner of everybody He saves. A banner is an ensign.
A banner is a flag. You know, years ago when you
would fight in a war, you'd be in a battle, you would have a
flag that they would have flying. And the purpose of that flag
was so when you got separated and scattered on the battlefield,
you could look where that flag was and you knew where your side
was, where your people would be. And you could flee to that
banner and rally underneath that banner. And that's the picture
here of Christ being Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. We rally under Christ our banner. He is our one word that we preach
is Christ. Everything we are preaching is
concerning Christ. And all heretics, all false preachers,
all cult leaders have this one method of operation. They have
to create another banner. They have to create something
to get folks to rally under it. You know, Alexander Campbell,
who started the Church of Christ, so called, his banner became
baptismal regeneration. If you're baptized, that's how
you regenerate, which is just saying it's a work of man. But
that became their banner. You know, that's just an example. But men, whatever they make to
be their banner, they rally under that banner. I'm glad we only
have one banner. Christ is our banner. Christ
is our banner. The apostle compares the word
of men who speak lies to a canker. That is a cancer or gangrene. I knew a man when I was growing
up who got bit by a rattlesnake while he was up in the mountains
turkey hunting. And he couldn't get down fast enough, and he
had wrapped his leg in a tourniquet above where the snake bit him.
But by the time he got down and got to the hospital, he had gangrene
began already to set up, or maybe not right away, but I mean by
the time they got him to a hospital and all that, and he lost his
leg because of it. And that's what he's saying here.
Their word will eat like a canker, like a cancer just eats away.
False doctrine and the devilish spirit in which it's preached
needs to be regarded that way. We ought to regard it as a cancer. We ought to regard it You wouldn't
flirt with a cancer. You wouldn't fool around with
cancer. You try to avoid it. And that's
what we should do. Shun, he says, shun profane and
vain babblings. Shun them. But do not be shaken
though. There's no point to be shaken
when you see men arise preaching things. I've seen it in my... lifetime, since the Lord saved
me, I've seen it. I've seen several times when
men would rise up, I've seen a group of men call Brother Henry
a heretic and call Brother Don a heretic, and they're blind,
they're deceived, they don't know the gospel, and then, you
know, these little groups are the only ones that preach the
gospel. It doesn't shake God's church
at all. It doesn't even move God's church. It's not even really a ripple
against God's church. Hymenaeus and Philetus were not
the first, and they certainly wouldn't be the last. And so
we shouldn't be surprised if men arise from within the church.
That shouldn't surprise us. And you know, those without we
want to look in, and this is the shameful thing about false
preaching. It brings reproach on the gospel
and brings reproach on the church, brings reproach on fellow pastors.
But those without that began to mock and criticize God's church
need to consider there's no community or family or church anywhere
that is absolutely pure. That's so in a neighborhood,
that's so in a city or a town, that's so in a church. The first
family had a king. Noah's family had a ham. Abraham
had an Ishmael. Isaac had an Esau. The church
in the wilderness, they had a Korah and a Dathan and an Abiram. In
a great house there are different kinds of vessels, and so it is
in God's house. Look at verse 20. In a great
house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also
of wood and of earth, some to honor, some to dishonor. If a
man therefore purge himself from these dishonorable vessels, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the
master's use, prepared unto every good work. You think about a
big mansion. You got these fine gold and silver
utensils for dining and you've got gold decorations and all
these different things that are made out of fine craftsmanship. And those things are to honor
the house. They are to honor the master
of the house, to show off his status, something about him.
And you wouldn't come in with all your guests and bring them
in to a table that's just covered in all these fine silver and
decked out for a big banquet and there in the middle of the
table you got a shovel that you just used to dig the sewer pit
with. That would be a vessel of dishonor right there amongst
all those vessels of honor. And that vessel of dishonor would
dishonor the master, would dishonor the house and dishonor those
in the house, all the servants in the house. That's the problem
and why we should be extra careful, especially you men that preach,
be extra careful in what you preach. I've said it to you before,
I'll say it again. If after what you've looked at,
if you present your doctrine, you want to look at it from the
enemy's point of view, And can he look at this and say, that
doesn't exactly say what you're saying it says. I can't prove
by that verse that this says what I'm saying. If you can't,
don't preach it. Because when you get finished,
the people that heard you will say, it might say that. And if that's all they say, it's
not worth preaching. It's not worth preaching. God's
truth will not cause that result. God's truth is so sure that when
you get through preaching it, men either have to side with
God or side against God, one of the two. Now that's so. So you see here brethren, it's
not that this is a new thing. It's always been and it always
will be as long as this earth lasts. But we have this assurance. God shall keep His people. Now
there may be some, it's said there, this is another thing
that's horrible about this false preaching. He said there that
these two overthrew the faith of some. Well, it might appear
that way with some when heresies arise, but know this, this is
our assurance. God's people are established
by God on Christ, our one foundation, and they will not be moved from
their faith. God's people won't be moved.
He said in verse 19, after He made that statement about some
who were What did he say there in 2 Timothy 2 verse 18? And overthrow the faith of some?
He says, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. The foundation of God standeth
sure. This is what I want mainly to
speak about. I want to try my best to encourage
and comfort some of those who are still affected by this very
directly. And I want them to listen to
this and hear the Word of God and be comforted and receive
this instruction because this is what we are to do in those
situations. He says here, the foundation
of God standeth sure. Now who is our foundation? Who
is the foundation? Christ. Christ is the foundation. Go with me to some Scripture.
Isaiah 28, look at verse 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Isaiah 28, 16, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in
Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, tried under the
fire of devils, tried under the fire of God's wrath, tried under
the pressures of bearing our sin, tried and proven faithful. And this stone is a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. He'll not be confounded. He'll
not be ashamed for trusting Christ. Go to 1 Corinthians 3.11. We'll
see who this foundation is that he's talking about. 1 Corinthians
3.11. He says here, ìOther foundation
can no man lay,î verse 11, 1 Corinthians 3, 11, ìOther foundation can
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.î Heís
the foundation. Jesus Christ is our foundation.
Now what does that mean that He is the foundation? Well, first
of all, it means that God laid this foundation. God said there
in Isaiah, I laid this foundation. It was God the Father who chose
the Lord Jesus Christ to be the foundation of His church. That one on whom His church would
be built and who Himself would build His church. That's God's
doing, God's purpose from the beginning, that Christ would
be the foundation. And God chose Him because He
would manifest His glory in Christ. Now this is important because
it shows us why our foundation is so sure. God chose Him and
God chose Him to manifest His glory. And God gave Christ to
manifest His glory to a people. A people that God chose, a people
that God chose freely by His grace in Christ and entrusted
to Christ to go forth and save them in a manner consistent with
God's glory. To save them and in the process
magnify God's holy law and establish God's holy law. Save them and
while He's doing so, establish the perfect righteousness of
God. Declare God just and the justifier. And so Christ came
forth and He did this. He did this. He fulfilled the
work God gave Him to do. And because He did that, He is
our foundation. He is the all and in all of His
church. He is the end all, be all of
His church. He is the foundation. He holds this ball in His hand
and all things are upheld by the Word of His power. You know
it's the Word of Christ's covenant promise to the Father that upholds
all things by the Word of His power. When it says, see it's
not some other kind of foundation that upholds this world. It's
Christ the foundation who upholds this world. Hebrews 1.3 says,
He upholds all things by the Word of His power. That's why
in one place, God says He put it on a foundation. That foundation
is Christ. But because that foundation is
Christ, held up by His Word, that's why He says in another
place, He hung this world on nothing. See, you can't make it a literal
foundation of stone or mortar or ice or anything else because
in one place it says it's a foundation, in another place it says He hung
it on nothing. But you can look to Christ and know He is that
solid foundation that makes it sure and He is the Word by whom
all things are upheld. It's His covenant promise to
do all these things magnifying the Father, save His people,
and at last present every one of them that God entrusted to
Him to the Father without spot or blemish. That's the foundation. That's the foundation. That's
what Peter was talking about in that last chapter of his epistle
when he said, he said, don't think that God is lazy or He's
slacking like men slack. He said, God, is not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And this world is going to melt. Everything in it is going to
melt with a fervent heat. This earth is going to be no
more. This heavens and this earth will be no more. Everything will
be made new by Christ in the righteousness of Christ. A new
heavens and a new earth. But it won't be before Christ
calls out the last child that He redeemed. That's the foundation. that tells you this world is
going to be upheld. This world is going to be held
in store. Because there is still an elect child out there that
Christ redeemed that hasn't been called yet. How do I know that? Because you and I are still here.
That's how I know that. See, He is the foundation. He
is the foundation. Our foundation therefore, brethren,
is immovable. Why? Because God's purpose is
immovable. And God purposed Christ to be
the foundation. Our foundation is immovable because
God chose Christ to glorify Him. And if Christ doesn't glorify
Him, we have no foundation. But it
won't be so. He will. He has. He is. Our foundation
is immovable because justice has been satisfied. And the justice
of God demands Christ must have His people. And God's just, He's
right, so He will give Christ His people. His lost sheep shall
be called because justice demands they be called. That's a sure
foundation. Our foundation is sure because Christ, Jesus the
Lord, is the righteousness of God in whom God's righteousness
is manifest. Would it be right? Would it be
right for Christ to bear our sin and bear the wrath of God
and then lose one for whom He did that? That wouldn't be right.
So this foundation is sure. And also it's sure because Christ
was not only chosen to be our foundation, He was chosen to
be the one who would build up these stones, these living stones
on that foundation into God's house. And that's what you and
I are, living stone, built up by Christ. Go to Ephesians chapter
2. He gets the glory for this as
well. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. It's speaking there about
the peace He made and how He, on the cross, and then how He
came and preached peace to us. And by Him, look at Ephesians
2.20. were built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. You see that? That's where we're built upon.
Look, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builted together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Go to 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter chapter 2 and look at verse
4. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious,
ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it's contained
in the Scripture. This is why that Scripture we
just read was written. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. He is precious. You want to preach
Him. You want to hear Him preached.
You want to sing of Him. You want to hear Him honored
when men pray. It's all Him. He is precious
to you. You believe Him. You trust Him.
He is all your salvation. You don't want to hear anything
else. Don't give me any obscure new doctrine. I want to hear
the old paths. I want to hear what Christ has
done for His people. That's what His people want to
hear. Why? Because Christ is precious to them. But unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made head of the corner." Did their disallowing
Him change the foundation? Did it alter it in any way? You
think about, there's never been a day which heresy was reigning
so much as it was in the day they hung our Savior on a tree.
and ridiculed him and mocked him and then got him down off
the tree so they could go back to their heretical religion.
And yet, wave upon wave upon wave that came crashing upon
our foundation did nothing to move our foundation. He was disallowed
indeed of men. The stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. All they
did was fulfill the will of God with wicked hands. That's all
they did. And that's all any man is doing
in our day. With wicked hands, fulfilling
the will of God. Look here. And a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But
ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him
who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So
let men deny Christ, let men concoct lies, and they might
appear to overthrow the faith of some. But I know this, and
you know this, the foundation of God standeth sure. Our God
cannot be moved. Our Savior, our Redeemer cannot
be moved. And because we're built on Him,
every believer is immovable. He cannot be moved from Christ.
You can't overthrow the faith of one that's been built on Christ.
You can't do it. So, that's our assurance. When we see our brethren and
we think maybe they look like they're wavering a little bit
or they may have gone off following somebody. It looks like their
faith's been overthrown. I know this, if they're gods,
they're not going to be overthrown. They're not going to be overthrown.
The foundation of God stands sure. Now, here's the second
thing. This is the seal I want to deal
with here. God knoweth them that are His.
God knoweth them that are His. God chose each one of them in
eternity. He wrote their names in the Lamb's
book of life before the world was made. That tells you and
me that Christ knew our names, God knew our names before your
mom and daddy named you. Your mom and daddy named you
what they named you because God wrote that name in His book before
the world was made. Seriously. He knows His people. Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O
earth! Break forth into singing, O mountains!
For the Lord hath comforted His people, and He will have mercy
upon His afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget
her sucking child? That she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me." God's continually hedging up His people so that the enemy
cannot harm His people because Christ has every one of His peoples
engraven on the palms of His hands. He knows His people by
name. When He went to that cross, He
had their names on His breastplate and He's engraving their names
on His hands so that He will not allow one for whom He died
to be rocked or knocked or swept off this foundation. He won't
allow it. He knows them. Our risen Shepherd
right now is calling out His sheep by name from His throne
in glory. And he said this, "'The sheep
hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name.'" and
leadeth them out. And when He put forth His own
sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they
know His voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from Him, for they know not the voice of
strangers." He gave that as a parable, and then He told us what the
parable meant. He said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them. and they follow Me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand." That's a sure foundation. The Lord knows
them that are His. Brethren, the Word of His power,
that covenant power, is our foundation. That's what Peter was talking
about. Our foundation is not a man-made foundation. Our foundation
is not a temporary foundation. You know, Paul said the things
that we see, we look at these things and we think literally
this ground is solid. This ground is solid. This is
immovable ground. The things that are seen are
not going to last. The things that are seen are
temporary. It's the unseen things. It's the foundation Christ laid.
It's Christ our foundation that is the lasting thing. He's the
real foundation. Not a man-made or not even this
creation created by God. It's not the creation that's
going to last. It's the creation Christ will make new in His righteousness. So Christ is the foundation.
Not one living stone will be lost. Now lastly, He says to
us to obey the voice of our Lord here, and He says in verse 19,
and, now this is sure, this is sure, this has to do with why
the foundation is sure. God knows them that are His and
let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Paul had to have had in mind
here what God said to Moses and Aaron back there when Korah and
Dathan and Abiram rose up against Moses and Aaron. Korah and these other two men that
were with him rose up and rebuked Moses and said, Who gave you
all this authority? We're just as holy as you are.
You're taking too much on yourself. And they exalted themselves like
that. And when they did, God said, I'm going to show you who's
mine. I'll show you who are mine. And that's what heresies are
for. God will show who are His. And so God sent Moses forth and
he said, speaking to the congregation saying, ìDepart, I pray you,
from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs
lest you be consumed in all their sins.î And you know what they
did? They departed from them. And
you know what God did to those men? He opened up the earth and
swallowed them up. and they perished. That's why
he said, depart from them. Depart from them. And that's
why Paul takes that word now in our text and he says, let
everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Depart from iniquity. I know
that's hard. I understand that. Especially
there are certain situations that are even more hard. When
you love somebody that is preaching or supporting lies, it's very
hard to depart from them. I'm not saying depart from them
for good. But you can't worship with them. Depart from their
worship. Depart from their assembly. Stand for the truth. And the
way we stand for the truth best in those situations is not by
trying to to continue with them, but to come out from among them.
Depart from iniquity. That's how you will exalt the
gospel of Christ. Go where you can hear it preached
in truth. And let the church put away the preacher who preaches
lies. That's what they are to do. It's
not anything good will come out of it. Nothing good will come
out of it. You have to put Him away. If I begin to preach lies,
do what this says. Don't hear it and put me out
because you don't want anybody standing here preaching lies.
You want somebody standing here preaching Christ. That's just
so. Let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. Look at verse 21. If a man therefore
purge himself from these vessels of dishonor, he shall be a vessel
unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared
unto every good work. And I'll tell you this, God's
people are going to obey this Word. Because it's God working
in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. And you see,
He's the only one who can purge us. Christ is. He purged us from
free will, works, religion. We all were a workmonger in our
hearts before God saved us. He purged us from that with the
light of the Gospel. And He has to purge us from men
who arise speaking perverse things. He makes His vessels, vessels
of honor. He alone can separate us out
and keep us out. He does that. And He makes us
meet fit for the Master's use, for His use. That's a great definition
of sanctification right there. To be purged from these, to be
sanctified, separated out, to be made meat for the Master's
use and prepared for every good work. That's a good definition
of what it is to be sanctified, to be made holy. And that's what
Christ does. Only Christ can do that. We can't
add to that or even do it ourselves because That would be of us if
we did it. But His people will do it. We
will do it. We will leave. We will depart
where the truth is not preached. We will go where the truth is
preached. But we will do it because Christ is working in us. And
He is bringing this to pass. And we give Him all the glory
for it. He is the Master who will do
this in His people. And I know this because the foundation
of God standeth sure. I know it because the Lord knows
them that are His. I know it because He says, let
everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
I've had so many calls and texts and emails over the past few
weeks from brethren. And I had one today. And all
of them have made this same comment. Every single one have said the
only thing this has done is make God's people, Christ's sheep,
come closer together and focus on Christ more. That's what it's
for. That's what it's for. That's
true and that's what it's for. You know, when the wolf comes,
if you ever look at some sheep out in the field with their shepherd,
when the wolf comes, they're huddling together. They have
no defense on their own. A sheep doesn't have any defense
whatsoever. And on top of that, they're dumb. But together, they're big, look
like one big sheep. And they got some protection
when they're like that. And then they have more protection
because they go right to their shepherd. And He protects them. And we are sheep. We have no
defenses on our own and beyond that we are dumb. And we need
to flock together and we need to be under Christ our shepherd.
And in any one of these trials that comes, that is what He does.
I have seen this brethren, I have seen it. He brings His church
closer together. He brings His people together.
He teaches you from these things. Things that you wouldn't have
seen otherwise. Things you wouldn't have learned otherwise. I pray
for the folks. I pray for the men even. And I pray that the Lord... These
are friends of mine. And I pray the Lord would grant
them repentance and turn them and humble them. bring them to sit down and hear
the gospel preached. But we're going to rally to our
banner. Our banner is Christ. The Lord
said this, Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that
it may be displayed because of the truth, that Thy beloved may
be delivered. That's why He gave the banner.
Christ our banner, Jehovah Nissi. Remember when they went out and
fought Amalek, and as long as Moses held the rod up, The picture
of the gospel of Christ. As long as he held that rod up,
they defeated the enemy. Joshua went forth, the picture
of Christ, and defeated the enemy for him. When his hands would
go down, that rod would go down, the enemy would prevail. So they
went and held up his hands and helped him to hold that rod up.
And they prevailed. And when they got finished, Moses
gave glory to where glory was due. He said, this is Jehovah
Nissi, the Lord our banner. And that's who we rally to. We
rally to Him. Go where you can hear the gospel
preached in spirit and in truth. You know it. You know when you've
heard the voice of Christ and you know when you're hearing
the voice of a stranger. And you flee to where you can hear
that voice of Christ speak and follow Him and there will be
plenty of sheep there that will take you in and comfort you and
you won't have anything to worry about. I promise you. Because the foundation of God
stands sure. It stands sure. Amen.