May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let us turn to the book of Psalms
and Psalm 127 and the first verse. Psalm 127 and reading the first
verse. Except the Lord build a house
they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. God in his mercy throughout the
Word of God gives us illustrations in a natural way that we can
align with a spiritual situation, a spiritual condition which exists
in our own lives, in our own heart. And we should be very
thankful for that. And so here we have a statement,
which we believe was written by Solomon, who of course was
well-versed in building. As we know, he was involved in
his own house and also in that great and glorious building,
the temple. And so as we think of that as
background, it helps us to appreciate the words that we have here,
except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build
it. So how dependent Clearly Solomon
was upon God to help him, direct him in building that magnificent
building. And we see how the details were
all worked out. God gave the details and now
they were worked to and produced in the end a wonderful building
which existed for hundreds of years. But of course, there came
an end. the temple was destroyed but
the difference is with the spiritual situation in your life and my
life we have a building and what a blessing it is if we have a
spiritual building which the Lord has built because if that
is so that won't be destroyed like a natural building. It will
live forever. And how important for us today
it is to consider that condition with regards to our own eternal
soul and to question and to observe whether the Lord is building
our spiritual house And if that is so, there will
be a beginning. And that beginning is, of course,
a foundation. And that foundation can only
be of one situation. And that, of course, is the Lord
Jesus Christ. So how important it is that you
and I this evening are able to observe in our spiritual life that God is building our spiritual
life. Except the Lord build the house. It's very important to notice
how it's stated. Except the Lord build the house. No one else. You and I cannot
build our own spiritual house the Lord it is that builds it
the Lord commences it with the foundation and on the foundation
is raised a spiritual building and that spiritual building continues
to be built until that day when it is complete and then we shall
be taken from this life into glory at last. So we have really
a very simple picture and yet really a very relevant and a
very important picture. So it's good for us to analyse
such a statement to see where you and I stand because these
issues are not trivial They're not something which will not
occur, not something which will just pass away. They are the
Word of God. They are true. They are necessary. And therefore how relevant it
is that each one of us is able to consider and to ponder and
to analyze whether our spiritual house is being built by the Lord. And if that is so, then what
evidence do we have that it is so? We need evidence of these
truths. We don't want to just assume
that everything is going on all right. Many people today just
carry on really quite aimlessly through life with no certain
evidence and they're content with that. Well what a blessing
if the Holy Spirit touches our heart and causes us to Consider
our latter end. That means the end of our life. And to be ready when that time
will come. None of us know how soon we should
have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And so, what
a wonderful blessing it is to have the evidence that the Lord
is built in the house. And the Lord has commenced the
building by placing us upon that foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Other foundation can no man have
than that, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord gave, when
he was on earth, a parable about the foundation, about building.
And he tells us there were two types of people, two types of
ground. One built his house upon the
sand. You may think, well that was
very foolish. Well let me just say that in reality sand can
be a very good foundation, a very firm foundation, until the rains
come and the storms come. and effectively make it into
a quick sand where there is no strength in it and it fails. So many people will take the
option of what they think is an easy build and they do that
which pleases themselves. It doesn't cost them much effort. In sand it's relatively an easy
dig normally doesn't cost them much effort and it's easily obtained
but you see when the storms of life come when the test comes
as to the reality of our religion we then find that we're not on
the rock the Lord Jesus Christ the foundation just disappears
and our spiritual building collapses There's no standing. Whereas
the other man dug deep. There's two accounts of that
parable and the one in Luke tells us the man digged deep. That
means it wasn't easy. He dug down until he got onto
rock. You might say onto what we term
bedrock. It's a firm, it's a base, there's
nothing really more solid. And you see then, when the storms
come, the building isn't moved because the ground is firm, the
rock is firm, it doesn't move. And obviously the picture is
that if you and I founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ as our
hope for eternity, We're able to come and say, on Christ, the
solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. And so it is. So may we have
the evidence that our spiritual building is founded upon the
rock Christ Jesus. And I've given that illustration
because There is often that deep digging. It's not easy. You don't find
you can get down to that rock quickly. It takes time. It takes time. It takes perseverance. And it means therefore that you
and I have to pray earnestly to God. It's not just a fickle
prayer. It's a reality. It's a true prayer. A prayer that comes from our
heart. And that prayer will be in a very similar form to this,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You and I will need to know that
God is merciful to us and that the Lord Jesus Christ has lived
on this earth and has died upon that cross at Calvary in order
to take away our sin. And our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus, blood and righteousness. My friends, don't stop short. Don't be fooled by the devil. The devil tries to stop people
short. He tries to say, well, You're
doing all right. You go to chapel and you read
your Bible. Very good. My friends, you and
I need to dig deeper than that. We need to get down to bedrock
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the great blessing is
that God comes and God grants that we are founded on a good
foundation. And what that means, it's his
work, his work. It's not our work. You see, we'd
stop short. But you see, God doesn't. And
my friends, what a blessing it is, therefore, to realize that
here we have the Lord building the house. And the statement
is very clear. Unless this is so, it's in vain. All our labor is in vain. Many people today, they rely
on what they're doing. they rely on it and they think
that that will gain virtue my friends you and I need to know
that it is the work of God His work in our spiritual lives and
you may say well how am I going to know whether that's true? well let me say this you can
look into your hearts and you can discern this that what you
possess there, God has done for you. It's something that you
could not have done for yourselves. It's spiritual life. God's given
you a concern as to where you shall spend eternity. And he's given you no rest. No
rest to settle down without the evidence that you are born again
of His Spirit. This is the work of the Lord. My friends, how necessary it
is, and the devil would have you settle down short. So you
don't have to worry about that. You're doing all right. Just
carry on as you're going at the moment. You don't need to have
any real evidence that it's the work of God. What you're doing
is alright and you'll end up alright in the end. The truth
is you won't. Just remember, the devil is,
always has been, always will be, a liar. He was to Eve in
the Garden of Eden and he hasn't changed. He's still the same. What he does is to deceive so
many. He tries to deceive the true
believer. And what a blessing, my friends,
if you and I can answer the devil when he comes into our hearts
and pretends everything all right, is to react and to quote scripture
to him. And this is a very good scripture
that you can quote to him. You can tell him, devil, My Bible
tells me, except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain
that build it. And I want the evidence in my
heart to know that the Lord is building my spiritual house and
it's not going to collapse and it's not going to vanish away.
What a mercy then, if the Holy Spirit comes and does this great
favour for us. Or how important it is, accept
the Lord, build the house. They labour in vain that build
it. And when the foundation is laid, then the building commences. In actual fact, the building
of the temple is a good illustration really, with regard to a spiritual
building. You may remember that there were
thousands of people involved in the building. I just forget
the numbers. I think it was something like 70,000 men were involved
in building the temple. It took seven years to build.
And initially they went to the quarry and they found the rock
They found suitable rock and then they dug the rock out. And of course the rock didn't
come in a perfect form. It was just in a rough lump. They were very big lumps sometimes.
Sometimes they were smaller, but many of them were big lumps. And there in the quarry, they
took these lumps and they made them into the right shape. And they chiseled off the sharp
corners and smoothed it until it became perfect shape and they
knew what size it needed to be and they had people that they
used to call squarers who made sure it was a square oblong or
cube, whatever was necessary. It was a perfect shape and it
was all done in the quarry before it was brought and put into the
building. Now we really are like that. God comes and digs us out of
the quarry of nature. And we're a rough shape. We're
not ready to be put into the building. There's a lot of work
needed upon us. There's a lot of sharp bits sticking
out that have to be broken off perhaps. Perhaps almost a complete
reshape. And when that's done, There are
then smaller bits to erase. And then finally, everything
has to be rubbed very carefully to produce a perfect surface. Wouldn't you can imagine, can't
you? That takes a long time. It did take a long time in the
quarries. And the great fact was that everything
had to be perfect in the quarry. It was then taken to the site
of the temple And it was then placed in place. And there was
no iron used. There weren't any hammers used
to knock it into place or say, oh, I forgot to knock that chip
off. Everything was a perfect shape. And so it is in our spiritual
building. God works and God produces in
those parts perfect shapes that form part of this building. So don't be perhaps disappointed
in your spiritual growth. You may think, well, I'm not
making much progress. Well, you're making sufficient
progress in accordance with God's will. Because God has a plan. God has a perfect plan for our
spiritual life. Sometimes we want everything
to happen very quickly. Well, you see, God's pace is
very different to our pace. God's has a right pace. And God
has a pace which ensures that when we come to be fitted into
the spiritual building, it will fit. won't be any misfits that
weren't in the temple there may have been I don't know there
may have been stones which were brought and they thought were
the right shape and yet they were discounted because they
weren't perfect our building our spiritual building
is perfect do you know why? because it's the work of God
it's not your work and my work God's work is perfect there's
a perfect outcome what a great blessing that is what a great
blessing it is for you and me and so as we journey on through
life to be able to look and examine examine our spiritual life and
have this text to analyze whether it's going well or not accept
the Lord Build the house. May labour in vain that build
it. Is God building our house? We're not complete yet. We won't
be until that time when we're ready for glory. But my friends,
it's a mercy, isn't it? If we have the evidence that
God is dealing with us. And you see, He deals with us
in so many ways. Chips those sharp bits off. those
bits perhaps which offend people those things which perhaps do
not bring glory to God those things which we are relying upon
and yet what do we find in those things we're relying upon? we
find there's our flesh we find there's our own desires our own
pattern we're not following God's pattern That's why God works. God builds the house. And God
shapes us in accordance with his pattern. And sometimes this
work takes a long time. Sometimes we're pretty stubborn.
And in theory we're saying, we will not have this man to reign
over us. We don't want to do God's will. We realize that it can be costly
It can affect us in our lives. Perhaps it can stop us doing
things that we wanted to do. Those corners have to be removed. Perhaps we're not very willing
for them to be removed. But because it's God's work,
because He's building, they will be removed in His time and His
way. And we can say this, we will
be made willing in the day of His power. Oh, my friends, what
a blessing to know that you and I are dealing with an all-powerful
God. Because our hard heart, our pride,
our natural will will not be able to stop God's work. No, you may reject what he's
doing. You may not want to have to face
what is needful in your life. But it's good sometimes just
to ponder the illustration of the temple and those stones having
to be brought right down to a perfect condition from a very ragged
rock which is dug out in the quarry. It's just like us, ungodly
as we were. We are made godly. What are we? We're made like unto Him. Made like the Saviour. That takes a lot of work. That takes a lifetime to make
us like unto our glorious Saviour. What a mercy then to think that
you and I have a God who is so patient. Those men working in
the quarry would have to be patient. they couldn't go at it and hit
it too hard they might mar it and mean that it had to be started
again it may be so in your life and
my life sometimes we may think we're making good progress and
then we find there's some damage We find perhaps that something's
occurred, which instead of following on to make our stone a perfect
shape, we find that there's been a mistake. That means perhaps
starting again. We may have to cast it away,
cast it away. We may have thought it was looking
rather nice and rather good. But you see, it may not have
been in accordance with God's plan. Just like in the temple,
had to be perfect, had to be square, had to be in accordance
with a plan. If it wasn't, had to be discarded. It may be so in your life and
my life. That's not easy, is it? when
you and I have to discard something sometimes that we've perhaps
been relying upon in our spiritual life. We can make mistakes. We can think sometimes that we've
had a word from the Lord. And we find that word isn't being
fulfilled. And we wonder why. We need to
analyse it a bit carefully. And if you and I analyse it carefully,
we will find that if God had allowed that to come to pass,
which we thought emanated from God, we would pat ourselves on
the back for what we'd done and for the wonderful path that we'd
walked. Well, God is a jealous God. And my friends, God will have
the honour and the glory. So sometimes it may be that we
seem to go backward rather than forward. But what a blessing
it is to know that God's hand is upon us for good. He's dealing
with us. He's shaping us. He knows exactly
what to do. If you and I try and interfere,
if we want to hasten things, sometimes We want to hasten things. We think of that word, your time
is always, but my time is not yet. God has a perfect time for
his work in whatever way that might mean. And we have to rely
upon it and just recognize that we are impatient sometimes. We
want everything now. Well, my friends, God has a perfect
way and a perfect time. And may we be able to come and
submit ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
that he will exalt us in due time. And when that time comes,
you and I will then acknowledge it is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Oh, it's the pattern of every
true believer. And what a mercy and what a blessing
it is. Well, the important thing is
that you in our spiritual life are healthy, healthy in the things
of God. You know, the Apostle Peter spoke
about lively stones. healthy stones in the First epistle
of Peter we read about these lively stones and what a good
thing it is Therefore if we find ourselves in that situation He tells us To whom coming in the second
chapter of the fourth verse to whom coming as unto a living
stone and disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. See, man may say, well, that
stone's not gonna fit. Put it another way, that which
you're relying upon won't stand you in good stead. That which
you believe doesn't emanate from God. Well, remember, to whom
coming is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious. That's a wonderful evidence that our stones are being formed
through the plan of Almighty God. And therefore, to recognize
this, We're chosen of God. And because we're chosen of God,
each stone is precious. It's valuable. Maybe it's taking
a long time to form. That's why it's precious. Not
something which just happens overnight. But it's here a little,
and there a little, line upon line, line upon line, in our
spiritual life. to whom coming is unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. And what a blessing the Holy
Spirit shows to you and me, that you and I, as unruly members,
are being formed to fit into this heavenly building. Ye also,
as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, not a natural
house, a spiritual house, totally different. And holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Well, the great thing is to have
the evidence that our building is acceptable to God. Yes, it doesn't have any faults
in it. We haven't rushed over something and tried to make do. No, everything has to be worked
out perfectly. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect
precious the Saviour, and he that believeth on him shall not
be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner and the stone of stumbling. and a rock of offence even to
them which stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto also
they were appointed." It shows to us here that we stumble sometimes
at the work which is needed on our building. And we stumble
at the Word. The Word, of course, is relevant
to the Bible, the truth of God. We may not like some of the truths. We may want to disagree with
them. you see God deals with us and brings us in line he shows
us as he tells us in the 17th of John thy word is truth what
a blessing it is therefore when perhaps we'd had our own ideas
we had our own plans and we thought this is how things will work
out and God shows us very gently and very lovingly that we've
been on the wrong track. We've been looking to self rather
than looking to God. And what a mercy, therefore,
when he gives us that faith to believe the things which appear
impossible with men are possible with God. Sometimes we can discard
things and we think, well, that's impossible. Things are sometimes
impossible with men, but possible with God. And so he goes on then
to tell us, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood
and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous
light, and just pause in there for a moment sometimes it may
appear that we're rather peculiar rather peculiar perhaps in the
things of God but you see God is dealing with us in accordance
with his plan his way sometimes we need to re-evaluate our assessment
of the truth of scripture sometimes we can come to our own conclusion
And we need to come before God and to ask that the Lord will
teach us, the Lord will instruct us, the Lord will guide us, the
Lord will bless us. To do what? To make us conformable
unto Himself. Oh friends, what a difference
from that initial ragged rock as the Spirit of God worked in
our hearts. It has caused us to consider
our way in the beginning of spiritual life as the Holy Spirit works
upon us to bring us to that great and blessed position conformable
unto His image. Well, the Apostle Paul knew what
it was. He knew how he needed to be shaped,
didn't he, in his spiritual life. He didn't step back. No, he was
happy to be in that way and he was able to recognize that everything
else was dung and dross. He tells us in the third of Philippians,
the eighth verse, yea, doubtless, sorry, the seventh verse is,
but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. You and I may think we need this
and we need this shape and we need this to be done. Gained
to me those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless. He doesn't
leave us in any doubt, doubtless. And I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So in this shaping process, in
this building process, to realise that we are being instructed
in the knowledge Christ Jesus my Lord. What is that? Union
with Christ. Blessed path. A path of union. He tells us, the Apostle tells
us, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
countenance but done that I may win Christ and and be found in
Him. That's a great issue, isn't it? Our spiritual building. To be
found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Well, you and I don't come to
faith immediately. The Lord brings us on, slowly,
directs us to be dependent upon Him, not look to our own strength. We're very fond of doing that.
We think we have the ability. What a blessing when God humbles
us to show us, no strength in self I find, yet oft have sought
it well. the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. That probably sounds strange,
perhaps, to think that here is God's servant, the Apostle Paul,
wants fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. He knew the benefit. He knew the blessing. He knew
this wasn't something that he would do by himself. He knew
that was that which Christ would do in him and for him, and bring
him into union with the Saviour. The evidence of spiritual life,
fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death, like the Saviour. Then he goes on, if by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He doesn't lay down
conditions, he says if by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained. He had attained a lot, hadn't
he? He had known a lot. but he wanted
more. But I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Well, that was a heavenly desire,
a godly desire. And we see there God, except
the Lord build the house, God building Saul in a spiritual
way. And we have these as examples
in God's Word to encourage us and to direct us so that we may
follow the pattern that we have set before us. You see, the Israelites
of old had to follow a pattern that was set before them. And
it wasn't easy and it was hard. And they had to get it right.
And it's the same for us today, the patterns set before us in
the Word of God. You can see this, we just read
a glorious pattern set before us by the Apostle Paul and how
he desired it and how he tells us what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Christ was his great
concern, his great desire. And you see, if you and I are
part of this spiritual building, and if the Lord is building our
spiritual house, we will recognise the relevance of such important
truths. The Blessed Saviour is that One
who is building our house. Yes, He's raising it up. We may
not see the building going up very fast, but God is dealing
with us. Again, has to knock a lot of
corners off, has to rid us of a lot of bits which are sticking
out. But what a mercy to be made conformable unto his image, his
image which was perfect. what a blessing it is to have
before us such an image and so here we have except the Lord
build the house they labour in vain that build it we haven't
got time for the rest but except the Lord keep the city the watchman
walketh but in vain and we can just think perhaps of the city
of many buildings perhaps of the Church of God We need God
to keep the city. We need God to be there. The watchman won't be able to
do it without almighty God. But what a blessing it is to
recognise, again, accept. We start with accept the Lord,
build the house. And now we have accept the Lord,
keep the city. Both are very relevant. Both
are very important. And what a blessing it is in
your life and my life If we understand the reality of this and don't
go on in our own strength and don't lay up short, my friends,
the great question is, give me Christ or else I die. Jesus is the one thing needful. I, without him, perish must. Well, may we recognize the truth
of such words, and bless God for it, and examine our own hearts,
our own spiritual life, and to find there the evidence that
the Lord, the Almighty God, is building the house, and that
we're not left to labour in vain, but rely upon the blessed, all-conquering
work of the Saviour. who will not fail in his work. He who has begun a good work
in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.