Now, yesterday I spent a great
deal of time preparing tonight's message from what I intended it to be from the Fourth
Beatitude, from Matthew 5. But I told you, I announced that
we would be speaking, I would be talking to you a little bit
about our building plans. And I thought that our minds
and attentions would be running in that direction, the way of
the building and so forth. And I had a lot of things to
say about that beatitude and didn't want to rush it. And I
thought it'd be just too much and be soon forgotten if I went
right into talking about the building afterwards. So I'm going
to postpone that message and bring it Sunday night. So I prepared
another message for tonight. Several verses came to mind. in consideration of what we are
undertaking. We read there in 2 Samuel 7,
the Lord telling David that Solomon would build him a house later.
And I went back and read that story. I read of the building
of the temple and was greatly blessed with that. We may explore
that a little later, though, as we get into the actual building
process, the Lord willing. And there will be many illustrations,
I believe, that will lend themselves to us as we begin the Lord willing
to build. So I'm going to put that one
off. Then I thought about Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10. All of you familiar
with this verse? Do it with all thy might." A
familiar verse, just like 1 Corinthians 15.10, right, Robert? Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might. But we're going to need that
encouragement later on when everybody's interest and energy wanes. I'll
bring that one later when the energy starts faltering. Then
I thought about 2 Samuel 24. In verse twenty-four, when David
came in to buy the threshing floor to offer a sacrifice unto
the Lord, you may remember that verse that said, David said,
I will not offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that
which cost me nothing. And that speaks of David's great
exhortation to sacrificial giving and abundant giving to the Lord's
work. Well, I'll save that for later when the money runs out. We're going to leave that one
later. But there was one verse of Scripture that kept running
through my mind the whole time when I was thinking about this,
and it's found in Psalm 127. Psalm 127. Some of you are smiling. You
know the verse by heart. The first verse of Psalm 127
applies so well here. It says, Psalm 127 verse 1, Except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
And isn't that the sense of what David was saying or what the
Lord was teaching David back there in 2 Samuel 7? You going
to do what, David? You're not going to do anything,
buddy. I'm going to have to do everything first. And then if
I will it, then you'll do something by my power. So except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that building. There are many applications here,
and they certainly apply to our situation. So listen carefully
with me as we try to apply these verses. He said, Except the Lord
build the house. Now, earthly houses, church houses,
like this building here, are built by human hands, aren't
they? The Lord just doesn't snap His
finger and there's a building. He could, but He doesn't. That's the way He made the world,
wasn't it? He just spoke and it came into existence. Earthly
houses are built by human hands, but who builds the hands? Who
made the hands? God did. Materials. We use earthly materials for
these material houses, but who made the trees? Who made the
rocks, the cement? Who made these things? God did. Men purpose. Men make their purposes
and their plans and build their buildings. Men do. They go about to build their
buildings. And I remind you of another verse of Scripture that
you're familiar with. The lot, or the decision, is
cast into the lap. Many people make decisions to
do things. But the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. Whether or not the thing's going
to succeed, Joe, that's of the Lord in it, totally. The Lord
may allow things to take place, but it'll not stand unless the
Lord is the one who wills it. Hebrews 3 verse 4 says this,
Every house is built by some man, but he that built all things
is God. Every house that is built is
built by some man, but he that built the man is God. So the thought here in our text
is, accept it be the Lord's will and for the Lord's glory. In
all things, to play on words here, all things are to build
up or to grow up or redound unto the glory of God. except it be
the Lord's will and for his glory, even though we may build a house,
we labor in vain unless it's the Lord's will. Everything will
be brought to naught, will be brought to failure, possibly
foreclosure, unless the Lord's in it. Right? Trouble, sorrow,
destruction. Look back at 1 Kings, Chapter
5, with me. 1 Kings, Chapter 5. I'll give
you two illustrations of two different people that decided
they were going to build a building, and their purpose or their motive
they had in mind. There were the people at the
Tower of Babel. All of you are familiar with
that story, right? The people at—was it Nimrod? Was that his
name? Was that his name? Come on, Bible teachers. Nimrod,
great king, in charge of everything, he said, I'm going to build.
And all the people got together and said, we're going to build.
They said, we're going to build. Let us, here's what it said,
I wrote it down. Let us build us a city and a
tower that reach to heaven. Does that
sound familiar? Let us build us a glass cathedral. Right? Some do veil that motive behind
words like, Let us build God a temple. That's not where you start, is
it? That's not where you start. The Lord willing, if He'll enable
us, we will build this thing for His will, according to His
will, for His glory, for His worship. But here in 1 Kings
chapter 5, here's a man of God, Solomon. who had a whole different
way of looking at things. Look at this in 1 Kings 5, verse
5. He says, Behold, I purpose. Now, this was in the mind and
the heart and the will of this man, yet it was placed there
by the Lord. You remember we read it back
there, the Lord's prophecy to David. He said, I'll put it in
the heart of your son to build me a house. And here, later on,
it happened. Solomon said, I purpose to build a house unto my name? the name of the Lord my God."
Just as the Lord spake, he had the promise, John, he had the
promise of God Almighty, the pure prophecy. The Lord said,
this is going to happen. Was it supposed to be done? No
doubt. And the Lord paved his virgin
road, showed, opened up, showed how the Lord even used the enemies
of the Lord to help build his own house. He opened it up so
clearly. He said, I purposed it to build
a house, but under the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord
spake unto David my father. I purposed to build a house under
the name of God. So there are two considerations
that we need to have in mind. Anything you do, anything you
undertake, two considerations should be, these things should
be foremost in our minds. Number one, God's glory. Everything, whatever you do,
whatever we do, eat, drink, work, marriage, even recreation, whatever
it may be, building, do all for the glory of God. We need to
ascertain. We need to ascertain, first and
foremost, is this for God's glory? Right? If it's not, Don't do
it. Don't do it. God's glory. Is this to be, and in light of
and consideration of what we're going to undertake here, or trying
to undertake, is this what we're going to do, to be used for God's
chief glory? What is God's glory? Somebody
tell me what God's glory is. It's the gospel, right? The gospel
of Christ, the saving of His people. God's essential glory
is His character. But the way that God reveals
that glory more fully than any other is through the gospel of
Christ. And God's chief glory is in the
preaching, the furtherance, the study, the fellowship of the
saints around the gospel. Right? So is this what we're
wanting to do for God's glory in that respect? Will God's name
be praised in this undertaking? Who will get the glory? Who will
we be bragging on? Ourselves or the Lord? If we
don't give God all the glory in this thing, don't do it. do
it. It will come to naught. They labor in vain. Is it used? Will it be used primarily for
spiritually related purposes? That's got to be a consideration. Spiritually related purposes.
Like I said, things relating to the gospel in a direct or
indirect way. Will it Now, if we were going
to build a gymnasium, it'd be a little bit hard to justify
that by spiritually related purposes, right? We'll go into this a little bit
more later, but that's the primary consideration when we seek the
Lord's—or undertake to do something. Is it for God's glory, first
of all? Secondly, is it God's will? Is it God's will? Now, how do you ascertain God's
will in something? Can you know God's will? I wouldn't
want to take a step without it, unless I had some degree of certainty
that it was God's will, I wouldn't want to make a move. Or better
not. I have run too many times and
found out later it was not God's will, and I got myself in a mess,
and will still do it in the future. How do you ascertain if something's
God's will? Well, number one, do doors open? Henry, the scripture says, what
God opens, nobody can shut. The children of Israel, was it
God's will for the children of Israel to get out of Egypt? Pharaoh
found out, didn't he? Boy, the door flew wide open,
but he couldn't have held them if he wanted to. He wanted to,
didn't he? Finally, he was constrained. I've got to let them go. Somebody
else, a lot more powerful than me, is getting them out of here.
Was it God's will for them to have a promised land, go into
Farrakhanim? Ask the Hittites and the Hivites
and the Philistines and all these people that God slew everywhere
in the path of God's people. Israel's God's God, because what
God opens, no man can shut. And I will remind us the rest
of that verse of what God shuts, no man can open. And if the way
is barred, don't try to make a way, right? Secondly, are the
means available? And that's a door open. Are the
means available? What God purposes and wills,
he'll provide it. He'll provide it. You don't have
to go out This was one of the things I was going to deal with
in 2 Samuel 24. Would I offer unto the Lord that
which cost me nothing? It's not the Lord's will for
His people to go out begging and having bake sales and car
washes and all this to try to build something under the law.
That's not of the Lord. What the Lord purposes and will,
He makes the means available. He builds it. He provides it. That's another story altogether,
but the means become available. Thirdly, is it God's will? Thirdly,
are the people made willing? Doesn't it say, thy people shall
be made willing in the day of his power? When the Lord says,
this is what's going to happen, like Solomon, Roberta, like Solomon,
they say later on, this is what I want to do, this is what I'm
going to do. Right? Is there a need? That must be,
if it's the Lord's will. Is there a need? The Lord doesn't
always promise us everything we want, but he certainly promised
to give everything we need, right? Is there a need? Now, these are
just good practical considerations, aren't they? And let me say this
in the last part of this, which is God's will. Is not the care, the feeding,
the housing, the instruction, the fellowship, the happiness
of God's children, His church, is that God's will? You better
believe it. You better believe it. Then,
when all those things are considered and ascertained, they apply. Then the Scripture says, whatsoever
your hand finds to do then, whatever the Lord opens to do, do it with
all your might. Right? Sacrificially and with
all of your might. And put your hand to the plow
and don't look back. Don't look back. Some other verses
apply. If you sow to the flesh, what
are you going to reap? If you sow to the Spirit, what
do you reap? A spiritual thing. So whatever
is done for the cause of the gospel, for the cause of Christ,
for the building up of the body, whatever it may be, no matter
how small, you sow into the Spirit, you're going to reap spiritual
benefits. All right. So if God's glory—and
it's gospel-related—I remember a preacher years ago saying this, expecting your great God to greatly
bless. Old Solomon didn't do it halfway,
did he? Oh my, we're going to study that,
I believe, right in the middle of the week. Lord willing, we
get to building, to building that temple. What he built was
a masterpiece, a masterpiece. Do great things expecting a great
God to greatly bless. Spiritually speaking, in this
verse, we'd be remiss. We'd greatly be in error here
if we did not mention this. Except the Lord God that build
His church, His spiritual people, people who labor in vain who
try to start one, right? The church is not a building
anyway. It's people. That's what I was telling you
Sunday morning about the missionaries. how that they don't just erect
a building with American dollars, you know, and then go out and
try to find people to fill it. That's not the way church is built.
Church is people. You find people and sit them
out in the yard, if need be, and get them—if you find out
that there's a love for the gospel and a group of people there,
then build you a building. But no, not until. A building's
not necessary without people. So unless the Lord God built
His church, His people, they labor in vain to try to establish
some kind of religious work. And unless Christ saved, unless
God saved, all of our religious works and morality are in vain
too, aren't they? Huh? Unless Christ came and lived
and died and did His great work, Man's works are useless, are
futile, are vain, aren't they? Unless the blood of Christ is
shed for the justification of his people, unless the righteousness
of Christ is imputed for their acceptance, people labor in vain. You try to get to God and get
to heaven, don't you? All right, look at verse one
again. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
that build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Now, you all know, I believe, what the watchman here is. This is an admonition to
me, an exhortation to me and any elder or preacher or teacher, to not be overly anxious and
fraught with carefulness. about God's church. Be concerned,
be burdened, pray for them, love them, give yourself to them,
but they don't need to lose their sleep over them. They're God's
church. You're God's church. So, except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. He's staying awake at
night for no reason. That's what he says in verse
two. It's vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to
eat the bread of sorrow, be sorrowful. He giveth his beloved sleep.
You want to read a good sermon sometime,
read that by Spurgeon on that text right there. You read that,
John? Excellent. Excellent. He giveth his beloved
sleep. To be filled with anxious care
and sorrow and anxiety is unbelief. This applies to every one of
us, right? To be filled with anxious care
and sorrow and anxiety is unbelief, plain and simple. The Lord gives
rest. Didn't he say that? Come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you what? Rest. Rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me. Peace. The Lord gives peace.
He says, My peace I give unto you. The Lord gives assurance
to His people. Assurance. He giveth His beloved
sleep or rest. The Lord is to be trusted. The Lord is to be believed. The
Lord is to be calmly and quietly rested in. He said the battle
is not yours, it's mine. It's mine. We ought to diligently
be about our business. The Lord blesses diligence, but
not be restless and troubled about it. That dishonors and
displeases God. Let me hurry now. The Lord would
have his children live life more abundantly. That's what he said. I give unto them life, life more
abundantly, happy, productive, and restful lives, just like
we desire for our children, right? Now, I didn't say anything about
material prosperity, did I? I just said peaceful, restful, productive, and joyful lives. He gives us sleep. In the midst
of toil and troubles and labors, He gives rest. He gives rest. Knowing you're in the Lord's
will, there's rest to be had. I remind you of that story in
the Scripture. A group of fishermen went out
fishing one day, and a great tempest arose, and the waves
were crashing over the boat, and one of those fellows was
asleep. He giveth his beloved sleep. The beloved one The waves, Terry,
the waves that were causing the fishermen, the apostles, so much
consternation and fear were rocking the Lord to sleep. Why? He believed God, didn't
he? Well, he got up and said, Why
are you of such little faith? Didn't he? The same applies to
us. The raging billows that troubled
them rocked him to sleep. God gives all his children rest
in Christ too, rest in the beloved, rest from works, rest from the
law, rest from trials, and finally, someday, he gives them rest in
the form of sleep or death and final entrance into glory. Let's
hurry. Verse 3. Now, this applies to
our case. The Virgin called this the builder's
song, verse 1. But verse 3 here applies, low
children. He just up and talks about children.
Children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb
is His reward. The Lord is the author of life,
isn't He? He's the one that gives children.
And I've said so many times, if we have children, we ought
to praise God for them, and we ought to commit those children,
those babies, to God, and raise them up in the fear, the nurture,
and the admonition of the Lord. And whatever we do, God's given
us these children into our hands. They're souls, what they are.
They're just not our little personal play purties, as my folks used
to call toys here, play purties. Children aren't just our personal
little possessions to gloat over and have fun with. No, they're
souls to be trained and raised up in the fear of the Lord and
for the salvation of their soul. And you men, we're the spiritual
leaders of our home. And whatever we do should have
our children in mind. Right? Whatever we do should
have our children in mind. A place to worship. A place to
enjoy fellowship. Is this place a dreaded thing
for our children? God forbid. And we ought to at
least make it a comfortable place while we teach them the gospel
and preach the gospel to them. Our children are our central
Baptist church in about twenty years, right? If the Lord wills,
if the Lord keeps them here, they are the church, aren't they,
gentlemen? Your children and grandchildren. They are the leaders
and they are the children of the people of this church. Verse
four, as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are children
of the youth. Arrows in God's hands. If God
points them to Christ, God will save our children. There'll be
a church here, won't there? He points them to Christ, makes
them leaders of the church. Great things can be accomplished
if God wills it through our children. I want that. Don't you? Don't
you? You want a place for your kids
to come here when you're gone? Sure you do. What if God raised
up a couple of preachers in our midst? Can you imagine Andrew or Steve
or Kevin? Can you imagine? No way. That's
what they said about me. I remember a man, when I was
a boy, he said, you'll be in prison by the time you're 17.
He was close. But that's what they said about
me, Joe. Preacher? No way. He'd be the last. Well,
I was one of the last out of there, all right, but arrows
in God's hands. Oh, if God points them in the
right direction. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full
of them. They shall not be ashamed. They'll
speak with the enemies in the gates, happy, unashamed. If our kids hear and believe
the gospel and follow Christ, the faith of their fathers, God,
if your children, if the Lord saves your children, you'll be
happy, won't you, buddy? And unashamed? Ah, boy. And they shall speak with the
enemies in the gates. And they'll continue the battle,
Rick, when we're gone. They'll pick up the banner when
we're gone. They'll speak with the enemies
in the gates, Jerusalem's gates. I think all of these things apply
very well to our situation here. Except the Lord build the house.
They labor in vain to build it. And it's a vain thing for the
watchman to stay awake at night. And children are an heritage
of the Lord, the fruit of His womb. And if the Lord directs
them, the Lord saves them and directs them, their parents will
be happy. And the cause of Christ and the
glory of God will be continued. All right, I told you, I promised
you I was going to talk to you about our plan.