It's such a delight to be here
today. I've appreciated the many years
that you've allowed me to be here. This morning, I'd like
to talk about the word foundation. It's found in the book of Ezra
several times, and we'll be there in just a moment. But one of
the first jobs I ever had in construction, a friend of mine
who was a professional asked me to come out and help him lay
the forms for a new house to pour the foundation. And we worked
all afternoon and evening and into the night with lights to
set up this foundation pour or the forms so that the next morning
about 8 o'clock the concrete could be poured. About six o'clock
in the morning, the foreman showed up and he did something I'd never
seen done before. He pulled out a tape measure
and measured from corner to corner. Guess what? The professional
and his new labor were out over a foot from corner to corner. The concrete was going to be
there in less than two hours. So, all the work that we'd done
through the night was going to have to be moved in less than
two hours. and we did it. I learned another thing about
that, that you set the transit on the outside of a corner instead
of in the middle of the building. So, you only have 90 degrees
of air if you have air, not 360 degrees of air. Foundations are
so important. They're important to buildings.
Can you imagine how far they must drive pilings when they
build skyscrapers that are 100, 120 stories tall, just so they
won't settle into the ground? Well, Mike and I were on a job
one time. It was his job. He, once again, got cheap help. We were down at Duffer, and somebody
wanted us to fix a foundation. There were two things wrong with
that foundation. Number one, when they poured it, they put
rocks in it this big. And number two, they didn't put
enough cement in the concrete. And every time you touched it,
it just exploded and went to pieces. Well, we worked on it
for about a week. And finally, Mike, being wise,
said, we quit. Can't fix it. And we walked off. A foundation is of the utmost
importance. One of the reasons that you never
hear us give an invitation at the end of the service, we have
a closing hymn, is we want you to have a good foundation in
Christ. And nobody has ever been given
a good foundation in an invitation. Christ is the invitation and
Christ is the foundation. So he'll meet you. We heard that
word visited. He'll visit his people and he'll
give them eternal life. Now in the book of Ezra, chapter
3, we run into this word foundation four times in short order. Ezra chapter 3. Ezra chapter
3. And in verse 6, 10, 11, and 12
is this word foundation used. And the word itself implies what
it expresses, the basis and groundwork of a building. Now the temple
had been built many years prior to this. And we'll look at four
verses of scripture over there at the building of the first
temple. But here at this time in the book of Ezra, 70 years
prior to the day we're visiting here, there was an army that
came in and they destroyed the walls of Jerusalem and they destroyed
the temple that was there, Solomon's Temple. It was no longer existent. And when they came back, they
came back with the commission by Cyrus, king of a pagan country. It's your responsibility to build
the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Now there was much attributed,
much connected with this, but they were to go back and to rebuild
that. Not all the Jews went back. Many of them were satisfied with
where they were, and some God touched, some God visited, some
God came to, and they were willing to go back. And there was going
to be a lot of work to be done when they got back. Well, they're
going to offer a sacrifice. We've been talking about that
in the past couple of messages, and last week we spoke and looked
at that perpetual sacrifice that they had. It was never ended. It was never over until we read
about the Lord Jesus Christ coming and finishing the work. He became
the sacrifice that would put away sin for time and eternity. These offerings could not. Well,
they offered the sacrifice, and now it tells us in verse 6 of
Ezra chapter 3, it says, The first day of the seventh month
began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation
of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. Now the extent
of laying the foundation to the temple was great when it was
originally built. But I want us to note that when
they rebuild the temple, they don't look at a pile of rubble
and say, well we can't build it there, we'll move it over
here. It was very important. that they built that temple,
the second temple, on exactly the same place that the original
temple was because this was Mount Zion. And they didn't have room
to move it. They didn't want to move it.
God wouldn't allow them to move it. It's just like us. We don't have the time to move
the foundation that God has given us. And God's people don't want
to move it because that foundation is Christ the Lord. In verse
10 of this chapter, it says, and when the builders laid the
foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in
their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of
Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance
of David king of Israel. And there in verse 11, and they
sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord
because he is good for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel.
And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised
the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was
laid. What great praise went out when
they saw what had once been beautiful had been destroyed and now had
been re-established. They looked at it as the workers
put it back together and they shouted and praised the Lord
that the foundation was right where it had been and it is now
going to make the preparation for the building that was going
to go up. And then in verse 12. But many
of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were
ancient men." Now, I failed to do something. I failed to look
up that word, but that means old. They're old folks. They've been
in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. So, we're looking at them
being 80, 90, or older, but they could remember
what the old temple was like. And it tells us there, the chief
of the fathers who were ancient men that had seen the first house,
when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept
with a loud voice. I think there was some weeping
because this whole event, had been caused by the sin of Israel. Oh, my. We are wretched folk. Look what happened as a result. The temple was destroyed. And
then there were some that said, this isn't quite as pretty as
the old one. Whatever reason. But those who were there that
had never seen the old one shouted aloud for joy. great thing had happened. They
had laid the foundation. This morning in our study of
foundation, we'd like to examine foundation as we see it spoken
of in the scriptures. Now there's much said in the
Bible, and I would like to direct your attention to the book of
the Psalms. Would you turn with me to the book of the Psalms?
In Psalm 102. Now when we talk about foundations,
talk about foundation, we find in the church is so comforted
to know that it was God that laid the foundation of the world. That it was not given over to
some chance. It was not given over to luck,
but here in the psalm, Psalm 102 and verse 25, we have these
words about the foundation, the foundation of the world, how
valuable it is for us to read in the scriptures that it is
God that creates. He creates the physical world.
He gives us physical life. He creates in the spiritual world. He gives us spiritual life. It is He alone that is the Creator
of all things. We have no creation without the
Creator. That's the problem that we face
in religion and that is there are people who believe that they
have the ability of raising the dead. And if they did, the mortuaries
would be put out of business. Now it would be much easier to
raise from the physical dead than it is to raise from the
spiritual dead. So we wouldn't need it if they
could, but they can't. So we need someone who can. All
right, here in the Psalm, Psalm 102 and verse 25, Of old, howst thou laid the foundation
of the world? What's that mean? He thought
it. He wrought it. He produced it. He brought it
out. It was in such pristine order before the fall. It went
through the fall like human beings went through the fall. It was
marred. There's much marring upon this
earth and yet we still go out into pristine areas and say,
oh my goodness, what a creator we have that would create this
as it is. the beautiful trees, the grass
and all, the critters and everything, from a butterfly to a whatever. God is in control of creation
and He laid the foundation of the world. He laid the foundation
of every critter that we have. There in the Garden of Eden,
He created all the critters out of the dust of the ground. He
was the one that instituted, marked, moved out, caused to
be every living thing. All the first grass, He produced
it. Every tree, He produced it. All
the fruit, He produced that. Every fir tree, myrtle tree,
He produced that. And then, by His grace, and by
His grace alone, He created man out of the dust of the earth,
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became
a living soul. He saw it was not good that man
should be alone, so He gave him a wife, created her of the rib
of Adam. He is the one that laid the foundation
of all the earth. This is brought out so many times
in the scriptures. Would you turn with me one more
book to the book of Proverbs? Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs
chapter three and verse 19. Proverbs chapter three and verse
19, we read these words. The Lord by wisdom. That's an
interesting word used right here. The Lord by wisdom hath founded
the earth. It was God's wisdom that did
it as it is. He is the one who has laid the
foundation. He founded the earth. He laid
the foundation of the world and every system upon the earth. Every kingdom we have. The mineral
kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom. The human kingdom. He's the one that founded them
all and he did it in wisdom. I just don't understand when I
eat food how I have water squirted on it to help the digestive process. In wisdom. Can you imagine swallowing
all your food dry? In wisdom. In wisdom, he designed every
way that the plants would reproduce. In wisdom, he designed every
animal how it would come forth. In wisdom, God tells us there
in Proverbs 3, verse 19, the Lord by wisdom hath foundation,
hath founded the earth. By understanding hath he established
the heavens. Every star in place and you can
mark it down and it will be there for generations to come, millennial
to come. It will be there. This is God
and his wisdom laying the foundation and we have all of this preliminary
to share with us that it is the same exact way that God lays
down the foundation of our salvation. It was not out of ignorance but
it was in great wisdom that he shares with us his grace. In
Isaiah chapter 48, would you turn with me to Isaiah chapter
48 and verse 13, as we find the words that give us comfort. Where
did this all happen? God. How did it happen? Because of
God. He has laid the foundation. He did it in wisdom. He put the
stars in the space by His own worthiness and by His own creation. He named all of them. He gave
us the sun. Isn't it interesting that the
sun is just the right distance away from the earth? We don't
freeze and we don't burn up. Isn't it interesting that the
moon is there and controls the tides? We have a new moon, we
have a full moon, and you can look at places on the internet
now, it'll tell you when the full moon will be in 3049 in
February. It can be traced and put into
its spectrum, its place, with such great care by the God of
creation. Here in the book of Isaiah chapter
48 and verse 13, It tells us, mine hand also hath laid the
foundation of the earth. I didn't leave it up to another.
I didn't turn it over to somebody to do. It wasn't a process that
it went through. In six days, God created. And the seventh day, not out
of weariness, but giving an example that rest can only be found in
God, he rested. What a mighty God. Now, if he'd
have wanted to, He could have done it in one second. But he chose to show us. Oh, he just laid it out so clearly. This is what I did the first
day. And we stand in marvel. How could that happen? It's because
of God. Second day. Oh, look at that. A panoramic view. The third day,
the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, the seventh day.
All that God did. as he created the heavens and
the earth. Now the word foundation at times
is used in the scriptures as a reference about time. Would
you turn with me to the New Testament to the book of Ephesians chapter
one? Ephesians chapter one. We find in Ephesians chapter
1 some wonderful things about all spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus, and here in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, we have
a foundation that's used as a reference to time. Ephesians chapter 1
and verse 4, according as He hath chosen us in Him, before
the foundation of the world. How long ago that was when God
created the heavens and the earth, we have some estimations we can
guesstimate. I personally believe it's between
six and ten thousand years, but don't hold me to it. Whatever
it is before the foundation of the world God was interested
in saving some people from their sins And it says he has chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love Knowing full. Well, what would happen in the
garden knowing full? Well, we would descend from that
that partook of sin in the garden Adam our father First Adam, he
knew what we would be like. He knew our hearts would be in
error, our hearts would be opposed to him. It tells us, before the
foundation of the world. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. And then the rest
of the chapter continues to build on that. Would you turn with
me to the book of Hebrews chapter 3? Hebrews chapter 3, we have
some thoughts about this foundation of the world again as a measurement
of time. When did God choose his people? Before the foundation of the
world. All eternity here in the book
of Hebrews chapter 4 we read here in verse 3 Hebrews chapter
4 and verse 3 for we which have believed to enter into rest as
He said as I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into
rest Although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world He was a lamb slain The work was finished. It was
all laid out. It was purposed. God had set
into motion what he'd already determined, what he'd already
decreed, what he'd already had in motion. It is already in action
before the foundation of the world. God allows us to measure
that just a little bit. In chapter 9 and verse 26 of this book of
Hebrews, it says, for then must he have often have suffered if
he'd have been a natural man, a normal man, like you and I.
If he'd have been like that, he must have suffered since the
foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. If he was just natural, it had
been process, just like we find with regard to those animal sacrifices
throughout the Old Testament. They're not the foundation. They're
the picture, and they're the type, and they're the shadow
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but He is the foundation of the church. Not works, but Christ. Now, in the Old Testament, there
are a number of types of found in the temple, and I'd like you
to turn to the book of 1 Kings chapter 5. There's three verses
here we'd like to read. Three verses in 1 Kings chapter
5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. One verse in each of those. So
if you'd find those places, 1 Kings chapter 5. David had wanted to
build a temple, but he was instructed by God he could not. His son
would be the one that would be the overseer in the building of the temple.
His son would make contracts with those that had the cedar
trees of Lebanon. His son would make contracts
with those who would produce all of the gold and silver and
other things that would be used. It was the son, Solomon, who
was in charge of the contracts. But here in the book of 1 Kings,
we have the building of that temple and the first thing that
is required, the first thing that is necessary for any building
that's going to stand. I remember a preacher that we
had at camp one time talking about a building down there in
the south, beautiful, beautiful modern church building. and they
didn't put enough cement in the concrete and the foundation was
crumbling underneath the weight of the building. The foundation
is of the utmost importance. So before we can have any of
the superstructure of the temple, we must and God lays it out so
clearly and so plainly here in the Book of First Kings about
how they put this foundation together and it was not just
You know, we used to build forms. We wanted to pour a pad. We would
go in there and put concrete around it and fill it full of
dirt and rock and have about that much concrete on the top
and slope it over to the edge and pour it. God said, that's
not sufficient for my temple. We're not going to have a bunch
of gravel. We're not going to have a bunch of dirt. We're going
to have cut stone. And it's going to be giant cut
stone. First Kings. Chapter 5 verse
17 the scripture share this the king commanded and they brought
great stones costly stones and Hewn stones to lay the foundation
of the house. That's the first temple that
was built costly stones Great stones costly stones and hewn
stones and And the wonderful thing about it, there was not
the sound of a saw or hammer on site. This was all done off-site. How it speaks so gloriously of
the grace of God, of the purposes of God, that He didn't come down
and was caught short and had to change some dimensions after
it was started to be put together. It was all taken care of off-site,
before the foundation of the world, it was taken care of. And now, as these great giant
stones are being brought together. They are so close together. They
are perfect in their shape and in their size. They're brought
for the temple of the temple of God, the most high God, who
has created all things and laid down the foundation of the world.
And he has chosen his people before the foundation of the
world. Now we have this temple foundation being laid. And notice
the stones. Chapter 6 and verse 37. It shares
here in the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the
Lord laid in the month Ziph in the fourth year Was the foundation
of the Lord laid and then in chapter 7 and verse 10 we read
these words The foundation was of costly stones even great stones
stones of 10 cubits and stones of Eight cubits. Those stones were taller than
this ceiling. Fifteen feet was the large ones. Fifteen feet cubed. How can you handle a stone like
that without all of the hydraulic machinery that we have today?
God was in charge of it and he gave them wisdom on how to do
it. And then it tells us there were stones in there that were
another size and they are of 12 feet square. My goodness, this is no small
feat. It was costly stones, beautiful
stones, hewn stones brought together to build the foundation of the
temple. How many types and shadows and
pictures are found in there? The foundation was of costly
stones, even great stones, stones of 10 cubits and stones of 8
cubits. You and I put together, couldn't
push them around. They speak of a great God and
a costly foundation, a hewn foundation, a beautiful foundation, And that's
the foundation that he placed his church on when it comes to
spiritual things. Turn with me over to the New
Testament again. Here we have this declaration that's made
in the types and shadows and pictures of the laying of the
foundation of the stones for the temple. And then as it was
torn down by invaders, and 70 years later they go back and
they start to rebuild it. It's been put back together with
great stones again to declare that God is the God of security. He's the God that sets up the
foundation. He's the God that provides the
Christ of our foundation. And here in 1 Corinthians chapter
3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we find the apostle Paul was led
to write to those saints at Corinth. Brothers and sisters at Corinth,
to encourage them, to share with them, and then there would be
some that he would challenge what foundation they were on. You have this as the foundation,
your spiritual foundation. Is he Christ? 1 Corinthians 3,
verse 11, it says, For other foundation can no man lay, than
that is laid which is Jesus Christ. No other stones would do in the
temple. And certainly no other stone, no other foundation will
do for a believer. Must be Christ. Goes on to tell us in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 and verse 12. Now, if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble,
gold, silver, or precious stones are spiritual blessings that
God gives us and they are secure. Wood, hay, and stubble, If you
put your hope in a foundation and you're just producing wood,
hay, and stubble, you don't have the right foundation. It is God. Speaking of Christ as the true
foundation, we're built upon a foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. The most important stone of the
building is Jesus Christ. Now what was their message? What
was the message of the apostles? What was the message of the prophets?
Jesus Christ is the foundation. Christ in him crucified is the
message. There is no other foundation
that will secure you. It is all slop and slime without
it. We are in a horrible pit and
we're in the miry clay. Try to get traction in that.
What does he do? He sets us on the solid rock,
the true foundation. God laid the foundation for the
church. Brother Craig read that passage
over in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 54, and one verse in there says,
oh, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest. and not comforted. Behold, I will lay thy stones
with fair colors and lay the foundation with sapphires." What's
he talking about? Tossed. Afflicted that's tossed. And then he brings up a foundation.
By nature, we're tossed by everything that comes along. The wicked
are like the troubled sea, tossed back and forth. And then he says,
I have a foundation. The foundation is Christ. And
he is the creator of life. And he secures everyone that
he creates in spiritual capacity. He secures them to him, the true
foundation. Matthew chapter 16 and verse
18. The Lord Jesus Christ looked at Peter and religionists said,
oh my goodness, thou art Peter upon this rock. The whole thing
is Peter, I want you to pay attention to this. The church is built
on Jesus Christ the rock. Upon this rock, I will build
my church and hallelujah, the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. We read over in the Old Testament
that that physical temple that was built by Solomon, that physical
temple built in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah were both destroyed
and are no longer standing. But this temple, the temple of
the Lord Jesus Christ founded upon the true foundation, the
gates of hell cannot prevail against it. will not destroy
it. We have eternal life, everlasting
life in Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord Jesus brings
out in his great Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 7. Matthew
chapter 7 brings out this thought. He said, he that heareth my word
and believeth it. That belief, if you've heard
it and believe it's because God has visited God has visited with
the ability to believe. Here in the book of Matthew chapter
7 and verse 24, the wise man built his house upon the rock. I learned that when I was in
Sunday school, and nobody ever shared the reality of that. It
was just a song. Well, here in the book of Matthew
chapter 7 and verse 24, therefore, he's concluding his message. If you have a Bible with the
words of the Lord in red, you could go back to chapter 5, chapter
6, and chapter 7. And he's preaching a message,
the Sermon on the Mount. And in his conclusion, he says,
therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon
a rock. The rain descended and the floods
came and the winds blew and beat upon the house And it fell not
for it was founded upon a rock What is he saying all my people? Have a foundation and his name
is Jesus Christ the righteous The next verse And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the
house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Wise men,
God gave his wisdom to a few to trust Christ. And he said, you have me as your
foundation. To many, they're satisfied with
a semblance of a house built upon the sand. I remember those
folks down there that knew something about building in the Rogue Valley.
Don't build your house on the flood plain. It's sand, and you're going to
get washed away. And guess what? Every 20, 30
years, cleaned it out. Well, we see it all over. That's
what's going to happen if we build our house on the sand,
upon religion, upon self, but on Christ. Now, there is a passage
of scripture over in the book of Ezekiel. I'd like to close
with this. Ezekiel chapter 13. Ezekiel chapter 13. Ezekiel chapter
13, verse 10. Because, even because, they have
seduced my people saying, peace. And there is no peace. And one
built a wall. And others dabbed it with untempered
mortar. That means they didn't put any
lime in it. And it's going to be like that
foundation that Mike and I worked on. Every time we tried to get
it so we could do something with it, Another part broke out, fell
away. And we could say, they didn't
build this right. We could say that, but couldn't
do a thing about it. It was going to take the moving
of that house and build a new foundation, put it back on. Untempered
mortar, verse 11. Say unto them which dabbed it
with untempered mortar, that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing
shower, and yea, all great hailstones shall fall, and the stormy wind
shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen,
shall it not be said unto you, where is the dabbing wherewith
ye have dabbed it? You add your works, it's gonna
fall. Have Christ, you have the real
foundation. So they rejoiced. The foundation was laid. That's
what God's people do. We do it on a daily basis. I
rejoice in my foundation. I've been taken from a horrible
pit with a miry clay and sat on a solid rock. I rejoice. No
longer have to put up with that. I am fastened to the rock which
cannot move. Fastened to Christ, and I didn't
do the fastening. He's the one that has done that
too.