Last week, not last week, several
weeks ago, we looked at Christ the cornerstone or the chief
stone. Today, God enabling, we're gonna
observe and note Christ our foundation, Christ the foundation. Turn with
me if you would, we'll look at a few verses, Jude verse 20. Keep your hand, don't shake your
head, keep your hand in 1 Corinthians, and we'll get back there. That's
gonna be my main text, but we'll look at these others first. Jude, verse 20. And just notice the
theme in these verses. Jude, verse, excuse me, verse
20. But ye, beloved, Building up
yourselves on your most holy faith Praying in the Holy Ghost
build up yourselves build up yourselves Colossians chapter
2 Colossians chapter 2 and Verse 6 and 7 As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up
in him and established in the faith as you have been taught
abounding therein with thanksgiving built up built up Ephesians chapter
2 Ephesians chapter 2 starting in verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
of the household of God. And you are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. That was the passage we looked
at several weeks ago. Built up upon a foundation where
Christ is the head stone. in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are builded together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians
chapter 3 and verse 17. that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye be rooted and grounded in love. Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah chapter four. Now this Zerubbabel is Christ. Verse 9 of Zechariah 4, the hands
of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his church, his
bride, his hands shall also finish it. Thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. He's not only going to lay
the foundation, He's going to finish it now. First Corinthians
chapter three. Now in the first several verses,
he's. Speaking of babes in Christ some
of you he had to feed with milk and not meat. He's talking about
doctrine He's talking about the teachings of the gospel the teachings
of Christ for ordination for knowledge predestination Election
he's talking about all these things And he says, while verse
four, one saith, I'm a Paul, and other I'm Apollos, are you
not carnal? Who is Paul and who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every
man. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. So it's not really the minister,
though the Lord uses his ministers in the declaration of the gospel
of the declaration of the truth. He says we verse 9 are laborers
together with God You are God's husbandry. You are God's building
see building houses. We've been speaking about According
to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master
builder Paul says I have laid the foundation and another buildeth
all thereon but let every man take heed how he builds thereon
for other foundations can no man lay, then that is laid, which
is Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ is not only like
we saw a couple weeks ago, the headstone, the chief cornerstone,
the topstone, by which the corners of the building are fitted together. But he is the foundation. Not only is he that chief cornerstone,
that lock and key stone, but he's the foundation. So we've
seen these verses, and there are several others. They depict
us as a spiritual house. Every believer is a spiritual
house. And this house will stand or fall based upon, set upon,
as it is anchored to the foundation. You don't have to be an architect
to know, they always pour footing, they pour, you know, if they
don't have footings, they have piers, big slabs of concrete
like what we've got in our house, but most buildings have a foundation. If that foundation is set and
steady and we're anchored to it, it's gonna stand. If our house is built on sand,
that is, if it's built or we trust in sand as its base, how
great will the fall be? Conversely, if this house, if
our house, if we are resting or set up upon trusting in that
rock-solid person and accomplishments of the Lord of Glory, like he
said in Zechariah, if it's removable, if he's laid that foundation, it's going to stand. Nothing
can harm it. Nothing can blow it down. Nothing
can knock it over. So the first thing I want to
establish is the foundation. The foundation is established
by God and not man. Now we could go to Psalms 127
and verse one where he says, if the house, if the Lord builds
a house, but if man builds the house, It's not going to work. The Lord not only builds this
house, you and I, if we're his people, but he lays the foundation
and then builds upon that. But we'll see that building upon
that. Oh, he just, well, how do you do it? You just kind of
go through life freewheeling? No, that's where we gather together.
the Assembly of Saints, and in Acts, we continue steadfastly
in the Apostles' doctrine, breaking bread, having everything in common,
we have the Gospel in common, as we keep gathering together.
And we keep building on that foundation. Not what I think,
not what maybe John Gill, as good as his writings are, or
Robert Hawker, but what the Word says. What the Word says. This foundation, as well as the
house, sinners, must be completely wrought by Jehovah himself, Christ
himself. For other foundations can no
man lay, if we're talking spiritually. We're talking spiritually, and
that's what we have to do. That's what we're about. We work
and live and move and have our being and get jobs and do all
these other things. But to the believer, the most
important thing is Christ. the most important foundation,
immovable foundation is Christ. That which no man lay, which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Man in his fallen state cannot,
does not have the spiritual wherewithal or capacity to undertake such
a marvelous work. There are many inventions with
man. There's many things that seem right unto man, but the
end are the ways of death. That's why there's so many cults,
there's so many things, there's one-offs, and there's this and
that, and there's so many different denominations because man has
interposed his thoughts on how God needs to save man. They're
building on a foundation that is going to be shook, it's going
to be tore down, it's going to collapse. This foundation is
set up by God through His Son is by grace. Free, sovereign,
undisputable, unmerited, unasked for grace. We see that in John
chapter 1. He says, turn to John chapter
1 with me real quick. Starting in verse 10 of John
chapter 1. Christ was in the world and the world was made
by him and the world knew him not. So if you don't know the
foundation, if you don't know the top stone to begin with,
everything's gonna go askew. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. But as many as received him through
sovereign grace, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. on his name, on
the person of Christ, on the work of Christ. Which, how did
that happen? They were born, you must be born
again, not of blood, doesn't matter what mom and dad, you
can't be born into this kingdom by them, or of the will of the
flesh, or the will of man, but of God. It's got to be by the
will of God. And how does he do that? He does
it through the preaching of the gospel, the truth, And this is
the solid foundation. This is the foundation. He's
the only foundation that we can be laid upon. Go ahead, we
can boast of our free will, we can boast of our supposed righteousness,
which the scripture answers that in Isaiah 64, six, our best,
our righteousness is, plural, that our filthy rags. And what,
you're gonna build with that? No, no, if anyone is ever to
be redeemed, by blood and purchased by sacrifice, it must be that
one and only sure, steadfast, true foundation, Jesus the Christ,
Emmanuel, the true vine, the great shepherd, the governor,
the counselor, the mighty God, the God-man, the rock of ages,
that steady, sure foundation. If we get this starting point
wrong, And this is the travesty, this is the horrible characteristic
of modern day religion, which if you read history, it's the
same. If we get this starting point, if we start off not with
the cornerstone, not with the chiefstone, if we start off on
a different foundation, the whole building will collapse, fall,
or be shaken apart. And that's why we make no bones
when we talk about the gospel with our children. And they go
to other places. They may have friends that go
to other churches. They hear a bunch of stuff. Our
daughter heard a bunch of stuff at school. Your kids hear a bunch
of stuff at school. They got friends. You let them
have friends. It's not any big deal. But that's
the opportunity to tell them, this is why this is wrong. The whole premise is wrong. It's
not close. There's no such thing. It's either
the gospel or the anti-gospel. There's not any in between. Well,
if we get this starting point wrong, we get the whole building
will be off. So I've got three thoughts here.
Let us then have a right estimate of this man, Christ Jesus, which
no other man says the scriptures spake like this man. No other
man lived like this man. No other man died like this man.
Revelations chapter 1 and verse 8. He's the Alpha the Omega He's
the first and the last in Hebrew 7 and Psalms 110. He's the one
after the order of Melchizedek Let's have a right estimation
of him again You talk to people or you listen to people and when
they begin to tell you about Christ Paul says I have not so
learned Christ That's what he's not I see that's a, that's a
Christ, small C, small G, but we have not so learned Christ.
We're not being boastful. You're telling them the truth.
Secondly, let us have a right estimate, estimation of ourselves
ruined by the fall. Romans three, Psalm 51, shaping
and iniquity. Unloving, unlovable by all estimation. Isaiah chapter one verse six,
sick, we're sick from the head to the toe. There's no soundness. That's another area that people
don't wanna hear how bad they are. But in order to understand
the Holy Spirit uses these antithesis. He uses these two different,
he shows us what we are and then he shows us how great he is.
And I've told you several times Went to those exhibits in Memphis. Went to that one, it was Catherine
the Great, the Russian empress. They had some jewels that were
hers or on display, and they displayed them on a black cloth,
and they had lights on them. Boy, they really stuck out. Well, that's opposites. That's
what God does. He'll show us. David says it
is good for me that I've been afflicted. He'll show us what
we are, but that's a good thing. Because then he's the mercy is
not far behind, not far behind. So unless thirdly, let's have
a biblical estimation or estimate of how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. He has to be both. He has to
justify. And he says Christ died for the
ungodly. And we take up our spot right
there. In Matthew chapter 19, we always
talk about, you know, Christ talking about going through the
camel, you know, the eye of the needle. The apostles, the disciples
were astonished. And so how can that be done?
He says, well, with men it's impossible, but with God it's
possible. And you go further up in the
context, he's talking about eternal life and salvation. So when he
says it is impossible, he's talking about salvation. He's talking
about that foundation, He's talking about the foundation of Christ.
By us, it's impossible. But with God, it is possible. It is impossible with, by, and
because of man, but not so with God. That's the context of what
he's speaking of there. If you or I are resting upon
this one and only true foundation, Christ, we have life. We believe upon him. We've passed
from death to life is what we've seen in Romans. And we are right
now in a state of grace, not law, not works, not our goodness,
but total free, pure grace. So it is important. And the whole
thing in Corinthians and in these other passages I read, he's bringing,
he's not just talking about the building, but he's leading to
a point, the way he writes these epistles. He's talking about
the truth. He's talking about the gospel.
He's always speaking about the gospel. And that's what we speak. That's how we speak of man's
depravity, man's unrighteousness, God's righteousness, God's pureness,
the divinity of Christ. We speak about all these things.
So they are important. Now, are you going to know everything?
No. No, because you're going to see yourself, you're going
to see Christ, and you're not going to rest on anybody else,
on anything else. We sing, how firm a foundation,
O saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent
Word. The foundation is firm and it's
already been laid. No man can lay. It's already
been laid. For other foundation can no man lay. That's gonna
save. That's gonna help. That's gonna
mortify the deeds of the flesh. That's gonna stop you and say,
you know, this world, this situation I'm getting involved in the world,
it stinks. I need to back off. Why? Because that foundation
has been laid. You go back to that. Always. Am I doing right by my children?
All these things, all these complicated issues in our life, parents,
it's go back to the foundation, which is laid, which is grace,
unmerited, pure, free grace. I still think about that message
last Sunday about the gospel in three words. I still think
about that. Where are you, as Genesis says,
where are you? And I still think about that
second point. God seeking sinners. That is overwhelming. Where are
you, Adam? It proved Adam and Eve's sin. So you talk about depravity,
but it proved, it showed God was seeking. Seeking sinner that
is grace that is grace This foundation is set In Christ our Lord he put up
the building that's us the structure And it shall never fail or finally
side for he is the master builder and he himself says this holy
book shall never fail. He's always successful, he's
always on time, his time. Just read Isaiah 40 through Isaiah
53. It is constantly talking about
his sovereignty, his majesty, and everything's on his time.
Then I go back to Zechariah 4. His hands, it said he's gonna
lay it, but I'm glad he didn't just lay it and then just, okay,
like Galatians, you know, now we're gonna go back under the
law for the rule of life, make sure, no, Christ is our rule. He's our foundation. He's our
life. But Zechariah, the gospel's in harmony. It's always in harmony.
I go back to Zechariah 4, verse 9. Not only is Zerubbabel gonna
lay the foundation, but what does it say? He is gonna finish
it. Now doesn't that agree with,
he that starts a good work shall finish it? That's what he's saying. Well, that's New Testament. Well,
they got that from the Old Testament. Finish what? What is he gonna
finish? His house, his church, his people. We don't have to turn there,
but I like this passage as well. In Jeremiah 6, verse 16, he talks
about the old paths. The old paths, these old paths.
are the grand old doctrine of the Bible as they are enlightened
to us by the preaching of the gospel. That's the old paths.
This is return to the old paths. When you talk to people about
this gospel, they're like, I've never heard that. That's something
new. No, it predates everybody. And that's one reason why we
know it's true. It's not of man, but it goes back, way back. It says all man are bankrupt
and void of grace until God gives us grace. So these, that he enlightens
us, he uses, we speak of his divinity, his doctrine or teaching,
his worth and work, his offices as a prophet, priest, and king,
his flawless covenant. We speak of election. We're not
ashamed of predestination, human depravity, foreordination, and
every other truth regarding his attributes and the quality of
his character. That's the old paths. And I wrote this down. Somebody, some old writer said
it, no one was ever harmed by the truth. So I don't want to
tell, you know, like that guy down in Sykeson years ago, he
said, well, I've got all these good books, but I don't dare
preach them because it'll bother, it'll hurt people, it'll split
the church. Well, you're hiding the truth under a rock, buddy. I think about this now there's
only one path we know to believe there's only one path and that's
the path of righteousness but in the scripture it does speak
of Cain's way Abel's way so truly there's one path but the end
result is people are on one path or the other two paths always
Cain's way or Abel's way the broad road or the narrow road
works or grace Law or love, self or Christ. So either you or I
are upon sandy foundation and dangerous ground or the rock
of ages. That sure, firm foundation. In one there's life, hope and
eternal rest. The other, death, misery and
eternal ruin. And when I'm up here, I don't
want to be deceived, and I don't want to deceive you. I want to be truly graced. I
want to be standing on that foundation. In closing, turn to Psalm 71.
Psalm 71 and verse 16. It says, I will go in the strength
of the Lord. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. We either speak and are in his
strength or in our strength. We either speak and are found
in his righteousness or our righteousness. May we be found in him. May we
be found in him. And I'll tell you this story,
and I know I've told it before, but it's been a while. Out of
2 Timothy 1.12, he says, Paul says, I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. The story is, there's an old
saint, and she's on her deathbed, and the pastor goes and visits
her, and she had that verse memorized. And then she quoted it back to
him. And then he went back to her
a week later and she had just part of it, just part of it memorized.
He went back again and she had a fourth of it memorized. And
he went back to her and the only thing she said was him, him,
him. So that's the only thing you
get out of this message. That's the only thing you get
out of this book is to be found resting and trusting in him. That's good enough. It'll be
well with your soul. Matt, would you close this please?