I've entitled this message A
Good Foundation. Now, I want you to imagine that
you had never heard the gospel before. This is the first time
you'd ever heard it. First time you'd ever heard the
word read. And what would you conclude that
a foundation was if you read this passage of scripture? Now,
let's read it again. Verse 17, charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in
store for themselves a good foundation, against the time to come, that
they may lay hold upon eternal life. Now, if you had no understanding
of the gospel, what would you conclude from that verse of scripture
that a good foundation was? Well, you would conclude that
it had something to do with good works. That's what you would
conclude. Now that shows how dangerous
the Bible can be if you pull a scripture out without knowing
the gospel. I remember one time hearing a
preacher, I was in college at the time, and I went to this
church, and the preacher said, salvation is not all of grace.
He says, because the Bible does say work out your own salvation
with fear and dribbling. What if the only verse of scripture
that you ever heard was by works a man is justified? and not by
faith only. If you had no understanding of
the gospel, how confusing those passages of scripture would be.
Turn to Revelation 19. This pervades man's thinking. Verse 8 of Revelation 19, to
her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. Now, I've got a New International
Version Bible that I look at from time to time, and it quotes
that like this. The fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. The word righteousness is in
the plural. The righteousness is, and I think
it's the negative and positive righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So I said, what in the world does that mean? Well, I
don't know. That's how, that's why somebody explained it to
me once. But what it means it's, it's, he didn't do anything wrong.
There's his negative righteousness. And he always did that, which
is right. His positive righteousness. But it's certainly not the righteous
acts of the saints. Do you have any, any acts or
works that you would consider fine linen, clean and white? The righteousness of Christ.
is the righteousness of the saints. Don't you love that? I sure do. The righteousness of Christ,
his perfect obedience is the personal righteousness of the
saints. There is only one foundation
of salvation, the person and work of Christ. And we don't
lay that foundation, God did. Let me show you a verse of scripture
in Isaiah 28, if you turn with me there. Isaiah 28, verse 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. You see, God is
the one who lays this foundation. You and I don't do it. God does
it. If we're on the foundation, it's because he put us on the
foundation. That's the only reason we're on the foundation. He placed
us upon the foundation. Therefore, as thus saith the
Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. And notice he uses three words
to describe this stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. Tried. You know, a lot of times
when somebody's marking something, they'll make certain claims of
what it will do, but it's not been tried. It's not been proven.
This stone is proven. This stone is tried. This is
the great tried stone. And I love the way he calls it
precious. What a precious foundation. The Lord Jesus Christ, his precious
blood, his precious righteousness, the precious promises given for
his sake, all the promises of God in him are yay and amen.
How precious he is as our foundation. And then he calls it sure. I
love that, the sureness. You know, don't, don't trust
anything unless it's absolutely sure. Christ Jesus being saved
by him is absolutely sure. He is the foundation. Colossians
311 or first Corinthians 311 says, for other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now let me show you what my foundation
is. And it's your foundation too, if you're a believer. Turn
to Romans chapter eight. Here's my foundation beginning
in verse 29, for whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many witnesses. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified,
and whom he justified, then he also glorified. Not will glorify,
but glorified. Past tense. Now, what should
we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? That's my foundation. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not? What could possibly prevent him
from freely giving us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to lay to their
charge. Christ put away my sins. God justified me. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. That's
the only answer I need. Yea, rather that it's risen again
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now that's the believer's foundation.
And that's a sure foundation. He did it all. And he did it all before I was
even born. Now that shows how much my works have to do with
it. He did it all before I was even born. So what does Paul
mean when he talks about laying this good foundation for that
time to come for Judgment Day. Well, let me show you several
scriptures. Turn to Revelation chapter 14. Verse 13, And I heard a voice
from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which
die. in the Lord. From henceforth,
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may have rest from their labors. He's not talking about where
they don't have to witness anymore and all the hard work they do
for Christ. They don't have to deal with that anymore. He's
talking about the same thing. The Lord said, come unto me,
all ye that are weary and heavy laden, that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. That's the rest he's speaking
of. And look what it says next. Their works do follow them. When they enter heaven, the scripture
says their works do follow them. Now, they're not out in front
as the cause of salvation. They're not side by side as a
certain condition you met that made what he did work, but they
are behind them following as evidences that you are on the foundation.
Turn to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. Verse 31, when the
son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before
him should be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Now, this was all taken care of before time began. This kingdom was prepared for
you before time began. It's a done deal. It's a done
deal. I mean, if it's already done
in time, it's finished. But look at the evidence he gives.
He says in verse 35, there was certain evidences they give that
he'd done something for them. For I was hungry, and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger,
and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed
me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you
came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, or fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king,
they didn't know they'd done these things. You know, I love
thinking about this. You know, when I talk about people
giving evidences of works that will prove you're saved, if anybody
hears that and thinks, well, I feel good now. I've got plenty
of those. You've missed it. You've missed it. I mean, these
fellas didn't see their works. I'm glad you don't. Really, I'm
glad you don't. But others can. Others can. They didn't know they'd done
these things, and the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily
I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, you've done it to me. This is a reference
to union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what was the first
thing the Lord said to the seven churches? You remember? I know your works. I know your works. Turn to James 2. James 2. One of the most misunderstood
passages in the word of God. Verse 14. What does the prophet, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith
save him? If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
depart in peace and be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you
give them not those things which are needful to the body, what
does a prophet? In the same manner, faith, if it hath not works,
is dead. Being alone. Yea, a man may say
thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works. I'll show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, when he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled
with saith Abraham, Believe God. And it was imputed to him for
righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. Now here, this
is so, really so simple. And it is if God gives us grace
to see it. I mean, it'll be, it'll boggle us if we don't have
the teaching of God, the Holy Spirit. But this is so simple.
God promised Abraham, the Messiah is going to come through that
boy. He then said, go take that boy and kill him. If Abraham
would have said, I can't do that because then God's promise wouldn't
come to pass. All he would be saying by that
is he didn't believe God. What proved he believed God?
when he was willing to offer up his only son, knowing that
God would raise him from the dead, even if he did. That's
what proved he really believed God. If he would have refused
to do it because he was afraid God's promise wouldn't take place
then, all he would have proved by that is he didn't believe
God in the first place. It was his works that made his faith
complete. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. This
was read back in the back. Verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
indeed and in truth. You're the words I love you.
are so meaningful. They're the best words you can
ever hear if there's something behind those words. If there's
actions that prove the reality of those words. But the words I love you are
the most meaningless words there are if there is not action behind
them. Now that's what he's saying,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue. Don't just make this
something, I love you. I mean, I love to be told, I
love it when people tell me, I love you. You know, when they
love me, when they really do. And there's works behind it to
prove they really do. It's not just hot air. Let us
not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Now, when Paul is saying, let's
lay up for store a foundation, for the time to come. He's talking
about, he's not saying our foundation of salvation is our works. He's
not saying that my foundation of salvation is what Christ did
for me only. And what proves whether or not
he's really done something to me is seen in my works. That is what he means by that.
Now I don't want to appear to be one of those people who are
described as barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. I
don't want to be one of those people when they die, people
say, well, I hope they were saved. I hope they knew the Lord. I'm
not sure. You can't really tell. I mean, by the way, well, I hope
they did. I don't want to be somebody like that. Do you? I
want to be somebody who it was evident that I walked with God
just like Enoch did. that I walked with God, that
he was my all, that I fed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the way I want to die. I want to die that way. I want
to be somebody that it's evident that they really did love the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that is what Paul meant when
he said laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against that time to come. He's not saying your works are
your foundation, but he's saying your works will prove whether
you really are on that foundation. That's all he means by that.
Now let's look at the whole passage together. Turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter 6. Paul says in verse 17, charge
them that are rich in this world. And I dare say that no one in
here considered as in themselves to be rich in this world. And
I'd also say that compared with the rest of the world, every
one of us are quite rich. Go visit some of our brethren
in Mexico and you'll find out just how rich we are. Go visit
some of our brethren in some other third world country and
you'll find out just how rich we are. As far as that goes,
every one of us have things that Solomon in all his glory didn't
have. He didn't have an automobile the way we do. He didn't have
this nice air conditioning. I love air conditioning. I just
love it. I love cold air coming on me.
Solomon didn't have anything like that. He didn't have a high
definition TV to watch sports and all that stuff. I mean, we're
rich. We're rich. We're rich in this
world. And he says, charge them that
are rich in this world, which is every one of us, every single
one of us. And what's he say for us to do?
To not be high minded. to not be arrogant, pretentious,
and condescending. You know, generally speaking,
the more money people have, the more important they think they
are. That's just the way it is. Men worship money. They worship
themselves with how much money they have, how much influence
they have, how much power they have, how much things they can
do. The love of money is the root of all evil. And didn't
our Lord say it's easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Paul said in Romans 12, 11, mind
not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be content
with mean things. Don't be high minded. Don't be
arrogant. Don't think you're somebody.
Charge them that are rich in this world to not be high-minded. You know, humility is beautiful
in the rich, isn't it? Don't you love seeing it in the
rich? And it's beautiful in the poor too, isn't it? And it's
beautiful with the middle class. Humility is so beautiful, but
arrogance and high mindedness is so ugly in the rich. It's so ugly in the poor. It's
so ugly in the middle class. Look in first Timothy chapter
six. This is ought to be a passage of scripture that we look at
a lot. Verse six, but godliness first
Timothy six, six, but godliness with contentment. is great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out, and having
food and raiment. Physical food, physical clothing,
be content. Christ is your food, Christ is
your clothing, how could you be anything but content with
that? Having him as my food, him as my raiment, let us be
satisfied, looking for nothing else, really believing we have
everything. Oh, it's easy to not covet. If
you already have everything, there's nothing to covet. And
in Christ Jesus, the Lord, I have everything. But they that will be rich fall
into a temptation and a snare into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money, covetousness is the root of all evil. which while some
coveted after, they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. Turn to Proverbs 30 for a moment.
Proverbs 30. Here's wisdom. Verse 7, the wise man says, two
things have I required of thee. This is what I need. Deny them
not before I die. He says, first, remove far from
me vanity and lies. Lord, remove that from me. Give
me the truth. Enable me to be honest. And then
he says, give me, here's the second thing he asked for. He
says, give me neither poverty nor riches. I don't want either
one. You know, I want to be able to
pay my bills, don't you? I want to have enough money to be comfortable.
I don't want to be poverty stricken. And the wise man didn't either.
He said, give me neither poverty, but don't give me riches either.
But give me food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee
and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Now that's wisdom. May God cause
us to desire just that. Remove from me vanity and lies,
my own vanity, my own lies, the lies of man and man's religion. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me what I need. Can you
pray that prayer? Lord, just give me what I need. That's what I want. I want what
I need. I don't even know what I need. I love to pray that Lord,
I don't know what I need, but you do give me what I need. And
that's the prayer of the believer. Now back to first Timothy. He
says, charge them that are rich in this world, that they'd be
not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches. How easily any kind of material
goods can take wings and fly away. You might have a million
dollars in the bank and lose it tomorrow. Easily. Easily. I mean, whatever you
have right now, you may have some savings. It may be gone.
Don't trust in uncertain riches. Don't be like that rich fool
who said, soul, take thine ease. Thou has much goods laid up for
many years. Eat, drink, and be merry. And
God said, you fool. You fool. This night, thy soul
shall be required of thee. Don't put your hope in anything
that's not certain. Let me tell you what's certain. Grace. Free grace is certain. Grace saves. You put your trust
in grace, the grace of God, it is certain. The Bible is certain. It has no error in it. You can
count on what the word of God says. Christ's righteousness
is certain. Well, I wouldn't want to, I'm
like Paul, I don't want to have anything to do with my own righteousness.
And I don't want to have a thing to do with it. The only certain
thing is the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. The decrees of God are certain. The counsel of God standeth sure. The foundation of God standeth
sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. Don't trust anything but that
which is certain. If there's any certain uncertainty
to it at all, it's going to fall to the ground. The only thing
that is certain is who Christ is and what he did, where he
is now, and what he accomplished in my behalf. Don't trust anything
uncertain. Our sure and only foundation
of hope is Christ himself. I love thinking about this. The Lord Jesus Christ is able
to save me with no contribution from me. He's able. I trust his
ability. That's trusting his person. I
trust his life, his life, his obedience is my righteousness
before God. His death is my sin payment. His resurrection is
my justification. His intercession is the reason
I believe on him right now. He's praying for me right now,
representing me as my great high priest. And the reason I'm continuing
in the faith is only because he causes me to. And he's coming
for me. That is our only foundation. Now, he says, don't trust in
uncertain riches. But in the living God. Who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, trust the one who lives. I love that name, the living
God. The living God. Don't put your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man in whom is no help, whose breath is in
his nostrils, but trust the living God. The one who gives us richly
all things to enjoy. Now, I want us to remember this.
The Lord's good. He gives us all things richly
to enjoy. I think of the goodness of God. Material things are a blessing
when you don't make an idol out of them. When you hold them loosely,
And don't make it up. They're a blessing. I'm thankful
for the material blessings that God gives us. He's given it to
us to enjoy, not to feel guilty that you have them, but to enjoy.
You know, the Lord enjoys seeing us enjoy what he gives us. He's
good. You think of the, just the physical
blessings. Isn't it great to eat something
that tastes really good? I mean, it's wonderful. I love
that. I feel that way. I mean, if something
tastes really good, I love it. I love to eat. What a blessing
of God's grace. I mean, Lynn and I, when we have
something really good, I feel the same way too. I mean, we love good food. And well, don't like food that's
not good. But what a blessing it is to
have family that loves one another. What a blessing friendship is.
long standing friendship that stands the test of years? What
a blessing that is. What a blessing it is to be a
part of a church where the gospel of God's grace is preached. And
I'm here and I'm with brethren who love me. Isn't that a blessing? He's given us all things richly
to enjoy. Life is to be enjoyed. And an
unthankful attitude or a murmuring attitude is so ugly, but a thankful
person One who doesn't have this sense of entitlement, like everything's
coming to him, but a thankful person, thankful for the blessings
of God in every way. What a blessing that is. Now
he says to these people that are rich, he says in verse 18,
that they do good, that they be rich, not merely in money,
but in good works. And what a blessing it is to
be able to help someone, to be kind, to be merciful. to be forgiving, to be there
to help that person when they're down. What a blessing that is.
That they'd be rich in good works, ready to distribute or impart,
to give of that which we've received. Freely you've received, freely
give. Not only our money, but our time. And our genuine goodwill
from the heart. Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they do good, that they'd be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate, to share, to
be generous. Truly, it's better to give than
to receive. What a blessing. And then he
says, laying up, verse 19, in store for themselves, a good
foundation against the time to come. Now, I've already shown
that that doesn't mean that these works are their foundation. But
these works are certainly an evidence of that, what Christ
has done for them. And I think it's really interesting
the way this ends up. That they may lay hold on eternal
life. That they may lay hold, seize,
grasp eternal life. Eternal life. is the life of
God in the soul of a man. It's the capacity to have communion
with God. It's the capacity to hear his
voice, to hear him speak from his word. It's the capacity to
be able to praise him, to love him. It's the life of God in
the soul of man. It's that new heart that God
gives. How does one have it? First,
God's going to purpose it for you. He's going to purpose it
for you before time began. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. I love that scripture. Acts 13,
48. As many as were ordained to eternal life. Believed. So God's got to ordain you to
it. Eternal life has something to do with being his gift to
you. The wages of sin is death, but the gift, the free gift,
the gift of grace, the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal
life has something to do with actually hearing the voice of
Christ. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me
and I give unto them eternal life. Eternal life has something
to do with faith as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life. Eternal life has something to
do with me knowing the living God. This is life eternal that
they might know thee, the living God. and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent." Now, Paul said, lay hold on it, seize it. Now, how in the world do I do
that? It's not something that I can just up and reach out and
grab. What in the world does that mean? If I was going down to Niagara
and getting ready to go off the falls, And I knew that there wasn't
anything I could do to save myself. And somebody threw me out a rope.
You know what I'd do? I'd lay hold of it. I'd lay hold
of it. I wouldn't ask, what does it
mean to lay hold of it? I'd just grab it, and I'd hold
on. And my trust is not in me, but
it's where the rope is connected to the shore, that mighty, safe
shore. But I'd lay hold of it. Now when
you hear the gospel, lay hold of it. Lay hold upon eternal
life. And you know, even if we have
all these things that Paul's talking about here, about being
rich in good works and doing good and all those things and
not being high-minded, that's not what you're thinking about
when you're thinking about eternal life, is it? You're thinking about your
only hope is Christ Jesus. That's your only hope. When you
think of entering into glory, there's only one thing you plead.
May I be found in Christ. That's it. I plead nothing else. Lay hold upon eternal life. May God give us all the grace
in hearing the gospel. And here's another example. I
mean, I poke to scripture all the time. Here's laying hold
on eternal life. Christ Jesus, the scripture says,
this is God's word. This is not what a man said.
This is what Christ said. This is what Paul said through
the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. I lay hold of that. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm a whosoever. I'm calling. Save me. You promise. Now that's
what it is to seize, lay hold upon eternal life. Like when
The Lord was passing through Jericho and somebody told that
poor blind beggar that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. He began
to cry out immediately, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. At that time, he was laying hold
of eternal life and he would not be denied. They told him
to be quiet and the scripture says he cried the more, a great
deal, have mercy on me. Oh, if you need mercy, you will
not be shut up. I know that. If you need mercy,
you can't stop crying. Lay hold on eternal life. Every believer will go to heaven
empty handed and their works will follow them. Let's pray.