Thank you. You'll find my text
this morning in Isaiah chapter 28. That's my subject this morning,
the church's foundation. Isaiah chapter 28, and we'll
just read one verse, verse 16. I want to begin this this morning,
and we'll see how far we go with it, and we'll finish it this
afternoon. around 1 o'clock or so. Isaiah chapter 28 and verse
16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. So often here in the book of
Isaiah Sometimes you find it elsewhere in the Old Testament.
The church was in deep trouble, the church in the Old Testament,
the church of old. And sometimes it was caused by
their sin. Sometimes the chastening hand
was upon them, He was hiding His face. Sometimes they were
just in the midst of the battle, a spiritual battle, and they
got in trouble. And here in the book of Isaiah. One of the words that you'll
see him often use is woe. Woe, woe, woe. He often pronounced
woe upon the transgressors. Woe is coming. Woe is coming. The Lord is coming to take vengeance
upon His holiness. But this book here is also a
book of comfort. It was comfort when it was written.
It was comfort to the believers. It was written to encourage them.
Here in verses 5 and in verse 6 of this chapter, he says this,
In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory
and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people, and
for spirit of judgment to him that setteth in judgment, and
for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. In that day, in that day. One of the ways that these old
prophets of old had of comforting the church of old was they said,
listen, there's coming a better day. There's coming a better
day. You're in trouble now. You seem
to be sitting in darkness now. You're in tribulations now. But
listen, there's a promised day coming. The Messiah is coming. The Christ is coming. Look here
in chapter 35, just over to your right. And as you read the book
of Isaiah and some of the other books, you see this. In Isaiah
chapter 35, and look in verse 4. Isaiah 35, verse 4. Say to
them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold,
your God will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, He
will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame leap as their heart and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing, and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams
in the desert." Now, that may not mean much to us. But if you were living in a dry
time, in a troubled time, and the prophet of the Lord says,
listen, God is coming. The Lord is coming. And what
a strange way to say this. Rivers are going to break out
in the desert. The desert is going to bloom
like a rose. And what does this mean? That
means Christ is coming. The Son of God incarnate is coming. And when He came, did He not
open the eyes of the blind? Did He not unstop the ears of
the deaf? And He said Himself, even in
the wilderness of Judea, He said this, ìCome unto Me, all ye that
are thirsty, and I will give you to drink.î And He said to
that one woman out in the wilderness of Samaria, ìYou drink of this
water and youíll thirst again. But if you drink of the water
that Iíll give you, there shall be in you a well of living water.î
And the old prophet was saying here, a better day is coming.
A better day is coming. Christ is coming. He said it
in another place, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and you shall call his name Immanuel. Imagine the encouragement that
gave the church to wait. To us a child is born. A son
is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. And of the increase of his government
and peace, there shall be no end. And this is the name wherewith
he shall be called, the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And again, they comforted the
people this way, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh! He is just, and he is having
salvation. He is bringing with Him salvation.
And again He said this, and it shall be said in that day, Lo,
this is our God. We have waited for Him and He
will save us. This is our Lord. We have waited
for Him and we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. How they encourage the people
to wait. The Lord is coming. Our salvation
is coming. And when this promised day comes,
We see people were waiting. They were waiting. There was
a man in the temple, a real old man, and they brought in the
Lord Jesus, eight days old. And it was said about this old
man that the Holy Ghost was upon him, and he was waiting for the
consolation of Israel. Waiting for Israel to be comforted. And he tucked the little Christ
child up in his arms, and he said, Lord, let me die in peace.
My eyes have seen your salvation, a light to lighten the Gentiles
in the glory of your people Israel." People were waiting, weren't
they? They had been encouraged by these promises and predictions
that the prophets had given all through the Old Testament. And
Anna, that aged prophetess, came in and tucked the Lord Jesus
up in her arms and she spake of Him to all that looked for
redemption in Israel. They encouraged the Old Testament
church of old to wait, wait. Oh, be of good courage. A better
day is coming. And here in our text, this was
meant to be encouragement of the church in the Old Testament.
And it's a reality now. But you know it was a prediction
in their day. I will lay in Zion a foundation. I'll do it. And that was a prediction
and a promise to them, but what was a prediction to them is now
a reality. Brothers and sisters, that foundation
has been laid just as it was predicted. And not only to the
Jews, but to the Gentiles. Peter was the apostle of the
Jews, and he quoted this text. But he clarifies it. Two times,
two different apostles quoted this text. my text in the New
Testament. And both times they clarified
the text and they did that to let us know who this foundation
is. Peter quoted this verse in 1
Peter chapter 2 and he said this, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone elect and precious, and whosoever believeth on him
shall not be confounded. To you that believe he is precious.
He doesn't point to some inland But He appoints to a person,
Him, whosoever believeth upon Him. And listen, He wrote this
to the Jews. But the Apostle, our Apostle
to the Gentiles, He quotes this same verse and He applies it
to us. Poor Gentiles. Listen to what
he says in Romans chapter 10 verse 11. He's speaking of the
righteousness of faith. If we confess with our mouth
the Lord Jesus, believe in our hearts that God raised Him from
the dead, we'd be saved. And then he said, For the Scripture
saith, and he quotes my text, For whosoever believeth on Him,
on Him shall not be ashamed. He shall not make So here we
have the foundation laid for the Jews, and we have the foundation
laid for the Gentiles. Him, He is the foundation, Jesus
Christ our Lord. If you and I are concerned this
morning, brothers and sisters, and my friends, with building
our hopes, our hope on things eternal, then we must know and
understand and believe this. that Jesus Christ is the only
foundation to build upon. There is no other foundation
laid. God laid this one and He has laid no other. And if we
build our hope of life eternal and eternal happiness upon anything
besides Jesus Christ, it will be built upon the sand. So let's
consider just for a few minutes and go through these passages
and consider Christ our foundation. This is the church's foundation.
And let's just go through here and look how the Holy Spirit
through this prophet describes it. Our foundation. He first here in our text calls
Him a stone. A stone. Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone. Now that's an emblem that when
you and I think of, we think of something that's solid, don't
we? A stone is strong and a stone is something that endeareth.
When wood rots away, a stone is solid. It's something substantial
that lasts. When men used to make a covenant
and promises one with another, they'd sometimes take a huge
stone and they'd set it up there. And they'd say, let this stone
be a witness. Why did they use a stone? You
go back there. A decade later, there that stone
is. It's endearing. It's something
that's solid. When they built a house or a
city, they built it upon a foundation of stone because that's something
that's endearing. It's something that's strong
that will hold your weight. Isn't this a beautiful emblem
of Jesus Christ? He told us there in Matthew 7
about the man who dug down and built his house on a stone. on a rock. And that house stood
when the rains came, and when the storms came, and the wind
blew, it stood. Why? He tells us it was founded
upon a rock. A rock. Jesus Christ is a stone. He's a rock. We're told that
our Redeemer is strong. Our Redeemer is strong. The Lord
of hosts is His name. And strong is the Lord God who
judgeth her. And He says every place like
this, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore your sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He is a stone, isn't He? What
a beautiful emblem of Jesus Christ. He is a stone. I am the Lord,
I change not. He is Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And with Him is no variableness,
neither shadow of I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. Something solid. Something that's
enduring. Something that will hold your
weight. Something you can build upon. But this is strange. Peter calls him a living stone. Isn't that strange? We think
of a stone, we think of something that's cold, don't we? Something
that's dead. Something that's hard. But Peter
said he is a living stone. Well, as a stone, we know He's
strong. We know He'll hold your weight. He's endearing. But what's
this? A living stone. Peter has to
leave these emblems. These emblems just break down,
doctor. You can't use emblems to describe
fully the glory of the Son of God. So Peter says He's a living
stone, and by that he means not only is He strong, but He's the
source of life. He's the strength of that life
that He gives. He's the duration of that life. He is life Himself, isn't He?
He is eternal life, and He dispenses that life to others. Christ is
our life, and He says, I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish. But boy, all of these emblems,
they just break down. when we're talking about the
glory of Jesus Christ. These old prophets of old, they
used all these emblems to describe Him and depict Him. And they
reached the point where they said, you know, it's not enough.
It's just not enough to try to describe Him with these emblems.
So they began to use adverbs and they began to add adjectives
to their emblems. They said it like this. One said,
He's the Son. But that's not enough. The Son
of Righteousness. Another says He's the Pearl,
and then adds He's a Pearl of Great Price. He's called the
Shepherd of Israel. But that's not an apt way to
leave it there. So He's the Good Shepherd. He's
the Chief Shepherd. He's the Shepherd of our souls. The Great Shepherd. One place
He's called a Tree. But not just a Tree, but a Tree
of Life. He said to be fair. They aren't
fair. But another says that's not enough.
He's fairer than the children of men. One said He's lovely. And another said that's not enough.
He's altogether lovely. It's just impossible to describe
what Jesus Christ is. So He's called a stone. But they
don't stop there. He's called the chief cornerstone. And He don't stop here in our
text. He not only calls Him a stone, but He says He's a tried stone.
And He's a precious cornerstone. And He's a sure foundation. So He's a stone. He's a stone. He's something that's substantial.
He's something that is enduring. Boy, through all the eternal
ages. Has He changed? And He won't, will He? Because
He's like a stone. And notice this, secondly, not
only does the Scripture say here he's a stone, but he's a tried
stone. You know, one of the things that
makes something precious is when you try it. You know, nothing's
of much value if it's not tried, is it? There's a lot of things
glitter that's not gold. And I tell you, when it proves
that it's gold, when you put the fire to it, You put the fire
to something and it burns up the dross, but it makes the gold
purer. It reveals the gold that the
dross is mixed with. Jesus Christ is a tried stone. He's a tried stone. Listen to this. His wisdom was
tried. It was said of him when he was
just a few years old that he was filled with wisdom and increased
with wisdom. Increased with wisdom. But how
would we know that if he wasn't willing to have his wisdom tried? And boy, they tried his wisdom.
When he was 12 years old, he was found among the doctors of
the law and he was asking them questions and giving them answers
that astonished them. They come to take him in his
word and they left astonished saying, nobody ever spake like
this man. How does this man have all of
this wisdom having never learned? Oh, wisdom. They tried his wisdom. The Bible calls him the wisdom
of God. Isn't that amazing? But he was
willing to have his wisdom tried. Did anybody ever confuse him? Did they ever come and ask him
these questions and send him away scratching his head? They
never did. Why? Because he's wise and his
wisdom has been tried. How has He dealt with you? Has
He ever made any mistakes with you? Sometimes you think He has
until you look in retrospect and you say, my, at the wisdom
of the Lord. Well, His wisdom has been tried.
Listen to this, His patience has been tried. He's a tried
stone. Not only did He endear the ignorance
of His own poor disciples, but He endeared the contradiction
of sinners against Himself. How patient He is. Randy told
us this morning about the patience of Job. Boy, here's the example,
isn't it? About patience. Patience. The Bible says when He was reviled,
He reviled not again. When He suffered, He never threatened
those at whose hands He suffered for us. They called him a liar. They called him a devil, a Samaritan,
a deceiver, a blasphemer. And when he'd come to die, what
did he do? He patiently submitted himself
unto God to keep him. His patience was tried. He's
a tried stone. His power was tried. Nature tried
His power. Remember when He was crossing
the sea with His disciples and for some reason or another, nature
turned on Him with all the waves and the wind to try to drown
Him and His disciples. I don't understand that, but
I know this. He showed Himself to have power
over nature because all He said was, Be still! Hush! And the disciples said, what
manner of man is this that the winds and the seas obey him?
You try that. You try that. We didn't meet
you a Wednesday night because storms were coming through. And
I'm not one that has no more sense to think I'm going to get
out in the road and say, peace be still. It's going to take
me right on down the street with it, isn't it? But not him. His
power was tried. Satan tried his power. Satan
tempted Him for 40 days and nights and Christ overcame Him in His
humanity after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. It is written,
He overcame Him. A legion of devils came trembling
against Him and they fell down at His feet and begged for permission
to leave. They tried it. We are told that Jesus Christ
upholds all things. by the Word of His Power. For all of these thousands of
years now, the sun has been rising, the stars keep their courses,
the little birds fly through the air, the worms rise up and
wiggle, and you live and move and have your being from orders
from His throne. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. He was a tried stone. Anybody can boast of power, can't
they? But He has it. He has been tried. Father, all of those you've given
me, I've lost none of them. That's power, isn't it? You've
given Him power over all flesh. You know Jesus Christ, when He
was here upon this earth, had power over all flesh. And for
this reason, not only to hold Him up in life, but to give eternal
life to as many as the Father had given Him. He has power. It's a tried power. His meekness
was tried. He's a tried stone. That thief
that derided Him with the other, Finally turned to Him and said,
Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And what did
Christ say? No, I've had it with you. I don't
want anything to do with you. You've been reproaching me and
mocking me. You don't want to have anything. That's just not
Him, is it? He's meek. Did He ever reject anybody that
come to Him for a relief? Nobody. He even invites men to
come, doesn't He? He invites those who are under
the load to come. Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. Did you ever get that way? Oh,
your soul is burdened and you need help that only He can help
you with. And He says, Come unto Me. I'll
give you rest. You've been laboring under the
load of life? And if you felt yourself to be
utter failure and you just wanted to give it up and check out,
I've been there. I've been there. I was talking
with a dear pastor yesterday and he said, man, he said people
committing suicide, his dear mother-in-law committed suicide.
He said, I know something about that. I know something about
that. I knew where the shotgun was
at one time. I knew where the shells was to
put in it. burdens, depression of the mind, whatever the burden
is, the Lord Jesus is so meek and lowly and compassionate. Here is what He says, Come unto
Me. You need rest for your mind? I will give you rest. I will
give you rest. Why? Because I am meek and lowly
in my heart. and you shall find rest for your
soul." If we found a bunch of people coming to Him and He turned
them away, then we say, well, He fell in His meekness. There's
a limit, but show us the limit of this man's meekness. Never
turned any away, did He? He's a tried stone. God knew
what it was going to take to save a sinner. And He tried this
man, his son, and He says, there is the foundation. He is a tried
stone. His love was tried. His love
was tried. Oh, He said, I go, Father. Lo, I come, I'll go. When it
comes time, I'll go. Will He? Will He leave heaven's
glory and come and be made in our humanity and suffer? He did,
didn't He? Why? Because of love. Because
of love. Will He go to the garden? Will
He sweat drops of blood under the anticipation of this cup
of sin and God's wrath? Will He go to the garden? Yes. Why? Because He loved. Will He
go to the judgment hall and be stripped naked and whipped and
a robe put upon Him and a crown of thorns on His head? Will He
go to the cross and endure God's judgment upon our sins? Yes. Why? Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He's
tried. He's tried. We've got a lot of
new things coming along today, haven't we? Have for years. I don't want something new, do
you? I want something that's tried. I want something we know
will stand the test. I want a foundation when I cast
my soul upon it. I know it will be strong enough
to hold me. Here it is. Because this is a
tried foundation. He's a tried stone. And He says something else here
in our text. Not only is He a tried stone, but He's a precious stone. He's a precious stone. That word
precious means dear. We sometimes address our spouse
as dear, don't we? They're costly. It means costly.
something of great worth, something that's honorable. Jesus Christ
is precious. He's precious to the Father.
He's called the dear Son of God. God has delivered us from the
power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. He said, This is my beloved Son
in whom my soul delighteth. He's precious to the Father.
He's precious to angels. You know angels exist and they
live just to obey Him and worship Him. They love Him. He's precious. Can you imagine
when He first created the angels? I've often thought of this. Can
you imagine when their created eyes were first opened and they
looked upon Him, the Son of God? You wonder what they thought.
But He's precious to them. They're always around the throne
singing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and
honor and power and riches. They're always there saying,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Let all the angels
of God worship Him. They love Him. They love Him.
He's precious to them. You know He's precious to creation. Romans 8 tells us that creation,
all of creation now has just grown in. They're waiting. Just like the children of God
is. This earth is waiting for redemption. They're waiting for
Christ's voice. They're waiting to fill His power
to make them new. He's precious to the mountains
and precious to the streams. He's precious to creation. And
Peter says to you that believe, He's precious. Is Christ precious?
Yes, He's precious to you, isn't He? Is He precious in His Lordship?
Don't you love to bow to His will? It's the Lord. Let Him do what pleases Him.
He's a precious Lord. Isn't He precious as a Savior
to you? Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and now you're free. Oh, He's a precious Savior
who forgives all my sins. He's precious in His friendship.
Do you have a friend any closer to you than Him? He's a friend
that sticks closer than a brother. He's precious. Isn't He precious
in His communion, sometimes late at night? When you are so alone,
what does He do? He comes and gives you a song
in the night. He sucks with you. He lives within
you. Communion. Have you not felt
His sweet presence in the night hour? I will love Him and manifest
myself to Him. Is He not precious in His offices
as King and Priest and Prophet? His atoning blood, is that not
precious? His justifying righteousness,
is that not precious? His ordinance, is that not precious
when we come to the Lord's table, and you eat that broken bread,
and you remember that's His body, and you drink that wine, and
that's His blood that was shed for your sins, how precious Christ
is in His ordinance. And if He's precious now, when
we know and see so little of Him, how precious will He be
when we see Him in glory as He really is? He'll really be precious
then. And our text says something else
here about this. It says also that Jesus Christ
is the precious cornerstone. He's the cornerstone. Cornerstone is the first stone
they used to lay in a building. They'd lay a huge stone in the
corner and they'd join all the foundations to that one stone. Cornerstone means everything
is united in that one stone. That's what Jesus Christ is,
isn't it? He binds everything together and makes it one in
Him. He unites the building together. You know, in Jesus Christ, the
Old and New Testament become one. We really don't have two Bibles.
Some people used to talk about the Old Bible and the New Bible.
We just have one Bible, don't we? But if it wasn't for Christ,
we'd have an Old Testament and a New Testament, and they'd make
no sense when you tried to compare them one with another. It's only
when we see the Old Testament and the New Testament in the
light of this one glorious person that we say, my goodness, this
is just one book, because it's all about Him. Joe and I were
out at Big Lots the other day looking for furniture. We're
probably the only one in here that goes to Big Lots to buy
furniture. It's inconvenient to be poor. We was out there,
and this one lady come in and said, do you work here? I thought,
I need a job here. I said, no, I don't. And she
started telling me about politics. And they said, you know, I shouldn't
talk to people about politics. And then she said, you know,
I love the Old Testament. And I said, well, that's good.
The Old Testament's a fine book. She said, I love Jehovah. He's
just been my friend. Jehovah in the Old Testament
is my friend. And I said, well, what do you
think about the New Testament? She said, that's confusing to
me. I just don't understand that. And I said, listen. I said, Jehovah
in the Old Testament that parted the Red Sea to deliver the children
of Israel, that's the same Jehovah in the New Testament that hung
upon Calvary's tree. And she said, what? What? But He is, isn't He? And He binds
those Testaments together. They had Him in promise. We've
got Him in the fulfillment of those promises. They had Him
in these times. We've got Him in His reality.
They look to the cross. We look back to the cross. And
everything in Him is made one. because he is the chief cornerstone.
He binds everything together. He has so reconciled his people
to God that the Bible says they are one with God. Now listen to these passages.
In that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in
me, and I in you. And he says, Father, neither
pray I for these alone, but for them which shall believe on me
through their word, that they may be one. as thou, Father,
in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us." That's amazing
scripture, and I'll be honest with you, the only way I can
grasp that is just by faith. A redeemed human race is one
with God because they have been united together in one by Jesus
Christ. You are dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. Every believer is in God and
is one with God. And every believer is bound to
every other believer. And they're not two, they're
just one. We looked at that a few weeks
ago, didn't we? One body, one body. The Lord said there is
neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free, male or female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. And sometimes when you get an
opportunity, read closely, carefully and prayerfully, Ephesians 1.10.
Listen to this. In the dispensation of the fullness
of time, God's purpose, God has a time, He's fulfilling His purpose.
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. There is coming a day, brothers
and sisters, when everything is going to have so much unity
and so much peace, perfect peace, because Jesus Christ is going
to make it one in Himself. We sang about that sometimes,
what, that old song, This is My Father's World? The battle
is not yet won. Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
and earth and heaven be one. Be one. Boy, there's so much
division now, aren't there? They tell us our country's just
polarized. It's us against them, them against
us. Pretty much split down the middle
on almost every issue. The world is divided. Look what's
going on in the world. Look at the chaos and the hatred,
unrest. Heaven and earth is divided.
Not just the expansion of air, but the sin that separates it.
Separation everywhere we look, isn't it? But you know there's
coming a day, there's coming a day in God's own purpose that
a redeemed humanity and a holy God And men and angels and heaven
and earth is going to be one, just one. And that will be perfect
and eternal peace. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone
that's going to bring everything together and make it one. And what a day, what a day that
will be. I can't imagine that, can you?
But he's going to do it because he's the chief cornerstone. And
he's reconciling everything to God. The very next word and the last
word we'll look at this morning, boy, gives a full of assurance.
And it makes all of these things sure that we've been talking
about because the next word is this. I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. A sure foundation. What's everything else, brothers
and sisters, if it's not sure? If there's a perhaps or a maybe,
or I hope so, but it's sure, isn't it? Everything that we've
said this morning about this precious stone is sure. This foundation is a sure foundation. We used to be, when I was growing
up down in the hills of Tennessee, I was up in my teenage years
before we got a bathroom inside. All we had was outhouses. And
my dad used to build them himself. And he never took much pains
with them. He never dug a foundation to rest an outhouse upon. It
was just an outhouse. And he'd build them on top of
the ground. And sometimes the water would wash the dirt away
and you'd see the old house leaning. And sometimes they fell. You
have to be careful when you got in them. You may fall over with
them. But you know, my dad, when I
was a young teenager, he decided to build the family a house.
And you know something? He went and got a man and told
him I want you to come build me a house because I don't know
how to build a house." And the first thing that man did was
dug down and poured a foundation. Why? It wasn't a toilet where
he was going to live in. It was a house to support the
family and raise the family in. So what do you do when you have
something you want to secure? Something that will hold the
weight and will last. Something that won't blow away
with the wind or fall over during the rain. You lay a sure foundation,
don't you? A sure foundation. Well, it seems like some today,
and I fear that you and I know some of them, they have no regard
for their souls. They have no regard for the salvation
of their souls any more than they would a toilet, an outhouse.
And they're just willing to build upon any foundation that's imaginable
because they don't value their poor souls. Boy, when we think about our
souls, and boy, sometimes when we begin to see our guilt before
God and the awful sad condition that we're in, it makes you heavy,
doesn't it? And it's by this way God teaches
us to value our souls. The Lord Jesus said, what would
a man give for his soul? What's a soul worth? It's a heavy
thing, isn't it? A soul is a heavy thing. And
when we think about the eternal salvation and happiness of a
soul, we want to make sure that the foundation will hold the
weight of that soul. I tell you, it's a big responsibility
to undertake the saving of a man's soul. What does the soul weigh? That's
heavy, isn't it? Oh, the soul is heavy. What would
a million souls weigh, do you think? What does the souls of every
redeemed person weigh? Can you imagine the weight? that's
on this foundation? There's going to be a number
going to glory that no man can number, but imagine the weight
of that! Is Jesus Christ able to bear
that kind of weight? Well, we have the witness of
that here. He's a sure foundation. He's a sure foundation. If you
think of your soul as no more than an outhouse, then go ahead,
dear child, and build on the sand. Oh, but when you realize
that your soul is precious, and that you risk losing it, and
then you see this foundation, this sure foundation, Jesus Christ,
you come and you cast yourself upon Him, and you sing that blessed
old song of old, of the refuge, have I not? hangs my helpless
soul on You. Leave all, leave me not alone.
Still support, support and comfort me." Oh, we are facing eternity,
aren't we? We are facing eternity. And if we are not saved, what
are we going to do? What in the world will we do
if we come down to die and we are not saved? Well, that's a
heavy subject, isn't it? And the only way to be saved
is to be found upon this foundation. No other foundation will hold
you. Wait! It won't. It'll sink. Build your
hope on things eternal. This foundation. Jesus Christ. His doing. His dying. His sin
burying. His blood and His righteousness.
One of the old hymn writers of old said, Jesus, Thy blood and
righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress. Misflaming
worlds in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. Oh, this foundation It will hold
your weight here, and you can stand on its yonder in glory.
It will never give away. Jesus is a sure foundation. Well, we will pick up there this
afternoon.