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What’s Your Foundation?
By 1in1000 | June 20, 2008
Has anybody here ever felt like quitting? Like giving up? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get tired. I feel like I’m swimming upstream…. through peanut butter.
Trying to serve the Lord can be hard work sometimes. Just trying to live godly with all of the junk that the world and the devil throw at you can seem overwhelming.
Sometimes it seems like it would be good if we could just get rid of all of our problems…….
I once read of this story in the News; (Google News)
BRUSSELS - Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay. this week was an unusual item: “For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts … free premium: the king and his court (costs not included).”
The odd ad was posted by one disgruntled Belgian in protest at his country’s political crisis, which had reached a 100-day landmark with no end in sight to the squabbling between Flemish and Walloon politicians.
The problem with selling America is I think we are upside down right now. We owe more on her than she is worth.
You can’t sell a country on E-Bay!.
People do crazy stuff when they get frustrated, don’t they?
I understand gas station drive-aways are considerably up with the current prices.
Sometimes we can do pretty dumb things
And sometimes when we are struggling people can give us pretty crazy advice too.
In a French Paper it was reported that, after a 25-year-old woman was accused of murdering her father and sister (and wounding her mother) in July, 2007 in Sydney, Australia, authorities revealed that she had been diagnosed with a psychotic illness in 2006. However, she had been discouraged from seeking psychiatric treatment by her parents because they are Scientologists, who by doctrine reject psychiatry and psychotropic-drug treatment.
Bad advise on that one
King David had some issues in his life too.
He had people give him crazy advice.
But he had something that he could count on in his times of distress.
Turn to Psalm 11 with me and rise as we read God’s Word. READ ALL
Psalm 11:1 In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
In these verses, someone was giving David some bad advice.
Telling David that he should run away from his problems.
David says I trust the Lord, How can you say this to me?
Even though it may have been that Saul was chasing him down and trying to kill him
Or later in his life that his own son Absolom had seized the throne and he was forced to flee.
Do you have problems?
Some even quote this bad advice to the Church claiming that the immorality of the culture will destroy us.
The Church originally flourished in a culture of immorality in the first three centuries. Under the Roman government where infanticide was acceptable and where brutality was commonplace the Church flourished. Even under government sanctioned persecution where Christians were periodically beaten , tortured and killed!
There is however a serious issue raised here by David’s counselors, “if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
To these counselors I believe that their foundation was David and his rule.
But what are the “foundations?”
If David’s base or foundation is his Position as King or his Palace or Political Power, what will happen if he is attacked and loses these things?
Sometimes the Church wants those things too.
Historically though the Church has more power when it is Pure and not through Position, Possessions or Politics.
This is not David’s base though is it? He began with the words, “In the Lord I put my trust;”
He goes on to say…..
Psalm 11:4 The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.
David was looking to something more permanent than just his position, possessions or power.
We have to ask ourselves as we go through trials, “Is God still God even when my situation is not the way I wish it was?”
Look at our economy, the sky is falling!!!!!
Look at the morality of our culture, the sky is falling!
Look at a family member or situation….
The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
He certainly is still God.
Is He aware of your situation?
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
He certainly is
Is this situation going to turn our right?
The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup.
It certainly is going to turn out right in the end. The righteous will get theirs and so will the wicked!
Why is all of this so?
For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.
See, the Lord is there. He is in control. Everything is going to turn out right in the end whether we are righteous or wicked.
The question is then, Are you the one who is here called “righteous?”
I verse 7 the word righteous is mentioned three times. That is very serious.
The word too often today is, Just believe in Jesus, accept Christ, and that’s that.
It is pretty much that simple, but…
David went a little farther than just saying that he believed in God, didn’t he? He said that he, “put his trust in the Lord.”
Faith is not just believing in God, it is believing God, trusting Him as David did. (Romans 4:3)
As the Church we have to take that stand and not mold our message or our methods to the wisdom of the world.
In the Bible, Jesus, His Church and His Word are all called the foundation. Can these be removed?
1 Corinthians 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Can this foundation be destroyed?
Is Christ your ROCK? Is He the foundation of your life?
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
If God has called you and knows you can that foundation be destroyed?
Matthew 16:18 I will build My Church….
John 6:39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
The Apostles and the Prophets are the givers of God’s word. The foundation of all that we believe.
There are a few trying to hack at that one today, but it will never fail!
What are you trusting in?
Your own opinion?
I think it should be this way….
The advise of ignorant people?
Dr. Phil says……
Like David’s advisors, that things will just work themselves out? Just lay low for a while.
Hey, there’s nothing you can do about it, kids will be kids.
What society is telling you to do?
Your god works for you, but I don’t need him.
These things will not stand!
But, The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
He is not going anywhere!
Did you ever try to knock down heaven???
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
He is aware of your situation
He is aware of the political situation.
See what’s going on in Canada. Its not far from us either. The Human Rights Tribunal is trying pastors and demanding that they cease to preach the Bible, re-educating them and forcing them to apologize for speaking what the Bible says, fining them and closing down ministries that don’t comply. (Several articles on World Net Daily)
and we learn a little more here.
Not only is He seeing, “His eyes behold.”
But “His eyelids test the sons of men.”
The mention of eyelids has the idea of squinting to get a close look.
A Scrutinizing
Why does God test us?
Does He need to learn about you?
It is to certify you.
When the smith purifies the gold he does it to remove the impurities.
Then he can give it his seal signifying that it is 24 karat.
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,”
David had the seal. When he was in his time of testing the first thing out of his mouth was, “In the LORD I put my trust.”
The dross is removed when we can say the same.
Abraham said it, He believed God and it was put into his account as righteousness.
The Lord tests the righteous,But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup.
The righteous and the wicked will both get their due.
So, again I will ask the question, Are you that one who is here called, “righteous?”
Is your trust in the foundation of Jesus, His Church and His Word? If it is, the Apostle Paul told Timothy that we must depart from iniquity.
Remember 2 Timothy 2:19?
It is hard to trust God when we are walking in sin, isn’t it?
It is equally hard to trust God when we are looking at the circumstances and not at the fact the God is on His throne and He is aware of our situation.
The early Church lived in the muck of pagan Rome and shined as virtuous and faithful people in that muck.
Their faith and virtue in a ruthless and immoral society was what made them grow.
In your trial it may be that as our text says that He is testing the righteous.
Or it may be that He is judging the wicked.
In Jeremiah 5, after the Lord begins to tell Judah that His is going to judge them because they have been repeatedly evil for a long time, He says, “18 “Nevertheless in those days,” says the Lord, “I will not make a complete end of you. 19 And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’”
It is possible then even if you are the wicked here today that the Lord has a good plan for you. That even if you are being judged that the design is to bring you to repentance.
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
And so even if we know Him, righteousness, that is doing what is right in the sight of God, will help to assure us that we really do belong to Him
But God knows the situation either way.
The point of all of this today is that we all go through tough times.
I know that you have heard a thousand times that God is in control. But you know what, HE IS!
The question is whether He is trying to get your attention today because you are not trusting Him or living righteously
Or
Whether He us testing you to help you to see where you need to trust Him more.
I am going to tell you today that, not based on my opinion or on what I have been taught by men, but on what the Word of God clearly says, Jesus, His Church and His Word are the foundations that will never be destroyed.
If you have sin in your life today, don’t pretend that it is not an issue, don’t ignore it and hope it goes away on its own, DEAL WITH IT!
Matt 5:28-29
If you are struggling with situations, Look to the Lord
He is in His Holy Temple and He is watching your situation.
Either way you need to trust Him.
As a Church whether we are talking “C”hurch or “c”hurch,
we need to remain faithful to the foundations.
If in our reading today from Matthew 7:24-29, Christ likens a man who does not build his life on the rock of Himself and His teaching as a fool, how much more would He consider a church foolish that does not build itself on the same?
Trusting God and His sovereignty, his ultimate justice is what brings us through our times of testing just as it did King David.
Whether we are talking individually as David was an individual or corporately as Israel, the nation, we need not panic and make rash decisions, but move forward trusting that the foundations cannot be moved and knowing that God is just.
* All Scripture Quotes NKJV
Topics: 1 Corinthians, 1 John, 2 Timothy, Ephesians, Psalms, Uncategorized |