We can open by reading from Psalm 11. Psalm 11:
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? 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.
Psalm 11
One particular thing about verse 3 is the question that, today, if the foundations are destroyed, what shall the righteous do?
There’s a lot in the Bible about foundations. If you have good foundations for a building, it will stand even in an earthquake or a storm. If you have poor foundations, it will fall.
We’re in a church building that has very poor foundations. I don’t know if you realize that it slopes away down to the side there, because, really, when it was built in 1911, they didn’t put very good foundations under it. But it’s still standing, praise the Lord!
It’s important that a building has good foundations so it stands; with poor foundations it’ll fall.
Remember how Jesus told the story of the two house builders, one that built his house on the rock, and one that built his house on the sand? And the storms and the floods came, the rains and the floods came, hit both and how one of them fell down, the house on the sand fell down, and the house on the rock stood.
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Matthew 7.24-29
So, what is the question about faith? What is the question about good foundations; where do you get them from?
Basically, a good foundation is based upon faith and obedience to the Word of God.
This Psalm asks the question: what happens if you find yourself living in a society, in a world in which the foundations have been destroyed? What do you do?
You have two options:
- One of them is to flee like a bird to the mountains,
- The other is to trust in the Lord and to make known His righteousness.
If you choose the second option, you may risk coming under attack from the evil one, but the Lord will defend you.
Therefore, two options:
One, find an escape, find a safe place and hunker down till it’s all over; quite an attractive proposition.
Sometimes I think of it you know, I’ve reached a stage in my life where I get a pension from the government, my house has been paid off, I could actually quit everything and leave London and go and find somewhere quiet and forget about all this preaching, forget about Light for the Last Days, and stop telling people about the judgments that are coming, and stop talking about that which might get me into trouble. Let’s flee from it, let’s be free from the situation and have a peaceful life.
A good option, don’t you agree?
On the other hand, I won’t do it because I want to trust in the Lord and to do His will, and to make known His message. And there is a cost in doing that. You may be attacked by the wicked and you may have opposition. But if the opposition comes, we have to trust in the Lord, and He will deal with it.
Esther was reading through my notes this morning and she said, ‘Well the first thing that came to me was Psalm 37‘and looked it up and, yeah, that’s a good passage to read. I’ll just read the verses from Psalm 37:
Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Psalm 37
12 The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. 15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken. 16 A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendour of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. 21 The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. 22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.
Psalm 37
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. 26 He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. 28 For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it forever. 30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. 31 The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide. 32 The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him. 33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him when he is judged. 34 Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. 36 Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.
Psalm 37
37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.
Psalm 37
There are some good reasons there to trust in the Lord. One reason is that if you trust in the Lord, you’re on the victory side and, in the end, no matter what the wicked do, Jesus is going to have the last Word, and He’s going to bring peace and justice to the world. And those who trust in Him are going to be in the right place.
I am very thankful you are not considering retiring because we have too few shepherds and teachers left in the UK. In my own area (Dartford, Kent) I know of none and because we are a scattered people now, we must draw sustenance where we can. Spurgeon said “We are taught so we can teach” in our day too few are taught and there are very few with whom we can discuss the Word. So without “bigging you up” you are a rare treasure in the Church today and may God bless you and sustain you.