An Immovable Foundation
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, MAY 13, 1866, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Psalm
11:3.
WE are walking along through the vineyard of this Psalm, plucking the
clusters on the right hand and on the left, when suddenly, with a
tremendous roar, the "if of our text, like a young lion, leaps out upon
us. What shall we do with it? Let us play the man, like Samson, and
rend it as though it were a kid and doubtless we shall find honey in
it, and shall have again to put forth our riddle, "Out of the eater
came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." These
"ifs" are terrible lions, but when Divine Grace enables us to slay
them, they become good storehouses for sweetness.
As the children of Israel spoiled the Egyptians and made themselves
rich from the spoils of their oppressors, both when they left Egypt and
after the passage of the Red Sea, so let us gather riches of comfort
and arms for future warfare from this "if which threatens to enthrall
the mind of the Christian and hold him in the chains of fear and doubt.
It comes to us as a keen shaft from the camp of the foe, but by the
Grace of God we will fit it to our string, and with the arms of faith
shoot it back again and may God in mercy guide it to the joints of some
foeman's harness.
This "if" may have a bitter taste at first, but I am persuaded that it
will have a wholesome effect upon us to use it. Yes, it will yield some
spiritual sustenance to our souls. We will welcome its searching and
shaking power now, as it will only tend to prepare us for the time when
the four winds may come upon our house and the blast of the Terrible
One be as a storm against the wall. If we use this giant battering ram
"if," now, it will show us our weakness and our strength so that we may
correct the one and rejoice over the other.
We shall take this "if in two ways. First, we shall consider it as an
"if which is nothing but an "if." And secondly, we shall consider it as
an "if" which is a great deal more than an "if."
I. We shall first CONSIDER THIS "IF" AS BEING NOTHING BUT AN "IF." "If
the foundations are removed, what can the righteous do?" My Brethren,
there are certain spiritual foundations which God has laid in Zion
which never can be removed. There are certain foundations against which
the gates of Hell cannot prevail–which time cannot shake–and which
eternity will only confirm. If we venture to speak of these foundations
being removed, it can only be in hypothetical terms and with the word,
"if"– for there must always be in our souls the conviction that the
foundations of God stand sure.
I will mention a few of these foundation–things which we know cannot
be removed, but we will ask the question– if they should be removed,
what then? First we will take the foundation Book. This Word of God,
this Revelation of Himself which He has made to us by Prophets and by
seers, by Apostles and by evangelists, and by His own dear Son. This
Book we believe to be true even in its jots and tittles. Whatever form
of thought we may adopt as to the method of inspiration, we believe
this Book to be inspired throughout, and we accept all its utterances
as the teachings of the Most High.
From the first Word of it to the last we give our "unfeigned assent and
consent" to it as being nothing less and nothing more than the Word of
Jehovah, the Lord our God. But if it should not be so, what can the
righteous do, then? If, after all, the attacks of modern skeptics
should have some force in them. If they can dislodge part of the Word
of God from its sure resting place. If first one stone shall topple
from the summit of the battlements and then another shall be loosened
from the embankment, and by-and-by its enemies should come to work with
their great bars upon the very lowest and most valuable stones in the
wall–what then?
What if the Book should be a delusion? What if it should be false? Ah,
then, my Brothers and Sisters, what can the righteous do? Oh, it had
been better for us that we had never been born than that the Bible
should not be true! Here is the only balm that heals the wounds that
sin has made! Here is the only bread that satisfies the hungering of
our spirits! If that is not true, O God, why did You create us, and why
did You suffer such a Book as that to come across our path to mock us,
supplying, as it does, all that hope can desire, and all that our
deepest interests can crave after?
Oh, cruel God, to permit so sweet a dream to charm us even for a while,
if it is not true! But oh, Beloved, we come back with a sacred recoil
to this–it is true–it must be true and if for no other reason because
it so suits the craving of our inward consciousness. Because it so
uplifts us out of the natural beggary and meanness of our condition and
puts us on such a heavenly footing. It makes us commune with the Most
High and fills us with such rapt and heavenly thoughts! It must be
true, or else what could we do?
Cling, then, to the Divine authority of the Scriptures with a death
grip! Let those give up the Inspiration of the Bible who can afford to
do so, but you and I cannot! Let those cast away the sure promise of
God who have got something else to comfort them–who can go to their
philosophy or turn to their self-conceit. But as for you and for me, it
is a desperate matter for us if this Book is not true, and therefore
let us be ready to defend it at all costs, and if need be, to die for
it! Oh, Brethren, it were better to die, this Book being true, than to
live, this Book being false!
It were better for us that all the miseries of this life should fall
upon us, this Book being an unmoved foundation, than for all the joys
of life to be ours if this Book is once taken away. Clasp it to your
heart! Enfold it in your bosom! Hold it as the very core of your life's
comfort and the very strength of your existence! Remember that if this
is removed there is nothing for the righteous to do but despair and
die. I hope we shall always sing–
"Should all the forms which men devise Assault my soul with treacherous
art, I'll call them vanity and lies, And bind this Bible to my heart."
But now we turn from the foundation Book to the foundation doctrine.
What is the foundation doctrine? I shall not shock any one of you if I
say that it is admitted by all evangelical Christians that the standing
or falling in the Church is that of justification by faith. The Church
which holds that doctrine is in the body–the church which is tampering
with that doctrine is not in the body. I will not merely say the church
that is not holding it, but the church that is not holding it in the
most distinct form is not to be acknowledged as a part of the body of
Christ.
Justification by faith alone is such a Truth of God that it must not be
hidden. To obscure those words, legible in their own light–"Believe
and live"–is to commit high treason against the majesty of God and to
make one's self an outlaw from God and from mercy! The great standing
or falling doctrine, then, is this–"Whoever believes that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God." "Therefore we are justified by faith, and not
by the works of the Law."
We hold that it is of faith that it might be of Divine Grace through
Christ Jesus. Holding this Truth of God–that every soul who believes
in Christ is thereby made a partaker of the merit of His passion and is
saved–what joy and peace are opened up to us! Some of us live in a
sense of pardon. Oh, Brethren, this is a river to swim in, when we can
sing–
"Now freed from sin I walk at large, My Savior's blood my full
discharge. At His dear feet my soul I lay, A sinner saved, and homage
pay."
Oh, the blessedness–as Ainsworth translates it–"The heaped-up
blessedness of the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is
covered." Oh, the blessedness of being justified by faith, and of
possessing peace with God! But if that is removed, what can the
righteous do? My Brethren, the righteous can do nothing! They can do
nothing, and they must at once give up their peace, give up their joy,
give up their hopes–and then give up existence altogether. This one
thing I know–though I have preached my Master's Gospel with perpetual
industry and have sought to honor Him–yet I have no more hope of
Heaven apart from the merits of Christ than the greatest criminal that
is banished from his country for his crimes.
That poor wretch who was, till lately, under sentence of death for many
murders, would have as good a hope of entering into eternal life as the
best among you were it not for this precious doctrine–that is to say,
she would have no hope, and you would have no hope, either–for we are
all alike shut up under condemnation. Good or bad, righteous or
unrighteous, we are all alike condemned under the Law of God, and there
would be no more hope for one than for another if this doctrine of
salvation by faith in Christ were not true. We are all in this one boat
together–I mean as many of us as have believed–the weakest cannot
sink unless the ship goes down, and the strongest cannot float unless
the ship should bear them.
If this foundation were removed, I will ask you gray-haired saint,
hoary with many years of service, what could you do? You bow your head
and say, "Alas, my master, what could I do but die in despair?" I would
ask the bravest of Christ's Apostles, the most earnest and
indefatigable of the servants of the living God, what could they do if
salvation was not the result of faith in Christ, and they would reply
unanimously, "We were of all men the most miserable if our only hope
were gone!"
But oh, Brethren, we will come back to this, that it is by faith in the
blood of Jesus that we are saved. For this doctrine let us be prepared
to bear any reproach. And for the spread of this doctrine let us make
any exertions. Let us publish it to every wind! Let us invoke the help
of every wave to bear it abroad! My Brothers and Sisters, help those of
us who are engaged in telling out this precious truth of salvation by
faith, and then proclaim it far and wide yourselves.
Distribute it in a printed form! Speak of it with your warm and loving
lips! Tell it, tell it the wide world over that there is a foundation
already laid in Zion–a cornerstone elect and precious! Proclaim that
"other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ
the righteous!" Proclaim that "whoever believes in Him is not
condemned."
We will now go a step further. We have had the foundation Book and the
foundation doctrine, and now we come to the foundation fact. The fact
upon which our faith rests is this, that "God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." The
great fact on which genuine faith rests is this, that "the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us," and that having taken upon Himself the
form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of man, He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, for us.
The great Truth which makes the Gospel worth proclaiming is the Truth
that "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," that Christ
also has suffered for sin, "the Just for the unjust that He might bring
us to God." "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree."
"For the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we
are healed." In one word, the great fact on which the Christian's hope
rests is substitution.
The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the sinner. Christ suffering for
the sinner. Christ's being made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Christ offering up a true and proper
expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the place and stead of as
many as the Father gave Him, who are recognized by their trusting in
Him–this is the cardinal fact of the Gospel. Now, if this is true,
what will we not do? Do? Why, we will sing of Christ in time, and sing
of Him in eternity! We will sit at the foot of His Cross and–
"View the flowing Of the Sa vior's precious blood. With Divine
assurance knowing He has made our peace with God."
We will praise Him when we get to Heaven and sing, "Unto Him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in His blood." But–oh, horrible "but"!
If this is not true–if God was never Incarnate, if God never did in
the Person of His Son Jesus bleed and die–if no Atonement was ever
made for human guilt, then howl because of it! Let each man put his
hands upon his loins as a woman in childbirth, and let sorrow pierce
the heart of every child of Adam–for sin must be punished–and if it
was never punished in Christ it must be punished upon each one of us!
Wrath, and a certain terrible looking for judgment and fiery
indignation–these are all that await us!
"As when a man wipes a dish and turns it," said the Prophet, even so
will it be with us–wiped out and turned upside down if it were not
true that Christ died. As when the potter with a rod of iron breaks the
vessel into shivers, so should we, too, be broken into shivers with
each particle to be full of pain and covered with grief, if it were not
that Jesus died. Oh, if this foundation were removed what could we do?
But it cannot be removed! We know it! We rest on it! We trust in it!
And our joy is to hold it, to understand and to study it, to be
actuated and moved by it in every part of our life and conversation.
But if it were removed what could the righteous do?
There is just now, and there has been for many years, a direct attack
made upon the doctrine of the Atonement. Men cannot bear substitution.
They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the
sin of man. Ah, but we will proclaim it in defiance of them and hurl it
in their teeth! We will neither dilute it, nor change it, nor fritter
it away in any shape or fashion. It shall still be Christ a positive
Substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the place of men, for
if this is not so what could we do?
We cannot, dare not give it up for it is our life! I have thus given
you three matters, and now just a word upon another point, namely, the
foundation work. The blood of Jesus, Brethren, must be applied by the
Spirit of Divine Grace, and the foundation of our inward confidence
must be in the work of Grace in our own souls.
Now the foundation in us was laid in repentance, and in faith in
Christ–and we have gone on to build thereon, much, I am afraid, of
wood, hay, and stubble, but still, something of gold, and silver, and
precious stones. Now, if the Grace of God could cease to work. If the
eternal love of Jehovah could be removed, and if the effectual might of
the Holy Spirit's arm could be withdrawn, what could you and I do?
Would it not be as hard to get to Heaven by the Gospel as by the Law if
it were not for the work of Grace in us?
Brethren, Calvary is no nearer to Heaven than Sinai if the Spirit of
Grace works not in us. If Christ is not crucified in us, His being
crucified for us will be of no avail! We must have Christ formed in us
the hope of Glory. Now, what do you say, Brothers and Sisters? Suppose
this foundation work were all removed–what could you do? Do? Why the
brightest of you would become as smoking flax without light! You who
are pure as crystal now in your daily life would become like a polluted
stream! You who now are the delight and joy of the Church of God would
be as reprobate silver cast out, or as salt that has lost its savor and
is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill.
We must ever keep in mind that we are only channels for Divine
Grace–we are not even pools and reservoirs–we must have a continual
supply of Divine gifts. We must have an abiding union with the fountain
of all good or we should soon run dry. And only as fresh streams flow
into us are we kept from becoming mere dry beds of sand and mire. But
we know that He will never fail us. This spring is high up in Heaven
near the Eternal Throne and it ripples down through the means of Grace
from the God of all Grace–and we receive daily of His fullness Grace
for Grace.
Joyful truth for us, that because He lives we must live also! Till
Jesus bows His head in death, we, the living members of His mystic
body, can never droop or fail. His might is our strength. His resources
our never failing supply. And we, through His Spirit, are daily tended
and sustained–
"Oh! To Grace, how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be!"
Were that Grace once gone what should I do? Hold fast, then, to that
which you have received, that no man take your crown. Cling to the
doctrine of the work of the Spirit with a death grip! Never give it up.
Having begun in the Spirit do not seek to be made perfect in the flesh.
Do not look to excitement. Do not let your faith stand in the wisdom or
the speech of man, but in the power of God, and in the invincible might
and majesty of the Holy Spirit! If you go anywhere else, the foundation
will be removed and then what can you do? O God! You have begun the
good work and You will carry it on and perfect it unto the day of
Christ. This foundation shall not be removed.
Once more, there is also a foundation hope–something which we may, I
think, call a foundation–since our joy and our peace very much depend
upon it. You and I possess tonight, dear Friends, a hope which is
sometimes called "a blessed hope," and at another time, "a good hope."
It is a hope partly that Christ may come and a hope that when He comes,
"we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is." It is a hope that
whether He comes in our lifetime or not, yet, if we fall asleep, we
shall sleep in Jesus. We have a hope that sometimes bursts out into a
song and then we tune it in warbling such as this–
"On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, And cast a wishful eye To Canaan's
fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie."
Or sometimes it is–
"Jerusalem! My happy home! Name ever dear to me.
When shall my labors have an end, In joy, and peace, and you?"
Or, perhaps it is–
"Jerusalem the golden, With milk and honey blest. Beneath your
contemplation
Sink heart and soul oppressed.
We know not, oh! we know not,
What joys await us there!
What radiance of Glory,
What bliss beyond compare."
At any rate, whatever notes we may use to warble out the hope, the hope
is still the same–
"It is the hope, the blissful hope,
Which Jesus' Grace has given.
The hope when days and years are past,
We all shall meet in Heaven." Now, if that were removed, what could we
do?–
"What is there here that I should wait? My hope's alone in You.
When will You open Glory's gate, And take me up to You?"
"Whom have I in Heaven but You? There is none upon earth that I desire
besides You." Take Heaven away, and the world to come, and what a
dreary desert, what blackness and darkness, what a gulf of mad despair
it would speedily become! But, oh, Brethren, that foundation cannot be
removed! Because He lives, we shall live also. "Father, I will that
they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My Glory." That hope abides sure and steadfast! Let us think
of it more than we do.
Let us plume our wings of flight every now and then. Come, you birds of
Heaven, you eaglets of God–how is it that you keep below upon the
earth as though you had no wings? Come, plume your callow pinions and
begin to fly! The clouds are your atmosphere–beyond there is the blue
sky where all is fair and clear. Up with you! Up, nearer to God, nearer
to eternity, nearer to your home, nearer to your everlasting mansion.
Remember that you–
"Nightly pitch your mo ving tent A day's march nearer home," and let
the thought that you shall soon be–"Forever with the Lord" come over
your hearts and sweep like the touch of some master harpist's hand as
he sweeps the ten-stringed instrument and wakes it up to thunders of
sacred melody. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous, and shout for joy,
you upright in heart! This foundation cannot be removed and you need
not fear!
II. And now we change our note for a few minutes. Let us TAKE THIS "IF"
AS BEING SOMETHING MORE THAN AN "IF." The foundations may be
removed–not the spiritual foundations at all, but the temporal
foundations. The foundations of civil government, the foundations of
commerce, the foundations of one's estates, the foundations of trust
between man and man–these may be removed. They have been grievously
and terribly shaken during the last few days.
War may arise. There seem to be many indications of a coming tempest
and when the eagles are gathered together to the prey, the fight will
probably thicken. And instead of a few combatants it may be that there
will be a multitude of nations engaged in a terrible slaughter and the
foundations of the various kingdoms of Europe may be removed.
Revolution, too, may come. We remember 1848, and some of you, perhaps,
are old enough to go farther back than that, to dates when revolutions
were the order of the day.
There are some who are always putting on their blue spectacles and who
can see very wonderful revolutions here. May their heads never ache
before their predictions come to pass, but still these things may
occur, for men are men, and if they should, what then? If the
foundations should be removed, what would the righteous do? A panic has
come and man does not trust his fellow man. But he plays the fool, the
wild lunatic in the street, destroying commerce for the sake of
commerce–and to get gain, himself–destroying the tree that bears the
fruit.
I suppose no greater proof of folly could have been known in the
nineteenth century than might have been seen last Friday in Lombard
Street. If anyone had whistled for a thousand fools, he need not have
traveled a thousand yards, but might have found them on the spot! Now,
if there should be such a thing, there may be ground for all this fear,
for the foundations of human things are not made by God–they are only
man's management, and consequently they may be shaken–but what then? I
am going to suppose the very worst–that the social fabric is rocking
like the walls of old Jericho and that the very foundations are
falling.
I will even suppose that the cornerstone is being removed. What then?
What can the righteous do? Well, he can do as well as another man and
he can do a great deal better! Let me tell you what he can do. The
first thing he can do, if the worst comes to the worst, is that he can
bear it with a holy equanimity. He can say, "The Lord gave, and the
Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." If the ship is
wrecked, his treasure is not aboard it. He knows that if the banks
should break, he will only part with some of his odd spending
money–His true treasure is up there–not in an iron chest where the
burglar can break through, but–
"Hid with Christ in God
Beyond the reach of harm," so that if the worst comes, he can still
fold his arms and say, "It is written, 'I will never leave and never
forsake you,' and so long as I have bread to eat and raiment to put on,
so long will I bless the name of the Lord Most High from the rising of
the sun to the going down of the same."
Now, dear Friends, prove this if it should happen to you. Do not do as
the worldling does, who puts his hand to his fevered brow and says, "I
am a ruined man!" You cannot be a ruined man. Do not say, "I have lost
my all!" You cannot lose your all–your all is Christ–and Christ is
not to be lost. Just accept the blow. Kiss the rod. Touch the hand that
smites, and say, "Blessed be You, my Father, for it is the Lord."
Then the Christian not only bears the worst patiently but the next
thing he can do is to hope for the best cheerfully. I think if there is
any man who can see clearest, even a spot of blue sky, it should be the
Christian. "Oh," he says, "things are not what they seem. The dark
cloud has a silver lining! Light is sown for the righteous and gladness
for the upright in heart." It is very much in the struggle of life to
keep a brave heart. And you, Christian, have many arguments for doing
so. Why bow your head at yonder crested billow as though you should be
drowned by it? O Man, it will only wash your face!
It is all that it will do for you, and you shall lift your brow, when
the spray has cleared it, towards Heaven, and shall see your God the
better because the dirt is washed out of your eyes. Therefore, look
cheerfully for something bright in the midst of the darkness. Out of
all this apparent loss, God can bring for you true gain in spiritual
things. You may part with things temporal with equanimity, if they are
likely to be restored to you transmuted by God's alchemy into things
spiritual and eternal.
If God takes away from His people, He can restore again, as in the case
of Job, twice as much as they had before, even in worldly goods–and
with these a gracious work of His Spirit in the heart–which is more to
be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Adam was laid asleep
and God took a rib and made it into a helpmeet for him. If God shall
take anything from you, yes, though it lies near your heart, do not
mourn as one that has no hope.
In patience possess your soul. Rest on the Lord, for He will bring it
to pass that out of all this shall come a spiritual power which, in
after days shall gladden your heart and make you the joyful parent of
much good to others in this world of sin and woe. Christ became poor
that He might make many rich. And in His poverty He was as a lamb
before its shearers dumb, and opened not His mouth. His prayer was,
"not My will, O Father, but Yours be done." So may we hold our peace,
if God has done it. Never charge God foolishly, but say, "The Lord gave
and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
If the foundations are removed what can the righteous do? Why, they can
do one thing–they can do the right. They cannot guarantee results, but
they can do the right. They cannot tell whether they shall fail in
business or not, but they can be upright. They cannot tell whether the
fall of this house or the crash of that bank may injure them, but they
can tell that they will have clean hands and come out of it all with a
spotless character. And when everything is lost there is but little
lost if honor still remains, and if, by Divine Grace integrity is still
preserved. He that wears the herb hearts-ease in his bosom is richer
than he that can wear diamonds upon his fingers, if those fingers are
stained with guilt.
It is comparatively easy to be correct and upright when these things
pay–when we can, by them, secure the esteem of our fellow men and that
confidence which is as good as money to a man in business, because of
the credit it brings with it. But it is quite another thing to do the
right when it means to strip oneself of all and to give up long-loved
and cherished possessions, hopes, and prospects, both for ourselves and
family.
This is the hour of temptation when Satan comes with his glory and
wealth in one hand and a suggestion of evil in the other. He bids us
open our lap to receive them, reminding us that to deny him is to close
with injury and loss to reputation, to our business, and to our loved
families at home. How many have made the dread compact with the Prince
of Darkness! They have gained the world but lost their soul! They have
sold their birthright for a mess of pottage and bartered Heaven for
Hell! Time has been taken and eternity rejected. The honor of men has
been esteemed more than the praise of God.
They have grasped the gold and it has been a millstone round their
neck, and into the deepest depths of woe it has dragged them. Lost!
Lost! Lost forever! Oh, that men were wise, that they would remember
this–that they would consider their latter end. For what can a man
give in exchange for his soul? Come what may, trust in God and do the
right.
There is another thing we can do if the foundations are removed,
namely, if we have a hand to spare we will help a comrade. If the
foundations are removed and there is a common calamity, when others are
selfish the Christian man will hear his Savior's words–"You shall love
your neighbor as yourself." "Well," he says, "it is a time of general
suffering. And when a boat is at sea with a few survivors from a wreck,
no man hoards his biscuit–no man keeps that little drop of pure fresh
water wholly to himself–but like a generous man he divides his biscuit
with his fellow sufferers and drinks his drop with the rest."
So will the righteous do. When things are bad they will say, "Now is
the time for me to exhibit some degree of generosity." I like the
action of a man who was once waited upon for a subscription, and
contrary to expectation, gave the minister who asked him a very large
check–I think it was one hundred pounds. The minister was about to
retire when the merchant, happening to open one of his letters, found
that he had lost a vessel worth from ten thousand to twenty thousand
pounds. He called the minister and said, "You must give me back that
check, I have just opened a letter and found that I have been a very
great loser."
The poor country minister, whose chapel was in a very bad plight,
looked very blank about the matter. But the merchant said, "I find my
money is going fast. I suppose I have not made good use of it, and so
the Master has taken it away, but I will save some of it anyhow." And
he wrote out another check for five hundred pounds. Now, this was a
right way of acting–provided, of course, the money was his own–for no
man has a right to give away other people's property.
But if it were his own, this was the true and wise pathway to choose to
make some of it safe–a much better plan than when my lord comes fresh
from his bank with his money in his hand, and says, "Go and do
likewise, my brave fellows! Get your money out like this!" And then
finds five minutes afterwards that somebody else has his money without
giving him a receipt for the deposit, or anything of the kind–for it
has gone into the hands of a pickpocket who is not so much to be
blamed, perhaps, in such cases as he might have been in some others.
Now, I can recommend to you when things are going bad, to make good
investments. "Give a portion to seven and also to eight, for you know
not what evil may be upon the earth." "Make unto yourselves friends of
the mammon of righteousness, that when you fail they may receive you
into everlasting habitations." Once again. There is something more
which the righteous man can do if the foundations are removed, and that
is, he can trust in God that it will be well in the end. The worldling
says, "It will be all the same a hundred years from now." The Christian
says, "I do not want to look so far ahead as that. It is all right
now."
But the wind blows! "It is all right." But the waves dash! "It is all
right." But all the sails are reefed! "It is all right!" But the ship
flies before the wind! "It is all right." But there are rocks ahead!
"It is all right." Why? "Because He who is at the helm knows all about
it. He created both wind and wave and He knows how to cope with the
storm. I cannot see that it is right, but I know that it is, and I walk
by faith, and not by sight." Oh, Christian, this is what you can do! If
the foundations are removed you can bring faith into heavenly exercise,
and you can sail against the wind.
The night may be dark and dreary but it will usher in the brighter
morn! And merrily will the celestial music and songs greet his ears as
the fresh dawning light triumphs over the fleeing darkness and spreads
itself till it bathes with its splendor all things which were even in
the darkness working together for the good of God's people. Yes, the
rough March winds and the dreary April showers were all fulfilling
their task then–and now we can see it and rejoice in it as well as in
their result. We will sing in our dungeon with Paul and Silas, for all
is well now as it will be hereafter in Heaven. It is only in degree and
realization that earth's joys differ from Heaven's to the true Believer
in Christ.
Lastly, if the foundations are removed, the righteous can commune with
Christ therein. We should never have such fellowship with Jesus as we
do if we had not such troubles as we have. You cannot see the stars in
the daytime but they tell us that if you go down into a well you can.
Sometimes God sinks wells of trouble and puts His servants into
them–and then they see His starry promises. You might hunt in vain for
glowworms by day, but they shall all be seen at night–and so shall the
comfortable words and thoughts of Holy Scripture.
The fireflies shall flash best at night when the sunlight is gone, and
so oftentimes the light of the promises is better seen in the night of
trouble than in the day of outward prosperity. The black foils of
trouble shall bring out the brighter jewel of Divine Grace. You cannot
know Christ except by following in His footsteps. Poverty will reveal
Him who for our sakes became poor. Sickness will show Him whose visage
was more marred than any man's. Shame will teach you His shame–and
suffering will reveal to you His suffering.
And even death itself, which shall remove the foundations, shall give
you conformity to His death that you may have part in His resurrection.
Courage then, my dear Brothers and Sisters, and to the question, "If
the foundations are removed, what can the righteous do?" give this
answer, "We can do as the righteous ought to do. We can do as God
enables us to do." Let us go and show the world what that will be and
let the superiority of our faith and of our religion reveal itself in
our times of darkness and in our hours of suffering.
I have been thinking all the while I have been thus talking that this
text has an application to those who are not righteous because if the
righteous cannot do anything if the Grace of God fail, then what can
the wicked do? They can do nothing, but then they can do as much as the
righteous, who can do nothing either–and so here is comfort for the
very worst, and for those who feel themselves to be farthest from God.
So long as the foundation stands there is hope for every soul that
believes, and though you are the worst of the worst, yet if you trust
Christ there is hope for you! Though there would not be any if the
foundations were removed, even if you were the best of the best.
Come, then, needy Sinner! Come, though years of sin have heaped up
their iniquities upon you! Come to Jesus–He can cleanse you. Trust
Him, trust Him! Trust Him now, and you are saved and shall be His in
the day of His appearing! Build on this foundation! Christ Jesus died
for the ungodly. Trust Him to save you and when the floods arise, and
the rain descends, and the winds blow, your house shall never fall
because it is built upon a rock, a foundation that can never be
removed!
I would that some here tonight would learn to leave the treacherous
path of sin and seek an interest in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know that the road you tread is undermined and that sooner or
later you will fall through, and sink on, on, on through the grave into
the pit which has no bottom, the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone? Turn! Turn! Why will you die? There is a sure foundation
which cannot move–on which you may build and never fear an overthrow!
Come, then, with all your load of guilt, and rest at once and forever
on Him who says, Come unto Me, and him that comes I will in nowise cast
out. Heaven and earth may pass, but He will save to the uttermost all
who come by faith to Him. God bless these remarks to you according to
His will, for Jesus' sake. Amen.–
"Yes! He is mine! And nothing of earthly things,
Not all the charms of pleasure, wealth, or power,
The fame of heroes, or the pomp of kings
Could tempt me to forego His love an hour.
'Go, worthless world,'I cry, 'with all that's yours.
Go I to my Savior's am, and He is mine.
Whatever may change, in Him no change is seen,
A glorious sun that wanes not, nor declines.
Above the clouds and storms He walks unseen,
And sweetly on His people's darkness shines:
All may depart–I fret not, nor repine,
While Imy Savior's am, and He is mine."