Foundations

Psalm 11 is a psalm of David. That's to the chief musician, so it's for all of us to hear and understand its truth. Psalm 11, verse 1, Here's the question.

I think there's a lot of encouragement in this psalm, and it's certainly applicable to us today. And it's worth our consideration, at least for a few moments, and perhaps even for a longer period of time, as you want to meditate upon it. David is being told by his counselors that since the foundations are being destroyed, well, what can you do? You might as well flee to the mountain, run away, and escape the difficulties and try to get away from all the turmoil and the troubles and the problems and all the torments that are coming.

But I love the first verse and that sets the foundation for the entire psalm. He says, It's not just that he had put his trust in the Lord at that moment, but it had been his continual practice of life. That is really what stabilizes a believer, isn't it? Not just something momentary, but something that is continually the practice of a life and the constant confidence and assurance that I can trust the Lord.

I divide this psalm into three parts, and the first verse would have to do with the characteristic, David's characteristic. He has put his trust in the Lord. The second part where we have in verse 2 and 3 are David's counselors, sometimes counselors are good, sometimes they're not so good.

But here the counselors are counseling him and advising him to do something that is certainly contrary to verse 1. If he has put his trust in the Lord, why does he need to flee as a bird to the mountain? And the third one is, of course, David's confidence, because he's saying really that God is over all and he's in absolute control. Now, I don't have time to look at this whole psalm, but I'll just briefly tell you there are seven reasons and seven things that we can notice for our stability and our encouragement for this psalm. But I just want to concentrate on verse 3. I hope you know what foundations really are.

Foundations are the most essential part of a building. Foundations are absolutely the most important part that is going to stand in the difficult times. You know, the parable the Lord Jesus told in Matthew chapter 7 about the two men that build their houses, the question was not the structure above the ground, the question was whether there was anything below the ground, because the attack was on the foundation.

When the storms rose and the rivers came and the winds blew against it, it revealed the fact that one had a foundation and the other one didn't. Foundations are things that are not always seen, but they're the source of the reason for stability. When I look at foundations in your life and mine, dear brothers and sisters, the first one perhaps is the first verse of this psalm.

A constant trust resting in the Lord. We have so many things in this world that would undermine our confidence in the Lord, aren't there? So many elements that would lead us astray, and there's a tendency within each one of us that we would depend upon ourselves. We think we're strong enough, we're large enough, we're big enough, and we're smart enough that we could do it ourselves.

And David says, no. He had a lot of wisdom. He had a great deal of ability in terms of his prowess, in terms of his warfare, and all the rest is government.

But nevertheless, he says, I put my trust in the Lord. There's a reason that you and I need to look outside ourselves or some source of absolute certainty and confidence, because we are indeed weak. We are so dependent.

And someone has said, and I believe it's true, that the more we realize how dependent and how weak we are, the stronger we are. Do you think about that? Like someone has said, think about it, because that's worth thinking about. If I'm fully conscious of the fact that I need something far greater than me, I need someone greater than I am, someone stronger than I am, someone more stable than I am, someone more secure than I can be, that gives me a source of great strength and assurance.

I put my trust in the Lord. That should be our constant day-by-day practice. It should be that which we rise up with in the morning.

I'm trusting the Lord. Every word that he has given us will stand as absolutely certain as that which we can be assured of. And that's a foundation for the soul.

In a shaky world of which there's so much that you wonder, can I trust this person? Can I trust the other person? Can I put confidence in what I'm reading? Is there anything that gives me assurance? David says, in the Lord, I put my trust. Have I put my trust? That's a foundation for our souls. But we can do that, of course, because the foundations really are the solid truths of the Word of God.

It's essential for believers if they're going to be stable and consistent in their lives to know what the Word of God really teaches. A superficial knowledge of Scripture results in a very superficial foundation. Foundations really are the vital, essential truths that are so clearly taught in the Word of God.

The truth concerning a real, genuine Christ. A person. A certainty of salvation that has been completely accomplished in his work on the cross.

A living Savior now at the right hand of God. The great truth of his continual, ongoing, high-priestly work on our behalf. And all the rest of it, you could go right down a long list, couldn't you? But the Word of God is a solid foundation.

That's what it's intended to be. Sometimes we sing with the children. I'm trying to think of the words of that chorus.

Put my feet on the firm foundation. The Bible stands. I didn't get it all, did I? I've forgotten the whole chorus.

But it's still true. We stand upon what the Word of God teaches. And it's not anything that we need to be ashamed of in any way.

The Word of God is that which will stabilize us. It will keep us. The more it resides in our hearts and controls our minds and our thinking, the more stable and secure and steadfast we will be.

That's what gives us wisdom. In the Proverbs, we read repeatedly that the fear of the Lord is wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy is understanding.

That's a foundation. The more we know of God, the more that we have that confidence and assurance that He's always true to His Word. He's never lacking in His ability.

He's never one who forgets. He's never one who doesn't care for His people. That's a foundation.

And foundations are so important that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. You know, the attack of the enemy of souls is against the foundation. He'll aim for the foundations.

Because if the foundations crumble, then the building will fall as well. And we need to have a secure sense of the solidity and the assuredness and the certainty of the Word of God So, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? What can we do? Well, first of all, the foundations can't be destroyed. There's nothing that the devil could do to destroy the foundation.

He might undermine your confidence. He might undermine your assurance. And maybe cause you to lose hold of the foundation.

But the foundation still stands. And it's still secure. I think that the foundation for believers in Assembly Fellowship is not only the teaching, the basic truths, the doctrines of the Word of God.

But it's also the principles that we have that are laid down for us. The principles that we have that are taught to us in different ways by examples and by the earlier practices of believers that which we have exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus and what he imparted to his own people, his own disciples. Those things are also the principles that would guide and guard us.

Sometimes believers seem to want chapter and verse for everything. Well, I'll tell you, there's some things that you'll find it hard to find a chapter and verse for. But if you look at the Word of God enough in an honest way and a desire to learn the truth, you'll find that there are principles.

There are principles that will guide us in our interaction with this world. There are principles that will preserve us from straying into the wrong associations and get involved in the wrong activities of life. There are principles also that would enable us to be faithful in Assembly Fellowship.

Now, sometimes what we do in the assemblies are not always based on a chapter and verse. But we certainly have plenty to teach us from the principles and the early practices of the New Testament believers. And so we have plenty to rest upon, brothers and sisters.

And I hope that at this conference that those principles, those foundational truths will be brought before us in a definite way. Not only in a way that is maybe cut and dried, you might say, but in a way that makes them attractive to our hearts. You know, the more that we love the Word of God and feast upon it, the more we fill our souls with it, and the more we saturate our minds, it's that which will control us and change us.

That's what the Word of God says. It has that effect upon us each day. It will conform us more and more to the will of God, because that's how we know His will, is when we're reading His Word and studying it, our own soul's welfare.

And so we find that the foundations are so essential. Even from the very beginning, we know there have been attacks on the foundations. If you look at post-apostolic days, you'd find that there were attacks on the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God, such as the deity of Christ, the reality of the Trinity, the triune God.

And other great important doctrines in terms of the personality of the Holy Spirit and different things that perhaps are trivial in some ways to our... I hope they're not trivial, because they are important. But an understanding of those pleasant truths, they've always been the attack. And if you go back in church history, if you want to waste your time, it is profitable.

I shouldn't say waste your time. It's worthwhile understanding that this has been the pattern from the very beginning. And what we see today, the increasing rise of antagonism toward the Word of God, is simply an evidence of the attack of the enemy on the foundations.

And of course, in this day in which we live, there's a tendency, I want to get away, I want to just flee. That's what Jonah tried to do when he sought to flee from the presence of the Lord. He couldn't do it.

And we find that Jeremiah, even in the stressful times that he had, he wanted to flee, just let me get away. And he says, I can rest where I am. I have a solid basis.

I have the assurance of the Word of God. I have the knowledge of the presence of Christ with me continually. I have the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God in me.

Listen, dear brothers and sisters, we have much, much more than this world has to offer, or anyone in this world possesses. We are rich. We are indeed rich.

And we have something that the world does not have. You know, people in this world are looking for something that will give them assurance, something that will give them some stability. Not all of them, perhaps.

There are some that are agitators and just want to cause trouble. But many people, and they realize they don't have it. But you and I do.

And it's been imparted to us by the work of Christ and in the Word of God. And may this weekend conference draw our hearts out in a greater measure to appreciate what we have in Christ, and then go on to live in the good and the reality of it. I trust it might be so.