Charles Stanley - If The Foundations Are Destroyed
Well, this is the Word of God, the eternal Word of God. I've been reading it for over seventy years. Now, I'll tell you something. I've never had a situation in my life, and I've been through a lot of things, any difficulty, hardship, pain or suffering. At some point in some place in the Word of God I found some comfort, strength, encouragement. Sometimes I'd cry about what I read, and sometimes I'd-a want to shout about what I read. But every time I wanted to believe what I read because that's why God gave us His Word. He gave us His Word as a stabilizer in our life. He gave us His Word that you and I could face any and every situation in life and the Word of God does what?
The Word of God is there to encourage us and point us the way out. And when somebody says I don't believe it. I don't feel angry. I feel sorrow that you live in this world in this day and time with all the things we have to face, and you don't believe the Word of God? You don't believe the simple verse, "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". You don't believe that? What about you don't believe, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
You don't believe that? You don't believe what He says when He says, "This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hear us, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him". You don't believe that? How are you living your life without the Word of God? You may be existing, but you're not living until you have discovered the Lord Jesus Christ who is at the heart of all of this Book, the wonderful promises that He makes to us, and the assurance that you and I have that no matter what we face in life, this we know for sure, He faces it with us. He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you".
And we're living in a time when those words are very important. Because these are some of the most difficult times that we've faced in this country. That we've had times of war and so forth, there's something about this time that's different. There's not that sense of oneness, not that sense of caring for each other, not that sense of stability and strength. Somehow there's a sense of doubt and uncertainty, and conflict and uneasiness, that permeates everything that's going on.
And here we are coming to an election. What are you doing as a believer? You say, Well, I'm going to vote. I understand that. I certainly hope you do. But if you ask God what He thinks, do you think God's not interested in elections? Do you think He says nothing about it? Are you telling me how to vote? No, because I think you're wise enough and smart enough as a follower of Jesus to know what to do as you read the Word of God. You don't need somebody else telling you what to do. And so when I think about where we are, where we're headed, and what could happen to this nation, it is a time to cry out to God to give us wisdom, and the spirit of obedience, and the courage to do what we know is the right thing to do.
So when I read the passages of scripture God always has something to say and I want you to turn to the eleventh Psalm if you will, and I'll give you a little background of what's happening. David was confronted with Goliath to save the nation of Israel. And you remember he didn't want any armor because he had the armor of God upon him. And you recall he confronted Goliath and told him he was going to cut off his head and feed him to the birds. And so, he won that battle and every kid in Sunday school knows about a slingshot and David and Goliath. And so, what happened because he'd been serving Saul, and was serving King Saul, King Saul got angry. He got jealous. Because after David's victory, the Scripture says the women just came out of their households everywhere and singing, "King Saul has killed his thousands, but David, young David killed his ten thousands". Saul couldn't handle that and he tried to kill David. Not just once but several times, and chased him for years until finally he himself was killed.
And so, when I read this passage of scripture and knowing what David was facing, look if you will in verse one. "In the Lord I take refuge, How can you say to my soul., speaking of those who were telling him to run, How can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain.' And then he says, 'For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright at heart.'" And then he says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? He said I'm not about to run. I'm not a coward. I'm not fleeing. You're suggesting that I take refuge. And listen to what he says. He says I want you to know right up front where my refuge is. "In the Lord I take refuge". In the Lord is my safety. No matter if the king of Israel is after me, I'm trusting the Lord to care for me. He knows what my need is and so I'm trusting Him. He says, "How can you say to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to your mountain.'" That is, be safe.
And so he's simply saying this, suppose I run? Suppose I leave? Then what's going to happen? And so when he says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? And this is a question we need to ask ourselves at this time in the life of our nation. "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? This is not a time for God's people to shrivel up and act afraid of anything. It's a time to stand up and remember what we stand on. We stand on the truth of the Word of God. This is our foundation. This is our guidebook. This is our compass. This is our continuing reminder that we're the children of Almighty God, and no matter what we face in life God will see us through it. That does not mean we won't suffer. It doesn't mean we won't hurt. It doesn't mean we won't be disappointed. But one thing for certain. Our Heavenly Father is with us and for he says here, "The foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? And in essence the righteous can turn to Almighty God.
So let me ask you a question. When you're going through a difficult time maybe it's something very tragic, or something maybe not so tragic, but you don't know what am I going to do? Does it ever cross your mind that the most immediate thing you should do is turn to the Word of God? This is our guidebook. And think about this. You can't think of any circumstance or situation, or difficult or hardship or trouble, that you face in life for which there's not an answer in the Word of God. Every single, solitary situation, circumstance, heartache, trial, sickness, death, He knew about every single one of them.
So He's covered them all. Don't you wish you could go to the doctor and he'd say in this bottle whatever you have, covers it all? Well, they can't say that, but I can tell you this, whatever you're facing in life, this covers it all. You can't come up with a single thing that God does not cover. Nowhere will you find God saying, Oh, I forgot. Never with God because He penned this Book for you and me, watch, in order to walk through the most difficult trying times in life. And so, that means that you and I can feel adequate to face any and every situation as long as we follow His Words. So when we think about all the things that are happening today, and trials that we are facing, and pain, hurt. The things that go on that we never thought would happen to us.
Listen to what David says. He asks us a question. He says if the "foundations are destroyed, if everything you and I believe, what can the righteous do"? So the question is, What are the foundations? What is he referring to here? Well, his likening a nation to a building. And you know that every building if it's going to stand has to have a foundation. And the better the foundation, the longer it'll last. You build a house and you don't have a good foundation, doesn't take much to make it start crumbling. A nation that does not have a solid, firm foundation also can crumble.
This nation was built on the solidarity of righteousness. The men who gave us The Constitution, the men who were the forefathers of this nation built this foundation to endure and to withstand anything and everything. And so from just a handful, they built a foundation upon which we built the greatest nation on earth. But notice what he says, "If the foundations are destroyed, then what can the righteous do"? So what are the foundations? Here the foundations. The foundations upon which we were built was law, and order; things that we see crumbling around us. Justice and truth; what is the truth anymore? Morality and decency; we've thrown that to the wind. Integrity, faith, fairness, trustworthiness; all of these are part of the foundation that's made our nation great. When we tear down any one of those, when we forsake those, we decide we don't need that, don't want that anymore in our life; we are doomed as a nation.
And so when he says in this passage, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? We can turn to Almighty God because the foundations of our nation are being destroyed. Because oftentimes there's not truth and integrity. There's not decency and order. There's not justice. There is not the quality of life that God intended for us because there's certain things that have to be part of it. So what happens? We have a determined, definite attack upon what has made our nation great. You want to believe that people who are representing you, you want to believe that people who tell you that they're telling you the truth, but everything about them says that's not absolutely true.
And so it's almost like David is about to cry. And when he says in this passage, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do"? We do what David did. He said, you turn to the Lord. And if we look around us and see what's happening to many people who've lost everything. All the foundations of their nations have crumbled right before them. Now if you think about suddenly in a matter of weeks everything you own, you lost. Where you live, your house is gone. You have no privileges; you have no bank, no money in the bank. You can't get to the bank. You don't have enough gasoline for your auto... in other words, all the things that happen to people, we don't ever think that they could happen to us. But whatever happens to us, our answer is the same. I'm trusting Almighty God, I'm not running anywhere away from anything. Because Almighty God is sufficient to see us through whatever we are facing in life.
So, you have to ask the question, Alright, so I'm turning to Him, what's God's response? Remember this. We're to be right with Him because God and sin do not coexist. I either have Him or I don't have Him. I'm either walking in obedience to Him, or I'm filling my own sinful desires. When you and I have surrendered our life to Almighty God, we live under His divine protection. Doesn't mean I may not hurt, I may not suffer loss, but I'm under His divine protection. Which means, He puts a limit to it. And even People who lose their lives, what happens? When they've trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, they haven't lost. "Absent from the body, present with the Lord". That's not losing. It's, I'm not undermining in any way the pain, the loss, the hurt and the suffering, but the assurance that we as believers have when David says, "When the foundations gone, what do we have left"? Then he says, "The Lord's in His holy temple".
And what he's saying is, God is available. God is ready to listen to my need to whatever it might be. And so, you and I as believers, we have assurances. The problem is that many of us don't realize what our assurances are. And that's why I started off by saying, This is the Word of God. Whatever I need, somewhere I can open this Book and I'll find out what God wants to say to me. He may say, Well, get ready for this or get ready for that. But listen, He will never leave us alone. No, not alone, that's a wonderful old song. "No, never alone". He'll never leave us alone because He's God. And He's willing to help us do everything. He says in verse four, "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men". He sees what's going on. Then he says, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates". God hates violence. He hates wickedness. And then scriptures says, "Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup".
And so somebody says, well, that was back in Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, all of history says that God destroys the wicked. That ultimately there's destruction, for things that are absolutely ungodly. And so, David is simply saying, I'm not running from this because my security is in my relationship to Holy God. And because his security was in the relationship he had with God, he wasn't running anywhere. So, is that not the attitude God's people should have? We don't run, we stand. We don't question, we trust. And no matter what goes on, we believe that God will see us through it, as he says, one way or the other. And so, when he says this, it may appear that He's inactive. God's not inactive, is available to listen to our pains and sorrows, and hurts and heartaches.
And the question is: Am I living according to the principles of the Word? Am I living the way I want to live? We desperately need a revival in this country. Now revival is not getting a whole bunch of people saved. A revival is getting a whole bunch of us clean before Almighty God, so that our prayers'll be answered. And one of the interesting things I've noticed lately, there's a little rumbling across this country. You may not have paid any attention to it yet, but you will. There's a little rumbling going on because people are beginning to open their eyes a little bit.
And I don't know what's going to happen, you don't know what's going to happen, but we know that God's going to be in the middle of what's happening. But we do know this: When people turn to God, God does the most amazing things. And all across the country I believe there's a little rumbling, just enough to give me encouragement, anyway, and I hope you; that He's up to something. Because the worse things get, God does not ring His hands. He rejoices with the opportunity of intervening and demonstrating Himself strong for all of those of us who are His children.
And so we don't run. We trust Him, we wait upon Him, we ask Him to give us direction for our life. But most of all, "we" going to ask Him to cleanse us, and get us ready. And so when, when I read these verses, and when He asks the question. When the foundations crumble, what then? We know what's then. It's time to get ourselves, and I've said it before. To get ourselves cleaned up. It's time for us to look at ourselves, first, ask God to show us what in our life does not fit, and then ask Him to forgive us of our sin. But then to repent of our sin, which means we make a determined, willful decision to turn away from sin, in order to be used by Almighty God in whatever ways.
And what does He do? He listens to the cries of His children. He hears our cries and needs. And He's willing to respond to what those needs are. And so when I look at this passage, and I look to see what David did, and then if you'll notice what he says, he says, "For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face". That is, God will show Himself strong to those of us who are willing to trust Him. So let's get back to this. Is there anything that comes to your mind in your life that you need to clean up? Anything that you know, any habit in your life, or anything that you maybe have tolerated that you know you shouldn't. Anything that you need to lay aside? Confess and repent of? Anything that you're holding on to that's separating you from God?
For your own sake, for the sake of this nation, we are on the edge. For the sake of this nation, are you willing to lay down sin? Are you willing to turn away from it? Are willing to ask God to forgive you? And are you willing to repent of it? Today, and tell God, Lord, you can count on me to cry out to You with a pure heart, and I am going to join this group of people who going to pray for revival. I'm going to keep my life clean by the grace of God, and I'm going to expect You to work. I'm not running God; I'm praying, trusting, and believing You. Amen?
Then we want to start right now. And you know when you're dealing with sin, it doesn't take long. When you're confessing and repenting, it doesn't take long, it just takes purity of motive. Listen carefully. I want to challenge you to find somebody, anybody. Somebody you work with, somebody in your family, whatever. If all of us choose somebody and agree with them that we're going to pray together, or even if it's just once a week, I'm going to call you on the phone, we're going to pray for our nation. Or, after we get off work we're going to pray together. Find somebody who will agree to pray with you for revival in this country. That's how it begins. You say, l'll that's just two people, two hundred thousand, millions of people praying.
So I want to challenge you to do that. Plead with you in Jesus' name. Find somebody. That somebody you say, Well, I never have prayed with anybody before. That's okay. You say, Well, I may say the wrong thing. You won't say the wrong thing. If "you" confessing your sin and repenting of sin, you're going to say the right thing. And then you're going to ask God to forgive you. And then when you step out the next day remember: When you start the next day, you're starting knowing that yesterday you dealt with sin, and Lord I don't want to have to deal with it again. But if I do, God, I'm on my face before ask You to forgive me.
So, now I'm not to ask you to pray with somebody beside you right now, but I'm asking you, let's all of us lift up our hearts to God. And what we're praying for is, God, send revival into America, and start with me. It doesn't take long to get right with God, and to make a commitment to Him, amen? Let's pray together.
Father, thank You we don't have to beg for forgiveness and cleansing, but ask sincerely, and believe that You're more than willing to sanctify us, to cleanse us. And Lord we humble ourselves again, as a people of God, crying out to you, Oh Father, having repented as best we know how, we cry out to you to save our nation. And to save multitudes of people. Opening people's eyes to their sins. Lord, God, thank You we don't have to beg, we can simply ask and know in our hearts the Holy Spirit who lives within us will enable us to live a godly life. And the godliness within us will be clearly seen by others, so that they too, will want You as their Savior and our Lord. Thank You, Father, thank You Father, thank You Father, in Jesus' name, amen.