We have been looking at the importance of building on the right foundation. I find it interesting to watch programs that show how to build things and how to fix things that are not built properly. Some of the things that get passed as acceptable are actually quite bad. We can see again how those who would build such shoddy buildings have seared their conscience. All they seem to care about is dollars. They may lose some business, but they believe there are enough “suckers” that they can still make money. Good buildings are important. A house that can stand straight for years is much better than one that starts out somewhat straight but shows signs of sagging over the years. If the foundation is not right, there will be trouble.
It is a shame when a person saves up to purchase a house and then finds out that the home they bought has major problems. It is one thing to know things are needing fixing, but to get surprised by things that were not done right is not a good thing.
Purchasing a house is not a minor expense. Some people like to flip houses. They try to buy cheap and spend as little as possible to make a few changes and then try to sell it for big money. Those kind of people are not an asset to society. They have the money to purchase that property and they rob poorer people of the opportunity to get into the housing market. Free market society is important and good. There needs to be fairness involved rather than greed.
The worst is when someone sets themselves up as a Bible scholar and tries to lead others in their way of thinking. We noted yesterday that those who are saved are commanded to mark those who come with a teaching that is not from the Bible. That is the context of those verses. There are over 8 billion people in the world. There are many false teachers who want to make their mark in society. With the internet, it is much easier to broaden the base. I see sites that are often promoting themselves and trying to encourage more people to sign up to their site. They will offer some gimmick to the next 50 people who sign up or something like that.
The truth needs to be proclaimed. Jesus never used gimmicks to get His message out. Neither did Peter or Paul. The truth must be proclaimed in a just manner. Prayer is essential to getting the truth out. It is the Holy Spirit Who is working in the hearts of people. He brings conviction of sin to the person. The human messenger needs to be working in agreement with what the Holy Spirit is doing. We need to give out the truth and trust God to impact the souls of those who receive the truth.
Personally, I was taught many things in my youth that were not right. The church I was raised in is nothing more than a religious social club today. There is no truth there. They are still there and they seem to well funded, but they have no spiritual benefit for anyone.
The Bible school I went to also had deficiencies that they were not willing to address. That school has been around for a number of years now. Many people have donated to that school over the years to keep it operating. Many students have attended and paid tuition to get trained in the Bible. It is true that some of those students were not really interested in being grounded in the Word of God. I know for myself, as a 30 year old married man with three young children, I wanted to learn how to be grounded in the Word of God. I wanted to know how to ‘rightly divide the Word of Truth.’
In our text we see that if the LORD is not building the house, the efforts will be in vain. The school I attended did not heed those words. It is still there, but it is not worth attending. The church I grew up in is also not worth attending anymore. It is still there. They still have people coming, but they are certainly not being taught the truth.
It is one thing to purchase a house that was not built properly. It may have cost a lot of money and may even cause the purchaser to go broke. However, to build ones life on lies and not pay attention to that is a tragedy of immense consequence. There is no coming back after death. God knows the time that each person has on this earth. He chooses the time. People sometimes don’t think He knows what He is doing, but that is not true. He knows exactly what He is doing and in the time we are given, we need to be sure we are building our lives properly.
In our text we see that the same holds true for a city. A city that rejects God and just looks at the secular life, is a bad city to be in.
In the Old Testament we read of a man named Lot. He was all about the here and now. He was a married man and had children. He chose to pitch his tent toward Sodom. Eventually he moved his family into Sodom. He knew things were not good there, but he was more concerned about material things than about spiritual things.
The Bible calls Lot a just man. It also tells us that he vexed his righteous soul from day to day because of the wickedness that he had chosen to live with. He ended up losing his wife. His two daughters committed incest with him. Two nations were born out of those sinful relations. Those nations never amounted to anything good.
Contrast that with Abraham. He listened to God and allowed God to move him to a new land. God separated him from Lot and Abraham learned the importance of building on the right foundation. He caused himself some grief because he was a slow learner. However, he did learn some important lessons over the years.
At God’s timing, Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac. Isaac also needed to learn the importance of building his life on the LORD. The nation of Israel was developed under God’s direction. That nation has existed now for several thousand years. That nation will never be destroyed. Many other nations have come and gone. It looks like it will not be long before Canada and the U.S. will be gone as well. All the hard work that has gone into developing these nations will be for naught because they chose not to build on the LORD.
Many families are facing this same fate. It is not accidental. It is intentional. It is due to resisting or rejecting the truth. God’s way is right. He wants to bless people with His goodness. We need to humble ourselves and choose to know Him and follow Him. God is good and He will lead a person to the truth if that person is willing to listen. Are you listening?
Pastor Bartel