Maintaing Foundational Truth

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I wasn't sure how to title this message, but I've titled this message, Maintaining Foundational Truth. And I don't know, it seems like it's almost too deep for me to comprehend some of these things. But if you remember what Pilate asked Jesus, he asked him, what is truth? What is truth? [00:00:39] As I thought of that, I remembered what Perry Troyer said. There he was looking truth in the face and asking, what is truth? What is truth? What do we, what do we, what is our view of truth? It's been a question that men have asked through the ages again and again. What is truth? We search for something that will stand, that will stay the same. And truth does that. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3.11, [00:01:12] For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and his message is truth. And he's laid a foundation for us that we can build on. You know, this morning we were close to Christmas and we were thinking about the baby Jesus. And I appreciated what Brother Tim said here. And we can't leave Jesus in that manger. He died for me. He gave his all. [00:01:45] But there's something else. I guess I was made aware of this as I was studying. He left us with something when he left for glory. He left us with principles, with foundational truth to build our lives on so that we can continue. and I recognize this morning that I'm not talking about our theology of things and I'm assuming that we have an Anabaptist view of the scripture [00:02:19] and so that I'm saying this primarily because when we speak of truth there are other people that think they have truth that have different views than we do I'm not here to judge people. That's not my, that's not the thrust of this message this morning. I simply want to look at truth or I desire to look at truth this morning and then consider some practical ways that we might be able to maintain that, that truth. [00:02:50] Turn with me now to Matthew chapter 7. I'd like to read here, and this is a very familiar portion of Scripture, but it's about the house on the sand and the house on the rock. I think I'm just going to read verse 24 to 27 here. And this is right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. [00:03:28] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. It's only fitting that Jesus would make an analogy about the sure foundation that he laid and the other side of it, I guess you could say. [00:04:07] There, let's look at these houses a little bit. And I know this is a children's, has been made into a children's song, but I think it's very important, very important that we get the impact of the message here. Probably the outside of these houses looked identical. They probably looked good, I would imagine. And we could imagine that, or we could guess that these were built at the same time. [00:04:45] Maybe under the same circumstances. But one was built on sand and one was built on rock. It's a very, it's such a simple message and yet it's so powerful. It just, it's so powerful. It shows that the foundation is so important. Again, as we look at this and we think about people, we compare people that have the same teaching, have been exposed to the same environment, have heard the same thing, have started out the same way. [00:05:22] One was built on a sure foundation and one was on the sand. You know, I don't know what you think of foundations. Maybe I'm getting ahead of my message a little bit here, getting ahead of things here. But if we would inspect some foundations around here, I think we would see that it makes a big difference in the building. You know, the most important thing about a building, well, it's hard to imagine that the concrete at the bottom of the walls is more important than the roof is. [00:06:02] But we can't hold this roof up without the concrete that's down underneath. We would never pour a foundation and leave a three or four foot gap along the edge and just feel like somehow it's going to be all right. It might, maybe we wouldn't even think that it's going to sag. But it would never work. I think all of us understand that. It's so simple and yet it's so profound. You know what? Do we observe that sometimes in our own lives or in people around us? [00:06:37] When we start discarding principles, scriptural principle, something the Bible clearly teaches, what happens? The building weakens. May I say our lives crumble like a building. The church weakens. We must build our lives on principles. A principle is something, well maybe I'll get to that later on. [00:07:10] But we must pattern our lives after truth or we must base our lives on truth. It's the only thing that will stand that will last. I would like to notice a couple several verses in Jeremiah 17 and I probably the reason I know that Jeremiah is not specifically talking about truth here. I've been reading in Jeremiah and studying the life of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is an interesting character. And I would guess that most people would say Jeremiah was unsuccessful, very unsuccessful. [00:07:50] He was a courageous man and he consistently and passionately for 40 years preached the gospel and yet people didn't heed his warning. He underwent severe difficulties to deliver his prophecy. He was opposed. He was rejected by his neighbors. And all of this you can read in the book of Jeremiah. He was rejected by his neighbors, his friends, his family, the kings that were ruling in Judah. [00:08:30] He was, I think they put him in prison at one point. All kinds of opposition. But somehow, he kept going. Now, our measure of success in Jeremiah, in looking at a person, well, let's just say this, success as God measures it involves faithfulness, It involves obedience, regardless of what it costs me. [00:09:01] It doesn't matter what it costs me. Jeremiah was a man that had foundational truth in his heart, and he continued going forward. He continued giving the message. You know what? We need more Jeremiah's in our day. It did not matter. He was not influenced by the people around him. I like to read Jeremiah 17, verse 5 to 7. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord. [00:09:37] For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabit it. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh But her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit [00:10:12] I think I'll stop reading there And this is not, I recognize that this is not talking about truth as I'm talking about it this morning But his message is simple If I trust in my own strength, I'm already building on a faulty foundation. I've already moved off of the foundation that Jesus Christ has set for us. And he goes on and compares a tree, a man to a tree that's planted by the waters. [00:10:46] You know, just because we have our foundation on set and our hope set in God God doesn't mean that we have somehow gained immunity from failure, from trials in life, not at all. It doesn't mean that. We still face that. It doesn't guarantee that we're going to have health and wealth and happiness as the world sees it. Absolutely not. I think this simply means that if we apply the truth of God's word to our lives, [00:11:20] We are going to gain the blessing of his approval upon our lives. And that's what we should seek for. If we have our hope set in God, it produces actions that have timeless value, eternal value. And the opposite, well I guess we talked about it this morning in Sunday school. And we talked about principle, I would say. It's so important. It's so important. [00:11:55] But how important do we think it is? I think there's nothing more important than that we have our lives, our church, our school, based on foundational truth, and that we know what the Scripture is saying to us. You know, it's not just that I need to know. Yes, I need to know what the Bible says, but it's the difference between, it's not just about having wisdom, it's the difference between hell and heaven. [00:12:31] Our destiny is linked to our view of truth, foundational truth, and how we apply that. You know, when we as individuals start walking away from God, when we do what seems to be right in our own eyes, denying God, we are no longer building on a sure foundation that Jesus Christ set for us. You know, we hear much about this, but do we understand what it means to be building on it? [00:13:02] And I think, I want to recognize here this morning that we don't address this subject in one message. This is an ongoing thing. If we want to maintain foundational truth in our walk with the Lord, in our church, in our setting, we have to continue. We have to keep going. It's one step at a time. It's one day at a time and constantly measuring my life with what the Word of God says. [00:13:41] You know, our situations change in life and we say sometimes that time just changes things and that's true. Time does change things. I recognize that we are in a different world than we were even 25 years ago. But there's something about foundational truth. There's something about the principles of God's word that never change. They will never change. They'll always stay the same. We can depend on on that. [00:14:16] And as I said earlier, it's it's more than just gathering information. I hope that we didn't come this morning just to gather more information, just so that we know the facts of God's word. We can have all the answers. In fact, Satan knew scripture. Satan quoted scripture to Jesus. He knows the facts. But you know what? We have to do more than that. I have known people that were far ahead of me in quoting scripture. [00:14:48] And that's to my shame. I would desire to be where they are. But you know what? Somehow it didn't work out. They were walking away from God in all that. Promoting their own interests. It has to make a difference. 2 Timothy 3.5 Paul says this, Some people are perpetual students. And Paul simply says this, they're ever learning and never able to come to the saving knowledge of truth. So it must be more than gathering information. It just has to be more than just knowing the word of God. [00:15:27] We must take the message of truth personally in our hearts. We must apply what we know. It has been said that application is the step between knowing God's word and what it says and doing it. And as James says, being a doer, not a hearer alone. If there's one thing I would observe about our ancestors, not our ancestors, our forefathers or the early Anabaptist church. [00:16:02] Now, I know that some of those were leaders in the church and they understood scripture from a different vantage point. They were educated men. They were they knew how to conduct their lives. But there's one thing I must say about the early Anabaptist church and that is simply this. They took the word of God and they had absolute obedience to the word of God. And we can do the same thing. Those precious promises that are in here are still just as important today as they were 300 years ago or whenever it started. [00:16:43] and I would like for us to remember that if you forget everything else absolute obedience to scripture will always be a benefit to our lives it doesn't matter where we go or what we do now one direct result of having this in our hearts and there's several areas I would like to look at this morning but one thing that I thought of as I was studying was If I have this embedded in my heart, and each one of you has, somehow that does something to us. [00:17:19] We place a high premium on teaching other people, and especially our children. And if we have it in our hearts, it is our desire to pass it on. I would like to just read the first couple of verses of Psalm 78. I think you understand what I'm getting at here. But this talks about the generation to come. Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. [00:17:50] I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, and showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, [00:18:27] that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments. I recognize that not all of us have families like I do. And I understand and there's nothing wrong with us if we don't have a family. We might have nieces and nephews. We might have neighbor's children. But the thought here that I would like to impart is if we have received that truth, We need to get that burden on our heart. We need to somehow transmit truth. [00:19:03] And how do we do that? That has been the question in my mind. How do I transmit truth to the next generation? You know, the jury is still out on my family. My children are young. They haven't made decisions. Not life, well, yeah, I think you understand And God doesn't have grandchildren My children have to decide what they want to do They have to make that commitment if they want to serve Christ or not [00:19:36] But I wonder if there's not a lot of truth in the saying More is caught than is taught Well, I think maybe sometimes I try so hard to teach, and I keep teaching, but they're catching something from me that I'm missing when I teach. You know, if our children observe, it doesn't just have to be our children. [00:20:07] If there's other children, we're influencing someone. If they see cracks in the foundation that we're standing on, they're going to notice that we probably already started to lose them. You know, if they see that I as a father have a hard time being here on a Wednesday evening or a mother, and I just don't have that zeal that I should have, Or, if I'm grudgingly obedient to the church and the church standards, or I complain, you know, it's so practical I almost hate to say it, but you know, how I express myself around the dinner table has probably more to do with the way my children turn out than what I say to them. [00:20:59] If you can understand what I'm trying to point out here, it is so important. And may I say this, as I was thinking about this and just reflecting on my own life, I appreciated the home that I came from in many ways. But you know what? Children are not ignorant. And if I as a father complain about my brothers and sisters in the church or what this brother did or what this sister does and I keep complaining about it, it will have an effect. [00:21:38] It doesn't take long until children recognize that and say, I don't want that for me. I don't need that. I'll escape that. I'll go somewhere else. It doesn't take long at all. I think the power of positive example is something that we can never underestimate when we teach. I think we transmit more truth with positive example than we ever will by negative. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't point out things or we shouldn't teach. [00:22:10] I think you understand what I'm saying. I don't know if I should say this here or not. I would rather not evoke someone's name because I know this person would never want any honor. This person doesn't live anymore. But there was a person that I used, well, I think a lot of us would know this person or did know this person. And this person never said a whole lot. But this person taught me a whole lot just by living. [00:22:45] just by keeping on, just by going about her business day after day, staying there, being, just giving a listening ear, just being there and being faithful. We teach a lot by being faithful. Third John 1.4 says this, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And I know that he's not talking about just his own children. I have my own children, but I would like to think that all of us adults view the children of this congregation as our responsibility. [00:23:24] Our children, precious souls that need an example, they need something that they can observe that has a solid, secure foundation under it. And I think John, through his ministry, had many spiritual children, children that may not have been blood children, but he was a spiritual father to many. And it's interesting to notice here that his joy wasn't based on his son or daughter's financial success, or that somehow this son or daughter made it through college, or these children did, but his joy was based on the fact that they were walking in truth. [00:24:09] What do we as fathers expect of our children? Are we so concerned about passing on truth? Or am I concerned that somehow I can pass on some wealth to my children? What's most important? What do we want to leave with them? Well, I don't think there's any parent that would not want their child to have truth or impart truth to their children. If our children choose to follow our footsteps and commit their lives to Christ, it is our responsibility to arm them with truth. [00:24:48] Then they have a solid foundation to stand on. What about our church life? And these were the two things that I thought of as I was thinking about truth. And I'm sure that truth affects everything that we touch. It affects how I conduct my family life. It affects how I go to work. It affects how I dress. It just affects a whole realm of things. Our view of truth and how we live it out. [00:25:21] But the church, Paul says this in 1 Timothy 3.15, and this is just breaking in. He says something, maybe I should turn to that. I'll just put some down here. The church he called the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. And that's what the church should be. It should be a pillar and a ground of truth. It is of utmost importance that we maintain truth in the church, in our church. [00:25:57] What does our community think or how do they feel about us? Do they recognize us as people that are willing to go anywhere and suffer anything for the name of Jesus? Or how's our fire? Do they see truth in our lives? Do they observe that we're living out principles that the Bible teaches? Is it attractive to them? I think it's always attractive when people live out truth. It's like a breath of fresh air. [00:26:27] I would like to notice a verse again here in Jeremiah 2.13 and this is again just breaking in and it's not talking about the church but I think there's a valid, there's something that we can learn from this verse. Jeremiah 2.13 My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water and huge cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water. [00:26:58] What are we drawing on when we make decisions in the church? Are we drawing from the fountain of living water? We can quickly be drawing from a cistern that's broken. Actually, we can't draw out of that. A cistern that's broken doesn't even hold water. But I think the point that he... What I would like to say here is simply this. We have to draw from this book. We have to draw from this book. [00:27:30] If we want to go forward, we have to rely on Scripture. We have to draw from the fountain of living water. We come from various different backgrounds, and we were talking about that the other evening, and probably I was reminded of this. Who then? How then should we apply some of these things? And I don't have answers for everything, or for even in speaking about this subject. [00:28:05] But it occurred to me that there's one thing that brings safety to a congregation If everyone, I'm not talking about just the ministry or just the older people or just the youth If everyone in the whole church has a vision for truth, a vision for the work of the Lord It draws us together and it keeps us together in a way that nothing else will It keeps the powers of darkness at bay And I say this, and I recognize that the rules, the standards can be different and uphold the same principle [00:28:45] But I appreciate that someone, and I wasn't involved, I wasn't here when this happened But someone gave careful consideration to scripture and how it should be applied The principles of scripture and then came up with standards And I just appreciate that. I appreciate very much what we have here. And I'm not saying, I want to be careful, I'm not saying that we're the only church. Definitely not. Definitely not. But I appreciate what has been brought to me, the standards that have been brought to me. [00:29:23] I know that people complain sometimes or have blatant disregard for standards. But I challenge us to think, there's a principle there. What about offending our brother? Let's be very careful. If we get to that point, perhaps we've already lost the vision for maintaining foundational truth in our own heart. Let's be very careful. I would like to quickly notice one more passage here. [00:29:55] And I don't, I'm not sure how this fits in, but this is what the Lord laid on my heart this morning. Revelations 2, chapter 2, and I'd like to read from 12 to 17. And this is about the church of Pergamos. I'm just going to read it here. And the angel of the church in Pergamos, and to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works and where thou dwellest. Even where Satan's seat is, and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days where Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. [00:30:38] But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast the stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth [00:31:08] I'm going to quit reading there I'm not prepared to share about the doctrine of Balaam or the other doctrine that was mentioned here But it occurred to me that when we have or hold foundational truth close to our heart Out of that foundational truth comes sound doctrine, sound teaching. You know, in this passage here, he recognized the good of the church, but you know, they were also a compromising church. [00:31:50] We cannot afford to teach false doctrine. And I take that responsibility very seriously here. But you know, it's not just over the pulpit. In our Sunday school class, all of our Sunday school classes, not just the adults, in our schools, we have to teach sound doctrine. Here they were, people, they were allowing people to hold or have a false doctrine, a false view, [00:32:21] and the judgment of God will be upon us if we do that. I am not complaining this morning. I feel very blessed. I have been blessed with teachers, Sunday school teachers that have put in much effort and have spent countless hours probably and have taught me things that I very much appreciate. In closing, I would just like to simply say this. Jesus, if we fail to build on the foundation that Jesus Christ set for us, if we fail to hang on to that truth, and when I say truth, that is such a vast subject, it is many messages, but when I think about principle, I'm thinking about the teaching, nonresistance, I can't even name the teachings that are there. [00:33:16] Let's hang on to truth. Let's hang on. Let's hold it dear to our hearts. Let's maintain truth. It's not only for me today or tomorrow. I just want to encourage this morning that we get in the scripture and not only read, but apply and maintain foundational truth.