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Psalms 11:2-3 (KJV)  For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.  [3]  If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Ephesians 2:19-20 (KJV)  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;  [20]  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

I know we have a “Business Meeting” tonight, and I know that our time is at a premium. But God has put something on my heart that we need to discuss.

We need to talk about the “Foundation” of our Church.

Not just our Church, but every Church. America has gotten darker and darker since I was called to preach twenty three years ago. It was dark when I started preaching. The old time preachers who recognized my calling and laid “empty hands on this empty head” at my ordination board warned me that I was entering ministry at a difficult time. As a so called “Baby Boomer” I grew up at the end of the “Greatest Generation” (those born 1910-1924 also known as the G.I. Generation and the World War II Generation) and the “Silent Generation” (those born 1925-1945). I grew up in a poor family that was called “Traditional”. My mom stayed at home and raised us while daddy went to work to support us.

I grew up with traditional values. In my era Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz slept in twin beds, as did Rob and Laura Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke Show. As I got older my soul was fed by slowly degrading television. Laura Petrie left Rob and became Mary Richards on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. She introduced tight clothing and short nightgowns to America and young boys like me. Along came M*A*S*H and the introduction of recreational use of alcohol. Andy Griffith smoked cigarettes. I saw commercials that said “Come to where the flavor is. Come to Marlboro Country.” and “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”. I started smoking at the age of 10 years old, and drank my first beer at 13. When I went to High School we took “Smoke Breaks” between classes in designated smoking areas. No one care what your age was. This was, after all, North Carolina, tobacco country.

The darkness consumed me until a friend invited me to Church. There I met the Lord Jesus Christ, Who loved me and saved me. It amazed me that 20 years later He would call me into ministry.

Why is America darker today that it has ever been?
Because the Church is not as light!

When we complain about the darkness of our land compared to when we were younger we need to remember that evil has never been light. The Bible says:

The wages of SIN is DEATH (Romans 6:23)

God doesn’t say that the wages of sin WAS death, but IS death. Sin has always been dark. Sin has always killed. The Bible tells us that:

John 3:19-20 (KJV)  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  [20]  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Darkness has always hated light. So how do we cure the darkness? There is only one way. We must TURN ON THE LIGHT. The light must be turned on. And where is the light? It is THE CHURCH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

King David looked around at the evil and said:

the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart

The wicked bend their bow. The WICKED or evil ones shoot PRIVILY at those who are “upright in heart”. The “upright in heart” refers to the Christ follower, the person who has decided to follow Jesus. What does the word PRIVILY mean? It is the Hebrew (אֹפֶל ʼôphel, pronounced o’fel) which means “in the darkness or in the gloom”. The wicked attack in the gloom. They attack when the night rules. How do we protect against this? We turn on the light. We who follow Christ must walk in Light. Jesus told those who would hear Him:

Matthew 5:13 (KJV)  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to BE TRODDEN UNDER FOOT OF MEN.

Most of the Church in America today is “trodden under foot of men”. Why? Because it has become one with the darkness. We have compromised on the message of the Gospel.

The Foundation Been “Redefined” On Sin

The American Media has redefined “Sin” and what “Sin” is. Rather than stand up for what the Bible says many Churches have compromised, and have become one with the world. They have forgotten what God said:

James 4:4 (KJV)  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

To be “friendly” with the world is to be the enemy of God. Light cannot blend with darkness. The Church is God’s Lighthouse. We let Christ shine through us.

Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  [16]  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Everything we do as God’s Church is to be a good work as GOD defines GOOD WORKS. It cannot be darkness. Jesus said:

Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

When our message becomes twisted like the world then we become one with the world. The Bible is very clear on what is sinful. Regardless as to what the world says, what does the Bible says about:

• Abortion?: Exodus 4:11; Isaiah 44:22; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 127:3; Exodus 21:22-25; Psalm 139:13-16; Luke 1:41-44; Exodus 20:13; Job 31:15; Isaiah 45:10-12
• Heterosexual sex outside of marriage?: 1 Corinthians 7:2; Hebrews 13:4; Acts 15:19-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 1 Corinthians 7:8-9; Genesis 2:24-25; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
• Homosexual sex?: Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:4-5; 2 Peter 2:6; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 6-7; Romans 1:18; 1 Corinthians 6:11
• The Ten Commandments?: Matthew 5:18-19; Mark 10:19; Ephesians 6:2; Romans 13:9; James 2:11; 1 John 5:3; Matthew 19:16-19; Matthew 5:21-22; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Romans 7:12; Romans 7:22; Acts 24:13-14; 1 John 3:4; 1 John 2:4; Revelation 22:14; Deuteronomy 5:29; Psalm 1:1-3
• Failure to love? Racism? Hatefulness? Grudge carrying?: Mark 12:30-31; John 13:34-35; John 15:12; Matthew 5:43-48
• If it looks evil?: 1 Thessalonians 5:22; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-21; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Ephesians 5:11; Romans 13:14
• Self righteousness?: Matthew 23; Luke 18:9-14; John 15:5; Galatians 1:8-9; Galatians 3:21; Isaiah 65:5

In short, the Scripture calls on every Christ follower to …

Ephesians 5:1-11 (KJV)  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;  [2]  And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.  [3]  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;  [4]  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.  [5]  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  [6]  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.  [7]  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.  [8]  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  [9]  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  [10]  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  [11]  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

The Foundation Of The Christ Walk Is Christ

Ephesians 2:19-20 (KJV)  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;  [20]  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

We who have been saved by faith in Christ are no longer strangers and foreigners to God. We belong to God now. God is our Father, and we are His Children. We are indwelt by the Spirit of God, empowered to serve Him Who saved us (Romans 8:9). We serve a Living Savior.

A young Christian college girl had kept herself sexually pure. When she was approached by the boys she told them that she wanted to keep her virginity until she was married. This got around the campus. As a result people started mocking her. The boys she dated did their best to get her to change her mind. One day the subject came up in the classroom, and the teacher asked why her virginity was so important. This precious believer told them:

“Any time I want to be, I can be just like you. But you can never again be just like I am right now.”

That is so true. We as Christ followers are to spread the glorious Gospel of Christ, to be Light in a dark world. We are to be like Jesus. How was Jesus?

Jesus was friendly and kind with every person He met so He could share the Gospel with them, but never befriended their lostness. JESUS NEVER JUSTIFIED SIN. “Go and sin no more” He told the woman taken in adultery (John 8:11). Jesus told the crippled man He healed “Behold, thou art made whole. SIN NO MORE lest a WORST thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14). Jesus was indeed a “friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19) but to say He was friendly with sin is a lie from the pit of hell.

Jesus walked up to a woman of Samaria in John 4:4-26 and asked “Give me to drink”. As He talked with the woman he spoke the truth in love. He pointed out that she was a sinner, but that He, Christ, was the Savior. He pointed out that she had five husbands, and that the man she lived with now was not her husband. Jesus told her “you don’t even worship God right, for true worshipers shall worship God in Spirit and in Truth”. Jesus didn’t soften the message. He didn’t compromise in order to win her following. In fact, He was very blunt in what He said, very politically incorrect – and she gave her heart to Jesus. This woman started a revival in her city, for she left Christ and did what every Christian should do – she was the Light of God. She said “Come and see this Man. He told me all the things I ever did – He knew my sins. He is the Christ!” (John 4:29)

Will the world hate us? Yes. Jesus said “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world, the world hateth you” (John 15:19). The sexual sinner, the fornicator, the homosexual, the child molester, the murder, the thief, the liar, the party goer – the darkness by whatever sin you define it does not want to know of the light. But they need to hear. If you love God and love as Christ has called you to love, they must hear.

The fear of two judgments drive me to share Christ: my future judgment as a servant, and the unbeliever’s future judgment as a sinner.

King David wrote: Psalms 11:5-6 ^(KJV) …. but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: [this shall be] the portion of their cup.

The only thing that stands between a person and the eternal Damnation of God is the Blood of Christ. People must receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Without Christ, they are under condemnation. Without Christ, they are headed toward a Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). I have seen and heard parents stand before earthly judges and say, “Not my child. My child cannot be guilty of this”, crying out before that son or daughter is sentenced to prison. How much more horrible would it be to stand before God knowing that the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hates. To know that the Judge they will stand before one day will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest on those who rejected Christ.

If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? Be righteous. Be the Light. Work together to reach out in love to a lost and dying world with the glorious Gospel of salvation. Read your Bibles. Pray. Prepare. Share.

God watches over us – and we will overcome!

May God bless your hearts with His Word.