IF THE FOUNDATIONS ARE DESTROYED
Ps. 11:3
INTRODUCTION
A. MOVIE: “Force 10 From Navarone”
1. In the movie, “Force 10 from Navarone,” the good guys (led by Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw) have to blow up a bridge in Yugoslavia that is vital to the Nazis. When they see it, they realize they don’t have enough explosives to do the job. Mission Over? Not hardly.
2. The men decide to blow up a dam upstream that will unleash a torrent of water that will knock out the bridge. Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw dress up as Nazis and go to the dam, find the right spot, put the explosives in place, and then turn to leave. The dynamite goes off, makes a huge noise, and nothing happens.
3. Outside the dam, the rest of the good guys hear the explosion. When the dam doesn’t disintegrate, the team turns to the demolitions expert who lights a pipe and says, “Patience. You’ve got to have patience.”
4. At the same moment, Ford and Shaw notice cracks forming in the foundation of the dam. Then water begins to spurt through the cracks. They run for their lives, barely making it out before the dam collapses, sending an avalanche of water hurtling downstream.
5. When it hits the mighty bridge, the columns sway, then begin to crumble, and finally the bridge collapses at the very moment the Nazis are crossing with their tanks and jeeps.
6. It’s a lesson in the power of cracks in the foundation. A little dynamite in the right place will do the trick. All it takes is a few cracks, well-placed, at the right moment, and the whole thing comes crumbling down. [keepbelieving.com 7/7/15]
B. TEXT: Psalm 11
In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain?” 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. 5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. 7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face. Ps. 11:1-7 NIV
C. THESIS
1. David saw the moral foundations of his country cracking and he was very upset, as we are. His song to God about his concerns is instructive for us too. He has some advice for us.
2. The title of this message is, “If the Foundations are Destroyed.”
I. WHAT ARE THE CRUMBLING “FOUNDATIONS?”
A. APPLICATION IN DAVID’S TIME
1. Most commentators believe that in verse 2 David was speaking about the degenerating government of King Saul. Saul had the Spirit of God leave him and had an evil spirit on him. Saul’s course became ungodly. He was plundering, breaking treaties, and building monuments to himself. Under Saul, the very foundations of the theocracy were crumbling.
2. In addition, Saul had ordered “all his servants that they should kill David” 1 Sam. 19:1. Saul knew God wanted David to rule in his place and had malice toward David. So he had set spies on him, who were looking for opportunities to kill the one God had said should lead His people Israel.
B. CRUMBLING “FOUNDATIONS” IN OUR TIME
1. In our day, evil has gone much further, challenging the natural order laid down by God. God established societal order – including basics like gender, sexuality, & family structure.
2. These are clearly pictured in the Book of Genesis and promoted by Christ (Matt. 19:4-5), “Haven’t you read,” [Jesus] replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[Gen. 1:27] and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” These ideas are disputed today.
3. Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Righteousness is God’s pattern for people to strive for. Godliness is a good thing. There IS right & wrong. God laid out, in the Bible, the activities, thoughts, and motives that are considered sinful in His sight. If we do those we’re to repent and God will forgive us for them, but we must be seeking to stop doing them, or we have not really repented for them.
4. There is a heaven & hell and we will be accountable, before God, at the final Judgment for all the evil we do and don’t genuinely repent of. Faked repentance doesn’t fool God. Right WILL eventually triumph over evil. We don’t want to be on the wrong side in the end.
5. Today the fundamental rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are also under attack. GOD gave us our rights, human governments didn’t. Free speech, freedom of religion, freedom to bear arms, protection of the weak and innocent. God is for the prosecution of criminals & law breakers, so that innocent people won’t be preyed on.
6. Today “situation ethics” determines right & wrong, not God’s unchanging standard of the Bible. Society thinks that it is the arbiter of truth, which is evolving. Therefore, whatever the controllers of thought (elite) want to promote, they gin-up by way of news outlets and social media, and compel the rest of society to agree with it. Then they pretend that that the society originated the idea!
7. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” It’s time for godly men and women to stand up and declare God’s Word and His ways so that the world may know God’s truth! Pray for the evil to be overturned!
II. 3 THINGS TO DO IF THE FOUNDATIONS ARE CRUMBLING
A. TAKE REFUGE IN THE LORD, vs. 1
1. David said, “In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain?’”
2. What others might do, David didn’t need to do, because the Lord was his refuge. The KJV translates the Hebrew word “chacah” [2620] as “trust,” but it actually means “to flee for protection,” and it’s translated as “refuge” in Ps. 57:1. The speed of flight is quickly. (Compare Strong’s notes on 982, which also means to ‘go to a refuge,’ but “not as precipitately as 2620.”)
3. A “refuge” is a place of shelter or protection, as from danger or hardship. It’s a place where you find help, relief, and comfort in times of trouble.
4. People have many places they flee to for relief in times of stress. Some go to psychiatrists, or take medications, or go on a vacation or to the gym and try to work it off. None of those will give lasting inner peace.
5. But David knew the best place to go – “In THE LORD I take refuge.” God offers the best type of plan – and it’s all free! You don’t have to have health insurance, or a membership, or travel to somewhere; God is wherever you are! He’s as close as the mention of His name! He’s a very present help in time of trouble.
6. He “satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness” Ps. 107:9. Whatever your need is, God will meet it. “My peace I give unto you.” Praise God!
B. BE COMFORTED: GOD IS AWARE, vs. 4
1. Sometimes when bad things happen to us, the devil whispers in our minds, “God has forsaken you! If God loved you He wouldn’t have let this happen. God’s not even real; it’s all made-up!” [God told Ezekiel that people said, “The Lord doesn’t see us; the Lord hath forsaken the earth” (8:12).] That’s all a lie from hell. God’s not dead – He’s alive!
2. David said, “The Lord IS in his holy temple; the Lord IS on his heavenly throne.” The Lord’s NOT ABSENT, Church! He’s very much ‘on the job.’
3. He’s not like the god of the Baalites that Elijah mocked, saying, ‘He must be on vacation!’ Not only that, but God is very aware of what’s going on, and He is passionately angry with those doing you wrong.
4. All this brings us comfort. God sympathizes with us (Heb. 4:15). He weeps with those who weep, and rejoices with those who rejoice! He’s a friend who sticks closer than a brother!
C. KNOW THAT GOD’S JUSTICE IS COMING, vs. 6
1. Not only does God sympathize with us, but He’s going to take action against those treating us unjustly.
2. David said, “On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot” (vs. 6). This is certainly true of the AFTERLIFE, when they will be judged. “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels” (2 Thess. 1:6-7).
3. But God often allows judgment to fall on bad people IN THIS LIFE (Ps. 7:15; 57:6; Prov. 26:27; there are many examples of this in scripture). I would say that most of the time, when people sow evil, it eventually catches up with them. So this is also a comfort to us; “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord (Rom. 12:9).
4. Those who do you wrong won’t get away with it. Of course, the best way is if we forgive them. Redemption is the most complete restoration. This psalm, however, speaks more of our response to a crumbling society.
5. Scottish historian Alexander Tytler (1747-1813), who studied the histories of governments, found a typical pattern of how nations are brought full circle: Bondage, to Spiritual Faith, to Courage, to Liberty, to Abundance, to Selfishness, to Complacency, to Apathy, to Dependence, then they end up in Bondage again.
6. Free societies who become corrupt usually have to go through tyranny again, and call on God, before they’re ready to be brought back to liberty. So, there’s hope for America! God will bring us around again!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: God knows how to Save HIS People!
1. Jack and Georgia Belin were the directors of the Freedom School in Bolivia, South America. One day, the Belins decided to take a few of the school’s teachers for a day of sight-seeing in the pre-Inca ruins high in the beautiful Andes Mountains. The cliff roads are incredibly steep and narrow with no guardrails.
2. As they drove along, everyone was laughing and having a great time telling stories, when all of a sudden, one of the teachers felt the Spirit of God come on her in urgent prayer in a heavenly language. She was praying with great intensity, and she didn’t know why.
3. Moments later Missionary Belin rounded a curve and the van hit a puddle and slid to the right— toward the cliff-edge. No one knew that there had been a bad rain storm in the night before and a large portion of the road was washed out. The van slid sideways toward the hole & precipice. There was nothing he could do; they all cried out to Jesus to save them.
4. As everyone in the van closed their eyes and braced themselves for the fall, a miracle happened. The van suddenly stopped. When everyone opened their eyes, they were on the other side of the large hole. Everyone got out to take a look. They couldn’t believe their eyes! They could see where the tire tracks of the van went up to the hole in the road and then reappeared about five feet on the other side of the landslide!
5. Missionary Belin suggests that they might have driven over a bridge of angels! We serve an awesome God that can do anything! [This story has been verified & is on the official Assemblies of God World Missions Website.]
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you have been going through a difficult time and need God to be a refuge for you?
2. Have you been wondering if God knew your circumstances? If He cared? God hasn’t forgotten you. Raise your hands so we can include you in prayer.
3. Have some of you wondered if there was any justice? God IS a God of justice. He WILL right all wrongs. Be encouraged today that God is faithful.
4. Let’s pray for our nation that God turn it around for good. PRAYER.
