THE SURE FOUNDATION

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 3, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 44.

THE SURE FOUNDATION.

READER, whoever you are, you will admit these truths: (1) That a building should have a good foundation if it would endure; (2) that the most important thing a man is building is his house of character. Character is the only thing about a man which is of real, enduring worth. Every one, the lowest criminal as well as the most scheming business man, appreciates a person who is faithful, one whom he “can tie to,” whom he can depend upon.

The important questions now are, Do you want a good character? Do you want it built on a foundation which will endure? Christ offers you both. Listen to the words of the great Teacher:—

“Every one that cometh unto Me, and heareth My words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it; because it had been well builded [margin, “founded upon the Rock”].” Luke 5:47, 48, R.V.

Mark these specifications:—

1. “Every one.” Then no one is excluded; “Every one” who will come to Christ; and He declares, “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in nowise cast out.” Men may reject you as unworthy; they may cast you out from their associations; your crimes may bar you from human society; your sins may discourage and overwhelm you in their blackness and magnitude, yet you may “come” to Jesus Christ and He will in nowise cast you out. Nay, He will receive you graciously. He purchased you just as you are. He knew your sinfulness, misery, wretchedness; and in His great love He bought you; He gave Himself for your price, that He might redeem you from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He would take away your sins and give you His sinlessness. He would take away your unrest and misery and wretchedness, and give you His peace and rest and assurance forever. O, will you not come?

2. “That heareth My words.” This is your part, to listen to Christ. Will you not do it? We know that the voices of the world are insistent and loud and constant. Fleshly lust calls clamorously. Pleasure sings her siren song. Enmity and hate goad you by fierce words in the mad competition of the selfish world. Honor, fame, and poverty, cold, and nakedness, wealth—all add to the confused din and babel of voices assailing you on every side, till ear and mind become confused. And yet, O soul, the very best of all these calling can bring you only temporal good with ultimate disappointment! But amid all the din there is another Voice calling to light and righteousness and life forever more. Listen! Oftentimes the Voice is still and small, but it ever speaks to the heart, and appeals to all the nobler impulses and longings of the soul. Listen, and you shall hear. His Word is light, and it “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

3. “And doeth them;” that is, that doeth the words of the Master; that follows where He leads. You may say that you can not do His words, you can not keep His commandments. But you can do this—you can will to do; you can submit to do whatsoever He requires. And the promise is, “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God.” God will furnish the strength; for every precept of God is an implied promise. In every command is the strength to him who submits to do the command. Submit to do, and you will know that all His ways are pleasantness and all His paths are peace. Can you find a better law than His law? Can you develop a better character than His character? Can you find better associations than those of Heaven? You know you can not. Why then delay to do His commandments?

4. The result. If you come and hear and do, you will be like the man who digged deep and laid the foundation of his house on the rock. Then dig deep. Go below human traditions, and all the error and rubbish of ages, and make your foundation of character, that which no man can lay, but which is already laid, the living Rock. “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3:11. Build on Him, and you will find that the life from the living Rock will bind you to Him, and enable you to stand forever. O soul, whoever you are, it is your privilege to build on the Rock of Ages!