p. 2 | THE SURE FOUNDATION by Eugene Leland

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 11, 1899

THE SURE FOUNDATION.

By Eugene Leland

IN the construction of a building the thing of most importance to be considered is the foundation. If this is insecure, the whole building is unsafe, and liable to fall. The Saviour gave an illustration of this point in His Sermon on the Mount. He said, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a man, which built his house upon a rock." Matt. 7:24.

It is implied in this passage that every one is able not only to hear the sayings of Christ, but to do them as well, and that he who does both hear and do the sayings of Christ, is built upon a rock, the true foundation.

Once before when the Saviour spoke from the summit of Sinai (for He it was who spake the Ten Words), the people who heard His voice "entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more; for they could not endure that which was commanded." There must have been something singularly remarkable about a voice which was so unendurable at one time, and so gladly heard at another. What was it? Why so strong a contrast? Perhaps a few comparisons will enable us to enter somewhat into the secret.

The first was the word of Divinity, "whose voice then shook the earth."

The second was the voice of divine humanity speaking blessings to the mourner, the meek, and the merciful.

The first was a word of command spoken to a fallen race, powerless in themselves to meet its requirements.

The second was a word of entreaty to the weary and the heavy-laden, saying, "Come unto Me, . . . and I will give you rest."

The first, tho "ordained to life," was "found to be unto death."

The second was the voice of Him who "came not to judge the world, but to save the world."

Connected with the first was the sacrificial service and the ceremonial ordinance, which shadowed forth, with a pale, borrowed light, the power which would enable them to do the things which they had heard.

Connected with the second, without ceremony or sacrifice other than the sacrifice of self (and that is the greatest of all sacrifices), was the infusion of divine power to meet the requirements of the first.

The word spoken from Sinai was that of Christ the Creator.

The voice from the mount of blessing was that of Christ the Redeemer. It was the coming of the "true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." And before this more glorious Light, the pale, dim light of the law is obscured, even as the light of the sun obscures the light of the moon. Yea, the church is now "clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet." And now "ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, . . . and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; . . . but ye are come unto Mount Sion, . . . and to Jesus the Mediator of the new testament." So, instead of going forth to the world with the law in our hands, demanding obedience to its requirements by "the carnal mind, which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be," we are to go forth with Christ in our hearts, entreating sinners to let the "Spirit of the living God" write the law, "not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart," pleading with them to let the Saviour, who is the living expression of the law, dwell in their hearts by faith.

There is a passage in the Old Testament brought to mind by this saying of Christ in

the Sermon on the Mount. It is found in Deut. 18:18, 19: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him."

Because the people could not endure to hear the Lord speak, and so requested that He should not speak any more, the Lord said that they had well spoken, and He gave them the promise that the words of Christ would be of such a character that they could endure to hear them. But until Christ should appear personally and speak the words of God, they had no word by which they could learn the character to which they were to attain, other than that which they had heard from Sinai; and this word they said they could not endure to hear any longer; and in saying this, God said that they had well spoken.

If, then, they could not see life in those words, they were certainly without hope. But when by living faith they could look upon those words as promises to be fulfilled in them, rather than requirements to be performed by them, their hope revived. And thus it was that they were bidden to view these words; for we read in Deut. 30:11-14: "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."

Outwardly, upon the tables of stone merely, the children of Israel could not endure even to hear the words of the law proclaimed; much less could they do them. But in the heart they could both hear them and do them.

Here we have it, then, both in the Old Testament and in the New, that the words of Christ, heard and done, are the things for which we shall be held responsible, and that those who do this are like the man who builds upon a rock. It is to be built upon the true foundation.

It will doubtless sound very commonplace to the professed Christian to say that Christ is the foundation of all human hopes, yet there is danger that many professed Christians will trust in their exemplary lives and their stainless characters instead of trusting in the life of the sinless One. "Going about to establish their own righteousness," these good Christian people "have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 3:11. In Eph. 2:20 He is called "the chief cornerstone." And the prophet Isaiah, in speaking of Christ says: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste." The only sure foundation is "Christ in you the hope of glory." EUGENE LELAND. Bethel, P. Q.