FAITH THE FOUNDATION By: Brother George DeHoff (Preached By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr.

) We live in the 21st century of a fast moving world. Obligations, duties and responsibilities press heavily upon the shoulders of each. I think it well for us to pause occasionally amid the rush of life for a few moments of sober reflection about how to be of greatest service to our fellow man while here and to be prepared for eternal in the world to come. It is certain that no man ever did any great thing without adequate preparation and it is definite that no man goes to heaven when he dies unless while on earth he has prepared himself to go. THE PROBLEM But today, as we speak of preparing for the other world, we are reminded that hundreds of conflicting doctrines, theories and religions are presented to us; that good and honest hearted people can be found in any religious system under heaven - that perhaps hypocrites might likewise be found in any religious group. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." No man enters into heaven unless he does the will of the Father who is in heaven. It becomes our duty, then, to decide what the will of the Father is. Every man must make this decision for himself. It is not enough to contend that someone else has made the decision for us - every man must give an account for his own soul, each is the captain of his own life. THE BUILDERS We must select some criteria by which every act of religion is to be judged. We must have some standard, some foundation upon which to build. Jesus presents this foundation to us in the seventh chapter of Matthew. He tells of two men building houses. One man built his house upon the foundation of rock. The rains, storms, floods and winds beat upon that house but it fell not because it was founded upon a rock. Another man built his house upon the san. The rains, storms and floods beat vehemently upon that house and it fell and great was the fall thereof. Let us study these two builders - these two classes of religious people - for a moment. Notice their likeness and differences. Both heard the words of the Master, bot saw the necessity of building houses. Not only so, but both built houses. These houses perhaps looked very much alike. Each felt perfectly safe and secure in his house. Perhaps it cost just as much time, effort and money to build one house as the other. As to their differences: one was wise, the other foolish. One did exactly what the Master said - he obeyed; the other merely thought he obeyed. One built upon the foundation of rock, the other on the foundation of sand. Finally, one house stood up, the other fell thus these two

men differ as to their eternal destinies. This parable of Jesus presents to us the only true religious foundation - the foundation of rock, the foundation of strong faith in the Bible as God's immovable, unshakable, verbally inspired, perfect word. For six thousand years God's plan has been the same, namely, that men must hear and do whatever He commands. The prophet Jeremiah said, "It is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). By this he simply means that one cannot work out his own religion, his own plan of salvation. God's thoughts are not man's thoughts and God's ways are not man's ways, but as the heaven's are higher than the earth so are God's ways higher than our own ways and God's thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). We must ascertain what God's will, what God wants us to do because only those who do God's will can be saved. So far as I know, these are the only foundations in religion: feeling, experience, human reason, and faith in God's book, the Bible. FEELINGS DECEPTIVE Numbers and numbers of good people do things in religion because they feel like it is the proper thing to do. Their only question regarding any religious act is, "Do you feel like it is right?" While certainly any religion would be worthless unless a man honestly felt like it was right, yet, bear in mind that the heathen in darkest Africa, the Hindu in India, and the Romans from Vatican with his idols all feel all rig about their religion. They are honest, but right about our religion but feeling alone is the foundation of sand, We must dig deeper. EXPERIENCE INADEQUATE Then, there is the dignified foundation of experience. Many of us do things in religion because experience has so taught us. All our lifetime we've seen others do things without stopping to ask, "Why?" Experience has taught you one thing, another something else and the heathen yet something more. Experience cannot be the test of true religion. The foundation must be something more. HUMAN REASON FAULTY Many good people use human reason as their guide in matters religious. Whatever looks reasonable to them, they do. Under this plan, each man becomes his own god and his own devil approving and condemning at will. One thing looks reasonable to one man, something else to another. But human reason is not the test in religion just as it is not the foundation of many other things. I cannot understand how a black cow eats green grass, gives white milk, and makes yellow butter - yet I must accept it. I cannot comprehend God but the proof of His existence is so abundant that only "the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God," while those who are worse than fools have blabbed it right out

loud. FAITH MEETS EVERY TEST Discarding the foundations of feeling, experience, and human reason, there remains only one other - that of faith. Faith is not a blind thing. Faith must be based upon proper evidence. An opinion may be without evidence but before one may believe anything he must have evidence to convince himself. Before one may believe anything in religion, he must have some evidence of its truth. Paul said, in Romans 10:17, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Whatever we find God's word we may have faith therein, whatever cannot be found in the Bible has not connection with faith. All correct religious faith comes from hearing God's word. Whatever is not in God's word is religious opinion and not religious faith. Thus, Romans 14:23 is worthy to be quoted: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Noah, in the long age, moved by faith and built the Ark. He did not move by feeling. He could not feel that there was going to be a great flood and thus prepare the ark. He could not from his experience predict the approaching calamity for experience taught him there'd be no such flood. Human reason did not tell him either but faith - faith in God. God told him, he believed. Thus, it was that he built upon the foundation of solid rock. The blind man in John 9, who went to the pool and washed away the mud which Jesus had applied to his eyes did not go because he just felt like that was the way to cure blindness nor because others had been healed that way. Human reason certainly suggested other means. The Master said, "Go wash in the pool." He believed, he obeyed. He built upon the foundation of faith and, never doubting, he received a rich and full reward. So numbers and numbers of times today when we do things in religion, we are moving not upon the principle of feeling, experience or human reason but faith in Almighty God. The only way we can know anything to be the truth in religion, the only way we can know anything to be well pleasing in the sight of God is to read it in God's book. If it is in God's book, it is the truth - it's an act of faith. We may believe it, it's solid rock, we depend upon it, we may put it into practice with the solemn and sacred assurance the God will give the reward that He has promised in His word. On the Lords Day when we assemble around the Lords table and break bread in memory of His body broken for us and partake of the fruit of the vine in memory of His shed blood, we do not do so because we reasoned out this memorial nor yet because we just happen to feel like it is the proper thing to do. We do not commune because experience has so taught us. We commune because of our faith in Christ. He has commanded us to commune and we believe we have faith. We love Him so much that we can fail to obey His commandments (Matthew

26:25-29; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7). Again, when people go into the water to be baptized like Jesus commanded in Mark 16:16 when He said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned, they do not go just because baptism looks reasonable to them, nor because experience has taught them that baptism saves. They are not baptized because they feel like it is the way to be saved but because of faith because they have heard Gods word and like Noah, and the blind man, they believe that word and are obeying it. Truly this is the foundation of solid rock. The faith that saves is the faith that obeys. Man must exercise faith and faith must exercise the man. No man in he Bible was ever blessed on account of his own faith until after that faith expressed in action. Make sure that whatever you do in religion is commanded in Gods word and that youre doing it because you believe in God. That religion will stand when the storms and fiery trials of the judgment beat hard upon it.