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  IF THE FOUNDATIONS BE DESTROYED
  by Keith Malcomson
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Summary: This sermon addresses the challenge of facing a world where the
foundations of morality, integrity, and righteousness are being
destroyed. It emphasizes the need for the righteous to trust in God,
have a new vision of God's throne, realize that God is testing them,
expect God to judge the wicked, and look forward to a clear vision of
God's presence and righteousness.

Topics: "Trust in God", "Vision of Righteousness"
Scripture References: Psalm 11:1, Psalm 11:4, Psalm 11:6, Psalm 11:7, Numbers 6:24, Isaiah 60:2, Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:2, Proverbs 21:2, Proverbs 30:12, Isaiah 5:20

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon addresses the challenge of facing a world where the
foundations of morality, integrity, and righteousness are being
destroyed. It emphasizes the need for the righteous to trust in God,
have a new vision of God's throne, realize that God is testing them,
expect God to judge the wicked, and look forward to a clear vision of
God's presence and righteousness.

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CONTENT
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I want you to turn with me in your Bibles here this morning to Psalm 11
in the Old Testament. Psalm 11, and we're going to read this complete
Psalm. That's my message here this morning.

And we're coming to part 12 of our series on Christ as the only
foundation. We've looked at all aspects of foundation. Christ being the
rock of our salvation.

We've gone into this thoroughly how it is a secure foundation. He is the
only foundation. Us individually actually have our life, our entire life
built upon a very solid foundation.

Foundations are vital to an individual, to a church, to a preacher, and
to a nation. We've already looked in the previous 11 messages. We've
gone through looking at how you and your own life, either you've got a
good foundation or a bad foundation.

Either it's a rock or it's a sand. And you know what? You may not think
it affects you too much at the minute, but when the storms come or the
storm of death comes to your life, you're going to find out if you're
building on sand or if you're building on a rock. And it's too late at
that point.

You better make sure it's now. But it's the same with the church. God
builds his church upon this foundation, a revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

But I want to take this issue. See, Scripture talks about foundations in
many different ways. And I've had this in my heart from really the
beginning of this series.

But again, I'm just shifting your focus on this issue of foundations.
It's still foundations, but it's a different aspect that the Scripture
talks about foundations. My message this morning, if the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do? Reading from Psalm 11 verse 1, To
the chief musician, a Psalm of David, In the Lord put I my trust.

How say ye to my soul? Flee as a bird to your mountain. For lo, the
wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow upon their string,
That they may prevalently shoot at the upright in heart. If the
foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his
holy temple.

The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold the, behold. Sorry, let
me say that again.

His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth
the righteous, But the wicked, and him that loveth violence, His soul
hateth.

God does hate some people, hates some things. Upon the wicked, he shall
rain snares, Fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest. This should be
the portion of their cup.

For the righteous, Lord, loveth righteousness. His countenance does
behold the upright. You pray with me here this morning.

As we go to this message, and I've given this message, the title of this
third verse. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Heavenly Father, we love you this morning. Thank you for Lord God, this
God governed atmosphere that we're gathered in of just thanksgiving and
praise and worship of your holy name.

We stand in awe of you. And Lord God, we do get amazed when we catch
those glimpses of your presence, when your face does shine upon us. So
God, it doesn't matter what's happening in around us or even internally
within us.

Lord God, when we see you high and lifted up, seated at the right hand
of majesty, when we see you adorned in your glory, when we see your
face, so God, and it's radiant shining upon us. My God, we stand in awe
that such a God looked upon us in loving kindness and grace and mercy.
Now God, that could have snuffed out our life.

Lord God, while we were high on drugs, while we were yet in a bed of sin
in Catholicism or new age or atheism or evolution. Lord God, you could
have taken that breath and yet you are very merciful to us. Lord God,
many of us would have been in the grave right now if you hadn't have
been very merciful while as yet we didn't know you or pray to you or
acknowledge you as a holy and a righteous God.

And Lord God, we pray in this hour when the very foundations of society,
when the very foundations of morality are being utterly destroyed in our
nation, in our schools, in our legal systems, in our courts, so God,
right across the nation, in the EU, in the UN. Lord God, in legislation
that affects every area of our life and health and medication. Lord God,
in education and morality.

Lord God, when all these things are being undermined, what shall the
righteous do? I pray that you would establish us and speak to us in such
a wicked hour in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do? That's a dilemma.

That's a question. No, it's more than that. It is a statement.

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? I'm not
looking at the foundation of your Christian life this morning. We've
dealt with that thoroughly. We will again, but we've dealt with it.

We're not looking at the foundation of the church this morning. We've
looked at that. Do you know what I want you to consider for a moment?
Because this scripture does.

The foundation of society. And this word foundations be destroyed. It's
talking not just about one, but many.

The very foundations, and listen to this, in our society, not in the
church, not in your Christian life, but in the world around us, our
nation, our society, our schools, our legal system, the military, every
area that affects our life. If the foundations of morality, integrity,
uprightness, safety be destroyed in all those realms, the foundations
within the very core of our society that we are caught up in, if
morality, the foundations of morality in our society is being destroyed,
if sanity in our society is being destroyed and integrity in those that
have power, politicians, lawmakers, councilmen, guards, policemen, what
will the righteous do? What can they do? What will they do? When the
very foundations that we once had in our schools, our government, media,
that used to speak out, call right, right, and wrong, wrong, basic
morality, even in Ireland, although it was a religious nation bound much
by legalism, still there was a morality of right and wrong, a
consciousness of God. What do you do when all this gets destroyed? Don't
you realize this scripture is for this hour and this psalm is for this
hour? Do you realize you live in a generation, and I've watched it even
from the year 2000.

If you just look at Ireland, what has changed from 2000 to today, it's
happening very quick. The removing of godliness from society, the 10
commandments, do you know even in its worst condition for hundreds of
years, the entire Western society, Canada, Australia, America, New
Zealand, South Africa, Britain, Ireland, and many other nations, their
basic core values were the 10 commandments. They had a morality over
marriage.

Even sinners had a sense of right and wrong, a shame of the marriage
bond. Even sinners feared God, though they didn't want to live for him.
Even our politicians, even if it was only lip service, they acknowledged
God and they acknowledged his word and his laws.

That actually used to be a part of our society. School teachers would
have been scared to deny the reality of a living God or to abuse the
term of marriage. Scared only a short time ago, very, very short.

Don't tell me things are going on as normal. They're not. Our society is
changing radically.

In the Bible, we know the church is to be salt amidst all the corruption
that's going on around the Bible. Time and time again, we're told that
we, the church, and individual Christians are to be like shining in the
darkness. You are the only light in this world.

And you know what? As it gets darker, as the 10 commandments are
systematically removed from law, legislation, government, and the
influence on our whole society, we are seeing hell come into the midst.
We literally are. It is scary what is happening.

And it's not finished yet. I thought things were bad 20 years ago and I
predicted they would get far, far worse. For 30 plus years, I have
preached and warned that we are going to see the bottom fall out of
morality and society.

But I could never have imagined where it is now. And it's still moving.
What we are sowing right now in the schools, in the legal system, in
society, we sow the wind.

What are we going to reap? The whirlwind. In other words, this is what
we are sowing. What you're seeing now, this is what's getting sown into
society.

What's going to come back like a boomerang is far worse. You ain't seen
nothing yet. This is what we are sowing into society.

We are meant to be salt and light amidst the darkness. But godliness is
being removed from governing authority in Ireland and the world, from
every area of society. And so when it says here, if the foundations be
destroyed, it's talking about society, talking about government.

It's talking about education, talking about media and communication,
talking about the entire community around us. Listen to what it says in
Psalm 94 verse 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with
thee, God? What is the throne of iniquity? It's talking about the throne
of government.

Now I believe in this verse, it's talking about the throne. See God's
throne is called the throne of righteousness. That's God's throne.

And you know what? When God has his way in the nation in leadership,
that throne of righteousness can affect a whole generation, a whole
nation. But this throne of iniquity, I believe it's the devil's throne
where he reigns from. When that throne begins to influence those in
power, listen to what it says.

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you? Can a throne,
government, power, position, influence, when it's a throne of iniquity,
what's iniquity? Lawlessness. Iniquity is where the law of God is
removed, where there's no boundaries, no right and wrong. It is a
throne, a government making decisions, a place of power, position and
influence.

When that throne or that position or that influence in society is one of
iniquity, what the Psalmist says is, can it have fellowship with you?
Absolutely not. They may talk about God. They may talk about morality.

They may talk about rights, but it has nothing to do with God, nothing
whatsoever. Then he goes on to describe this throne of iniquity, which
frameth mischief by a law. To frame means to press, squeeze into shape,
mold into a form like a potter creating a vessel.

That's what it's talking about. So this throne of iniquity, those in
power in society and nation, they begin to frame mischief by a law. They
begin to mold, shove, push, hammer everything.

Mischief by law. What does the word mischief here mean? It means toil,
hardship, to carry burdens or worries. You know what it's saying? When
the throne of iniquity begins to gain power and an upper hand upon the
young generation, the children all the way through to all the laws that
govern our society.

When that throne of iniquity is there, do you know how it gains its
power? It begins to frame mischief by a law. It uses the legal system.
It uses the law of the land.

And you know what it does? It hammers in, it pushes, it shoves, it
forces in mischief into laws that make our lives very, very hard and
burdensome. Heavy taxes, pressure. Don't tell me the housing condition
in this nation has been orchestrated by righteous men and women.

It hasn't. Don't tell me all the laws of our land are being governed
rightly at the minute. They are not.

There is mass abuse in the very highest corridors of power in this
nation. I believe you'd be utterly shocked if you were able to get an
inside look in many realms of influence on our nation. And not this
nation only, many nations where pride and arrogance, where wickedness
and vileness, immorality, things that you couldn't even imagine going
on.

And I think we've got a glimpse in recent years of even the window has
been slightly open on the terrible pedophilia across our nations. We
haven't even begun to hear how dark or deep or how widespread. And those
in influence who are righteous, who know what they're talking about,
they time and time again say, there's more behind that in all of our
nations than you will ever imagine at this point in time.

And so a throne of inequity begins to frame, it begins to mold mischief
into the legal system, into the laws of the land to affect every area.
Remember what I said last week? The biggest killer of humanity in our
world is deliberate abortions. 73 million induced abortions each year.

That's three out of 10 pregnancies in our world. 200,000 babies in the
womb die every single day. 73 million every year.

War only comes up at half a million every year, but abortion at 73
million. Can you imagine the doctors, the legal professionals, the
white-collared experts who have blood on their hands, who are going to
stand in judgment before God? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the
people with power and money and influence that one day are going to be
accountable, not only for that, but the legislation that's coming in.
Euthanasia, they are trying to force it into the law.

You know, up in the North, they didn't take a vote over gay marriage or
over abortion. They forced it in from Westminster. No vote because there
still would have been too many Catholics and Protestants who would have
said, no way.

So they went over their heads. No democracy, no vote. They forced it in.

You've got laws like euthanasia. It's against the law. Euthanasia is
against the law of the land.

But I want to warn you, I'm not going to even go into it or begin on it.
There are things happening in this land that are against the law, that
are happening in the medical profession right across this land, and I
dare not even begin to tell you what it is. Right across this land,
constantly.

It would make your hair stand on end. And so we have a change in
society. What did Jesus say in Matthew 24 verse 12? Talking about the
last days, the beginning of sorrows, the signs that we're only beginning
to approach the days in which Jesus is coming again.

The second coming, the return of Jesus. Listen to the second warning
Jesus gives. The first warning is false prophets in the church doing
mighty signs and wonders that will deceive many.

That's the first warning, and Jesus gives it three times. That's pretty
major. What's the second warning Jesus gives? Of 10.

And because, and is it? Verse 12. And because iniquity shall abound. Do
you realize one of the signs you'll be able to tell in the last days,
one of the marks that we're at the end, one of the beginning of sorrows.

In other words, something begins that we'll never draw back again. It's
the birth pangs. It's a woman not in her conception.

Here's Shona six months into this. There's no sign of birth pangs at the
moment. She's heavily pregnant.

All the signs of pregnancy. There's no birth pangs yet, not for a long
time. But I tell you when the birth pangs kick in, you better have your
bag packed.

You better be ready. This poor man is going to be sitting on, walking on
eggs. Shona be said, don't you make sure you have your phone with you.

Every moment, every second, don't you switch it off. You better be
there. That's what happens.

An urgency comes when birth pangs come. What's the second birth pang?
Because iniquity shall abound. What is inequity? Do you know the word
inequity? There is lawlessness, rank, breaking out, no restriction.

That's what inequity is. It is wickedness. It is lawlessness.

It is evil. You know what he's talking about? There's always been sin.
Do you know, you've heard it.

Oh, there's always been homosexuality. There's always been child abuse.
There's always been sin.

These things have always gone on. Name me one nation once in previous
world history, apart from our generation, one nation or one wicked Roman
emperor who ever made it legal to be in a homosexual marriage or that
the act of homosexuality was legal. Name me one other institution in the
world that ever done that.

Nero didn't do it. He was the most vile, man who ever reigned on the
throne. He didn't do it.

He was homosexual. He was everything, but he didn't put it in law. Do
you know what we are systematically seeing? Everything shoved in the
law.

The UN last year began to introduce laws and legislation to remove the
age constraint on abuse with kids. The sexual consent age. Why would you
do that? As a legal political entity in our world, why would you do
that? Shouldn't they be doing the direct opposite? Don't tell me we're
not heading for a flood, a tide, an overwhelming deluge, the like of
which you can't even comprehend at the minute.

You can't even imagine what's around the corner. Neither can I, and
thank God I don't. Jesus said, after deceptive prophets doing signs and
wonders, the next thing is iniquity shall abound.

It's going to burst its bank. It's going to explode. There's no longer
going to be a boundary, a river bank holding it in.

Do you know when it says abound? See, sin, iniquity, evil has always ran
in the form of a river. All through history, all through society, all
through every nation, it's always been there. Everything that's in our
world today has always been there in some format, but it's always had a
restriction.

You know what Jesus is saying? Right before I come, it's going to burst
its banks. No longer a restriction, and it will flood into every area of
society. Are we there yet? Is this one of the signs that's coming to
pass? But notice the warning.

Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The word
love there is agape. Sinners don't have agape love.

See, the word agape is the word used, the Greek word used for the love
that only God can put on a heart. It's not motherly love. It's not
brotherly, sisterly love.

It's not family love. It's not natural human love. Agape love is
supernatural love.

It's unnatural love. It's above natural. And once he say, because
iniquity shall abound, the love, he's talking about Christians born
again in the church, not talking about the world, not talking about
sinners.

He's talking about the love of many is going to grow cold. The agape
love of many. And I've dealt with this many times over the years.

Do we have an example of this? Yes, Peter, in the hour of temptation and
darkness. Remember he denied Christ, and then Christ met with him and
said, Peter, do you love me? Do you agape me? Then Peter comes back and
uses a different Greek word there for love. I phileo you, read the text.

Jesus is going, I didn't ask you that. Do you agape me? Master, I phileo
you. I didn't ask that.

Just using a bit of preacher's license. And then Jesus said, do you
phileo me? Master, you know I phileo you. That is an example of a
Christian, a believer.

When iniquity comes in around, he's standing warming his hands at a
fire, soldiers, a little maid. And he's looking, Christ is in the
judgment hall. Politics are against him.

Religion is against him. The nation is against him. Darkness.

And you know what happened to Peter? His agape love, he lost it at that
fire. I'll die for you, master. Where did that go? Because iniquity,
lawlessness, wickedness abounds.

And begins to flood into every area of society. The love, the agape love
of many in the church is going to go cold. Boy, I'm going to struggle
getting into my message this morning.

Psalm 11, verse 3. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the
righteous do? I believe this Psalm and this verse talking about
foundations. It's talking about an hour, a time, a generation. A
situation where the foundations are destroyed in the nation, in
government, in society, in leadership, in morality.

When you look at the, and it's David who wrote this Psalm. He wrote this
song about his personal experience at a time when the foundations were
destroyed. He was alive.

He was there. He was involved in this. He's a witness.

And what does it say? If the foundation be destroyed, what can the
righteous do? Do you know when I think this Psalm, this song was
written? I think it was written in 1 Samuel chapter 18. I hope you read
it later tonight. 1 Samuel 18.

I believe that's where David was when he wrote this Psalm. He was a
young man in the palace of Saul. Before that, he was a boy in the field
looking after his sheep with a harp.

That's where he was. Then just before this, he was also a young soldier.
Not really a soldier, but he met Goliath on the battlefield.

And then after this point, we see him in a dullum in a cave, a fugitive
building an army. So it can't be any of those times. I actually believe
it falls in 1 Samuel chapter 8. And what is that? It's when he's brought
right into the palace of Saul.

He has killed Goliath. He's given position. He's been brought right in
to that place in the palace, that throne room where the throne of the
nation is, where laws are made.

And he is there playing his harp for King Saul. And you know the story.
If you read 1 Samuel chapter 18, you read what begins to happen.

Remember how all the young maidens, they start to sing. And they say,
Saul has killed his thousands. But David has killed his tens of
thousands.

You know what it says about Saul, who has brought him in to music
ministry, a worship leader. I want you in the fighting force. I want to
give you a position in my palace.

I want you close because every time you play, my demons go. There's a
man with authority in the house of God and in the governmental palace.
And he's got demons.

Do you know what it says? It says that an evil spirit came on him and he
began to prophesy. And then he's angry with this young man playing the
harp. So he looks at his spear and he lifts it and he tries to kill
David.

So when you begin to read 1 Samuel, you're getting mixed messages out
from this governmental power. After trying to kill him twice and David
avoiding the spear and saying, my God, what's going on? Do you know what
Saul does next? Saul gives him a better position, more power, more
influence, and says, hey, I want you to marry my daughter. Do you know
what you have here in the palace? You're getting mixed messages.

Does this man love me or hate me? Do the powers, the government, are
they looking after us, helping us, benefiting us? Are they out to
destroy everything that we hold precious and dear? Are we being led into
a cul-de-sac and a trap to be slaughtered, buttered up? Or is there
sincere, genuine people behind the scenes? David was in this position
and this is what the Bible says. There's much, read it for yourself, 1
Samuel 18. By chapter 19, he gets out of that situation.

It's volatile. He is watching the anointed of God, the government of the
nation, and he is watching forces at play of anger, of wickedness, of
betrayal. He's watching it changing.

This used to be a throne room filled with God. Samuel the prophet used
to prophesy here. God's glory was here.

And there's still much of that. But there's wickedness coming in that's
going to affect a whole generation. David's going to have to run for his
life.

What does it say? If the foundation be destroyed. The word destroyed
means pulled down, breaking pieces, beat down, threw down to the ground,
overthrew, ruined utterly. What are you going to do when the foundations
are utterly destroyed? Of integrity, uprightness, of righteousness in
the courts of power, in our schools.

Your teachers are teaching your kids that a boy is a girl and a girl is
a boy. They're doing that to you. You've allowed them on your watch in
your generation.

They've flipped everything within 20 years. While you were sleeping,
while you were casual, while you didn't pray for the laws of the land,
while you didn't vote because you went, what difference does it make
anyway? I'm not interested. And you're seeing a radical who's
demonstrating.

You know, when I knew Northern Ireland's finished, there'll be a United
Ireland before long. Won't be long. Do you know when I knew Northern
Ireland was finished? Was when they're able to bring laws in concerning
abortion.

And laws concern gay marriage. And I saw no reaction. Oh, lots of people
didn't like it.

Most didn't like it. And as soon as I saw no reaction, I went, they're
finished as a nation. They're gone.

And you know what? World powers go, they're defeated people. They don't
even react. And so the foundations are destroyed.

Let me give you five points here. What are the righteous going to do?
What are you going to do? What have the righteous always done? What are
we going to do? I believe David gives us an answer. I believe David has
five answers for us.

What are you going to do? You can't change that. You, by your own power,
can't turn it back. You can't stop it.

This is your society. Remember, I'm not talking about your foundations
of your Christian life. You've got everything to do with that.

I'm not talking about the foundation of this church or the worldwide
church. It will remain. All hell cannot destroy the foundation of the
church.

The gates of hell shall not prevail. There's not a prevailing against
the church. Neither is there a prevailing against an individual
Christian who stands on Christ.

But you know what has happened is the devils prevailed in society. The
foundations have been destroyed. What are you going to do? This is your
world.

Your kids are getting raised up in this. You're going to have to live in
this. That's your medical system.

Do you trust them? Do you trust the governmental power? And I'm not here
to preach against all those things. I've got good confidence. I like
dentists.

I hate the dentists. I'm scared of dentists. My dentist knows that says,
you don't like coming here.

I don't like coming here. You don't like me. I don't like you.

But I'm so glad for you. I really am glad. She's a good dentist.

So please understand me. I'm just preaching something. I'm not saying
every doctor's not good.

They'll help you. They'll make you live. They'll do things for you that
you're going to desperately need.

Five things. Number one, we see in verse one, he put his trust in God.
What are you going to do when the foundations are destroyed? He put his
trust in God.

Look at verse one. In the Lord put I my trust. This is David speaking.

He's actually saying, I put my trust in the Lord. What does the word
trust mean? It means confidence or your faith. It means to lean heavily,
to rely on or to rest.

Do you know what the actual Hebrew trust here means? Listen very
carefully. It means to flee for protection. It means to confide in or to
make your refuge.

David, what are you going to do in that hour? I'm going to make the Lord
my refuge. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to trust in him.

I'm going to lean in him. But there's something strange here you need to
understand. Why did he say, I will trust in the Lord? In verse one and
verse two, you have his friends giving him counsel.

What are you going to do? Saul's throwing spears at you. Government is
changing. It's becoming corrupt.

Now your life is in danger, but they're promoting you. They're blessing
you at the same time. There's much good here.

What are you going to do, David? I'm going to trust God. But look what
his friends tell him. First one, how say ye to my soul? So they're
speaking to him, his friends are.

They say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountains. Do you see his
friends are giving him advice and counsel. Flee to the mountains, get
out of this palace.

Get away from Saul. Flee Jerusalem. You're in danger.

This is a dark act. The foundations of the palace have been destroyed.
The foundations, morally, integrity.

It's gone from the kingship. Flee for your life. Run.

It was good counsel from good friends, not just one. And they're saying,
run for your life. To the mountains, to your mountain.

In other words, you've got a special place for hiding. You're a shepherd
out in those hills. You know the mountains.

You know how to get out of this. For lo, the wicked bend their bow. They
make ready their arrows upon the string that they may privily shoot it
at the upright in heart.

Flee as a bird. Remove yourself. Isolate yourself.

You know, there's a lot of Christians during COVID that starts out,
well, we'll remove ourself from society and grow our own food and all of
that's brilliant. Great. Go get your chickens.

Go raise your livestock. Go grow your crops. Brilliant.

Do you know where God wants me? Right here on this high street. Let
society collapse. Let the economy collapse.

Let crisis come to our world. Let them go to the shops and not be able
to buy their toilet paper. You know where I want to be on this high
street.

I don't want to hide in the mountains. You see what David is saying. My
friends are telling me, run for your life.

Run to that safe mountain. Way out there, isolated, secure. You'll be
fine.

You'll be okay. What did David say? I will trust in the Lord. I'm
staying right here.

I'm in the palace. I'm playing my harp. You know, three times in 1
Samuel 18, it says, he behaved himself wisely, very wisely in
everything.

Three times. And it says, when Saul seen him behaving himself very
wisely, means he was very careful in what he said and what he did.
Extremely hyper.

And it says, when Saul saw that. In other words, Saul couldn't pick up
on anything. It says, Saul grew scared of David.

And so it says here, his friends are telling him, escape to the mountain
because the wicked are bending their bows. The arrow is actually there
on the string. In army terms, we would say you're armed and ready.

Or to be closer to the mark, your safety catches off. A soldier never
takes a safety catch off that rifle until you know you're ready to use
it. These were enemies, the wicked.

David, don't you know the wicked are around you, ready to fire their
arrows at you? See, this bow, this arrow is used elsewhere in scripture
for tongue, for the words of the mouth. Listen, Psalm 64, verse 3. Who
wept their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their
arrows, even better words. What is the bow? What are the arrows? Better
words.

Or Jeremiah chapter 8, verse 8, chapter 9, verse 8. Their tongue is an
arrow shot out. It speaketh deceit. One speaketh peaceably to his
neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth weight.

Or in Jeremiah 9 and 3. And they bend their tongues like their bow for
lies, but they are not valiant for the truth in the earth. And elsewhere
in the Psalms, we read about the tongue and words being like spears and
like swords. So David's friends are telling him, you are surrounded by
enemies.

There's gossip in the palace. There are slander, there are lies. People
moving for position, jealous of you, scared of you, resenting you, angry
at you, hating you, all of this is in there.

And they see Saul and you very carefully. You know what he's saying?
Arrows are in the bow, on the string, ready to be fired. And it's wicked
men that have it.

You're dealing with really wicked men just waiting for their chance.
David, run for your life. What would you do? I know what same people do.

You know what David says? I will trust in the Lord. I'm going to make
the Lord my refuge. You know why? Here in the palace, I have to be so
careful.

It's the safest place for me if I'm trusting in the Lord. And it says
this was against the upright in the heart. David had an upright, pure
heart.

If the foundation be destroyed, what are the righteous going to do?
Going to trust God. The second thing, he received a new vision of the
throne of God. Look at verse four.

The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes
behold.

Do you see the second thing? Not only in the palace, in a place of great
danger, he says, I'm going to trust the Lord. But secondly, he received
a new vision of the throne of God. If you're not careful, all you see,
when you see troubles and danger, when the foundations are being
destroyed, in the family, in education, in government, in society, in
the medical world, you can forget to see God.

And if you're not seeing God on his throne, you will make decisions out
of fear. You'll speak out of fear, act out of fear. You know what?
You'll be like David's friends.

Flee for your life. Go while before the fire, the arrows at you. You'll
be there at the speed of a thousand cazelles.

We wouldn't even see you for the smoke. You'd be gone. But here, what do
we see? David writes, the Lord is in his holy temple.

David, why can you stand still and keep playing that harp and keep your
grace and careful of your words? How do you do it? He said this, the
Lord is in his holy temple. He's talking about in heaven. The Lord's
throne is in heaven.

You know what? The Lord is at rest. He has a new vision of the throne,
not Saul's throne, not his throne. Remember, he was anointed before
this.

He's already anointed to be king. He knows God has prophesied, you're
gonna be the king of Israel. He has been anointed by Samuel.

He's not imagining about his own throne. One day I'll have all of this.
I could create a rebellion here.

I could take over. This is God's will for my life. He doesn't have his
eyes there.

He's not looking at Saul's throne saying, this is wicked, it's all over.
What's the point of trying anything? Might as well give up. No, he's got
his eyes on the throne of God.

See, this morning, do you have your eyes on the throne of God? Are you
trusting God? I believe many Christians have lost their vision of the
throne of God. And when you lose your vision of the throne of God, you
think man is in control. Man has all the power.

Man organizes. Man has authority. What about the throne of God? Do you
still believe in an almighty God, a sovereign God, a powerful God? Do
you believe that God has all power over the nations? Oh yes, he allows
men to do things in a wicked generation.

He allows them. He could snuff them out in one second. Man has free
will.

Man has responsibility. Man's got volition. God warns him.

God pleads with them. God gives them opportunity. God has given this
generation opportunity.

It scares me where this generation is going. It scares me where sinners
are going. You warn them, warn them, plead with them.

You know where it's going. And so you see here that David doesn't have
his eyes on the throne of Saul. It's so dangerous.

If he thought Saul had ultimate power. So I get worried about
Christians. I get worried about you.

Because you can start thinking with this natural mind. You look at this
and look at that and look at this. And you get scared.

And you start thinking logically. And you remove yourself. You don't
even have your eyes on the throne of God anymore.

You're moved by fear. What are my kids going to do in this hour? What am
I going to do in this hour? What about our marriage in this hour? What
about this church in this hour? What about him? What about her? What
about this? What about my job? You need to be so careful. David not only
trusted in the Lord or made the Lord his refuge.

He actually had a new vision of the throne of God. And look what he
says. His eyes behold.

Not only is it the throne of God. This is an eternal throne, an
everlasting throne. It always has been, always will be.

Men's thrones are going to fall. Wickedness will come to an end. God's
throne is eternal.

It is established with righteousness. There is no darkness there.
There's no questions there.

God will reign eternally. He's going to bring an everlasting
righteousness. This is my future.

We're only in a temporary spot where everything is chaos. And iniquity
is abundant. The foundations are destroyed in society.

So where are you going to look? The school system is down the tube. Our
laws are down the tube. Our world's morality is down the tube.

Where are your eyes going to be? It better be on the throne of God. We
act as if God has abdicated his throne, his kingly position, his
dominion, his everlasting almighty power. Be very careful.

But it says here that he has his eyes upon us. The one who's seated on
the throne is looking at you. Are you righteous? Are you upright in
heart? Do you love the Lord? Oh, the Lord would never allow a righteous
person to be in Saul's palace with spears being thrown at you.

Your life's in danger. And all this gossip is surrounding you and it
could end in your life being taken. Where's God in all of that? David's
eventually going to have to flee, but not now.

See, there's a time to flee, but not now. You could flee too soon.
Remember later when his son Absalom rises up in rebellion? Remember what
he does? He walks out peacefully from the city, said, you stay there,
keep the ark of the covenant there.

Maybe the Lord's using this. But if it's of the Lord, I'll be back. You
bunch, you stay there.

And he walked up the hill, Mount of Olives, barefooted. It's the right
time to run. Paul left Jerusalem.

He went over the wall in the basket. He left Damascus as well. There's a
bit of a pattern.

Do you think it's only cowards run? No way. There's a right time to run.
But not today, not here.

He has to stay in the palace. He has to stay in the harp. He has to stay
in his position.

But if you don't have a vision of the throne of God, you're always going
to, you know, people who manipulate with money can't let go of their
money. They're scared, fearful people with no faith in God. So I have to
hold on to that.

I have to do this. I have to. You're bound by fear.

You're absolutely fear bound. You have no confidence in God. That's why
you tie it up, organize it.

And those people lose it every time because it's not faith. They really
get in trouble. Can't even give to God in a good day.

That's how you save it eternally. How do you store riches up in heaven?
You better know how to do that. And you can't take your physical money
and put it up there.

God, will you keep that that nobody can touch it for me? You know, when
this crisis comes and the banks close and we can't, and what am I gonna,
I'll hide my baked beans in the garden or I'll buy gold or I'll buy
silver or maybe I'll do this and I'll be okay. I'll be okay. But no
Christian thinks like that.

That's going into a whole realm. And there's, I believe in making
provision. I've got a whole box of baked beans in my, under my suits to
sue you now.

Don't come looking for them, they're mine. But what David had was a
vision of the throne of God. It says in Psalm 89, 29, his seed also will
I make to endure forever and his throne is the days of heaven.

David's throne was built on eternal things. Do you know something I
learned a long time ago? That God's seed, Christ's real born again seed
will endure on earth just as Christ's throne in heaven will endure.
They're joined.

If you're the seed of Christ joined to his throne, nothing can stop us.
No one can even take my life until the very hour he appoints. If I walk
with him, I'm as eternal as the throne of God is.

And nothing can touch that throne. All I'll do one day is change address
and I won't cry any tears. You'll cry tears.

But a second after I change address, I won't be crying. Not for me
because I'll be right into the presence of the throne of God. His eyes
behold, he sees.

Saints of God, I want you to understand it may get bad in around us. It
may get bad in society, in the schools, in the government, in your wage
packet, in your bank draft. All of that might get bad, but he sees, he
understands.

What does it mean God sees? He understands. He has knowledge about you
personally. Guess what? He knows your bank account details.

You're worried about some robber. God knows your details. God cares
about it.

It means he gazes at it, contemplates it, and knows every detail. Point
three, he realized God was testing him. So he trusted God.

He got a new vision of the throne of God. But third of all, he realized
God was testing him. When you're allowed to be in an hour when the
foundations are destroyed, utterly ruined, do you think it's just the
devil? God has chosen that you will be alive in this scenario right now.

Not 40 years ago, not 100 years ago, not 10 years ago. You're right here
now when everything is being destroyed. Do you know what David realized?
In the palace, it's not just wicked men trying to kill me or destroy my
reputation.

It's not only Saul throwing a spear at me. God is testing me. Do you
ever think like that? You're there with Saul throwing a spear at you.

And you're going, oh, God's testing me. You're going, what's he doing?
All you see is the hand of the devil. You say, what a wicked, vile man.

God's hand is in this. That's why David could rest and be at ease after
he's had the king almost spear him to the wall. How can you be at rest?
Why are you guarding your heart and your attitude and your words? Well,
because I know God's looking at my heart.

Is God not gonna judge Saul? No, God's looking at my heart. There's a
third important thing. When the foundations are destroyed, you must
realize God is testing you, not tempting you, not trying to catch you
out.

But he's allowing you to be proved. We'll say in verse four and five,
his eyelids try the children of men. Why his eyelids? I'll tell you why.

And the Lord trieth the righteous, not the wicked. Try and testing is
only for the righteous, not for the wicked. God doesn't test the wicked,
vile men.

He doesn't test them or try their hearts. Try and is a unique work only
for the righteous. And it's the Lord who does it.

The Lord trieth the righteous. You need to be righteous. And it is God
trying the heart.

David in Saul's palace with all these circumstances, what is this? This
is God trying a righteous man. You could misinterpret that very easy.
You see the devil, you see this, you see that, you don't even see.

God is trying my heart. It means to investigate, examine, prove, tempt.
Does God not know what's in your heart and what you'll do? Yes, but he's
testing.

This testing is to make you into something. It is to prove you to
examine. It's to bring to the surface.

It's like gold in the fire. All the dross comes to the surface when it's
being tested. If you are never tested, you'd be like, Peter, I would die
for you.

I would suffer a martyr's death. Okay, let's try it and we'll find out.
Anybody could say, I would die as a martyr.

I'd love to. Okay, we'll bring it to your door. You'd be behind the
curtains under the bed.

You see this testing, God knows what's in your heart. You don't know
what's in your heart. It may shock you over some things, what's in your
heart.

I can never be tempted with money. Okay, let's try it. I would always
tell the truth.

You do know it's a national sin in Ireland. If foolish jesting is the
national sin of Northern Ireland, do you know what the national sin of
Southern Ireland probably is? Maybe lying. Certainly one of them.

And of course, we know no Christian lies, cuts corners, books out of
work early. It says not only that the eyelids, God's eyelids try. Listen
to this very carefully.

Why is it that God's eyelids try the children and men? What's eyelids?
Only looked it up this morning. Why do we have eyelids? Maybe you don't
know. Maybe you do know.

Eyelids, this is what I come up with. You blink every five seconds. The
normal person does.

Every five seconds. Why do you blink? It's an essential function to
lubricate the eye to make it function. So when you blink, when God
blinks, his eyelids try you.

Do you know what happens with eyelid? The eye closes. Lord, are you even
looking at me? Is your eye upon me? What about when he doesn't seem to
be seeing or gazing upon you? It tries you, it tests you, it examines
you. Do you even see me, Lord? You see, you think at times, God doesn't
seem to even be noticing me, hear of me, acknowledge of me.

He doesn't seem to be involved. All this is going on at Saul's palace.
Saul has unhindered power.

Why doesn't a prophet of God come and rebuke Saul? Why doesn't he get
exposed? It won't get exposed for decades. God's not gonna stop him for
decades. You're prone to think, where is God? You know what that's
doing? It's testing your heart.

Saul is being used. He's vital in your sanctification. But I don't like
him.

Neither do I. I've had several Saul's in my life and they match this
King Saul hair for hair. And then they all joined together one day. And
I went, I can't believe this.

I was preaching on King Saul and Absalom and David. And I had this
prompting. Just this, I'd had the whole sermon to preach and it brought
back old memories.

So I went and looked up these three men in three different countries.
And I went, I don't believe it. In the past month, for the very first
time, they've all joined, all met and all doing a conference together.

I go, I don't believe it. Don't you know that tests the heart? Number
four, David, he perceived God was about to judge the wicked. What do the
righteous do when the foundations are destroyed? Don't you realize when
all the foundations are destroyed, God is getting ready to pour out
judgment and wrath.

Don't you realize that? Do you think this is wickedness? You see, you
need to be careful because your heart's in danger of waxing cold because
of the atmosphere. Don't you realize it's a sign of coming judgment?
Look what it says in verse six. Upon the wicked, he shall rain snares.

David is putting this in a song that he wrote in the palace. Upon the
wicked, he shall. He's not doing it yet.

I don't know when he'll do it, but he will do it. He shall rain snares
upon the wicked. What's a snare? It's a trap, a metal trap with teeth
that catches a prey that you won't escape from.

What does it actually say? Upon the wicked, he shall rain snares. God is
gonna rain snares, traps, man traps down upon the wicked. It's gonna be
like rain coming from heaven.

There's our God, the God of the Bible. He's gonna do it on the wicked.
He's not doing it today.

But when you see the foundations destroyed, I'm keeping a textual in the
psalm. When the foundation, if the foundation are destroyed, what do the
righteous do? They perceive that God is about to judge the wicked. He
goes further.

Fire and brimstone. When did he do that? Sodom and Gomorrah. David said,
he is gonna do this.

Not today, not tomorrow, but he's gonna do it. What he'd done in Sodom
and Gomorrah, he's gonna do. I believe David's not just talking about
King Saul and the palace and his generation.

I believe he's looking to the end of the age. There's a time coming. God
is gonna rain down fire and brimstone upon the wicked.

This is our God. What do you do when all the foundations around you of
morality and sanity and integrity are being destroyed? You perceive
within all of these markers, there is coming a day of judgment. Don't
get cold, Christian.

Don't throw off restraint. Don't get carried away in the flood. It's
going to get judged.

God's gonna pour our judgment upon them. And it says, he goes further.
And a horrible tempest.

That means a dangerous, wicked, vile storm. A storm that does great,
great harm. We don't get many storms like that.

But they do in America, they do in other countries. A storm could come
through and demolish your entire house in one night. It's a terrible
thing.

We need to define the wicked. God's gonna do this to the wicked. Listen
to me.

Saul was wicked. He's anointed of God. He worships.

Someone, he sticks a CD, worship tape on, of young David. Hymns from the
pasture land of the shepherds and sheep. Sing along with David.

He's not putting secular music on. Saul actually listens to worship,
anointed, mighty, holy ghost worship to ease his soul. Let me define
wicked.

Saul was wicked. He's anointed of God. He knows the word of God.

Even in chapter one, Samuel 18, he's telling David, go out and fight the
Lord's battle. I'm promoting you. Go and fight for the Lord's cause.

It'd be like us saying, go and fight against abortion. Go and fight
against immorality. Go and fight against sin or sex outside of marriage
or homosexual marriage.

Go and fight all those things. And the man telling you is actually the
wicked man. Saul was the wicked man in God's eyes.

We would say, oh, Saul's a man of God. He's a Christian. He's a
believer.

He's vile. He's fearful. He's insecure.

He's a liar. He's a betrayer. He's untrustworthy, unfaithful.

He hates in his heart, young David. He hates him. He is jealous, driven
by jealousy, not sleeping around.

Can you point to me anywhere in the Bible where Saul actually went and
committed fornication? He was sleeping around. I can't. He's prophesying
by an evil spirit.

And so you have David here. The foundations are being destroyed. Look at
this wicked man.

God is going to judge wicked men. How do you define wicked men? They
disobey God's word. They're against God's word.

It says in Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You could think your
ways are right, and it's going to end in your eternal doom. God will
judge you.

You'll keep saying, I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm all right.

You could say, God loves me. God's forgiven me. I watched a video the
other day, this little girl.

I don't think God's against abortion. That's fine. God loves me.

God forgives. He's nice. He's kind.

I'm a Christian. I believe in this God, but there's nothing wrong with
abortion. Really? Proverbs 16, 2. All the ways of a man are clean in his
own eyes, but the Lord weigheth his spirits.

Proverbs 21, 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the
Lord pondereth the heart. Proverbs 30, 12. There is a generation that
are pure in their own eyes.

I think it's this one. And yet it is not washed from their filthiness.
Isaiah chapter 5, 20.

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for
light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for
bitter. In other words, you don't think like God. You don't believe like
God.

You've got it all confused. I don't see anything wrong with getting
drunk. I don't see anything wrong with fornication.

God understands. We love each other. God calls it sin.

You'll go to hell for that. No fornicator will inherit the kingdom of
God. None.

No drunkard will see the kingdom of God. I mean, this is basic. This is
what God calls wickedness.

You're a wicked person. No, I really love people. You're a sinner.

You don't love God. What does the Bible say? Jesus teaching saying, if
you love me, keep my commandments. So if you don't keep his
commandments, you don't love God.

Oh, I do love God. I'm a Christian. You're wicked.

Do you think you can act like Saul in the house of God and get to
heaven? Oh, well, I think they were saved and they're okay. He's a liar.
He's a murderer in heart.

He's vengeful. You need to be careful of attitudes of the heart. You
see, God does test the heart.

But fifth and finally, let me finish. This is David when the
foundations, there's a message for our hour, for our day. The
foundations all around you are being destroyed.

What are the righteous gonna do? What are the righteous gonna do? When
all these things happen, the wicked prosper. And then you see all the
ones in the church who go, yeah, I always thought that was okay. There's
no problem with that.

I'll go to a trans marriage. Really? I wanna show I love them. There's
better ways to do it than that.

Fifth and finally, he expected or looked forward to a clear vision of
God, the person of God. Verse seven, for the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. His countenance does behold the upright.

This verse, this final verse of the Psalm, what are the righteous gonna
do? That was the question. When the foundations in society of morality,
integrity, of uprightness, of sanity is utterly destroyed. When they're
there telling your kids, you could be a, tell little Sally, you could be
a little boy.

You could be gender fluid. You might move back and forth through seven
different kinds of gender over the next 20 years. And we love you and
care about you.

What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do when they're destroying our
nations internally? And they're just, see at the minute, they're
destroying the military. They're destroying the place of every nation.
I'm watching this very carefully.

If you wanna destroy the police force in Britain, in Ireland, in Europe,
do what you're doing. I'm not an expert in any of these realms of
government, but I couldn't do worse with housing or with legal things
because morality will actually protect you. Having convictions and
principles will make you think in a certain way.

You don't destroy the place when crime's going through the roof. You
don't do that. When the population's exploding, you're bringing
criminals in through immigration.

And what, you can't even get a cop, a guard. They're 100 meters from
this door. Remember the night the guy was trying to break in the door
when we're here praying? Two hours, he's there trying to bust the door
in.

We caught on to him wisely enough just to escort him out before he went
off his head. But he's there trying to bust in the door. We called the
police two hours.

We're getting to smuggle you out the back door. I can see the guards
from this door. Help, they could have heard us.

Since this is very serious, it didn't used to be like this. Something
has broken down concerning the safety of our nation and it's being
orchestrated. It's not just Ireland.

The metropolitan place in Britain, I want to tell you, all across the
military forces, where are we going? We're going into a one world
government. That's where we're going. And they have to break down the
medical system, the education system.

They have to break down all the security of the nation. You know why
they're going to take you into something bigger? When all the
foundations are destroyed, what are you going to do? The righteous, it
says the righteous Lord. Please remember this.

David caught a new vision of the person of God. He is a righteous Lord.
When everything gets destroyed here, look at your God.

He is righteous. You need a new revelation of God. He is perfectly holy,
righteous.

He is upright in all his dealing. He is a righteous God. But look at
society, look up saints of God.

Keep your eyes on God or you'll go crazy. God is righteous. He's never
changed.

It says he loveth righteousness. Not only is he righteous, he loves. God
loves righteousness.

Where someone does what's righteous, he sees it. You think no one sees
what you do. It doesn't matter what I do.

It doesn't matter the decision. It doesn't matter what I think. It
doesn't matter how I speak.

It doesn't matter how I act. Are you so void of God? God loves
righteousness. He's watching everything.

His eyes are on the righteous. He notices everything. What's the
righteous going to do? His righteousness does behold, sorry, his
countenance does behold the upright.

Or this could be stated, most commentators say it could be said, the
upright behold or look upon his face. His countenance does behold the
upright. In other words, where there's a righteous man, when all the
foundations are being destroyed, everything's being wrecked in society,
in government and influence around you.

Do you know what God does? His countenance, his face shines on the
righteous right in the midst of that. It's getting dark out there, but
not here. Not here, I hope.

Out there it's dark. People say there won't be any revival. Really? Who
says? When it gets darker out there, what does it say in Isaiah? When
darkness and gross darkness covers the earth, then my light and my glory
will arise upon you and be seen upon you.

The church can be in revival in one of the darkest hours of world
history. And there's the blessing of Numbers chapter six. The Lord bless
thee and keep thee.

The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. Do you realize this happened to
David in the palace when he's having to be so wise over every word, so
careful because the foundations are destroyed.

Do you know what God is doing? God is smiling on him. On the righteous.
More than that, he as a righteous man is beholden the face of God.

I am gazing on the face of God. I have a new vision of the person of
God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see him as a righteous God.

I see that he loves righteousness and he is shining upon me because I
love righteousness. I desire righteousness. I hate inequity.

I hate lawlessness. I hate all the things of darkness. And you know
what? I know that God is shining upon me.

Oh yeah, my circumstance are so dangerous but the face of almighty God,
the righteous eternal God that setteth on the throne, he is shining upon
me. He is looking upon me. His countenance, his face, his look.

Do you know countenance is plural there? Different countenances. His
countenance is shining on you. Sometimes he smiles.

You ever experienced God smile at you? And I'm not talking about
mystical visions or having mental visions of the mind. I'm talking about
something in spirit. Like this morning, I didn't have any vision here
this morning in this meeting but from the very beginning I go, I am
pouring over with thanksgiving to God.

I am so thankful. This place is filled with thanksgiving to God. You
know what? I think he's shining on us this morning, drawing our hearts
out.

This is what it's like for God to shine and I didn't have a mystical
vision of him but suddenly, suddenly my heart is oozing thanks and
praise and gratitude. If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the
righteous do? I've just given you five things. This is for us right now
and in the days ahead.

Let God be God but let us be righteous in this hour. Will you pray with
me? Father, we love you. We bless you.

We humbly come before you recognizing this is an hour when the
foundations are being destroyed all around us. We see it with our eyes.
We hear it every day and Lord God it's getting worse and worse.

Your son told us, warned us, prophesied to us that the second greatest
mark of the beginning of sorrows, of birth pangs that we have now
entered something that we shall never break loose from until the coming
of the Lord. Lord God that it was iniquity burst in its banks, abounding
in our society, in our world, all around us and you warned us through
your precious son that the love of many would grow cold. It would wax
cold, that that agape love would be downgraded.

It would be suffocated and come down to filial, sentimental, emotional
family love. But oh God, we ask of you amidst this hour, this beginning
of sorrows, we're asking for a revival of our agape love right now. My
God, when we see the foundations being destroyed, we look heavenward.

Night David, these five things, we know you're gonna judge the wicked
and Lord God, we trust in you. We make you our refuge. We have a fresh
vision of you on your throne.

We catch a new glimpse of your face and Lord God, we're asking of you
that you revive us one more time and Lord God, that you'd prepare us to
be a righteous vessel. There may be a time you tell us to flee, but not
today, not this hour. Help us to stand in workplace, in home, in family,
in society, in school, in university, on the high street, wherever it
is.

My God, give us courage to yes, be wise, to be careful, to watch our
words, our conduct, our character, our nature. Lord God, but we're
asking of you, make us to be courageous in heart, to stand as bright and
shining lights amidst this darkened world. In Jesus mighty name.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/4xCx7bYBsko.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/if-the-foundations-be-destroyed/
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