September 24, 2023
“Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Psalm 127:1, KJV.
What house are you building? What is the purpose of your life? What do you hope to accomplish during your short time on earth? At the end of your life, how do you want to be remembered? What do you want your legacy to be? What will your children and grandchildren say about the house you have built?
When your life ends and you stand before your Creator, what do you think God will say about your house (life)? When God asks you to give an account of how you spent your time, money, and efforts, what will you say? Will you tell God about all the places you traveled to? Will you tell God about how much money you made and how many cars, planes, houses, and businesses you owned or built? Will you tell Him about how many vital gatherings you were invited to or honors you have received? Will you inform Him about all the people who like you and think you’re a good person? What are you and I going to tell God about the house that we built? The Psalmist is asking questions like these in his statement.
Many people are building their “house” into a successful career in business, medicine, sports, politics, entertainment, or education. But for what purpose? Others are building their “house” of fame. Still others are building a “house” of wealth, comfort, entertainment, pleasure, and power. What house are you building? Is this house for you or God?
Notice, the psalmist doesn’t say the house can’t be built. He assumes a house will be built. What he does say is that if you make your “house” without the LORD in it, you spend all your time, money, and labor for no purpose. It is all vanity and ultimately amounts to nothing. How many of us will stand before Almighty God empty-handed, or even worse, will we stand before a holy God with rebellion in our hands?
Leonard Ravenhill once said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who are dead to sin and those who are dead in sin. We determine which category we are in right now. If our lives are characterized by selfishness and breaking the laws of God, we are dead in sin. If our lives are characterized by righteousness and holiness, we are dead to sin. We are either wheat or tares, sheep or goats, dead in sin or dead to sin, children of God by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ or children of the devil by rejecting God’s salvation and Lordship. These matters are decided in this life. Once this life is over, there is nothing left to determine. “Hell has no exits”, a reminder from our friend Ravenhill.
If you are a genuine follower of Jesus Christ, there is still the possibility that your life will be wasted. At the end of your life, will you stand before God with wood, hay, and stubble in your hands, instead of gold, silver, and precious stones?
“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire: and he fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so by fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Many pastors use this verse of scripture to console their carnal church members. They tell them they will be saved even if they die while they are living in sin. They say a “Christian” can be dead in sin, and be saved, “yet so by fire.” Do not believe them and swallow their lies. Their poison tastes sweet, but it will be most bitter in the end. Believe God. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Paul makes it abundantly clear that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. In Chapter 3, Paul is not saying the exact opposite of what he wrote in Chapter 6. Yet many false teachers, by saying that unrighteous “Christians” will go to heaven (inherit the kingdom of God), contradict the Apostle Paul.
Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. Matthew 6:19-21
If your treasure is in earthly things such as fame and fortune, all your work will be corrupted by rust or stolen by thieves. It will not survive the fire of God’s judgment. If you value earthly things more than heavenly things, your heart will reveal it. All of your time, talent, and treasure will be spent to advance your personal goals and not the agenda of God. Jesus also said that out of a polluted or impure heart proceed such things as murder, theft, hatred, lying, covetousness, and lust. Impure hearts treasure not the things of God but the things of the flesh and the world.
“Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” The watchman’s role is to warn the citizens of impending danger. To do that, the watchman must be disciplined enough to stay awake and alert. If he falls asleep on the job, the city is in danger. Even if the watchman stays alert, he can’t see everything. He still needs the LORD’s help. “Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
Should the watchman miss the enemy or signs of danger, everyone’s house in the city is in jeopardy, as are your possessions and life.What a picture the psalmist paints for us. You can build your house, but if the foundations of the city, including your home, are sand, your labor is in vain. When the storm hits, it will all come crashing down. It is not enough to properly build your own house; you must also be vigilant for dangers to your community and city. If the city falls, all your hard work in creating your home will also be at significant risk.
“Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Psalm 127:1
Like it or not, you and I are part of a city, a state, and a country. Securing our own home is essential. However, our responsibility extends beyond that, as our future is dependent on the health of our community, city, state, and nation. A watchman looks for danger and sounds the alarm when danger presents itself. Everything is at risk. The articles I write are sounding the alarm. If the alarm is sounded too late, then the destruction that ensues may be complete. If the alarm is sounded and we respond in righteousness, then it may not be too late. We may lose some, but not everything.
Given the depravity of our leaders and our culture, I am not sure if we are still in the day of grace or if God has had enough and only judgment remains. When the prophet Jeremiah started to call Israel to repentance, the mercy of God was available. After years of ignoring the warnings given by Jeremiah, God then instructed Jeremiah not to continue praying for or even pitying the people, as God’s patience had ended and only judgment remained. Josiah’s repentance only delayed the inevitable destruction. The USA as a nation and many of its citizens “declare their sins like Sodom, they hide them not.” Be assured of this. God is going to humble you, me, and this nation if we do not humble ourselves. His judgments are true and righteous altogether. If the LORD builds your house and if the LORD guards your city, you will be safe. If he doesn’t, then you are on your own.
I pray that you will let the LORD build your house. I pray that the LORD will watch over our cities, states, and nation. If we turn from our wicked ways (covetousness, baby killing, fornication, homosexuality, gender madness, idolatry, greed, theft, lying, adultery, slander, and so on), He will. If we do not turn from our many sins, He will watch over us to destroy us just like He did Israel. Do not trust in the military might of our country. Do not trust in the financial strength of our nation.
Do not blindly trust the leaders of the USA, your state, or your city. Put your trust in the LORD Jesus Christ only.
