SEMESTER 6
387 – How Firm a Foundation
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: ECCLESIOLOGY VI (HYMNOLOGY) LESSON # 87
THE DOCTRINES AND EFFECTS OF CHURCH MUSIC – HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION
Read: I Cor. 3:10-16
INTRODUCTION:
1. Many songs are named not for full content, but for a single line or bar, often the first.
2. This song refers, not to the written word as our foundation, but to Christ, its theme.
3. The writer is dealing with the trials of life and the assurance we have in Christ.
4. Let us notice verse by verse the strong, yet tender doctrine of this great song.
I. CHRIST IS THE BIBLE’S THEME AND OUR BASIS OF FAITH
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?”
1. Scripture is filled with things we are warned not to trust. (Psa. 118:8-9, Pro. 25:19, Phil. 3:3, Pro. 3:5)
2. But a firm, indeed, a perfect foundation is laid for those who have fled to Jesus for refuge.
3. This firm and sufficient foundation is not in wisdom, but in His excellent word.
II. THIS SONG DECLARES THE SUFFICIENCY OF HIS GRACE
“In every condition, in sickness, in health, In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth; At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, As your days may demand, shall your strength ever be.”
1. We tend to feel the sufficiency of grace when all is well, because we are experiencing the joys of grace.
2. But that security is just as sure in every condition. (II Cor. 12:7-10)
3. Christ Himself, not our understanding, control, or even our faith, is the basis.
III. THE SONG SHOWS US THE CERTAINTY OF TRIAL
“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design – Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”
1. The issue is not shall fiery trials come, but when they shall come. (Isa. 43:1-2)
2. Know that these trials are not by chance, or even random, but by loving design.
3. We cannot learn much about this by experience. We must trust God.
IV. THE SONG SHOWS THE CONTINUATION OF THOSE TRIALS
“E’en down to old age, all My people shall prove – My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love; And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne.”
III: By Moses: “Must I fetch water out of this rock?”
1. Let us never think: “when I was young I had to be carried and chastised.” We still must be. (Psa. 23:4-6)
2. By trial, God’s people prove in two senses, experience and demonstration, His Sovereign and immutable love.
3. Oh yes! when old and gray, we must still be carried by Him, even as little lambs.
V. THIS SONG PROMISES ABSOLUTE DIVINE PRESENCE
“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes; That soul, though all hell shall endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!”
1. This is from a biblical promise that He will never forsake us. (Heb. 13:5-6)
2. Many people have been forsaken by very dear friends, even parents and children.
III: By a fellow-preacher and the alleged list he had when he died.
3. But we have a friend, Yes, Jesus our Savior, who will stick closer than a brother.
4. All the forces of earth, No, not even hell, can entice Him to ever forsake us. (Rom. 8:36-39)