The Foundation Part 1

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 3:11

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The Foundation Part 1 

Greetings in the name of Jesus. This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

I want to bless you in the name of Jesus, all you who are reading, I thank God for you; all you that are reading this message in your own language around the world, God bless you. Thank God for you. Today we are going to talk about Foundation Repair. I am somewhat qualified to do so, as I've been in construction since the 1970's; just recently retired, by the grace of God. Here in Texas there are many houses that are built upon faulty foundations. If you have a bad foundation it creates problems for the house. We have the same problem in the Body of Christ. There is a great need for foundation repair in the Body of Christ. Let's go to 1 Cor 3:10&11, According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Let's go to Heb 6:1&2, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Here in Hebrews, chapter six, in these first couple of verses, the Apostle Paul describes the foundation. How is your foundation? What is your foundation? Is it Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and all that He provided us in the Gospel? We must partake of all the true foundation, in order to be truly established in Christ, and to bring forth fruit in Him.

The first part of the foundation is repentance. If you look in the Book of Jonah, I don't have time to go there, you read about how Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, and the whole city, from the King, unto the poorest person, turned from their sin in true repentance, and they humbled themselves with fasting. They put on sack cloth and sat in ashes, and they cried out to God in true repentance, turning from their sin. True repentance produces true change, there's a real change, there's a real turning. It starts with Godly sorrow. The Bible says Godly sorrow worketh repentance; the Holy Spirit convincing a person of their sin, and then Godly sorrow regarding that sin. Repentance is not just a changing of the mind, as many people teach. Definitely there is a change in the mind, but it starts with Godly sorrow in the heart, being truly sorry for your sin. 

Next we're going to talk about faith toward God, let's go to Rom 4:1-3, What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Let's go to verses 13-16, For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. And we go down to verse 20-25, He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. 

Chapter 5, verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We believe in the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the gift of God, the gift of righteousness through faith. If we believe that Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, that is imputed to us for righteousness. It's the gift of righteousness. Our sins are washed away through His sacrifice. By faith in His shed blood we are righteous. Our sins are cleansed by His blood, white as snow. The Bible says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. All of this starts with repentance, and then faith; faith toward God; faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

The next thing is the doctrine of baptisms. Let's go to Rom 6:1-6, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Do we know this? Do we know that our old man is crucified with Christ; that when we were baptized in water we were baptized into Jesus' death? The scripture says, in Gal 2:20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. If we are in faith when we go into the water, we are crucified with Christ. When we come up out of the water, we are raised with Him. If we understand Romans 6, if we understand what happens when we are baptized in water: by faith we are baptized into His death, and burial, and resurrection. Our old man is dead, therefore sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are no longer under the law, but under grace; we have been raised in newness of life to serve Jesus with our spirit in the Gospel.

Then we have the second baptism which is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. As Peter said in Acts chapter 2, repent and be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, after water baptism, in some cases even preceding water baptism, we have the third part of the foundation, actually the second part of the third part, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the apostles, in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the Earth." Also, in verse 5 He said, “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." And notice, in verse 8, He talked about the Holy Spirit coming upon you. So the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not the same as baptism in water. Many of you understand that, but many people do not understand that. They believe that they received the Holy Spirit when they were baptized in water. 

If we look in Romans 7, let's look at verses 4-6, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.  Now we serve in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. That's why we need to receive the Holy Spirit, so we can learn to walk in the Holy Spirit. The Bible says they that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. So, a very important part of the foundation is being baptized in the Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit coming upon you; being filled with the Holy Spirit; then learning to yield to the Holy Spirit. The first thing you yield to the Holy Spirit is your tongue, to speak in tongues and prophecy. If you look through the New Testament, in the book of Acts, every time a person received the Holy Spirit they spoke in tongues or they prophesied. We need to learn to yield to the Holy Spirit, and then to be led by the Holy Spirit.

As you read through Romans 7, let's go to verse 18-25, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Remember, in verse 5 of chapter 7, Paul wrote, For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. So, Romans 7 is talking about, in the flesh. Verse 18, For I know that in me that is, in my flesh... So, Romans 7 is talking about a man in the flesh. 

But then verses 1-4 of chapter 8: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Verse 8, So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Verses 13 & 14, For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 

In the church, for many years, many false doctrines have been given by Satan, and taught by false prophets and teachers, to convince Christians not to receive the Holy Spirit, yet believe that they have, and to live under some kind of law, never overcoming sin, thus preparing them to receive false grace, false justification, turning the grace of God, in some cases, into lasciviousness: All is covered, once saved, always saved, all your sins are already forgiven, past, present, and future, not confessing their sins, never learning to walk in the Holy Spirit; to be led by the Spirit. As it says in verse 4 of Romans 8, the righteousness of the law is only fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom 7:4, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.  Jesus rose from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as we are married to Him, as we receive the Holy Spirit, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will bring forth fruit unto God. You cannot do that without the Holy Spirit. You cannot just say you have the Holy Spirit when you don't have the Holy Spirit. That won't work. You have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

The only way to overcome the flesh and sin is to receive all that God has given us; the atonement for our past sins, through faith in Jesus' sacrifice, but also faith in His resurrection; He lives by the power of God. He was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into His death and resurrection to live by the power of God; to walk in the Holy Spirit and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, but to fulfil the righteousness of the law, by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The key to all this is the love of God, Romans 5:8, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. If we love God, we will seek after righteousness with all our heart, and He will fill us. We will yield ourselves to Him, and to His Spirit, to walk in the Spirit.

Rom 8:31-39,  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)