Let's read this one verse, verse six. The Lord said, among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion, thy inheritance. They, they are thy lot. That's your inheritance, that's what he's saying. They're your inheritance, they're your lot. Even to them, Hast thou poured a drink offering? Thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these stones or in these offerings? Should I receive comfort in these?

I have titled this, God Gives What We Want. God Gives What We Want. He sent Isaiah, just like I've been sent here to preach the gospel, the Lord sent Isaiah. And he's speaking to those in Judah and in Israel. And he calls them illegitimate children. He called them the sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer. He called them children of transgression. He called them a seed of falsehood. Now this is the word of God. This is what God is saying. He calls them spiritual adulterers due to their abundance of religion. Abundance of religion, which all was idolatry. He said there, before we get to this verse, he said, they were inflaming themselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks. Now they were not irreligious people. They would have said that they worship God. They were not irreligious, they were super religious. They were very zealous for what they would have told you is we're zealous for God. We're on fire for God. They had a place to worship on every corner. God gave one place to worship in Jerusalem in the temple because that pictured the one place God will meet with sinners, and that's in Christ. But they had created places to worship all over the land. They had mingled with the strangers in Canaan, intermarried, and just picked up the worship of their gods. And they had a place to worship everywhere.

Listen to this. This is from Ezekiel. 1624 thou has also built unto thee an eminent place and has made thee in high place in every street Thou has built thy high place at every head of the way every street corner every street Had a had what we would call a church building Everywhere just like it is in our day. That's what I'm trying to tell you If you would have seen it then, it'd look just like it looks in our day. Churches everywhere, so called.

Now listen, God says, and among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. Now that's what they considered their portion. They're my lot, they're my portion. Just like we would say, the Lord is my, he's my portion. God said, those smooth stones of that stream are your portion. That's what he said to them. They're thy lot. And he said, even to them hast thou poured a drink offering. Thou has offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?

Now verse six here has a play on words that's lost in translation, but it It's pretty close to this right here. God is saying, you desire dead stones and say that's your portion, these dead stone. So I will give you what you want. I will give you death. That's what he's saying. You wanted these dead stones, you're gonna inherit death. God declares that the very thing that a man worships, and the very thing that we want is what God will give us. That's so of everybody. Now you hold, stay with me till we get to the end, but that's so of everybody. God will give a man what he worships, because that's what he wants. That's what he considers his portion. God will give you what you consider your portion. That's what he'll give you.

For anybody that doesn't know Christ and doesn't believe on Christ, I pray you will listen. I pray the Lord to give you a heart to hear what you're about to hear tonight. I mean, really hear it. Really hear it. I want for you that the Lord would make Christ to be the only one you worship, the only one you want forever. And I have some dear brethren that are not here tonight, but they'll be listening, that are a little closer to this inheritance, to the true inheritance. And I'll pray this will set their heart on Christ and that he'll be the only thing they want by God's grace. And for you and I, I pray this, the Lord would take these words and set our affection more singularly on Christ and make him be the only one we desire. Whom have I in heaven but thee? Who on earth do I desire but thee? I want him. And that's what I pray, Lord, grow that and grow that in each of us.

Now, I want you to look right here. I'm gonna show you just two points. The first one is we're gonna see the contrast between these stones and the rock of salvation. Christ Jesus. And then secondly, we're going to see how that the Lord gives us what we want and how that he gives a new want and a new portion to his people. A new from what we originally wanted.

First of all, the contrast between these stones and the rock that saves. These stones represent temporal things, earthy things. That's what they represent. That's what a natural man's treasure is. As we come into the world, we're natural. We're not been born again, we have not the spirit of God, and we are earthy, and we're depraved, and all we want is what is of this earth, temporal things. And the Lord said, where your treasure is, whatever it is you want, Whatever it is you set your eye on that you want, that's where your heart's gonna be. Your heart's gonna go after that.

Now let me say first of all, even if a person's not religious, somebody might hear this and say, well, I'm not even a party of y'all. I don't wanna be, I'm not a part of this group or that group. I'm not religious. Every man worships something. Everybody does. Everybody does. Temporal things. Everybody has a treasure. Everybody does. It might be money. The love of money is the root of all evil. Every evil you see in the world, right at the base of it all, is the love of money. Every bit of it. Career, material possessions.

Turn with me now over to Romans chapter one. Man by nature wants nothing to do with God. And he wants to, he's worshiping the things of this earth that were created by the creator.

Now here's what God says about this. This was written here of all the people outside of Israel, right here, irreligious folks. Now listen to what God says, Romans 1.22. And this I pray, brethren, when you read this, This should make us hit our face and beg God for mercy. Beg him to save us and to keep saving us.

Look here now, Romans 1.22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up. God said in our text, you want death? I'll give you what you want. You want these smooth stones, these earthy stones? They'll be your inheritance.

Look, wherefore God also gave them up. They gave up God. God said he gave them up. To uncleanness. Now listen to this carefully. He gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. He gave them what they wanted. That's the lust of their hearts, what they wanted, and he gave it to them. To dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen.

For this cause, God gave them up. Listen, God does not arbitrarily send men to hell. God is righteous. Everything he does is just. God's holy and righteous, and his judgment is righteous. The wages of sin is death. He doesn't just arbitrarily reprobate men. He doesn't arbitrarily send men to hell. Men earn it. the wages of sin is death. He said, for this cause God gave them up.

And he gave them up to vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly. He's talking about same-sex marriage. That's what he's talking about. And God just declared that was the judgment of God turning men over to that. That's a lot different than what we hear preached in the world. That's what God said, and that's what so. God said that was his judgment upon men, to turn them over, and he said, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet, it was fit. He gave them what was right. He gives every sinner what's just. If a man does not want God, a man wants the world, God will give a man what he wants.

Verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. They didn't want to think on God. God made it so they could never think on God. To do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Now hold your place right here just a minute. Does that sound like a description of the world we live in today? Does that sound like this nation and every nation in the whole world that we live in today? It sounds like it was just looking and doing a survey of the world today and writing that. It's exactly, exactly.

Now, God gave men over to these sins in judgment. He gave them what they wanted, but, now that's the irreligious world. They're not religious, don't want a thing to do with God. But before religious folks start condemning them, let's hear what God says about the religious folks who were looking to their will and looking to their works and looking down their noses on these vile sinners. Let's hear what God said in Romans 2.1.

Therefore, he said, those that know, they know the judgment of God, they know they which commit such things are worthy of death, and they not only do the same, they have pleasure in them that do them, and he says, therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, Whosoever thou art that judgest, when you look at them and you say, ugh, those wicked people, look at them. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Now the Pharisees would have said, we don't do those things. Well, you might not do them outwardly, but you do every one of them in your heart. That's so of everybody in our sin nature. That's what we are in our sin nature. That long catalog of sins that sounds so terrible, whether we do them outwardly or not, that's what we are in our nature.

And he said, so when you condemn them, just know you do the same thing. He's speaking to folks trusting in their works. And he said, but we're sure of this, the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doest the same, that you shall escape the judgment of God?

Or do you just despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? It's not law that leads you to repentance. It's not wrath. It's not trying to frighten a man and speaking down to people and condemning people. It is the goodness and grace of God. It's the long-suffering of God. It's God that leads men to repentance.

And he says here, but after thy hardness and an impenitent heart, they would have said they had repented, but God said, no, you haven't. Still trust in your works, he's saying. You're treasuring up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Here's what he's saying. You think life, your portion, is to condemn and judge those people that are wicked sinners? And elevate yourself above them as being better than them? God's saying, I'm gonna give you what you want. I'm gonna give you judgment. That's exactly what he's saying. You don't want mercy, you're not gonna have mercy. You're gonna have judgment.

Who will render to every man according to his deeds. God will give every man exactly what he wanted, exactly what he wanted.

Back now in our text, these stones illustrate what every unregenerate sinner wants. That's what he, and they represent what a man wants in his God, in his God.

Now look, I've said this so many times. A man doesn't have to, you know, we don't have crosses, and we don't wear crosses, and we don't have statues, and all of this stuff. That doesn't make you righteous for not having those things. And, because a man doesn't have to have a gold statue of an idol. to have an idol in his mind. Every man by nature has an idol in his mind.

And a man wants his God to be like those smooth stones. He wants it to be tangible, touchable. A natural man doesn't have the spirit of God, so he can't understand spiritual things. He doesn't have faith, which is the evidence and the substance, so he has to see things and touch things. And he wants a God he can handle and manipulate. A God that he can cast him away when he wants to, just like a stone. And he can go gather him up when he wants to, just like a stone.

God said they pray unto a God they cannot save. Is that not the God of this world? God wants to save you. You're going to have to meet him halfway. You're going to have to do something to help him out. I heard this years ago. A little boy heard that and he said, God can't save me unless I let him. He said, well then, if God can't save me unless I let him, then he can't send me to hell unless I let him. That God can't. That God's helpless.

Smooth stones polished over by the water, pleasing to handle, not rough to the unregenerate man. You know what Christ is? He's a rock of offense. Do you remember how offended you were when you heard the gospel? When you didn't know the Lord and you were trusting in you, do you remember how offensive it was to hear that it's not of your works? Natural man doesn't want to hear the law declare that he's the guilty sinner. That's not smooth, that's rough. He doesn't want to hear that he's spiritually dead, that his mind's enmity against God. He doesn't want to hear that it takes the Spirit of God to give life and faith and repentance. He wants to hear that he can do that of his will.

They said Augustine, back before the Lord saved Augustine, they said one of his prayers, I guess he wrote this and have it in writing, but he said one of his prayers was, Lord, make me chaste, just not right now. That's what a man, I want a God that when I get ready, I'll let him save me. Spirit of God, has to regenerate. We did not want to hear that God requires perfect righteousness and that our works are not righteous. When I say we've never kept the law, that's what I'm saying. Our works are not righteous. He wants smooth things that please him, not the gospel that offends.

Listen to this from Isaiah 30 and verse 9. God said, this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. Paul said, this is how Paul heard the law. He thought the law said that he had life. He thought he was working out a righteousness and he had life by the law. But he said, when God made me hear the law, My sin became alive, and I died. All my good works died, I died. But he said, these children say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. Speak unto us smooth things. prophesy deceits, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

You know, men wouldn't, a religious man today wouldn't say that outwardly. He wouldn't say, quit preaching the Holy One to me. But when men say what? I don't think God saves that way. You read him the Bible, and he says, I don't think God saves that way. That's exactly what he's saying. Until God creates a sinner anew, Christ is the rock of offense. He's the stone of stumbling. They want the stones, smooth stones they can handle and manipulate, dead stones. And here, they thought dead stones were their life.

It says, verse six, even to them as thou poured a drink offering, thou has offered a meat an offering. You know that under the old covenant, the meat and the drink offering was a thank offering. It was thanking God for giving life. And old covenant saints that God had regenerated and given faith, they were thanking God for saving them through the coming Messiah. And that's what they represented. When they poured out their drink offering and they gave their meat offering, they were worshiping Christ. But the natural man, just like today, natural man saw them do that, and so they started doing it. But then they started doing it to their stones. And it's like men will come in and they'll think that assembling in a building like this, hearing a man preach, singing, being baptized, giving, they'll think trying to keep the law, trying to be moral, trying not to sin, and they think They have life by those, and so they thank God, but it's not the true God. It's just thinking you're saved by those acts.

We're not saved by the acts that we do, brethren. Not at all. Now, the Lord said, don't bring me any more vain oblations. That's what he said about the offerings. He said, it's an abomination to me. He said in Isaiah chapter one, he said, it's iniquity even the solemn meeting. My soul hates it, he said. It's a trouble to me. I'm weary of it, he said. And he said, and when you spread out your hands to pray, I'll hide mine eyes, and when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Now, you think of this. I'll try to illustrate this. You got a man in a desert. Far as he can see, nothing but desert. And this man is walking through this desert, and he comes upon a a bag of big, beautiful diamonds. And he grabs those beautiful stones and he says, I am rich. Look at what I'm rich. Look at the diamond. I am rich. And so he starts walking and just hanging on to those diamond and the sun beats down And he walks for days and days and days, and there's no life. There's nothing around him but sand. And he'll pull those stones out every now and then. He says, oh, when I get there, I'm going to be rich. Keeps walking, keeps walking. But those stones can't give him water. They can't give him life. And eventually, he just falls down dehydrated and dies.

That's what a man is that's holding on to the things of this world and the stones of this world, thinking that he has life by anything he does, anything he's, all these, they can't give you life. They can't give you life. Just useless as diamonds in a desert. You want dead stones, God said, I'll give you death for your portion. That'll be your inheritance. But that, listen now, but that's a living death. Don't let anybody imagine that it's just death and that's it. No, it's a second death and that's a living death. Being with sinners who hate one another, gnashing the fire that can't be quenched, the worm that never dies. I don't even, I pray that God make us want the living stone, make us want to hit our face and beg God for mercy. Just cast every care you have into his hands and commit it all to him.

But by nature, there's not any difference. There's not any difference in anybody God saves than what we just heard. No difference. Well, then how is man made to differ by the one who gets all the praise and all the glory? All right, turn with me to Ephesians chapter two. the one who gets all the glory for this, but God, it's God who gets the glory. Look here in Ephesians 2.2, in time past you walked according to the course of this world, you were holding on to diamonds in the desert, just like everybody else in the world. You were walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the wants of our flesh, what we wanted from our flesh, fulfilling the wants of the flesh and of the mind. God'll give you what you want. That's what we wanted. We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, God did something. who's rich in mercy. He didn't give us what we wanted. He was merciful to us. His great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, he came and he quickened us together with Christ. He gave us life. By grace are you saved. Hold right here just a minute. Brethren, before time, God elected who he would be merciful to. He elected who he would save, and he did it all by grace. He did it all by grace so that we would know this, when he called us, we would know this. It's God that calls. Salvation's of God. It's not of a man. It wasn't of us. It's of God that shows mercy to whom he will. And he made you to know that when the Son of God took flesh, he came down to be like the brethren he came to save. Sin accepted, he had no sin. He came down so that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sanctifies his people and makes us to differ and separates us out by his grace and by his power and by his will, so that he will be one with us, making us one with him. So that he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one.

And our Lord Jesus Christ, when he went to that cross, all his people were in Christ. And when he went to that cross, he presented himself the spotless Lamb of God. No sin whatsoever. And willingly, no sin, the spotless Lamb of God. And God made him sin for us. What does that mean? I'll tell you exactly what that means. It means this right here. It means God made it so that he was righteous and just to pour out the death penalty on our substitute. That's what it means. He made it so he was just to do it, because that's why Christ came, was to show us God's just and righteous. So that he'd be just and righteous to show us mercy.

And so having made him sin for us, he made him a curse in our place. He made him bear the hell that we would have had, that we would have earned. He bore that for his people, the fire of God's justice, and he satisfied God. He honored God. He honored the law. That's why the law was given, brethren, for him to come and honor it and show us that he alone is the holy, just, and good one that fulfilled the holy, just, and good law. And he did it, and God's pleased with him. God's satisfied with him, and he's satisfied with his people in him.

You know, there's something else about those smooth stones. They're slippery. You ever, a stone that's been smooth, been under the water, running water for a long time, you better not step on it. Your feet's going right off the money and you're gonna fall. But when he made you know this, he brought me up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock, the true rock, the true stone, the one foundation, and established my goings.

And I look down here at Ephesians 2.6. He made us to know that he raised us up together and he made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He made you know that by grace are you saved through faith and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man should boast, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we shall walk in them.

What are those works? Christ came, and by his power, he gave us a new want. He gave us a new will, a new desire. In the day of his power, he made us want him. And it says, and in the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning." What is that? The beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning? That first day you were born again and you began to see that because he gave you a Holy Spirit that you look to Christ and you believe the Spirit's witness that Christ made you righteous and Christ made you holy. And he's all your righteousness and all your holiness. And you see, he put your sin away forever. He blotted it out. He shed his blood and remitted your sin. It's gone. That was the womb of the morning. The first day you were born, the first day you had life and were made to know he made you holy and righteous. And from that day forward, brethren, you started believing him just like God ordained before that you would. And you started walking by faith, just like God ordained before that you would. You started walking knowing all my righteousness and all my holiness is Christ. He's my portion. He's my inheritance. And my lot right now in this life is because he's providing everything for me.

And you started you started loving for the first time. For the first time, we hated God, and for the first time, you loved God, and you loved his son, and you loved his brethren, especially those brethren that he used to preach the gospel to you. And so now, you started being merciful, and loving, and forbearing, and long-suffering, and forgiving, because you could see they're a sinner just like you knew you were a sinner. And you knew their righteousness is Christ, just like your righteousness is Christ. And their holiness is Christ, just like your holiness is Christ. And you were saved by the gospel, so you speak the gospel to them when they need help. That's how you love one another. And that's just like God before ordained that we would do. We're walking in the works that he before ordained we would do.

And while that outdaughter goes to that dry stream bed, and he's worshiping his rocks, and he's just hoping he might get a little water, because most of the time that stream bed in the Middle East, that stream bed was dry. It was just the floody season that it would be overflowed, and then it'd just be a dry bed full of rocks. And he'd go there, and he'd pour out his drink offering, and he'd hope he'd get a little water in return for pouring out his offering. And while you do that, while he does that, God's made you willing now to come to the fountain of living waters. And he makes your portion run over, your cup's running over. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. That's what he makes you to know.

And now, all you want right now is Christ. and all you want in the life to come is Christ. Isn't that so with you, brethren? Can you imagine, can you imagine wanting something else? Can you imagine wanting to be better than your brethren in glory? Could you imagine wanting God to give you something for what you did in this life better than what your brethren has? So you could be in the penthouse on the rich side of heaven and looking down on the Poor folks looking out the projects, looking at you. What else is this thing of rewards in heaven? What else is that? That's what that is. I want God to give me something better than my brother. All I want is Christ. That's my reward. The exceeding great reward is Christ. And he gave you that want. He gave you a new want. And you know what he's gonna give you? He's gonna give you what you want. He gives every man what he wants.

Look back up there to Ephesians 1.11. In Christ also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise, that we would just praise and brag on God and glorify the Father who first trusted in Christ, the one who trusted this whole work to Christ. But brethren, listen, I'm telling you, I was young and I went after this world and I went after what the world had to give and tried to gain it in the music industry and all this stuff. It's a dry desert and you're not gonna be satisfied if you're the Lord you want If he lets you go, he gives you what you want. I pray he doesn't give you that. But if you're his, he's gonna give you a new want. He's gonna give you a want for Christ.

And the things of this world, where they were up here, and anything about God was down here, not even the picture, he's gonna make the world go down, down, down, and Christ go up, up, up. and you're gonna want Him. And brethren, you that know Him and believe Him, set your affection on Christ above, and pray, God, keep this want in my heart, keep this desire in my heart. Don't let me want this world. Don't let me go after this world. And when you draw that last breath, you're gonna open your eyes, and you're gonna see your inheritance. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna give you what He put in your heart to want, Christ alone. and all the glory of God, and you're gonna see him and know him, and what a day. I pray that's what he, I pray he give us that wont and keep that wont in our heart. Christ Jesus.

Father, we thank you for this word. Thank you for blessing the word to the heart of your people. Lord, we pray for those that don't know you. Our young people want to, They got so many things they want in this world, and Lord, we just beg you, have mercy on them. Lord, just have them hedged about. Don't let them have what their sinful heart wants. We pray, Lord, you'd give them a new heart a new will, a new want, a new desire for Christ. Make him our only desire, Lord. We pray that for them, we pray that for ourselves, we pray that for all our brethren.

Lord, comfort our elderly brethren whose bodies are broken, who are suffering, and comfort them. Just a little bit longer. We'll get to live, really live, really be happy. When we see you face to face, Lord, comfort your people everywhere with this good news. And we thank you for Christ's sake. Amen.

All right, President, you're dismissed. That'll be it. I'm sorry, Adam.