Would you join us tonight in the book of Judges? We're going to be in Judges chapter 18 tonight. We kind of finished up chapter 17, and I think we'll probably get all the way through chapter 18 today. It's more of a narrative with a lot of real pictures in this passage of scripture, this 18th chapter. And we're going to read the entirety of it, but before we do, I just want to say this, that this chapter may have been, or these events may have taken place between, and I want to read a couple of passages, Judges chapter 2 and Judges chapter 3. During that time when all of Joshua died and all the elders of Israel that knew Joshua, just turn with me if you would over to the book of Judges chapter 2 and I want to read that. In Judges chapter 2 we have this passage of scripture that shares with us that there was a period of time that people at least were held in check. As soon as these elders die, they start going after idols. So there's gonna be a whole lot of people that had been looking over at those idols, but they may not have consented in their mind. But as soon as they die, they get involved with them. But here in the book of Judges chapter two, beginning with verse six, it says, and when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance, to possess the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua." My, what an influence he had. And then, all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the Mount of Ephraim on the north side of Gash. And also all the generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. That is an amazing verse of scripture and how true it is. I remember Brother Henry saying, the first generation knows the gospel, second generation knows the doctrine, and the third generation, they don't know nothing. Well, that's a generalization I realized, but he had seen a lot of that happen. That here we have that generation of Joshua's generation and those elders that were around Joshua and how often they must have went over. Why did they pile up those stones at the Jordan River that they crossed? So the kids would say, what's this all about? Well, they must have quit talking about it. I don't know. And now would you follow with me to the third chapter of the book of Judges chapter 3. Judges chapter 3 verse 7. Between the time that those folks, all those elders, Joshua died, and it says, there arose a generation who knew not. Well, here in the book of Judges chapter three, verse seven, it says, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord, their God, and served Balaam and the groves. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushath-Retharim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served this guy eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." So here we have what we're going to find following for about 300 years. that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord sent them some way as he does here. He sent a king down there and they served him and they cried unto the Lord. It says the Lord heard them and he sent them a judge. And this is just going to be a repetition. So it looks like between the time that Joshua and those elders died and this time we have the events that took place in Judges chapter 18. Now, we said as we looked at chapter 17 that those events that took place there could have taken place a hundred times. by other names, other people. And I think that that could have happened also during chapter 18. This kind of thing was going on all over Israel. It wasn't just a certain period of time. And particularly after the judges came in, we're gonna find out the children of Israel did again, evil in the sight of the Lord. So that's going to be kind of the things that's going on here. in Judges chapter 18. All right, would you join me in Judges chapter 18? And it's kind of a narrative, and we'd like to read down through there, Judges chapter 18, and in verse one. Now there's one thing that I want to say before I read this, and that is, all heresy and worshiping idols is heresy. All heresy is based upon this one thing, the insufficiency of Christ. He's not enough. And we go to the Old Testament, we'd say the insufficiency of the Messiah. They appointed one of God. Now there were a few that understood the sufficiency. Hebrews chapter 11 shares with us some of those folks that understood the sufficiency of the Messiah or Christ. But by and large, we find people did not believe in the sufficiency of God, the Father, God, the Son, or God, the Holy Spirit. He is not sufficient. So we're going to have this, an invisible God to most people is not sufficient We must have a visible God. And then that just turns into idolatry. And idols can be anything that takes our heart and mind off God. And it's gonna be prominent and prevalent here in this book of Judges, but also prior to this and all the way through the scripture. Religious error can be based on the insufficiency of Christ in two main ways, by adding human works That means I don't believe in the sufficiency of Christ. Or by misrepresenting Christ's person or nature. Insufficiency. He, and you know, some of the things that we have recently heard just takes your breath away, but that has gone on for centuries and centuries and centuries. It was the, we just see that in the days of the apostles. We see that in the days of Christ. They could not see the son of God. Well, we know why they could not see the son of God. It was revealed unto, he was not revealed unto them, but he's insufficient. He can't take care. care of it, our religion will do that. In the book of Judges chapter 18, it says, in those days, there was no king in Israel. And not only was there not a physical king, but there's very, very, very few people understood that the king ruled and reigned on his throne in heaven. And I find that today, it's very few people that really believe that the word God, and we mentioned this on Sunday, the word God really means a sovereign king. He's a formality in my religion. But to the believer, he is everything. He is almighty, he's all powerful. So in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in. For unto that day, all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. So we could go back to the times of Caleb, and here they bring this subject up. And the children of Dan sent of their family, five men from their coast, men of valor, to Zorah and from Escalon to spy out the land and to search it. And they said unto them, Go, search the land. Who, when they came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there." How did they get there? I mean, their trail ends up right where we left off last Wednesday in chapter 17, an idolatrous man who had idols, a house of idols, an ephod, a teraphim, and all that stuff. And they are right there. All five of these guys end up there. And then we're going to later read a whole bunch, a whole bunch of people showed up and they were by the house of Micah. They knew the voice. Now, I read about this and some people feel they did recognize the voice, but if that wasn't true, they recognized there was somebody in here had a dialect that came from a place. But I just think they knew this guy. He'd been around them. This priest that Micah had hired says, when they were there by the house, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned in thither and said unto him, who brought thee hither? And what makest thou this place? And what hast thou here? And he said unto them, thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. There could be no clearer statement about the insufficiency of Christ than that verse of scripture, I got somebody hired to take care of this. And that's just, we just see that all the time in religion. I've got, I got my hire. Well, And he's going to go to the highest bidder because he's not going to stay here. Now, under threat, yes, but they promised him more. And they said unto him, ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. Now, the answer to this reminds me of a friend of mine that was World War II vet. He's ready to get onto a ship and go to the South Pacific. He's in his Navy blues. He goes in to have his palm read, and the palm reader said, you're going on a long journey. And he paid a buck for that. Well, you and I could have said, you're going on a long journey. We're at war, there's a boat out there, you're in your navies and you're gone. When the five men and the priest said unto them, go in peace. Before the Lord is your way, therein ye go. So he mumbles something out, but there's not much in that. You know, it's just the way that we find us in our religion, before the Lord saves us, talking about God. It's more of a mumble. We don't have much to say. Well, when the Lord saves us, we have at least He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. He has given us the knowledge that he is completely sufficient for all things. That's why we can say, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? He's sufficient. His death is sufficient. His sacrifice is sufficient. There is no need for us to have this great problem. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elected? It's God that justify it. What does that mean? He's sufficient. He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Trust it, believe it. carry it, handle it, have it. That's what we find the Bible tells us about our salvation. It is so complete, so taken care of, that there should be no problems that we have. And that's just the way it is. Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless. Now the reason they dwelt careless is because they had a lot of protection in their walls. They noticed this. you know, we don't have any problem, all we have to do is close the doors and we're safe. Well, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians and no business with any man. Now the Sidonians were over on the Mediterranean Sea, they had a city there, the references made to them, they also lived in a very protected city. They said, arise, we will go up against them for we have seen the land. Behold, it's very good. And are ye still. Be not slothful to go and enter into possess the land. When you go, you shall come unto a people secure into a large land, for God hath given it into our hands, a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth. Now notice what they say in verse 10, for God hath given it into our hands. They have no knowledge of the true God, but they do use the term. And when they went from Thince to the family of the Danites, they've been over here, they spied out the land. Five of them have spied out the land. They've looked it over, they found a place, and if you'll look at a map of this area, you'll find that there's a city on the north that's called Dan. At the beginning it was called Lesh, that's this place. So there's a group of the tribe of Dan that are among the rest of them, and then there's this part of Dan that is up there in the north part. So Dan to Beersheba is what we find. All right, and then there went from the family of the Danites out of Zorah and out of Eschon 600 men appointed with weapons of war. So we're going home, and they got their families together, and they got their army together, and they're headed to this place that they think they can take, and they do. And they went up to the pitch in Kirjath-Jerim in Judah, wherefore they called the place Mahahenden unto this day. Behold, it is behind Kirjath-Jerim. And they passed this unto Malikrim and came to the house of Micah." Now, the guys, those five come back and say, we got a report here. Up there in this place where a man by the name of Micah lives is a priest. Let's go hire him. I'm convinced they've already talked about it. They answered the 500 men, and they went to spy out the country of Lash. And they said to the brethren, do you know that there are these houses in the ephod, and a teraphim, and a craven image, and a molten image? Now there, consider what we have to do. So they already know about this guy's gods. It's been reported to them. And what he has, they want. Because God is not sufficient. So we need these gods to make ourselves complete as we go up to Dan. And they turned through the word and came to the house of the young man, the Levi, even into the house of Micah and saluted him. And the 600 men appointed with their weapons of war, which were in the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. And the five men that went to spy the land went up and came in thither and took the graven image. You got 600 men of war at the gate. Are you going to try to stop when he comes in and takes your gods from you? Now, Mikey is going to lament this and he's going to come crying. We'll find in just a moment. The five men went to spy out the land, went up and came in thither and took the graven image. And the ephod and the teraphim and the molten image, everything of religious value to Micah is robbed. I mean, he's stripped. He didn't have anything left. And he goes on and says, the entering of the gate with the 600 men that were appointed with the weapons of war. And they went into Micah's house and fetched him. And then said unto him, hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Don't you say a word. and go with us and be to us a father and a priest. It is better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel. Reminds me of the preacher that was asked to go to a larger church. And he goes to tell his wife, you pack while I go pray about it. We got a larger church. He's going to be over, not one or two in the family or half a dozen, but he's going to have this whole host of folks that are going to go. He's going to go with them. So, or that there'll be a priest to the tribe and a family in Israel. The priest's heart was glad and he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image and went in the midst of the people. I got a pay raise. I'm somebody now. I'm important now. So they turned and departed and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. So they're taking their families. They got their children with them. They're moving. This group is moving from where they were to where they are, and notice they're stopped here at Micah's house, stripped him of all of his gods, took his priest away from him. And the priest becomes a somebody. They cried unto the children of Dan, and they were turned their faces and said unto Micah, what is thee, thou that comest with such a company? And he said, you have taken away my gods, which I made. and the priest, and you're gone away, and what have I more? And what is this that you say to me? What aileth thee?" And the children of Dan said to them, let not thy voice be heard amongst us, lest angry fellows run upon thee. They're just simply saying, turn around, go home. Don't you bring your story to us. and thou'll lose thy life with the lives of thy household.' And the children of Dan went their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back into his house. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priests which he had, and came to Elish. Unto a people that were quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, And they had no business with any man. And it was in the valley that Liath and Beth Rehob, and they built a city and dwelt therein. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel. Howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. And the children of Dan set up the graven image, and Jonathan the son of Gershon, the son of Manasseh." Now we find out who this priest is. He's related to Moses. He's a somebody who knows nothing. Doesn't matter who you're related to. He and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. Now notice verse 31. It's very interesting. because it tells us something important. It says, they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. Now what's that? That's the tabernacle. The tabernacle is in Shiloh. It's there. It is a representation of almighty God. But notice what the people do, every man, did what was right in his own eyes, worshiped every idol that they could find, and had no interest whatsoever in that place that was to represent God in the land. You know, as we travel through just the book of Judges, but all through the Old Testament and the New Testament, we find that we see a number of times that the view by every Israelite, not every Israelite, that the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob was insufficient. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was insufficient. Even though that God is represented there at Shiloh, He's insufficient. And the reason we know that he's insufficient, they would fall for every idol that came along. And we're gonna read a few verses that where these gods came from. They were right there in the land all the time. The thought is truly revealed by the 10 spies. Would you turn with me to the book of Numbers? In the book of Numbers chapter 13 is the list of the group that were sent in. to the land. In chapter 14, we have, Numbers chapter 14, we have the revelation. Chapter 14, beginning with verse one. And all the congregation lifted up their voice. Now, 10 of them came back with an evil report. And they're gonna tell us in no uncertain terms that the God that promised that land is not sufficient. The guys are too big. They lifted up their voice, the congregation, the children of Israel, and this is the group that we read about in the book of Hebrews. These died in unbelief. And they're very close relatives to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It didn't make any difference. That does not make a whit bit of difference. Now, the thing that that does, and I've done a lot of thinking about being raised in the church I was raised in, my parents thought going to church was very important. That is one thing that they instilled in me. Where I went, you look back and they didn't have anything, but they left that. Going to church is important. Now, I use that for an excuse for a lot of years, but I found out going to Christ is important. He's the all-sufficient one. It's not the church, it's Christ. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt. What? He is... Or would God have died in the wilderness? And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return unto Egypt? And they said one to another, let us make a captain. Let us return unto Egypt. And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the children of Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were with them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land. All right, we got point one. And if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Point two. Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred to us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. Point three. But all the congregation, they'd stone them with stones, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. Now let's back up to verse nine, and it tells us there, He says, for they are bred to us, their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Two men say this. Moses and Aaron say this. What did they say? Christ is sufficient. It may look bad over there, but Christ is sufficient. Your sin may be the worst sin in the world, but Christ's blood is sufficient. Fear not, cry out, he is sufficient. So we have Joshua and Caleb pleading with this whole group of people, this one, our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob is sufficient to win the battle. Don't depart, don't leave. Well, they did, they'd already left. Once the report got back, they left. Those 10 that were the spies, God took care of them instantly and immediately, consumed them. And then the rest took 38 years. And you know, I've mentioned this before, but it's just amazing. I don't find one place in the book of Leviticus, Exodus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy that Joshua or Caleb complained one time about having to wander with this group of people for 38 years, because they knew they were going into the land. Why? The Lord is with us. He is sufficient. Very few was there that knew the all-sufficient Christ, the Messiah, the God of heaven. Very few knew him, a few, and were thankful for a remnant according to the election of grace. We find that most of Israel in the days of the judges worshiped idols. And the reason they did that is Christ is not sufficient. There's such an insufficiency in Christ that we have to go to these other things for our help. The God that is the Spirit is not enough. We must have something visible. We must have something that we can touch. God is not that way. Now, turn with me to the book of Hezekiah. Excuse me, not Hezekiah. The King Hezekiah in 2 Kings. There we go. 2 Kings. 2 Kings. It sounds like a book, doesn't it? Second Kings chapter 19. In the book of Second Kings chapter 19, verse 14, Hezekiah brings this great subject up about the sufficiency. Oh, to have a king like Hezekiah. Do you remember his son, Manasseh? Man, he's worse than Saul of Tarsus and yet God granted him grace. Hezekiah received a letter of the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 2 Kings 19, verse 15, now, and Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwelleth between the chair rooms, thou art the God, even thou alone. In all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear and hear. Open, Lord, thine eyes and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib. which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Hezekiah understands something about this idolatry. They're the work of men's hands, and they can be thrown into the fire and destroyed. But he just had all of this great praise about the God of heaven. You rule over heaven and earth. Therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord, verse 19, our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of this hand, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. You're sufficient. I kind of believe, I believe, that Hezekiah understood like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego understood. If he delivers us, amen. If he doesn't deliver us, amen. He's still God. We're not going to go after something else. In the Psalms, Psalm 28, Psalm 28, as we look at this, we find out this, the idolatry that the children of Israel had got involved in, it's so common. We should not be shocked when we read about, and Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. It shouldn't shock us. They didn't know the gospel. They didn't know Christ. They didn't know the Messiah. They had no idea what was going on around them. They would go back and say, our father's Abraham, but that's as far as they would go. But the God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had is not sufficient for us. We've moved up the ladder. All right, in the book of Psalm 28, Psalm 28, and there in verse one, Psalm 28, verse one, it says here, the Psalm of David, unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away from the wicked, with the wicked, excuse me, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds. And according to the wickedness of their endeavors, give them after the work of their hands, render to them their dessert. What's the work of their hands? Their idolatrous worship. Here we have, give them after the work for their hands, instead of worshiping God, which was required. Did you know that worship of God is required? He absolutely requires it. He requires repentance and faith. And in our natural state, we cannot accomplish it. And that makes it much more precious because then when he gives it, we find out he gives us everything we need. He fulfilled the demand that was imposed upon us. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 10, join me in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 10. We follow this through, we find that there's so much said about the works of the hands. You know, in the Psalms, it tells us about, we'll bake our roasts over one piece of the wood, or under, we'll, carve some out for a chair, and then we'll turn some over to a craftsman and have it covered with gold and we'll bow down and worship it. And it goes on to say, and they have eyes that cannot see, they have hands that cannot help, they have feet but cannot move, they have ears but cannot hear, and yet people will bow down to those because God is not sufficient. He's not enough. Here in the book of Jeremiah chapter 10, we read this, Jeremiah chapter 10 verse six, it states right here, it says, for as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great and thy name is great in might. I love how these guys give their view of the God of heaven. We don't find that in Micah. We don't find that in those folks from Dan. We don't find it among all of the peoples of Israel. Just a few have this view of God. Who would not fear the old king of nations? For to thee doth it appertain, for as much as among all the wise men of the nations in all their kingdoms, there's none like unto thee. You're sufficient. But they are altogether brutish and foolish, the stock is a doctrine of vanity. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish and gold from Afaz. The work of the workmen and of the hands of the founder, blue and purple is their clothing. They are all the work of cunning men. But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth shall tremble and all the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. He is sufficient. He is righteous. He's altogether lovely. The book of Judges is just filled with verses like this. Go with me to the book of Judges chapter two. Judges chapter two. It's no wonder that we have this whole, the need for judges. They say there's no king, They did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king in Israel. And yet we find out the king has always been in Israel. He never abdicated. He never left. And we find a few people that look to him as we just read there in the Psalms. King that rules over all things. God of heaven. And yet the people that were there in their natural state could not see past their nose and the insufficiency of God Almighty, they would bow down to an idol. You know, that verse over there in 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul mentioned to them how he had turned you from idols. What does that mean? The insufficiency has been turned into sufficiency. He was insufficient, but he revealed himself and he becomes all-sufficient. He's the all-sufficient Savior. All right, Judges chapter two. In Judges chapter two, we read this. Judges chapter two, verse 12. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were around about them, and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger, the gods of the folks around them." Now God had told Joshua and the people, go in and take care of all those folks, because if you don't, You're going to get attracted to them. Well, without Christ, we'd get attracted even if they weren't there. We'd go find something to worship. Well, in the book of Judges, in the same chapter, chapter 2, verse 17, read this with me. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges. But they went a-whoring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them, and they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord, but they did not sow. And in the 19th verse of that same chapter, it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers. in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. And they cease not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. How often this goes over. There's six or eight or 10 times in the book of Judges alone that this very subject is brought up. And when one judge dies, we just find them reverting right back. Why? because God had not given them a heart to believe. They could not see the sufficiency of God. They could not see the sufficiency of the God of heaven. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served other gods. You know, last week we looked at chapter 17 and there Micah, Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Judges chapter 17 and verse 5. Judges chapter 17 and verse 5. As we think about this whole group of folks, that the heresy of having these gods is based on the fact they could not see the sufficiency of God. He was insufficient. And it still is that way today. Why is the law important to some people? Because God is not sufficient. I must get involved in it. Why is baptism so important? Because God is not sufficient. He's insufficient, so I have to get involved. Why is the free will taught so prominent and prevalent? Because God is not sufficient. I have to get somebody involved in it. There's only sufficiency in me and I'll compliment what God has to do. But we read in the scriptures that the God, the saving God, the God of salvation is sufficient in all things. He left nothing to us because he knew and we know after our salvation that everything that we had was corrupted. There wasn't anything that was good. Heart's corrupted. Belief is corrupted. Repentance is corrupted. Our walk is corrupted. Our doings are corrupted. Our work is corrupted. Our eyes are corrupted. Our ears are corrupted. We have nothing to offer. And then he reveals to us the all-sufficiency of Christ. He's all-sufficient. All right, here in the book of Judges chapter 17, Judges chapter 17, And verse five, we read this. And the man Micah had a house of gods and made an ephod and a teraphim and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. Now, what a statement. What a statement. Now, go to the next chapter. What do you do? What do you do? What do you do? Here in chapter 18, verse 24. This is a man in lament. It's not that someone came and robbed me of my Bible. It's not that someone came and burned down my church building. He said here, ye have taken away my gods. which I made, ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, ye are gone away, what have I more? In other words, what am I gonna do? And what is this that ye saying to me? What aileth me? I'm sick. My gods are gone. What a statement is made about Micah when his gods are gone. What am I going to do? You know, I'll never forget a pastor telling me of visiting with his father. His father was a preacher and he preached the false gospel. Christ is not sufficient. And he gets down to his deathbed. And the son goes to visit, who's a gospel preacher, and he asked his son, who's the gospel preacher, oh, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? They argued over the gospel for years and on the deathbed. Well, in closing, would you turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. Here's where it is, 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 5. It sums it right up. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves. What a statement. To think anything as of ourselves. But where is our sufficiency? but our sufficiency is of God. The only way to be accepted is in this God, and he makes us accepted in the beloved. So not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. We don't have the right, and in fact, a believer will not count what he's done as sufficient, will not count it. I've shared with you, fisting with a young preacher many, many times, and you know when he gives his testimony, it's the same way I used to give my testimony. The main word was, I. I. I. I. And you know what the church says? He. He. He. He. But our sufficiency is of God.