Good evening, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 318. 318. I need thee every hour.
? Most gracious Lord ? No tender
voice like Thine ? Can peace afford ? I need Thee, oh I need
Thee ? Every hour I need thee ? Oh,
bless me now, my Savior ? I come to thee ? I need thee every hour
? Stay thou nearby Temptations lose their power When Thou art
nigh I need Thee, O I need Thee Every hour I need Thee O bless
me now, my Savior I come to Thee I need Thee every hour In joy
or pain Come quickly and abide For life is free I need Thee,
oh, I need Thee Every hour I need Thee Oh, bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee I need Thee every hour Most Holy
One, all being divine indeed, Thou blessed Son, Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
40. Hymn number 40. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning. All I have needed Thine hand
hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon and stars in their courses above, join
with all nature in ? Man of old witness ? To thy great faithfulness
? Mercy and love ? Great is thy faithfulness ? Great is thy faithfulness
? Morning by morning new mercies I see ? All I have needed Thy
hand hath provided ? Great is Thy faithfulness ? Lord unto
me ? Pardon for sin and aim ? Peace that endureth ? Thine own dear
presence to ? Cheer and to guide Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. ? Thy mourning, new mercies I see
? All I have needed Thy hand hath provided ? Great is Thy
faithfulness, Lord, unto me If you have your Bibles with
you this evening, if you would turn with me to the book of Matthew,
chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27, we'll begin in verse
33. And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall, and when he
had tasted, he would not drink. And they crucified him and parted
his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots, And sitting down
they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation
written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying,
Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests,
mocking with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, and if he will have
him, for he said, I am the son of God. The thieves also, which
were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from
the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani, That
is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of
them that stood there when they heard said, this man calleth
for Elias. And straightway one of them ran
and took a sponge and filled with vinegar and put it on a
reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, let us see whether
Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion
and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake
and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
truly, this was the Son of God. God our Father, come to you through
your blessed son that we just read of. Lord, we come humble knowing what we are, knowing
our feeble and frail state that you've revealed to us. We come knowing my might, my
power, my righteousness that you've revealed to us. your holiness. Father, we come bearing thanksgiving. We thank you for all that you've
given us. Thank you for all you've provided, all you have shown
us, for all that you have taught us, for teaching us fire, Lord
Jesus Christ, our savior. for showing us salvation, for
showing us love. A love that is beyond this earth. A perfect love. So perfect that you give your
only son that we may dwell in glory with you for eternity at
your feet. Father, we ask that you would
cause us to enter into worship here tonight. Let us worship the King. Lord, let us not be gathered
in mockery. Let us not be gathered in vain.
For vain show, Lord, we thank you for revealing
yourself unto us, for choosing a people to show mercy to. Lord, we ask that you would meet
with us tonight. Be with our pastor as he stands
before us to proclaim the gospel. I ask that you send your spirit
among us. Bless your word to our hearts, to our souls, ingrained in our hearts, Lord,
thy word. Let us not easily forget what
we hear. We ask that you would keep us
as we go our ways this week. Pray for the dear saints who
are weak and weary and hurting. Lord, that you would give them
some relief. Raise them up again if it be thy will. Be their strength
and their comfort and their stay. Lord, we ask that you would continue
to keep us all. For if you don't keep us, we
won't be kept. We surely cannot keep ourselves. Lord, we pray that you would
forgive us for all things unlike thee. Continue to forgive us for our
multitude of transgressions against thee. Ask that you'd cause us
to walk in thy light. Walk in my path. Lead our footsteps,
Lord. Cause us to do thy will. Lord, pray for my unborn child
that you would be merciful as you have been
to me. Lord, please keep us. Ask that
that will be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Hymn number 209. 209. ? Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord ? Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt ? Yonder on
Calvary's mount outpoured there where the blood of the lamb was
shed. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. God's grace, grace that is great. at last. Grace that is greater,
yes, grace I'm told, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Grace, grace, God's grace within. Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater than all
our sins. Dark is the What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson
tide Wider than snow you may be God's grace, grace that will
pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace. God's grace, grace that is greater Marvelous, infinite, matchless
grace, freely bestowed on all who believe, you that are longing This moment is grace, believe. Grace, grace, heaven's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse. God's grace, grace that is greater
than all mercy. All right, if you will, if you
got your Bibles, open with me to 1 Kings, Chapter 12. 1 Kings,
Chapter 12. I remember mentioning recently
about Jeroboam and the sin of Jeroboam. It's what I want to
deal with tonight. Man-made religion. Man-made religion. Now, let me tell you the back
story on this. Rehoboam, Israel parted ways. You know, Judah and Benjamin
stayed together as two tribes, and Judah is where the kings
come from. And Rehoboam, Solomon's son,
is the king over Judah and over Benjamin. Well, Jeroboam is the
king over Israel, and he's afraid that if he don't get people to get on
his side, that they'll all go back to Judah, and all of Israel
will go back under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. So they have a parting of ways,
you know, the tribes departed, ten tribes in Israel, two tribes
in Judah. And so that's what's happened.
And let's start up here in verse 26 and read down, and we'll deal
with Jeroboam and the sin of Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam built
Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein, and went out from
thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart,
Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, which
is the house of Judah. If this people go up to do sacrifice
in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this
people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king
of Judah. And they shall kill me, and go
again to Rehoboam king of Judah. whereupon the king took counsel,
and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too
much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one
in Bethel, and Bethel is the house of God." That s where Jacob met the LORD, and he called this
is the house of God, and that's why it was called on then. And
when God came down on the ladder and met him, Bethel's called
it the house of God. And the other one put he in Dan,
the lot where Dan was. And this thing became a sin,
for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
and he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest
of the people, which were not the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam
ordained a feast in the eighth month of the fifteenth day of
the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered
upon the altar, so he did in Bethel, sacrificing unto the
calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priest
the priest of the high places which he had made. So he offered
upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of
the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of
his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel.
And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense." This is the
religion of a fool, this is a man-made religion. Here s one of the things
that s interesting about Jeroboam. He s a descendant of Joshua,
and Joshua took Moses place. He is the one, the warrior that
went in and took Canaan, so he was a descendant of Joshua. But
he also became the leader of a false worship, the leader of
a false worship. And he began to think in his
heart, that was his problem, he began to think. He THOUGHT
and instead of resisting His thoughts and recognizing them
as they were sinful thoughts, God-dishonoring thoughts, He
nurtures them, and He protected them. And the religion that Jehoboam
started here is like every enemy of Christ's religion. It's a
religion born in the heart of a man, and it's not worth anything. that s what happened with this
religion of Jeroboam. It originated in the human heart.
Look back up in verse 26, And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now
shall the kingdom return unto the house of David. Down in verse
15, He offered upon the altar which he had made, but on the
fifteenth day which he had devised in his own heart. That's where
false religion starts. It starts in the human heart.
That's where our problem is, in the human heart. Jeremiah
said, THE HEART'S DECEITFUL, AND ABOVE ALL THINGS, INDESPERATELY
WICKED. AND THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO REALLY
KNOW THAT IS THE LORD'S PEOPLE. THERE'S NOT A PERSON IN THIS
BUILDING THAT KNOWS CHRIST THAT WOULD TRUST IN THEIR OWN HEART.
YOU WOULDN'T DO IT, WOULD YOU? I DON'T EVEN TRUST MY CONSCIENCE.
I DON'T EVEN LISTEN TO MY CONSCIENCE. No, no, you know what I listen
to? What God has to say, because that's what's right. My heart's
deceitful, my conscience is deceitful, my conscience will excuse me
from doing things, but oh my, it originated in His heart. There's
only two religions in this world. One has his origins in the I
will of God. God told Abraham, I will be thy
exceeding great reward. I will make a covenant with you.
I will establish your seed forever and ever. Everything that happened
in Abraham's life and our life is I will, I will, and you shall. Go out, Abraham, I will that
you go out. Abraham went out. That's true religion. God says,
I will, and you shall. But oh my, that's what happens,
you know, and the OTHER originates in the thoughts and hearts of
man. You know, God said this, He says, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My thoughts are higher than the heavens and the
earth, higher than the heavens above your thoughts. You mean
you ain't even in the same park? And look at all the people in
the Scriptures that thought this way. Naaman, Naaman, great, mighty
general. And he went up to see Elias and
he said, oh my, he said, I thought he had come out. I thought he'd
come out and do great, just wave his hand over me. He thought.
And that rich fool, he said, look at all the things I've got.
I got to turn down my barns and I got Bill Moore to hold all
this stuff. And our Lord says, you fool, your soul is required
of you tonight. Simon Magus, he saw the Holy
Ghost coming upon The children of Israel, on the saints of God,
when Peter laid his hand on, he reached in his pocket and
said, how much does it cost me? How much will it cost me to get
that gift, that power? And he said, you thought within
your heart that the things of God could be purchased with silver
and gold. And God said himself, you thought
as I was altogether, someone like you. Man's heart, And that's
where this religion has started. It started in the human heart,
the heart so deceitful and so wicked that can NEVER, EVER bring
out of it a SYSTEM of worship that makes the claims of God
and meets the claims of God, don't even meet the needs of
the soul of man, don't even meet HIS soul. You know, it's just
like Adam. When he fell, God come and said,
Adam, Where are you? He said, I'm naked. I'm naked. Well, he really wasn't naked.
Do you know what he had on? He had a fig leaf. He hadn't
had a fig leaf on. He pulled a big fig leaf off
a tree and covered himself with it. But you know what the problem
with a fig leaf is that it'll die after a while and you got
to get another one and you got to get another one. And that's
the way religion is. You got to get more and more
and more. You're never satisfied. But when
God clothed him, when God clothed him and God covered his nakedness
with the slain animal and covered him with his skin, that's when
salvation was caught. And I'll tell you what, in Cain,
here's another man that had this false religion. And Cain thought
that, oh, the best that I've got, I'm gonna bring it to him.
I'm gonna bring the best of the ground. I'm gonna bring the best
that I've got. And God cursed Cain, drove him
out of his presence. Well, that's how the religion
of God starts. It starts with a revelation.
God has to be revealed. You can't, by searching, find
him out. That's what he said. By searching,
you can't find him out. People said, I found the Lord.
The Lord's not lost. It's man that's lost. God Almighty,
He has to come and REVEAL Himself, MAKE Himself known. He has to
REVEAL the Lord Jesus Christ to the heart. He has to REVEAL
your need of Christ. He has to REVEAL that you re
sinful self. He has to REVEAL everything about
our religion is a REVELATION! It s a revelation, and oh my,
anything opposed to the revelation of God Almighty is presumption
and rebellion. And then look what else he done,
look what else he said about himself here in verse 27. You know, his religion is for
his own selfish ends. He said this, If this people
go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then
shall the heart of this people turn again to Reboam, and they
ll go back to Reboam, and then they ll come down here and they
ll They'll kill me. That's why Ridley's born in his
human heart. He didn't wanna die. What he
said was, I don't wanna die and I don't wanna go to hell. That's
what he's talking about. And look what it says. And we're
up on verse 28. The king took counsel. Oh my,
he took counsel. He said, fellas, what in the
world can we do to keep everybody from going up to Jerusalem? He
said, well, make us two calves, two gold calves. And oh my, that's
what he did. He set up golden calves, one
over in Bethlehem, one over in Dan. He was afraid the people
go up to Jerusalem and worship and their hearts would be turned
for him. And his religion, this religion, was centered on his
own personal honor, on the fact that he didn't want to die, he
didn't want to be forsaken, he didn't want everybody to go ahead.
That SINNER self was the center of his religion, self was. And
you know, you know and I know, we've experienced
this and we've seen it time and time and time again. PEOPLE WANT
GOD FOR WHAT THEY CAN GET FROM HIM. PEOPLE WANT GOD FOR WHAT
THEY CAN GET OUT OF HIM. THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT FOR. OH
MY, WHETHER IT'S HEALTH. LORD IF YOU'LL RESTORE MY HEALTH. LORD I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN.
AND THAT'S THE WAY PEOPLE PRAY. IF YOU WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN YOU
WANT TO GO TO HELL. NOBODY WOULD SAY YES I WANT TO
GO TO HELL. A FELLA TOLD ME ONE TIME WE WAS
DIGGING A GRAVE. He was digging a grave out at
Thomas Springs, and we was out there digging a grave, and this
fella always had to be popping off, and he said to me, he said,
he said, I guess you think I'm going to hell, and I said, I
didn't say a word, never said a word, we was digging a grave.
He said, well, if I go to hell, I'll have lots of company, and
I said, no, no, if you go to hell, you'll not have any company
whatsoever. You'll not have a friend down
there, you'll not have any, you'll not enjoy one moment of it, not
one moment of it. Just kept digging, just kept
throwing dirt. That's the truth, but they make
heaven and hell to be the proposition. But here's the thing about it,
they're not interested in God. You know, Lord, they want God
for what they get. Straighten out my marriage, Lord.
Straighten out my marriage. Get me out of jail. Oh, I'm in
jail, get me out of jail. They got a child that's a rebel.
Lord, if you'd save my child and save him from rebellion.
And here's the thing, preachers, preachers have made God to be
everything to everybody. Whatever God you need at that
particular time, that preacher is gonna make him available to
you. If he's a God that needs your free will, he'll make him
a free will God. If he's a God of holiness and
you gotta live a holy life, he'll make you a God of works. If He's
a God that you've got to give a lot of money to, He'll preach
a God that absolutely said if you give, He'll give you 10,000
more. They'll make God to be what He
want Him to be. And I say, you know, that's awful,
that's awful. Shirley made a mention to me
sitting this afternoon out on the porch looking at these notes.
She said, you know, the highest calling that you got, the highest
calling that anybody can have on the face of this earth. Call
to be a preacher. That's the highest calling God
could give a man. And the highest calling, now
I'd have to step down to become the president of the United States.
And oh my, they made God to be all things to all people. people
want the benefits, oh God, I want your blessings I want your blessings
but I don't want you I want all the gifts that you can give me,
I want all the health you can give me and all the wealth you
can give me and all the things you can give me in this world,
I want a nice house, I want plenty of food on the table but oh,
I don't want you I want what you got, I don't want you Oh, it's like a child. They want
their parents' money. They want to live in their parents'
house. They want their parents to buy them a car. But don't
tell me what to do. I don't want to be under your,
they want to live in your house, want your money, want you to
give them a car, but don't you dare tell me what to do, where
to go, and when to do it. That's the way man is. Oh, my. And I tell you, when
self feels it's not getting enough, not getting enough, you know
what'll happen? They'll quit. Not getting enough attention,
not getting enough recognition, they'll quit. And they'll take
its vengeance out on God Almighty. God Almighty. You know, it's
the pride of life that overthrew our first parents. And it's the
pride, you know, it blinded the Pharisees and the scribes and
drags its myriads to hell. Oh my, our Lord Jesus, He talked
about that. He says they have a righteousness
of their own. He says men love to be, they
do their works for to be seen of men. Let me tell you something
about religion. And every one of you who's experienced
this on your job or wherever, somewhere. If somebody, all they
got religion, they're going to tell you, they're going to start
talking about their devotions. You know, we get up and have
our devotions. Well, good, good. And they'll
start telling you about their church. They won't talk about
Christ. They'll tell you about your church. Then they'll tell you about how
FAITHFUL they are to that church. And then they'll start telling
you about how much they give to help missionaries and all
the things that they do to help somebody else. And our Lord said everything
they do, every single thing they do, they do it so somebody will
say, Look at him, boy, ain't he something. You know, and that's
the way Jeroboam was. Boy, I got to have a religion
that won't get me killed. And oh my, and look what else
had happened to it. It appeared outwardly to be for
the good of others. Look what he said in verse 28. Whereupon the king took counsel
and made two calves of gold, said unto them, now listen to
this, it's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Don't want to have to make no
effort. Behold your God, O Israel, which
are here. Listen, we're going to make religion as convenient
for you as we can. And that's what he said. He said,
it's too much. You don't have to go very far. You know, people say that all
the time. You pass a dozen churches to get here. Why do you do that?
What's so special about going up there? But oh my, that's what
they said. Listen, don't go, I've got, listen,
if you don't like sitting on a pew, we'll get you a church,
we'll get you a cushioned seat from the theater. Oh my, they pretend that was
for their convenience, their advantage. Oh, and they said,
look at these gods. Here's, look at these gods right
here. You don't have to go up there, we got gods right here.
Easy, easy, accessible to you. Oh, religion born in the carnal
heart can only make hypocrites out of people. These be thy gods,
he said, that brought you up out of Israel. Oh my, he lied,
he has lied. The gods didn't, the calves didn't
bring him out of Israel. Oh my. It was a religion of self-expediency,
not of sacrifice. The thought of self-denial never
entered his mind or the people that was gonna go worship there.
Oh, my. I'll tell you, they wanted, you
know, he gave them a religion that they didn't have to go anywhere
to have any part of it. Oh, that's what, this is what
gives men and women a way, no self-sacrifice. Oh, it ain't
gonna cost you nothing. Don't go up to Jerusalem. We
got, listen, just walk across the street. Just leave your house
and come over here. And oh my, they want a religion
that don't cost them any time, don't cost them any money, don't
cost them any effort, that don't cost them any thought, don't
cost them any humility. And oh my, you know what our
Lord said? Our Lord said this. He said, you count the cost.
There ain't no man, not a person in this building, that didn't
buy or build a house that they didn't first sit down and count
the cost, whether they could make it or not. If you was gonna
build a house, the first thing you do, what's it gonna cost
me? And you say, well, I can't afford that, so you don't start.
He said, unless you start, you ain't got enough to finish. And
that's where a lot of folks, they start building, and they
end up not having enough to finish. And then he said, and I'll tell
you what, he said, what man, what king had 5,000 people go
out against another king that's got 20,000 people? He said, you
know what, the first thing he'll do if he's got any sense, send
me an ambassador over there and let's make some peace before
I get destroyed. And that's what our Lord says talking about the
cost. And men, oh my, men don't count the cost. because they
don't know the true value of things. Oh, they don't count
the cost, they don't know the true value of things. Our Lord
said this, what if you gained everything in this world that
you wanted? If you got everything that you
wanted? If you had all the gold in Fort
Knox, There's people that's got 30,
40 houses and everywhere they go, they stay in a big house.
Servants everywhere. But he said, what if you got
everything in this world that you wanted and lose your old soul, what
would it profit you? And that's what he said. He said,
I don't want you fellas to be inconvenienced at all. And a
lot of folks, they're not going to inconvenience theirself. They're
just not going to do it. That's one thing. I'll tell you,
a dear lady put up yesterday some of her stressors, things
that stress her out. I'll tell you one of my stressors.
You want to know one of my stressors? Folks that just don't give a
flip of whether they come on Sunday night or Wednesday night,
and they're just a Sunday morning girl. That bothers me. And I'm
telling you, and I don't mind people knowing it. I really don't.
That's one of my stressors. I hope it don't stress you like
it does me. But that bothers me. You know,
it's not convenient. It's not convenient. It's too much of an effort. Takes too much time. It'll take
time away from myself. It'll take time where I want
to go. It'll take time from what I want to do. It'll take time
from what I want and intend to do. It takes time away from me.
And that's what Jeroboam said. Listen, I don't want you fellas
to have to go to much trouble. I want you to go to trouble,
I'll tell you what, I'd rather, listen, I'd rather go to, I don't,
I'd go to any kind of trouble to go hear the gospel. Some of
you folks, you drive to go to conferences and things, you drive
hundreds of miles and pay big money for motels and things like
that to go hear the gospel. But that's not what this man
wanted to do. Oh my. These folks were not concerned
for time, they were concerned for time, not eternity. For the
flesh, not the spirit. For the body, not the soul. For
the world, not the kingdom of God. And things that should be
first, and you know what God said? He said, seek ye first,
that's the first thing. That's the alphabet of religion.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. These
fellas had here, Don't you do that, you stay right over here.
Don't want you to have to do without. Oh my, and then I'll
tell you something else, it was contrary, look down in verse
28 again, it's contrary to the Word of God. He said, Behold thy God's, last
part of verse 28, Behold thy God's, O Israel, which brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt. You know, it was contrary to
what actually God did. He was preaching and teaching.
Them golden calves, you know who brought them up out of Egypt?
God brought them up out of Egypt. The Lord brought them up out
of Egypt. Silver and gold, I mean it can't save you and that's
what they taught. Behold your gods which brought
you up out of Egypt. And you know, one of the things
that God said, He said, now, worship the Lord thy God, make
no image of me, no way, no how, from nothing. He said, look at
anything in the sky, don't make no image of me of it. Look at
anything on this earth and don't make you no image of it. And
here they made an image of God, just like Romans where they said
they changed the glory of the incorruptible God like unto man
and four-footed beast and creeping things and changed the creature
and worshiped the creature more than the creator. Oh, my. You know, he said, oh, my. He said they said their gods
didn't bring you out of Egypt. God brought us out. God brought
it out. And so they're not according
to the Word of God. You know, that religion and their
message is not according to the Word of God. The carnal mind
walks by sight, doesn't walk by faith. And you know, most
man's faith stands in the wisdom of men, what man talks him into
believing. And then look what it said in
verse 30. I'll get through this pretty quick if I can. and in verse 30 it said, This
thing became a sin, it became a sin and a snare to others. It became a sin. Oh my! The thing that they set up to
become the object of a worship for these people. Set up this
altar and everything is. Men always and always will worship
the work of their own hands. whether they ve built it. That
s why Paul said to them folks on Mars Hill, God is not worshiped
by the works of men s hands. And boy, these folks did! Ah,
man s going to worship SOMETHING! He s going to worship SOMETHING
he built, he s going to worship SOMETHING, he s going to worship
a crucifix, he s going to worship a statue, he s going to worship
prayer books, he s going to worship sacred preachers, he s going
to worship SOMETHING, man s going to worship I tell you, it became
a SIN to them, and that s the thing about it. And let me look at what else
they done here. It had no regard for that priesthood, God s ordered
priesthood, and no regard for any purity whatsoever. It says
in verse 31, And he made an house of high places,
he set the places for them to worship way up high, so you know,
they gotta go up high, set it up there high, you know, up high. And then he made priest of the
lowest of the people. He took the sorriest and the
whole, whole bunch of all those folks. You look like you'd make
a good priest. He's a rogue, he's a thug, he's
a rebel. You look like you'll make a good
priest. And oh my, that's what he did. He made priests of the
lowest people. And they were not the sons of
Levi. Oh my. I tell you what, priests of the
lowest, you know, I tell you what, our Lord Jesus Christ You
know, all these things, especially the priesthood. Aaron was the
first high priest, and the priesthood come through the Arianic, the
Levi, the son of Levi's, all of the son of Levi's and Aaron's
sons were always priests. It went through their family.
and I tell you they had no regard, and I tell you what, when you
dishonor ANY office of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's about as
low as you can go. No regard for the office, no
regard for positions, no people of God established by God, and
oh, my! You know why preachers are so
big and so powerful? is because people don't want
to be under their authority, and that's the way these folks
don't want to be under authority. And they know this, if they'd
had Aaron's sons, if they'd had Aaron's sons, you know what they'd
done? They'd said, this is not according
to the Word of God, and we're not going to take no part in
this. They wouldn't have suited Jeroboam's purpose. And this
is what is called a form of godliness. form of godliness, but deny the
power thereof. They didn't have any power. They
had no power to give a new heart, no power to give a new nature,
no power to give the new birth. You know what a will worshiper
is? What these fellows do, worship according to their own will,
to the devices of their own heart. Oh my. You know what God said? He said, He is to send them a
strong delusion that they might believe a lie and be damned. Why? Because they received not
the love of the truth. Not the love of it, not the love
of it. And here's another thing about
Jeroboam's religion, this man-made religion. Look what it says down,
verse 32. It appears, it has the appearance
of being right. And Jeroboam ordained a feast
in the eighth month of the fifteenth day, like under the feast that
s in Judah. And then he offered them on the altar. So what he
did in Bethel, sacrificing under the calves that he made. So it
has the appearance of being right. There s an altar there, there
s priests there, there s a big feast there like they have in
Judah. And I tell you, the WHOLE THING,
he said, Listen, we got an altar here, we got sacrifices here,
we got gods here, we got everything we need, we got priesthood here,
and we might offer and even going to have a BIG FEAST! And the
whole thing was a sham, a mockery, a lifeless image of the real. of the real, just a lifeless
image of the real. It had the appearance of being
right, but it even wasn't close to being right. And you know,
there's always an outwards, Satan, Satan, what he does, it's like
a funeral director. I've said this before, when somebody
dies, unless they're really mangled up or something, You know, the
funeral director's got to make them look like they're asleep.
When you walk up and say, boy, they look so good, don't they?
No, they look great. Don't they look so good? Just
look like they're laying there asleep. That's what the funeral
director's supposed to do. Make the dead look like they're
living, like they're just asleep. And that's what Satan does. That's what religion does. It
tries to make dead people look like they're alive. Oh, it dresses
them up, puts makeup on, got everything that they possibly
need. There s always an outward semblance of the true, but no
power, no authority, no foundation from God or in the sight of God,
nothing of God s in this at all. They went to the feast and they
made offerings and burned incense but it didn't give him any pardon,
didn't give him any peace, didn't give him any hope. They're going
to worship, why? Because he devised it in his
own heart. But you know, it was destined
to be destroyed. Look down in verse 13. And I
tell you what, God's gonna destroy all of it. He's gonna just burn
it all up. And behold, there came a man
of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel, and
Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And this man of
God from Judah cried against the altar in the word of the
Lord, and said, O altar, altar! Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
a child shall be born in the house of David, and even told
who he'd be, and that's Josiah. He became a king when he was
12 years old, 12 years old. and he re-established the Word
of God and the true worship in Israel. And I tell you, Josiah
by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priest of the high
places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be
burned upon thee. They dig up those priests and
they dig up those people, and you go on, you can read it later,
over in 2 Kings 23, that they took all, they dug those fellas
up, and on that very altar that they had those golden calves
on, they burned every one of those fellas' bones. Oh, Satan is a, anything or, God, like Houston
prayed tonight, Lord, keep us, keep us. Keep us, keep us, keep
us. And I, you know, Scott used to
say to me all the time, you know, I'd say, I'd say something I
think about, and he'd say, that's your whole problem, Dr. Bell,
you need to quit thinking. Just believe. He said, I thought, he said,
no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. And I tell you
what, that's the only thing we got to go by. Anything else that's
a God is not a God. God's to be worshiped by spirit
and by truth. God's to be worshiped, not by
the flesh, but by our heart, by the soul. And oh God, keep
us and protect us and preserve us. Not let our hearts be led
astray by anything in this world. Our Father, blessed be your holy
name, for allowing us to meet again this evening. I know that
the things that I said tonight, we're conscious of them, aware
of them, But oh, Lord, help us to tell the truth when we get
the opportunity to tell the truth. When somebody comes with us with
a false doctrine, a false truth, a lie, please help us be gracious
about it and tell about what's right, what's real, what's true.
Lord, keep us from ourselves and keep us from being mean and
harsh and cruel towards anybody in any way, no matter how. Far
off they may be, God, we can't win anybody by being mean. God,
help us to be faithful and true to your precious word. Help us
to be honest with men when we get the opportunity. God bless
these dear saints as they go their way, meet the needs of
their homes, meet the needs of their hearts. And Lord, bless
Darrell to get fit to come to worship again. We miss him so
much. And Lord, please, please, preserve us and keep us, and
help our hearts to stay fixed upon you. For Christ's sake,
amen. Amen. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, my Jesus. He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, Jesus, He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. And He did it by Himself. He
didn't have our help. That's what's so good about it.
I'll see you Wednesday, Lord willing.