The second indictment, an ignorance of God. At times I am asked, Brother
Paul, please come and do a week long series on the attributes
of God. And many times I will say this,
I'm well, brother, have you thought this through? He said, what do
you mean if I thought this through? Well, it's quite controversial,
the subject that you're giving me to go teach in your church.
And I said, what do you mean it's controversial? I mean, it's
God. We're Christians. This is a church.
What do you mean it's controversial? I said, dear pastor, you listen
to me. When I begin instructing your people, on the justice of
God, the sovereignty of God, the wrath of God, the supremacy
of God, the glory of God, you're going to have some of your finest
and oldest church members stand up and say something like this,
that's not my God, I could never love a God like that. Because
they have a God, they have made with their own mind and they
love what they have made. Jeremiah, Nine, twenty three,
twenty four, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast of
his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not
the rich man boast of his riches, but let him boast of this, that
he understands and knows me. Psalms 50, you thought, God speaking,
you thought I was just like you. I will reprove you. and state the case in order before
your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget
God or I will tear you to pieces and there will be none who delivers.
Now, what is the problem here? There is a lack of the knowledge
of God. Many of you possibly think, oh,
talking about the attributes of God and theology, it's all
high ivory tower stuff that has no practical application. Listen
to yourself speak. Saying the knowledge of God has
no practical explanation? Do you know why all your Christian
bookstores are filled up with self-help books and five ways
to do that and six ways to be godly and ten ways not to fall?
Because people don't know God! And so they have to be given
all sorts of trivial little devices of the flesh to keep them walking
as sheep ought to walk. First Corinthians 15, 34, become
over minded as you ought and stop sinning, for some have no
knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Why the rampant sinning, even
among God's people, a lack of the knowledge of God. Of God. Now, let me ask you a
question. When was the last time you attended
a conference on the attributes of God? When was the last time
as a pastor you taught for a solid year on who God is? How much of all the teaching
that goes on in America every week has anything to do with
who God is? And then we wonder. Isn't it
so easy to go with the flow, to just follow everybody else,
and then one day you hear something like this and all of a sudden
you go, I can't even remember when anybody taught on the attributes
of God. No wonder we are a people as
we are. To know him. That's what everything's
about. That's eternal life. And eternal
life doesn't begin when you pass through the gates of glory. Eternal
life begins with conversion. Eternal life is to know Him.
Do you honestly think you're going to be thrilled about swinging
on gates of pearl and walking down streets of gold for an eternity? The reason why you won't lose
your mind in eternity is because of this. There is one there who
is infinite in glory and you will spend an eternity of eternities
tracking him down and you will never get your arms even around
the foothill of his mountain. Start now. So many different
things you want to know and do in all the books. Get out a book
on God. This one. and study it to know Him, to know Him. Sunday morning, because
of all of this, I would submit to you that it would be better
not even to have a Sunday morning. Sunday morning is the greatest
hour of idolatry in the entire week of America because people
are not worshiping the one true God. the great mass, at least,
but are worshiping a God formed out of their own heart, by their
own flesh, satanic devices and worldly intelligence. They've
made a God just like themselves. And he looks more like Santa
Claus than he does Yahweh. There can be no fear of the Lord
among us because there is no knowledge of the Lord.