I turn this morning to the book
of 1 Kings, chapter 8. Several weeks ago, when we moved
back into this auditorium after expansion and refurbishment were
completed. I felt led to re-read the prayer
that Solomon prayed at the dedication of the temple in Israel. And
two things at that time just leapt out at me as I read a portion
of his prayer, and I want to try to convey those to you this
morning. Now, the first thing, and let's
begin reading in verse 55 of 1 Kings chapter 8. In 1 Kings 8, verse 55, it says,
And he stood, and Solomon stood, and he blessed all the congregation
of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be the Lord that
hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that
he promised. There hath not failed one word. of all his good promise, which
he promised by the hand of Moses his servant." Not one word failed. Not one. Some keep their promises. Men make a lot of promises, don't
we? And some of them we don't. Sometimes we keep part of a promise,
and sometimes we fail to keep the rest of it, which is the
same as not keeping one word of it. This God, you want to
know who God is? He's the one who keeps all his
promises. Every word of every promise in
this book God Almighty will keep because he's God. He's the true
and living God. From cover to cover in this book,
you cannot find a promise that God has made that he has not
kept or that he will not yet keep. Don't get confused just
because he hasn't kept them all yet means he's not done intend
to, because he will. Men are clever and crafty. Men
twist words and turn phrases to change their promises to cover
their failings. Men even try to make a lie sound
like the truth and cover up their own inability to make good on
their promises. God keeps his promises, because
God is truth. What he says he will do, he will
do. What God promises, that's what
comes to pass. Every word of every promise.
And there is only one in whom you can put your trust and your
hope and your faith, and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The true and living God has not yet failed to keep, not in even
one word, all his good promises. I think that was a point worth
noticing. Now, the second thing that came to my mind here, let's
read on down from verse 57. It says, The Lord our God be
with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake
us, that he may incline our hearts unto him. to walk in all his
ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments,
which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words wherewith
I have made supplication, before the Lord be known to the Lord
our God, day and night, that he maintain the cause of his
servant, and the cause of his people, Israel, at all times,
as the matter shall require." Why does God keep his word? Why does he make good on all
his promises? Well, first of all, understand it's his nature.
It's who he is. To say that God cannot lie would
be just the most incredible understatement. And folks who try to find contradictions
or lies in the Word of God would be better off spending their
time trying to sprout wings to fly, because it can't be done. Something is not true because
we like what it says or because we understand it or even approve
of it. Whatever God says, whether we
approve or despise it, whether we understand or are baffled
by it, whatever God says is true is the truth. Because God is truth. He doesn't
speak the truth. He is the truth. And God keeps all His promises,
number one, because He is truth. But secondly, He keeps them. He does it because of what it
says in verse 60 here, that all the people of the earth
may know that the Lord, our God, He is God, and there is none
else. That's why He keeps His promises.
So we'll know. We don't think. We know God's
people, all His people, they don't think
He's God. We know He's God. He keeps His
word. Jesus Christ is God. There's
none else. And God's people all over the
earth will know who God is. It's a fact that one day in eternity
all men will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and God.
But God's people, His chosen elect, they will know it now,
they will believe it now, and they'll love it now. All of them, wherever on the
earth they are. The fact that God keeps all His
promises is evidenced in the Scriptures. It's evidenced here.
You can read the promises he's kept. It's evidence in the lives
of God's people by providence. Ask God's people. Get to know
God's people. Let them tell you what he's done
for them. They've read the promises here
and claimed those promises. And I'll tell you what, God keeping
his promises is the proof that God is who he says he is and
has accomplished what he set out to do and is now where he
claims to be. Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter
4. Solomon over there in 1 Kings
8 is actually referring or quoting
what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 4. Moses having seen God in the
burning bush that was not consumed and having been sent down to
Egypt and having experienced Israel's deliverance from Egypt
and the fulfillment of all the promised miracles associated
with that deliverance, here's what it says in Deuteronomy 4.
This is what Moses wrote in verse 35. He said, unto thee, unto
God's elect, it was showed that thou mightest know, not that
you might think, but that you might know. You know, you only
believe what you know. And God doesn't expect us to
believe something He hasn't revealed to us. He reveals it to us so
we know it in our hearts, so that we're sure. We don't have
to sit around and go, well, I wonder this and I wonder that. No, we
know just what it says in this book. It says, unto thee it was
showed that thou mightest know, what? That the Lord, He is God,
and there's none else beside Him. None else beside him? This is
obvious here, what this scripture is doing. It invites comparison. You take two things and put them
beside one another, you're inviting comparison. Now, I'm going to
give you an example here, and I hope you can identify with
it. There are two Wills in this congregation. There's Will Hacker and there's
Will Hand. Now, I'm not going to do this
so you boys don't have to panic, but if I brought Will Hacker
up here and said, Will, you stand up here for me. And I brought
Will Hands and said, now you stand over here for me, buddy.
Got them beside each other? The first thing that's going
to happen is everybody in here is going to start comparing them.
Some of them are going to say, well, you know, Will Hacker,
he looks like he's a little taller. And Will Hansel, he looks like
he's a little shorter. And this Will's got dark hair
and this Will's got light hair. And those of you who know them
pretty soon are going to start adding to all this by saying,
well, you know that Will Hansel man, he's a computer whiz just
like his dad. And others are going to say,
boy, that Will Hacker, man, he's a sports fan just like his dad.
He can really bring that baseball. And it can go on and on and on,
can't it? But let me tell you what the
most absurd thing in the world would be, was if you said, they're
the same. They're not the same. And when
you get them side by side, you can see they're not the same,
can't you? And that's what this scripture is saying. You want to find out who God
is? Well, go ahead and compare Him.
Go ahead. Compare Him. This does not invite
comparison. It demands comparison. Turn over
to Colossians chapter 1. You go ahead and hold up any
other so-called god, little g, beside the Lord Jesus Christ
so we can evaluate or choose by comparison. Go ahead. I can tell you what you'll find
out. It's the most ridiculous thing in the world to compare
anything to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank the gods of this world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not more wise than Confucius. Confucius
has no wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
more peaceful than the Dalai Lama. That guy has no power to
make peace. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
peace. The Lord Jesus Christ is not more mighty than Muhammad.
Muhammad's got no power in this world. much less in the world
to come. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's Almighty,
is what the Scripture says. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
more truthful than Theo. He's not more merciful than Buddha. Buddha can't give anybody mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
mercy. Buddha didn't make some things,
Christ made some other things, and you put them side by side,
and who made the best things? No, Buddha made nothing. He's
a stone rock. Some man said, was a God. If
we hold anyone up to the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll evaporate
before your eyes. Have you got Colossians 1, verse
16? Want to know who God is? Read who He is in the Bible.
and then compare anything you want to it. Think Buddha made
some things? Look what the Scripture says.
Verse 16 of Colossians 1, For by Him, by Christ, were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning. the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell." There it
is. These other so-called God's little
ye are not less wise, less merciful, less holy. Outside of Christ,
beside Christ, there is no intelligence, no truth, no mercy, no holiness. No righteousness. None. It doesn't
exist. Beside Him there is none else. None. And that includes the so-called
God little G that's being preached in most churches in this day.
They say that they're God and they call His name Jesus. It's
an insult to Him, but that's what they call Him. They say,
he wants to save you. He wants to have his way in your
heart. He wants to, he loves you, he loves everybody. He wants
to save you. But you have to decide to let
him. You know what that's putting the Lord Jesus Christ beside? You'd be You might as well bring
those two boys up here and put a pig or a goat over here and
say they're the same. Compare them. You want to insult
Doug Hacker, you tell him his boy's nothing better than a pig.
You want to make Isaac Hans upset, tell him his boy's nothing better
than a goat. Don't compare the Lord Jesus
Christ to this phony that they're preaching. That one couldn't
save anybody. Did God, when He determined to
save His people out of Egypt, what did He do? He chose a man
and sent him down there to Egypt. And He didn't ask their permission
to save them. He didn't beg them to let Him
take them out of Egypt. He sent a man, His prophet there,
who commanded that they let God's people go. He went into Pharaoh's
presence, the most powerful man in the world, and said, did he
go, oh, Pharaoh, please, please, please let them have their way.
Please let them go. No, he went in there and said,
Pharaoh, let my people go. God sent me to tell you. And
poor Pharaoh in his blindness had the audacity to say, who
is this God? that I should obey Him. Pharaoh
put himself beside God. And that Jesus they're preaching,
that's what it does. It puts you beside God. Oh, where do we stand? How can
we stand? Moses went down there. Pharaoh
found out who God was. God turned the rivers to blood. He killed every cow Pharaoh had. Look around this room at how
many firstborn children there are here. I don't know all of
you. I know many of you would be dead
in Egypt. God killed the firstborn child
in every family. God let Pharaoh march his army
out, thousands and thousands of men into the Red Sea and destroyed
them all. Why? There is no God besides
this God. What this God promises, He brings
to pass. And when He sent Moses down there,
He said, You go down there and I'll bring my people out. And
He did. How in the world did we get to
this place in modern religion, how did we get there? God didn't
send Moses down there to beg Pharaoh. He sent him down there
to command him. Let my people go. And Pharaoh
did. And if we ever see this God,
the God of all promises, he's not a beggar. There's no one
beside him. We'll fall on our face and beg
him for mercy. When the publican went in the
temple and saw God, he smote on his breast and said, O God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. Everything besides Christ is
nothing but sin. That's all it is. Not worthy
of comparison. And listen to me here carefully.
All the so-called gods, little g, are either men who aspire
to be a god, That's Mohammed and Confucius and the Dalai Lama
and the Pope and all the rest. Or they are inanimate objects
that some man has made and called to God so he can exercise power
over those who are foolish enough to bow down to them, whether
it's Buddha or the Sphinx or Baal or whoever it is. And pigs and goats have no more
hope of becoming little boys than these so-called gods do
of becoming gods. And here's the marvelous difference.
You see, all of these so-called gods, little gods, what they
are is men who aspire to be God. You know who the true and living
God is? He's the God who condescended to become a man. Now that's God. God who would make himself a
man. What is there that Isaac and Doug wouldn't do to save
their boys? You'd become whatever you had
to become. And God Almighty taught him,
became a man in Jesus Christ, and came to this earth. That's
the truth in living God. Don't hold these other objects
up, other men up beside the Lord Jesus Christ. It's insulting. Why did he do that? Why did God
become a man? Because he is God. He is mercy. He's merciful. It's his nature.
God's people are born sinners. And as men, we are to be accepted
of God eternally. We need to be holy. So God sent
His Son down here to be holy. He was holy. He lived a holy,
righteous life. He gave that righteousness to
His people. He made His people righteous, just as righteous
as He is. What about their sin? Well, at Calvary, Jesus Christ
died. You know why? He took on Him the sin of all
His people. And when He died, that sin was
gone. It was put away. Having done this to save His
people, Jesus Christ went back to the Father which sent him,
and he said, It's over. It's finished. I've done what
you sent me to do. And he got it done because he's
God. He's not frustrated by what men say, think, or do. And what
does all this mean to you and me? And listen carefully here. What this means to you and me This is either nothing to you
or it's everything to you. You know, if you think your works
or what you've done or any other little God object can save you,
then Jesus Christ is nothing to you. But on the other hand,
by comparison, If you come to the place where you realize,
I can't do a thing, I'm worthless and hopeless, there's just no
hope for me outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you come to
the place where he's everything to you. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. I want this morning to press
for the truth, and I realize unless God grants
it, it won't happen, but perhaps He will. Let's all ask ourselves,
not out loud, but ask and then answer in our hearts, which is
it with you? Which is it with me? Is Jesus
Christ everything or is He nothing? It's got to be one or the other.
There's no in-between. There's no hedging here. All
or nothing. Here is what God's Word says
no matter what any of us think or say in Ephesians 1. Here is
the truth of whether he is all or nothing. In Ephesians 1, verse
3, we read, ìBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ.î In verse 8, ìWherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and all prudence.î Verse 17, that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know,"
does that sound familiar? "...that you may know what is
the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe." according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought, where, in Christ, when he raised
him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly
places, for above," what principalities? All principalities and power,
and all might, and all dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
that put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." Now, that's pretty clear to me.
Christ is all. Why would anybody want to say
he's nothing? God's Word clearly says he's all. Turn to... Stay right there just
a minute. You say, well, how come some
get to the place where they used to think he was nothing and now
they think he's all? How's that happening? Stay right there in Ephesians
2, verse 1. It says, And you who believe,
have thee quickened. What was wrong with you before?
You were dead in trespasses and sin. There's only two kinds of
folks that are dead and those that are alive. Everybody knows
that. But there's some dead spiritually
and some been made alive spiritually. And those made alive, verse 2
says, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, According to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and we were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, who is mercy, for his
great love, he is love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins. He hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Look at verse 12. That at that
time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. Every time I read that Scripture,
I have to admit something crosses my mind. That word aliens. I'm not a big horror movie fan
at all, but I one time caught a little bit of that movie called
Alien. And I thought, that's the nastiest looking thing I've
ever seen. I mean, that's salivating, green-blooded, drooling, people-eating
monster. And you know what this says? We make that thing look like
a Barbie doll. What we are by nature in God's
sight. We are bloodthirsty, man-eating, God-hating aliens. It's what we are. Oh, I know
we love our children. They're so cute when they come
out of the womb. And I tell you what, they're
aliens. No movie maker ever made a monster to compare with what
we are in our sin. And if you had a chance, you'd
do the same thing to that alien they did in the movie. They'd
blow into pieces. That's what we deserve. God, by rights, would
put us where we do no more harm. And one day He will. All who
refuse to bow to King Jesus, that's what He's going to do.
Put us someplace out of the way. But thanks be unto God, He has
the power, He's almighty, to take an alien and turn him into
a son of God. Wow! That's the true and living
God. He doesn't just show mercy, He
is mercy. He doesn't just love, He is love. Oh, what manner of
love! Reread verse 12 there, "...that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in this world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Turn back a few pages to Colossians
1. Preaching the gospel is no more
and no less than clearly stating that there is none beside the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the miracle. Here's the
miracle. But there is none beside the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you could see the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning, there would be none beside Him. There's no
room. I'm sorry. No room. Anybody,
anything, any object put beside the Lord Jesus Christ is crushed.
It's nothing. But here's the good news. You
know where there's plenty of room? All the room in the world. It's not beside Christ, it's
in Christ. What a miracle, God has taken
some men, some women, and put them in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this says here. Colossians
1 verse 25, have you got it? Whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the word of God. That's to fully preach the word
of God. even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
great mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every
man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect where? in Christ Jesus. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. He came down here to make some
men perfect. Having done it and putting away
all the imperfections, He's gone back to the Father. You know
what He's doing now? He's sitting waiting to make a footstool out
of all those who won't believe on Him and to welcome those that
are in Him. That's amazing. Matthew chapter
7. When we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
we'll stop comparing God to anything or anyone, because Christ is
incomparable. The writer of Hebrews repeats
over and over, doesn't he? Christ is better, Christ is better,
Christ is better. And don't miss Christ. Behold
Him, believe Him, seek Him, ask for mercy. If we compare Christ,
we'll bow to Him. If we compare, we'll submit.
If we compare, we'll worship. If we compare, we'll seek. And
I've got some good news for everyone here who wants with all their
heart to find Christ, to see Christ, to be in Christ. Not
one word of any promise has failed to come to pass. That's good
news. And here's the promise of God's
Word in Matthew 7, verse 7. You say, what do I do if I don't
know Christ? What do I do? Here's the promise. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one, remember the scripture
said not one word will fail. Now listen to verse 8. For every
one that seeketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened." One more scripture, Jeremiah
29. We'll close with this. There is no double-minded seeking.
It's not Christ and anything, or Christ less than anything.
Nothing beside him. You say, When does a person find
Christ? Right here is when you find Him.
It tells us clearly in Jeremiah 29, verse 13. He shall seek me and find me.
When? Here it says when. When you shall
search for me with all your heart. What a precious promise. Go ahead. If you must compare, go ahead.
the gods of this world and the gods of our imagination, but
compare them not to men, but to the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's incomparable. There's none
beside him. And there's a really nice thing
this morning. You know what's a nice thing?
Is that, you know, I think, Will Hacker, I think it's okay if
we're buddies. And he doesn't mind if I'm still
a buddy with Will Hans. And I don't think Will Hans,
it doesn't affect us being buddies, does it? Just because I'm pals
with Will Hacker? That's okay, isn't it? That's
a nice thing. It's okay with both of their
fathers too, right? Let me warn you. Jesus Christ
is not one of the choices. There's no duplicity allowed. Paul read it. His Father, the
Lord Jesus Christ's Father, he's a jealous God. You can't have him and anybody
else. It's all him or nothing to do with him. He demands complete
commitment. It's all Christ or it's no Christ.
There are no others beside Him. Choose you this day whom you'll
serve, Christ or another. And that's not a request, because
He's no beggar. It's a command of the High King
of Heaven, the only one and potentate. May God give us the wisdom and
the grace to bow to this One. There's nobody beside Him. Let's
bow together in prayer.