Ascribing salvation to Jesus
our King. Salvation to God who sits on
the throne. Let all cry aloud and honor the
Son. The praises of Jesus the angels
proclaim, fall down on their faces and worship the lamb. Then let us adore and give him
his rights, all glory and power. and wisdom and might, all honor
and blessings with angels above, and thanks never ceasing and
infinite love. Invite your attention back again
to Jeremiah the seventh chapter. As I said, the title of my message
this morning is Feeling Better. Now these words that are spoken
here are the declaration of those
who reject the word of the Lord. The Lord has required them to
amend their ways, to repent, to turn from their evil ways
which are idolatry and such, Our Lord describes their ways
in verse nine when he says, will you steal and murder and commit
adultery and swear falsely and burn incense at the Bayal and
walk after other gods whom you cannot and know not and then
come into this house, the house of worship, the house that I
designated for my name, is to be called out and say we are delivered, we've
been saved, to do these things, to do these abominations before
God. The Lord said, amend your ways,
amend your ways. These people stand in the face
of the prophet and say that everything is okay with them because they
have to themselves visible evidence that they are indeed the children
of God. The Lord has said that the temple
of the Lord is about spirit and truth, repentance and faith and
the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. The people say
we are all that and the proof is what you can see. They repeat
their defense three times saying the temple of the Lord are these
in verse four. Our Lord says trust ye not in
lying words saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. Some say the thrice
repeated words refer to the three feasts observed in the temple.
Others say that this repetition is a kind of oath, swearing by
the triune Godhead that everything's okay with them. Still others
say that the tripled phrase is a declaration that they are right,
and the prophet is wrong for saying what he said. The same
kind of attitude was displayed in Matthew chapter seven when
those stood before Christ, picturing the judgment of men. And when
he said, who are you and why are you here? They said, Lord,
Lord, don't dismiss us. Don't put us out. We've prophesied
in your name. We've done wonders in your name.
We've cast out devils in your name. We've done all this in
your name. In the name of Jesus, we've hollered down the streets.
In the name of Jesus, we've cast out devils and such. And our
Lord looked them squarely in the face and said, depart from
me ye that work iniquity in the name of Jesus. Ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. And the same attitude is taken
here by these who stand in the face of the prophet Jeremiah.
When he says, you've got to mend your ways and stop what you're
doing, they said, no, no, no, no. The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. They're
these. The fact is, however, that this
is merely a statement of obstinate pride in the fact that they feel
fine. Because they've been told all
is well, and they after all are Israel, the chosen of God. And their hubris is smoke in
God's nose. Our Lord spoke about this several
times in Isaiah 48 and verse 2. He said, well they call themselves
of the holy city and stay themselves upon God of Israel, the Lord
of hosts is his name. In Micah chapter 3 it said, The
heads thereof judge for reward, the priests thereof teach for
hire, the prophets thereof divine for money. Yea, they will lean
upon the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? None evil
shall come upon us. This is their pride. This is
what they're saying. In a carnal understanding of
the doctrine of election, which is what the Jews had and many
Many who despise the doctrine of election have the same attitude
today. It will always be a source of
pride. They believe that election gives
them entitlement. when a true understanding of
election casts a man down into the dust where he belongs and
shows them had not God intervened in his ruined life and career,
he would have remained lost and undone and would have went straight
to hell if he could. A carnal understanding of election
will always produce pride. But these folks have been convinced
that the redundant practice of rites and ceremonies and ritual
in the visible temple are to them ample proof of their righteousness,
and that all is well between them and their God. They stand
in the face of the prophet. God says, amend your ways. Amend
them. Turn from your wickedness. And
they say, no, it's not us. You're not talking to us. The
temple of the Lord are these, whatever these are. It's what
they have confidence in. that they're a child of God when
God says you're going to hell. Just a general perusal of the
grammar of this text that's used in this statement is enough to
show us that they're in error to start with. You see, proper
grammar requires a noun and verb agreement. Has to be. And you don't have it here. Temple
is singular. The temple. The temple is singular
and the words are and these are plural. So you have bad grammar. It just doesn't fit. The temple
is a picture of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ with Him as
the head. That is the temple of God according to Scripture.
Our Lord says, take down this temple. I'll raise it up again
in the last day. Over and over again it speaks of the church
as the temple of God, the habitation of God from on high. The temple
is a picture of Christ, and Christ is singular and absolute. He's
the only salvation. He is the one way, one truth,
and one life, and there is no other. He is all of salvation. Now listen, He is all of salvation,
or He is not salvation at all. All of salvation. The scripture
does not say salvation are of the Lord's. It says salvation
is of the Lord. The temple is not these things. Not these things. The temple
is the thing. Christ is all of salvation. It's
the thing. Yet they are adamant in their
tenacious tripping and tiring. They are confident and the reason
is obviously set forth. Our Lord says it twice in verse
one and in verse eight. You trust lying words. Would anybody trust lying words? People build their eternal on
lying words. Read Isaiah 28. They even brag
about it. They say, we've made a covenant
with hell. We're not afraid of death. When
the overflowing judgment comes, we're not worried about death
because we have hid ourselves in lies and made falsehood our
refuge. Made falsehood our refuge. You
believe lies, God said. They believe the lie, and the
lie they believe is that all is well based on what they believe
are these things. These things. Amos describes
them as being at ease in Zion and putting off that dreadful
day. They believe they are upon a solid foundation, yet their
feet are in slippery places. It is evident that they do not
believe what Jeremiah has said, but it's also evident that somewhere
along they have believed what some other preacher, some other
teacher, or some other prophet has said. They trust, after all,
another word for believe, they trust in lying words. Now what lying words could make
men and women believe that these things are evidence of being
right with God. What kind of words would need
to be heard? We know that the Word of God
never makes you feel better about yourself, does it? It doesn't. Self in the Word
of God is the enemy. Self is the opposite of love.
Self is the flesh in which we are to have no confidence whatsoever. So the lie that's being told
requires the employment of self and results in feeling better
about yourself, whatever the lie is. This in turn causes one
to diminish the value of Jesus Christ, the temple, and increase
the value of itself. Whereas John the Baptist said,
he must increase and I must decrease. But these lying words have the
opposite effect on people. The false prophets spouting their
lying words have made the people feel better about themselves.
Be confident in their religious estate to the point of actually
arguing with the word of God. People don't argue with the word
of God, they do it all the time. All you gotta do is stand in
a crowd of Baptists and mention the word predestination and you'll
get all kinds of argument. Mention the word election, you'll
get all kinds of argument. You'll even people say things
like, well, I don't believe that. You don't believe the word of
God? Well, that means you're an unbeliever. That means you
believe lying words from somebody. These are saying, as many do
in religion, the word of God is quoted, I don't believe that.
Such believe a lie. They believe lying words. But
what lie have they believed? Turn back one chapter to Jeremiah
chapter 6, in verse 13 and 14. This is what they've been told.
This is what makes them feel good. This is what makes them
feel good. The lie is revealed and along
with it, the result is revealed. Verse 13 says, from the least
of them, even to the greatest of them, everyone. is given to
covetousness, which is idolatry, and from the prophet even to
the priest, everyone deals falsely. They're a bunch of liars. They
have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Peace, peace when there is no
peace. 1 Thessalonians 5, 13 says the
coming of the Lord, the second time will be when the preachers
of this world begin to cry peace and safety. Everything's okay
between me and God. What lying message might make
people think all is well when in fact it is not? They speak peace. Look at chapter
five and verse 31. It says, the prophets prophesy
falsely. The priests bear rule by their
means and my people love to have it so. They love to have it so.
And what will you do in the end thereof? The result of the lies
described is slightly healing the hurt of my people. Now in
today's language, that would simply be this. These lies make
people feel better about themselves. No, we don't need to amend our
ways. You see, the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these, are these. In today's language, it simply
means feeling better, slightly healed. I say that will make you feel
better about yourself. What can I say that will do that?
What would give you comfort? Carnal comfort, but nonetheless
comfort. Knowing that God's Word says you're in trouble from the
time you were born. In fact, you were in trouble
before you were born. You were in trouble in Adam.
and you're judged in Adam and condemned in Adam. You were born
in this world condemned. You came forth in the womb as
soon as you were born speaking lies. You were conceived in iniquity.
You drank iniquity like water. You're all deaf, dumb, lame,
broken, ruined, vile, unclean, a maggot on a dunghill. That's what the Bible said. Well,
that doesn't make me feel that good about myself. What would you give, what would
give you comfort knowing that God's word says you're such?
That you're in such trouble that you can't undo it, that you can't
fix the situation. Well, one way I could make you
feel better, men are doing it all the time, they tell you that
God loves you. or that God loves you and has
a wonderful plan for your life, or that God loves everybody,
most of the preachers in America and throughout the world call
themselves Christians. Saying that, is it true? No.
God doesn't love everybody. He loves His people. He loves
His sheep. He loves His elect. He loves
those He's chosen in Jesus Christ. I'll tell you this about God's
love, it's not like ours. Ours is puny and weak and frail
and unrequited and can't get nothing done. I've sat beside
the sickbed of my children when I felt their life was in danger.
I loved them with all my heart, with all my soul. Tears of love
flowed down my eye and didn't make them any better. Because
my love is not backed up by power to perform. That's not God's
problem. God loves you. You know what's
going to happen to you? If God has loved you, He'll always love
you. And if He loves you, He'll never
put you in hell. I guarantee you that. He'll save you. But
I could tell you, and if I repeat it over and over again, since
you're a little child in sunbeams all the way up to your old geezer
in the back pew of the church, I keep on repeating it over,
God loves you, God loves you, you'll start believing it. And
you know what love, what we know about human love, what we understand
about human love is that if somebody loves you, they're not gonna
hurt you. We know that. That's the carnal understanding
of love. They're not going to hurt you
if somebody loves you. You're not going to be afraid
of somebody that loves you. It's going to make you feel comfortable.
If you're a human being, that sounds good. If somebody loves
you, you feel comfortable around them, you don't fear them because
somewhere in your psyche where you live, that makes you feel
better about yourself because somebody loves you. Also, I could
tell you that Christ died for you. That might be true and might
not be true. But if I tell you that Christ
died for everybody, I'm telling you a lie. Because Christ said
himself, I lay down my life for my sheep. The Lord gave me my
sheep, and my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
anybody pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. But preachers stand up and say, Jesus Christ
died on the cross and paid your sin debt. He paid your sin debt. I heard Charles Stanley one time
down in Atlanta spend a whole hour trying to explain how Christ
paid somebody's sin debt, but they have to pay it too. I mean,
he spent a whole hour doing it. Listen to me. I understand math,
and so do most human beings. If my debt is paid, I don't owe
the debt. the old poet said justice cannot
twice demand payment at my surety's hand and then again at mine that
would be unjust for God to require Christ to pay for my sin and
then have me pay for it also my sins if everybody's sins are
paid for then That makes me feel okay. You know, I may feel like,
well, one of these days I'll accept that. I'll accept that. That makes me feel better. I'm
slightly healed, you see. But the lie of universal love
and universal redemption, a problem arises with the fact that all
are not saved. The Bible's pretty clear on that.
Some will die in their sins. Our Lord said, if you don't follow
me, you'll die in your sins. Some will perish in an eternal
hell. I don't preach a lot on hell because I'm so naturally
mean that I'm afraid it might sound like it's my idea and not
God's. But I'm telling you, there's
a hell. And the way it's described, whether metaphorically or otherwise,
it ain't a place I want to go where the worm dies not and the
fire is not quenched. Eternal torment where a drop
of water would be all you'd ever want, just one drop of water
on your tongue. Some men are not saved. Some
men are eternally separated from God. Now if God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody and paid everybody's debts, this
creates two scenarios. The first is that if God loves
everyone and Christ paid the debt of everyone, yet some of
them are not saved, then you've got to admit the love of God
and the sin debt payment of Christ has nothing to do with salvation.
If what they did did not affect salvation, then it has nothing
to do with salvation. That's the first scenario. The
second scenario is that salvation must be dependent on the individual
and the knowledge that I, by my will, by decision, by walking
down an aisle, by reciting a sinner's prayer or some religious foolishness,
makes me feel better. Makes me feel better, slightly
healed. Thus the adamant, intractable
cry of religion is, it's the temple, the temple of the Lord
of these. Salvation are these. You tell me I need to be in other
ways, I tell you I'm already saved. That's what they're saying
to the prophet. There ain't no problem between
me and God. Thus we have religion of this day as it has been from
the beginning. When the serpent tempted Eve,
why did he do that? To make her feel better. A lot
better. He said, if you'll eat this fruit,
you'll be like God. That'd make me feel better. If
I was a lost man, had no interest in God whatsoever, and all I
had from God was a restriction, I'd say, yeah, that sounds good.
It's the same old thing. What does she feel better about?
Not about God. She felt better about herself. when Satan sought to tempt Christ.
Read that temptation. Those temptations. He didn't
tempt Christ, he sought to tempt Christ. Because for a temptation
to work, it has to be something he knew responds to it. Christ didn't respond to any
of those things that Satan tried to tempt Him with. But what was
it all about? Well, if you're really the Son of God, His pride. His pride. Make these stones
bread. All the world, I'll give you
all the world if you'll worship me. If you're really the son
of God, cast yourself off this abyss. Because God said the angels
will hold you up. You'll not dash your foot against
the stone. What'd he do? Trying to make
Christ feel better about himself. Christ was the only selfless
man that ever lived but faced the earth. Selfless. Selfless. That's what he was trying to
do. The religious hucksters have turned the lie into an art form,
there's no doubt about that. These things have become the
promise of health and wealth. and it's only conditioned upon
the activation of your faith, which you don't have, unless
God gives it, your will or your commitment, you activate these
things, then all this stuff that God has for you is gonna flow
right down for you. That giant, giant wondrous spigot
in heaven is gonna pour out the rain of blessings upon you if
you'll just exercise your will. Men are told, God wants these
things for you. And you have the power to make
them happen. Well, dang, that makes me feel
better. Makes me feel better than some
fella saying that I was born in sin, came born in the womb,
speaking lies, rightly doomed to hell, and the only thing that
will prevent me from going to hell is that God sovereignly
has chosen to show me grace. The other one makes me feel a
lot better. Folks like these things, things
that they can see and do and keep account of, touch, things they can touch,
things they can taste, things they can handle, things that
give them evidence that they are at peace and safe and slightly
healed. When you talk to folks about
the singularity of Christ alone for salvation and Him doing nothing
whatsoever and can do nothing whatsoever to be saved, they
talk about prayer, church attendance, membership, Bible reading, giving,
humble countenance. These things prove I'm a child
of God, they say, and I feel better. I'm slightly healed,
except they're lies. They're lying words. You trust
in lying words that you have believed. You believed lying
words. Why? Because those words have
made you feel better. Made you feel better. Barney,
you say, if I'm going to introduce you to the true God, I'm going
to have to kill your God. He got to go. Ain't no mixture. Ain't no play pretties here.
Ain't no play pretties here. Words that make you feel better
about yourself are lies. Let me repeat that. Words that
make you feel better about yourself are lies. They are lies. Psalm 62. Here is how we are described
by God. Well, there's some good in everybody.
That's not what he says. Verse nine of Psalm 62, surely,
truly, absolutely, men of low degree are vanity. Now, us high
rising folks will say, that's the truth, the old George Lennon
is drunk, good or drunk, he ain't nothing but vain, he's empty,
he ain't no good. Wait a minute, let's not stop
there. And men of high degree are a
lie. To be laid in the balance, they
are all together, And I can't even wrap my mind around what
this means fully, but I know it means nothing plus nothing
plus nothing plus nothing. When men, when humanity is weighed
in the balance before the thrice holy God, humanity is lighter
than vanity, weighs less than nothing. That's how God describes
us. Weighs less than nothing. Then
Paul, in Romans chapter 3, quoting Psalm 14, says this, in Romans chapter 3, he says,
as it is written in verse 10, there is none righteous. How
many? Not one. There is none that understandeth There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all going out of the way. They are all ready to
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is
an open grave, an open sepulcher. With their tongues have they
used deceit. They're a bunch of liars. The
poison of Asp is under their lips. What they say will kill
you. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Have you ever seen an age like
this age? Maybe it was going on when I
was a kid. I don't remember. I've never seen such bitterness
and cursing manifested humanity as it is today. Why? Because
that's what it meant. All of them might not show it
in the same way, but it's coming to a head, it seems. As the Lord
said, the love of many will wax cold, and things will wax worse
and worse. And yeah, it's happening. Their
feet are swift as shepherd blood. They're murderers. I saw a sign,
a billboard, where a woman was bragging about her abortion. And I thought to myself, Murders are rarely ashamed of
what they do. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. And the way of peace have they
not known? But somebody's told them, peace, peace, when there
is no peace, and they're okay with that. There is no fear of
God before their eyes, no love, no worship, no reverence for
God Almighty before their eyes. This is the description of humanity.
This is your resume. Would you like to apply for the
job of holy man? Would you like to apply for the
job of saint? Would you like to apply for the
job of a righteous one? Well, here's my resume. I'm not
good. Don't do good. I'm not righteous.
When I speak, it's a mouthful of poison. My throat's like an
open grave. That's my resume. Can I get the
job? I don't think so. I don't think
so. Paul said in Romans chapter seven,
and this is a saint of God, an apostle of God, writing on the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says, in my flesh, in myself,
dwells no good thing. In my flesh. You know what he's
talking about? These things. that make me feel
better. The flesh, these lying words
that you have trusted are poison to your soul. They are prescribed
by Dr. Feelgood and the slight healing
will not hinder the raging, virulent, metastasizing malady from consuming
the prophets who lied to you and you who follow them. Most
people think, well, you know, it's the preacher's fault. Well,
it is. A lot of this junk, most of this junk lies at the feet
of the pulpits of this nation, this world. Let me tell you something
very clear. If you perish in your sins, you
can't blame the preacher. Even if he lies to you. Because
you've got the Word of God. You can go up there and say,
is he telling me the truth? I'm going to see if he's telling
me the truth. I've told this congregation for 40 years. When
I finish preaching, go home and open this book and see if I was
telling you the truth. Don't take the word because I say it,
because lying prophets are going to perish. There's no doubt.
Everybody says, yeah, they ought to perish. They ought to perish.
But listen, everyone who follows them is going to perish too.
Listen to how the Lord describes it in chapter 14 and verse 13. He says, thus then said I, O
Lord God, Behold, the prophets say unto them, ye shall not see
the sword. Peace, peace, when there is no
peace. Neither shall you see famine. Peace and safety. But
I will give you the assured peace in this place. This is the lie
they tell you. The Lord said unto me, the prophets
prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have
I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesied to
you a false vision and a divination and a thing of naught and the
deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning the prophets is prophesying my name and I sent them not.
Yet they say sword and famine shall not be in this land. By
sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the
people to whom they prophesy, shall be cast out in the streets
of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they shall
have none to bury them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their
daughters, for I will pour their wickedness upon them." You're trusting lies. You come
into my house, practice your all manner of evil and say, we've
been saved to do this kind of thing. Most of man's hope. Back in our
text, turn back to chapter three, verse 23 of Jeremiah. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for
from the hills or from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord
God is the salvation of Israel. Scripture says, behold God, the temple, Jesus Christ, is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He has also become
my salvation. The prophet said, the wise man
said, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust in the
Lord. with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy steps."
Paul told Timothy, God has saved us. God has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose in grace, which He gave His people in Jesus Christ. Don't trust in lying words. Don't trust in any man who tells
you that you ought to feel better about yourself, because you shouldn't. You ought to feel better about
God. Father, bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.