Beginning with verse 5 this time You remember the Lord ended chapter
43 with The reason why he had forsaken
Israel as a nation as an earthly nation But then chapter 44 begins
With Him speaking to his elect again.
He says but Israel my chosen Jacob my chosen And then in verse 5 where we
pick up tonight He says one shall say I am the
Lord's Now this is after the Lord has said something verse
2 thus saith the Lord I I've chosen you. I've loved you. I've
kept you. I've saved you. Now we say something. I'm His. We belong to the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. I am the Lord. Another shall
call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with
his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Am the Lord's we belong to it
True marriage is forever and that's how our relationship with
our Savior is described True marriage involves godly jealousy
and Commitment Till death do us part in the
case of Mortals But we know our marriage
to the Lord where he is from now on and wouldn't have it any
other way. Jacob, some will say, they'll
call themselves by the name of Jacob. Now, Jacob is not a good
name in itself. It has a meaning that's not good,
not positive. It means supplanter or usurper. It means one who receives what
he receives by treachery and deceit. But if God says what
he did in verse 2, Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen, don't be afraid, Jacob, I have
chosen you, then you can call me Jacob. If it means that, if it means
God has picked me out and saved me, loves me, Jacob have I loved,
that I call myself Jacob, proudly. To subscribe with your hand to
the Lord is to put it on record that you are his, that you belong
to him. I'm signing myself over to him,
his cause, his service. You want to put that on record.
You want everybody to know it. This is what we confess in baptism.
It's also a daily commitment to him Verse 6 thus saith the
Lord the king of Israel in his Redeemer Israel's Redeemer the
Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last
and Beside me there is no God Now I'm the Lord thus saith the
Lord the king of Most people don't think of the Lord as a
king, as the king. King of kings and Lord of lords.
But all through the scripture, he's identified as the king of
the kingdom of God. When he was on the very cross,
he arranged that the superscription be written above his head in
three languages. This is the king. Now I think that our constitutional
republic, which is what the United States of America is, is not
a democracy as often as that mistake is made. It's not ruled
by the majority of the will of the people. It's a constitutional republic
and there are checks and balances there because men are evil. Because
authority is corrupt and absolute authority is absolutely corrupt.
You've heard that before. But even with the checks and
balances that are inherent to a constitutional republic, we
still see great corruption and problems. Really, in government
like nowhere else, great corruption. Perhaps religion is even worse,
if anything is. But imagine how much worse it
could be if you just had one man with absolute authority and
he was corrupt or she. But if you have one with absolute
authority that's perfect and just and good and always right,
then you're blessed. It don't get better than that.
There's nobody that can question him. Why would you want anybody
to? There's nobody that can change his mind. Why would you want
anybody to? He's perfect. He's good. He's merciful. He's gracious
and kind. We have that king, and bless
his name, he rules all the bad kings. I'm glad of that. There's
a lot of bad ones. And he rules all of them and
turns their hearts with us, whoever he will. bad politicians in all forms
of government he's overall he is the king of kings and lord
of lords and he rules all things for the good of his people he's
not just the king he's my king he's for me first and last he
says I'm the first and I'm the last that's a description that
our Lord uses concerning himself several times in scripture John
wrote in Revelation 1-10 I was in the spirit on the Lord's day
and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what thou seest,
write in a book and send it to the seven churches." He wants
all of his people to know that primarily right there. I'm the
first and the last. He's the first in that he has
preeminence in all things. You see that in the book of Colossians
all through the scripture really. The Lord has set his king on
his holy hill of Zion. He is the first cause of all
things. He's first in that sense. He's
the first born from the dead. He's before all things and by
him all things consist. And he's last in that he is the
final authority. He has the last word. He's the
final authority on everything. He has the final say in all things.
He is the end of all things. The purpose for them. The phrase, I am the first and
I am the last is a commentary on the eternality of God. The
beginning and the end. He is and was and ever shall
be. But it also refers to his character
as preeminent and things like that as we said. Then verse 7,
and who as I shall call and shall declare it? Is there anybody
like God who can declare it and set it in order before me? Is
there anybody else that can not only say, reveal His will, but
cause it to happen exactly the way He revealed it, set it in
order before me? I don't know anybody like that.
He's been doing that since he appointed the 8th since the first
man ever He was doing it before there was man, but he mentions
that here because of what he's going to say in the next few
verses When God calls and declares it happens it comes to pass.
That's that's the way he identifies himself As the God who gets it
done his will he purposes it he wills it he decrees it he
speaks it and Then he brings it to pass. He
sets it in order. It happens exactly the way and
in the order that he said it would. And notice this phrase, and the
things that are coming and shall come. The things that are coming and shall come. Let them show
unto them. If there's anybody else that
can do that, they can tell you what's going to happen. And here's the comfort that that
brought to my heart. It carries great weight when
the one who makes everything happen. He makes, he made everything
happen that has happened. Without him was not anything
made that was made and by him all things consist. He is before
all things. He has created all things and
for his glory they are and were created. And nobody can stay
his hand or say he does according to his will. according to his
will in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of this
earth and everything that's happening right now he's ordained it brought
you here tonight gave me a message and us hearts to receive it and
everything that's going to happen when when that one when the one
who determines everything past present and future and brings
it to pass says fear not and that's the message of this of this passage of scripture,
fear not. He identifies himself, he identifies
us, but what he says, I've got something to say to you, and
what it is he says to us is fear not. I've chosen you, I've got
you, you belong to me. And it's reiterated in the next
verse, verse eight, fear ye not. If we realize who it is that
says that, When your mom and dad, when you were little, when
they said, don't be scared, that helped. Because you knew if they
weren't afraid, then maybe it's okay. And if they tell you, you
know they'd tell you if there was a reason to be afraid. But
how much more ought we to trust and rest in our Heavenly Father?
Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it. There's nothing that you need
to know. that God hasn't shown you. Doesn't
that help? Doesn't that comfort you? Do
you ever wonder about that? Is there anything here? What's
going to happen? He's told us what's going to happen. I don't know
the specific details that are going to be carried out in my
life, but what difference does it make if he said it's all going
to be for your good? Not good enough, isn't it? It'll be alright,
whatever it is. It's going to be alright. I've told you. Haven't I told
you? Is there anything important that
we need to know that God has not revealed? Has he left us
in the dark about anything? He said, if my father's house
were many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
He was honest with the Pharisees, wasn't he? He said to his disciples,
if it wasn't going to turn out good for you, I'd have told you.
He made good on that with the Pharisees, didn't he? He said,
you're going to die in your sins. Where I'm going, you're not going
to come. You're not going to follow me. He said to his sheep,
you can't follow me now, but you will later. He said to the
Pharisees, you can't come where I'm going. You're going to die
in your sins because you believe not on me. He said, your father's the devil. It's not going to end well for
you. And then he says to his disciples, if you weren't going
to be with me forever, I'd have told you that. And then he says
in our text, you are even my witnesses. And we are, aren't
we? We're his witnesses. Oh, may he make us faithful witnesses
of him. He says, I'm the just God and
the Savior. We found him to be so, haven't
we? The Savior who saves. He declared it and then he did
it. And we can testify to that. That his word is infallible. That his power is limitless. He can't fail. And then he asked this question,
is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know
not any. And I don't either. There are a lot of pretenders.
There are a lot of imaginary gods. He's going to talk about
that next, and we'll get as far as we can in that, but there's
only one who can rightly be called God, who is worthy of the name,
of the title. One who does as he pleases. Only
one can have a free will. And it ain't me, and it ain't
you. Even the false gods, now think
about this. There's not even a false god who claims to be
sovereign. Have you ever noticed that? All of the false gods, you know
what they, they're waiting on you. You know why? Because the
ones who created them don't want a sovereign god. That's why. So they created him to be dependent
upon them. They don't want an absolute god.
But I do, though. Oh, don't you rejoice in the
sovereign God of heaven and earth? I want. I want the sovereign, absolute
God, and he is and there is no other. Though vain man would
invent his own gods, and that's what comes up next in verse nine,
look at this and they make they that make a graven image or all
of them vanity. Well, that's an important word.
We'll look at that for a little while. And they're delectable
things. In other words, the things that are precious to them shall
not profit them. They're not going to help them. And they are their own witnesses.
They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. The word vanity is very, very
instructive here. It means in the original Hebrew,
This is the definition of the Hebrew word for vanity. Formlessness,
confusion, unreality, and emptiness. And I sat there and read that
and I said, boy, that is false religion right there. Let's think
about this for a second. Each word of that Hebrew definition
is helpful. It describes us by nature. We
always got to remember that. We're susceptible now. But think
of this formlessness, just kind of some ethereal, just kind of
nothing definite, nothing concrete, nothing that you can sink your
teeth into. You know enough about false religion to know that it's
this way. When you make up a God, there is no systematic theology. There is no sense to it. There's
no substance to it. We know God as he's revealed
himself in this book. holy, almighty, eternal, sovereign,
omniscient, gracious. But the formlessness of the God
of religion, the God of man's free will, is that they'll say
that he's omniscient, and yet they contradict that. They'll
say that he's omnipotent, that he has all power, but then now
he's waiting on you to do something. He can't unless you let him. That's not omnipotence. It's
formless. It's contradictory. There's nothing
solid and concrete. Christ is our foundation. There
is no foundation in religion. Where is the infallible document
that describes the gods of men, or any single one of them? Formlessness. Their gods change at their own
whims. Back then, you know, some men
made birds and creeping things. We read that in Romans chapter
one that they made other idols in the image of men. We see that
in our text. They still do that, by the way.
Well, people don't make idols out of wood and silver and gold
and stone and things like that anymore. Of course they do. Of
course they do. People are still bowing down
to inanimate objects. I've seen them do it. I've been
present when they did it. But now that the foolishness
of that is well documented in the scripture, people are a little
bit smarter about it. They're a little bit more crafty
about it. They're smart enough to say,
we're not worshiping that statue or the stone image. We're not
worshiping the golden image. That just represents the God
that we worship. They're deceiving themselves. The God that they say is represented
by that image is as much an idol as the image is. They make statues
of the saints. And they say that they don't
worship the saints. We worship God. But you pray
unto the saints? That's not attributing worthiness
to them? To pray? Oh, Saint Peter, or
whatever, the patron saint of whatever problem you're having.
You know, do something for me. That's worship. And do you see why the word formlessness
applies to this? They deny what they're sitting
there doing. They're doing it and denying
that they're doing it. And confusion. The next word in the definition
was confusion. They say, oh, silly you, you
know, we don't worship the cross. We worship the one who died on
the cross. But you're singing songs about the cross, not him. You're wearing crosses. or of
gold around your neck. There's a reason why they made
many graven images out of gold and silver and things like that
because that's what we worship, mammon and ultimately ourselves
in that. But that's why you're wearing
a gold cross around your neck. You make a sign of the cross,
some do, when they're afraid or when they need something.
Instead of sincerely just praying to God, Lord, you're the God
of heaven and earth. You can do anything you please. Help me.
I need your help. I need your mercy. I need your
grace. They make the sign of the cross. You're not worshiping
the cross? Really? Kind of looks like it. Kind of
seems like it. When you're singing about it
and wearing it. Instead of going to Him, you go to that. I think you're confused about
what you're worshiping, you see, in religion. That's what I think.
And unreality, that's the next. Think about the disconnect from
reality that is characteristic of the worship of all but the
true God. Utterly disconnected from reality. Reality is what is revealed in
this book. This is what's real. Not what
you see, not what you think, not what you feel. What God says
is what's real. And they say, they'll say they
love the Bible. Oh, they'll read through the
Bible once a year, every year, you know. The Bible is, we believe
that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God. And then
they make things the cornerstones of their belief system that are
directly opposed to the word of God. The very cornerstones
of their belief system. God loves everybody. Christ died
to save everybody. These things are directly contradictory
to what God said. Have they even read the Bible?
You remember how many times the Lord asked them that? Have you
not read? The ones who were the Bible experts. The ones who graduated
from, you know, the colleges of theology. Haven't you read
the Bible? And then emptiness. That's sad
and emptiness. It's sad to see somebody, and
we've all witnessed it. We all, I'm sure, are witnessing
it. It's sad to see somebody worship a God that does not exist. And of course, as we always see
from the scriptures, they're really worshiping themselves
because they have invented a God that suits their own will and
their own way. How futile is it to worship a
God that you made when there is a God in heaven that made
you. Look at the next verse. Who hath
formed a God or a molten a graven image that is profitable for
nothing. Where is he? This is the last
word in the definition of vanity expanded upon. emptiness, futility, profitable for nothing. But also
now in this verse, this is God calling them out who would do
such a thing who have formed a God or molten a graven image
that is profitable for nothing who come before me and declare
yourself Give account of yourself explain why you would do that Such a senseless and terrible
thing and what a terrible place to be I Think about this Obviously someone
who that doesn't exist is not going to be able to help you
benefit you In any way whatsoever. That's what he said profitable
for nothing but those words Remind us of another verse of scripture,
don't they? These images will profit you nothing. Paul said
in Galatians 5 that if you remain in the state of unreality, of
thinking that your works, which is the very essence of what an
idol is, it's something that you do with your hands. It represents
your work, your will, your way. And Paul said, as you remain
in that state of unreality and confusion and emptiness of trusting
your own works, the work of your own hands, anything that you
do, those things won't profit you
anything, but not only that, the only one that can help you
will not help you. Christ shall profit you nothing. Galatians 5.2. Verse 11 behold all his fellows
shall be ashamed and the workmen They are of men I wonder why
it stressed it obviously that's that that could just be You know
a given right, but he takes to The trouble to point out they
are of men he reminds us look Anything that you may how can
something you make be God? Let them all be gathered together
let them stand up and Yet they shall fear and they
shall be ashamed together. Can you imagine the fear and
trembling as you stand before the God that made you, grasping
the gods that you made in your mind and in your heart? When
reality is forced upon those who are living now in vanity
or unreality, they will be ashamed. There's going to be some light
someday to see what they've done, what they are, how foolish and
how blind. To worship a rock, not the rock. Shame comes. Have you ever been
ashamed? You just wanted to crawl under
a rock and hide from the whole world? What was the cause of
that? You know what it is? It's when
You've been real foolish. You did something real stupid.
Isn't that it? Or you did something so horrible
you don't want anybody to know about it but then somebody finds
out about it and then others find out and you just want to
move to another state where nobody knows who you are. You ever been
there? Shame. To worship anyone or anything
but the God of the Bible Is shamefully stupid and evil And that's going to be revealed
one day that's what he's saying they're going to be afraid And they're going to be ashamed God
sent his son his king Into this world and he offered his own
soul his precious blood Suffered and died in the place of his
people became the only sacrifice that God will accept for sin And you rejected him and offered
God what you did look what God did But that's not important
what God did is not look what I did You're gonna say that to
the God that sent his son to die for sinning You're gonna
say look what I did. He said you will if you don't
know my son and That's exactly what you're going to say. Look
at my wonderful words. Why do you think God sent his
son if all that needs to happen is for you to turn over a new
leaf? Or just decide, you know, one day that, hey, I think I'll
believe on Christ and love God today. Why did God send his son
then? It's confusion, isn't it? It's
unreality. And we're all going to stand
before God one day. We're going to stand before the
one that made us and told us plainly to renounce our own works. From Cain to Paul and everybody
in between, the Lord taught us all through this book, don't
trust in your own works. Salvation is by grace through
faith in the Son of God who finished salvation, who accomplished the
work of salvation for all of his people. And you're going
to stand before him and say, look at all the wonderful things
I did for you. When God did what he did for
sinners, you're going to say, look what I did for you. We don't know what shame is,
do we? And I pray we never will. Depart
from me, he says, and take your sinful works with you. The best
that you did, what you're bragging on, what you're saying are your
wonderful work. They are wretched and evil and
sinful and abominable in my sight. Depart from me. I never knew
you. There's one way to stand before
God unashamed in the day of judgment, and that's to stand in Christ. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith." They weren't looking for righteousness. They didn't
follow after righteousness. They didn't even try to keep
the law. They didn't want any law over them. And yet, God gave
them faith in his Son. And they have righteousness now. Wherefore? Now but but Israel
verse 31 Romans 9 31 but Israel which followed after the law
of righteousness Which said we keep the law which say I've kept
the law for my youth up. I've never committed adultery
I've honored my father whether I've done check check check They have not attained to righteousness
Wherefore? Why not? Why not? Why wouldn't the ones that that?
Say they want to please God. They're doing their best to please
God. Why can't they please God? Because
they sought it not by faith. They didn't trust Christ. They
didn't believe on Christ. They didn't acknowledge Christ
as their righteousness before God. They didn't submit to the
truth that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
To everyone they sought it not by faith but as it were by the
works of the law. They sought to please God by
what they did and what they said and what they thought and what
they were For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone As it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and rock of a fence and whosoever believeth on him Shall not be
ashamed Turn to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1. Let's be reminded
of this passage of scripture. Romans 1 16. Romans 1 16. For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believe it. to the Jew first and also
to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. They'll live before God by faith.
In other words, they're going to be righteous by faith. For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God. They didn't make idols in ignorance.
They made their own gods because they didn't like the God. They
despised him and so they made their own. It became vain in
their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened, professing
themselves to be wise. They became fools and changed
the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creepy
things. And God gave them over. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. You
see why he said that in the context of this? I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. If you're not, then you never
will be ashamed. You'll never be ashamed of yourself.
Not before God. Because you're going to stand
in Him. You're going to stand in Christ. Ashamed of ourselves,
of course, in ourselves, but not in Him. We stand boldly before
the throne. We come boldly to the throne.
Not presumptuously, but boldly because We come not without a
representative, not without an offering. We come because our
forerunner has entered before us, entered into the holy place
not made with hands. And so we can come. We're not
going to be afraid and we're not going to be ashamed. The
two things that everybody else will be. Look at verse 12 in
our text and The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals
and fashioneth it. We're gonna read a couple of
verses here and think about, notice the language, what's happening
here. He worketh, he fashioneth it with hammers. People are very
inventive about it, aren't they? They'll figure out a way to prove
that God's not sovereign from the scriptures. Oh, I know it
says that, but you know, hmm. Inventive, creative, hard working
in it. He worketh it with the strength
of his arms. How did God save us? God's arm of power and salvation
is Christ. He saves us with his arm. What
we do with our arms is the problem, not the solution. He worketh it with the strength
of his arm. He is hungry, and his strength faileth. He drinketh
no water, and is faint. He's busy about it. He's committed
to it. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule. He marketh it out
with a line, and fitteth it with planes. And he marketh it out
with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man.
According to the beauty of a man. According to what man says is
beautiful. What man says. is God, what man wants to worship. That it may remain in the house.
Now there's a lot of teaching here. We'll be brief and close. But religious idolaters, they're
very zealous in their idolatry. Paul said they have a zeal of
God. But it's ignorance. Their zeal is ignorant. They're
good at it. They're experts at being stupid.
That's us by nature now. Just absolute experts at it.
There is a great laboring in religion. When your eternal destiny
depends upon you, there's no rest. Isn't that a picture of
that? Here he works and he becomes
faint. He works so hard at it he forgets
to eat. And he's constantly trying to
do better and better. This is why our Lord said, come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. I've been in religion, I understand
it. I know what it's about. You can't ever do enough. You've
got to always come down. You come down and rededicate
your life. And then you come down a couple of weeks later
and re-rededicate your life to God. What is that? And then, you know,
a little while after that, you just keep on coming, keep on
coming. Down the aisle, you know, to make a public display of now,
you know. Last time it didn't mean anything,
but this time it does, you know. I never understood renewing your
vows. And if you, look, if y'all want
to do that, that's fine with me, don't bother me. But I never
understood that. Didn't, wasn't the first time, wasn't that forever?
It's almost like you're renouncing that one if you're doing it again. But that's how it is in religion. Before long, you'll be throwing
your TV away. I've told you what to do with your TV if you think
it's evil. I still have a couple of rooms
in my house that doesn't have one of them. But that's how religion,
I've been in it now. I know what it is. It's always
something. You can't eat somewhere where they're serving beer. That's
the appearance of evil. And they're always looking for
something that they can do to please God. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And they even
take that first scripture right there when he says, take my yoke
upon you. See there, we've got to put the yoke on and work for
the Lord. No, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me
and you'll find rest. Taking his yoke on doesn't mean
laboring for the Lord. It means he's pulling you along.
The work's getting done because you're yoked to Him. But they'll use that very scripture
to show, you know, look, we just, we got to be busy for Jesus. They're motivated by law. I want
to work, don't you? I want to labor for Him. I want
to please Him. I want to serve Him. Whatever good works are,
I want to do them. And I want to do a bunch of them.
But not to get to heaven when I die. I want to do it because Christ
saved me just because he loved me. Not because of... If he'd have had to save me based
on anything I did, he wouldn't have done it. He'd have had to
put me in hell. But he saved me anyway. He saved me in spite
of myself. And if he will condescend, if
he will do something for me in the form of me doing something
for him, I'm in. I'm in, man. And notice the language there
in verse 12 And we're almost through look. He said this Smith
fashion. He worketh it with the strength of his arms He saw his
strength fail. He wears himself out trying to
make a God That will accept him that will save
him that will be who he wants him to be And notice the difference
in Psalm 44 This is the believer now Psalm 44 one Here's the believer, we have
heard with our ears, oh God, our fathers have told us what
work you did in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst
drive out the heathen with thy hand and planted them, how thou
didst afflict the people and cast them out, for they got not
the land in possession by their own sword. We've heard, Lord,
how that our fathers were given a promised land, And they didn't
get it by fighting. Neither did their own arms save
them. But by your right hand. And your arm. And the light of
your covenants. Because thou hadst a favor unto
them. Because you wanted them to have it. You are my king. Do you see that? If your religion is doing something
for God, and most of it is, you're never going to acknowledge him
as king. It's always going to be about you in it. But when
you see that salvation truly and completely is of the Lord,
then you'll say with David here, you are my king, oh God. You
just gave me your salvation. By the strength of your arm,
by your hand, by the light of your countenance, because you
had favor unto me, I'm saved. You are my king, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob. You've been doing it since there
was a Jacob. Just keep doing it. Keep saving us. Command it. That's how I've been saved. That's
how I'm going to be saved. Will we push down our enemies
through thy name? Will we tread them under that
rise up against us? For I will not trust in my bow,
neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our
enemies and has put them to shame that hated us. You saved us. We ought to say that every day
in our hearts, if not with our very lips. God, you saved us. Praise your holy name. You saved
me. In God we boast all the day long
and praise thy name forever. Do we do that? You can't do that if your God
is dependent on you. If you're dependent on him, you're
going to boast in him and praise his name forever. Notice two
final things real quick from verse 13. We get back over there, verse
13, we'll close with this. The carpenter stretcheth out
his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes,
and he marketh it out with a compass, and maketh it after the figure
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain
in the house. It's made in the image of man.
God made man in his image, and man makes a god in man's image. Antichrist. What is the image of God? God is spirit, you can't see
him. But his image is Christ. And he made us in his image.
You know they say God wants to, but he can't. That's not God,
that's you. You just made a God in your image.
You made a God like you. He's tried and he won't. No,
that's you. That's not God. He's done all
he can do. That's you. It's after the image of a man.
They make their image and they put it in their house so they
can see it all the time. Religion is all about sighting.
It's about touching and tasting and handling. Thomas said, unless
I see, unless I touch, I will not believe. That's all of us
by nature. The true God is worshiped by
faith, not sight. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We don't
have to have something in our house. We don't have to have
something hanging around our neck. We don't have to have something
up here to look at. We believe on Christ by faith
in his word. Listen to this and I'll be through
let me read the context of what I just quoted from Thomas from
from John 20 about Thomas and our Lord John 20 29 Jesus saith
unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed
Blessed are they that have not seen And yet have believed We walk not by sight, we walk
by faith. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book, but these are written. These are written. Well, I don't worship the cross
now, I just wear this, this just helps me worship him. These are
written. These are written. Though one return from the dead,
though you could see something spectacular, if you don't believe
what God said, you're not going to believe. If you don't believe
this book, you're not going to believe because of some spectacle,
because of something you can see or touch or feel. That's
the message of the scripture. These are written that you might
believe. A lot of these images are made
that you might believe. These are written. Is that not
enough? Are the scriptures not enough?
Is that what they're saying? That you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing you might
have life through his name. That's how sinners are saved.
By grace, through faith in Christ as he's revealed in this book. May God give us faith in His
Son that we might have life. We're all idolaters by nature
now. I thank God for revealing Himself
to our hearts that we might say as the psalmist did there, Lord,
You saved us. You're our King. We're gonna
bless your name forever. Let's pray.