I can't get the right paperwork
out of my Bible. See if you can find in your Bibles
the book of Ezra. That's right after 2 Chronicles,
and I forget who's on the other side of it. Nehemiah. Chapter 8, the book of Ezra. Now, if you'll put a marker there,
I would like for you, after you've found Ezra chapter 8, if you
would please to turn. Everybody got to Ezra? Genesis
chapter 14. Genesis 14. I've chosen these scriptures to address one single simple,
well, maybe not so simple question. One question, just one. It is one that you and I, if
we're wrong on this one question, our souls are damned forever. Where does God presence himself
today? Is he here? If he's not, we'll
perish. If this place is not the worship
of God, you need to find a place that is. But I can tell you about
the county in which we live, Harnett by name, you'd have to
look a long time. I'd pay you $100 for every church
in this county that's preaching the true grace of God. There
ain't none. All right, you find Genesis 14
and you're holding on to Ezra chapter 8, correct? All right,
may we pray. Lord, thank you for letting us
come together in this place this day. It is not only your divine
permission, but your divine will that enables us to be present
here at this hour. Lord, we confess to you that
we are sinners from head to toe. Every part of our being is infected
with the disease of sin. an inherited disease from our
father Adam. Lord, we're interested this morning
in your teaching us, and if you
teach us, we'll be well taught, and if you don't, we won't. Teaching
us what things are necessary in order for you to be present
in our midst. Is it our church name? Is it
the popularity of a preacher or of the people? These things,
we believe, have nothing to do with it. O Lord, please cause us to be
interested for the very sake of our own souls, to be wrong
on this is to perish for all eternity. This is a little place, an insignificant
place. There aren't many of us. But Lord, if you're present,
if you would see fit to presence yourself in our midst and take
your very own word, this Bible in front of us, and speak to
our poor souls. Oh, what else matters after this?
We are blessed beyond measure. Help us, we pray, for Christ's
sake. Amen. Genesis 14 finds us during a
portion of time in Abraham's life In fact, he's not even called
Abraham yet, he's called Abram. But some foreign kings have invaded
the region not far from where Abraham is. Abraham's nephew
Lot is a resident in the city of Sodom. These kings had captured
not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but Admah and Zeboiah. All of these were cities of the
plain. They captured all of its inhabitants,
which is a huge number of persons, at least for that day. Maybe
not for hours. And they had taken the spoils
of war from these four cities, as was the custom then. still
pertains in our very day in some places at some times. Abraham
learns of this. He gathers some men about him,
taking a goodly number of his own servants and taking servants
of other persons who wanted to bring these people back and to
recapture these things that were stolen. And so Abraham goes out,
begs God for the victory. They kill those invading forces
and they recapture all the persons who have been taken, plus all
the goods that have been stolen, and I'm sure whatever other goods
were there that they brought back. So we pick it up now. Abraham, I'll just call him Abraham. I don't like to keep distinguishing
between it. He just hadn't got that full name yet, but it belongs
to him. Abraham has come back. The King
of Sodom is speaking to him in verse 21 of Genesis chapter 14. And the King of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the persons and take the goods to yourself. And I don't think those goods
would be anything to sneeze at either. And Abram said to the
King of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the
Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I'll not take
from you so much as a thread or a shoelace, and I'll not take anything that
is yours, lest you should say, I made Abram
rich." Now that's what you call jealousy for the honor and glory
of God. That one ingredient in saving
faith is sadly missing in this generation. In verse 24, save only that which
the young men have eaten and the portion of the men which
went with us Namely, Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, let them take their
portions." He's not telling them they have to do like him. He
said, you give them whatever their portion is, but you can't
give me one red penny. Why? The honor and glory of Abraham's
God is at stake. That's how it comes. All right, let's find that other
scripture. Let me see, where was that now? Oh, the book of
Ezra, chapter 8. Here is not the same situation,
but one that is certainly parallel to what we've just read. And
I gave you chapter 8, but I want to read you a statement out of
chapter 7, the very first statement, the first verse in Ezra chapter
7. Joel, how about taking orders
for these tablets you've got in your lap? Because I believe,
you know, we could save a whole lot of time. I have more time
to preach. Ezra chapter 7, verse 1, Now after these things, in
the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Shariiah,
the son of Azariah, and the son of Hilkiah. Boy, how many names
can you get in there? And it goes on describing them
in the further verses, but we're interested in our time. Now we're
going to jump to chapter 8, and we begin at verse 21. Now in the meantime, in chapters
7 and 8, up until we get to verse 21, Ezra has been told by the king
of Persia, Artaxerxes, not a believer, does not know God. And if you
had asked this guy why he's doing this, I'll bet you he couldn't
tell you. But I know why. God moved him to do so. He can
move any man there is, or devil for that matter, at his pleasure.
He can move you and he can move me. Oh, and he can remove me
and he can remove you too, or anybody else on this entire globe
this very moment. This king, this country as well as another,
probably Babylon if I remember right, has conquered Jerusalem,
has stolen everything worth anything in the temple in Jerusalem. and
brought a good many of its inhabitants back, in this case, to Persia,
where Ezra is a slave. And so are the Israelite people
that are with him. And this king gives them their
liberty, gives them everything that was stolen from them, gives
messages to his people that are in that part of the world, that
if you need anything, all you've got to do is ask this person,
and you just show him this. That's all it'll take. It's unbelievable. But they did. Now the problem. Ezra tells us for this journey,
for this great number of people and the amount of wealth that
they're moving over hundreds of miles in some very dangerous
places. I mean, we'd be a fool to try
to drive it from one side of Fayetteville to the other. If
it's that much, you understand? He offered this man soldiers
to accompany them on the way. Let's find out what Ezra said
to him. You remember what Abraham said
to the king of Sodom? Verse 21, chapter 8, the book
of Ezra, And I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava,
this is still in Persia, that we might afflict ourselves before
our God to seek of Him a right way for us and for our little
ones and for all our substance. Now here's the verse I want you
to mark, at least in your mind, if nowhere else. For I was ashamed
to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help
us against the enemy in the way. Why was Ezra ashamed? Ah, he's been talking to this
king about his God. Because we had spoken unto the
king, saying, The hand of our God is upon us, is upon all them
for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath are against
all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our
God for this, and he was entreated of us. Verse 31, Then we departed
from the river of Havava, On the twelfth day of the first
month to go unto Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon
us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of
such as lay in wait by the way, and we came to Jerusalem." Now
then, with those two Old Testament illustrations behind us, I dare to tackle this question, where does God present Himself
today, right now? Where is He in Harnett County
right now? Where is He in North Carolina? Where is He in America?
Where is He the world over? I'm telling you, He's everywhere.
And He's got people everywhere. I may not be aware of it. I may
not know them. But I'll tell you, if God's only
got the ones that I can see, there ain't many. But this book
says that number will be impossible for us to compute. More souls
than we can possibly imagine. First of all, my introduction,
which I guess I've been doing that for now for a good bit,
but I've got to add some other things so that you will see this. I hope I see it clearly. Here are five reasons for religious
pretense. And our world is absolutely full
and running over of pretenders. Religious pretense. Everybody
and his brother claims to love God. But they got no time for
his son. Something wrong with that. Bad
wrong with that. Here's the first reason for religious
pretense. Ignorance concerning the character
of God. It's been a good while. You probably
saw one of these. I saw a bumper sticker. It says,
Jesus is coming, look busy. Obviously, that person's Jesus
ain't God. But the Christ of the Bible is
God Almighty. He's coming, look busy. I mean,
like he can be impressed with some fool trying to indicate
that he loves him and he doesn't? I mean, when Christ was here
in the flesh, he read men's hearts and minds, even their thoughts. Ignorance of the character of
God. God is holy. God is all-powerful. God is everywhere
present. He's all-knowing. We're going
to pretend we're doing something for Him and don't think He's
going to figure out it. It's just a plum zero from start
to finish. One of my relatives, some year
or two ago now, I suppose, or more, asked me at a family reunion. His preacher had told them that
there were certain things that Jesus Christ did not know. And he just asked me point blank,
right in front of everybody, what do you have to say about
that? Oh, I said, I just got one question. Is Jesus Christ
God Almighty or not? If he is God, to be God must
know everything. You go tell your lying preacher
he's wrong. I would bet good money that he
didn't do that. But he should. He should. He'll answer for that on the
day of judgment. Second reason for religious pretense. is the
fear of being rejected by people that we want to accept us. Some
people call those our peers. I reckon that's a good word. Number three, we're all plagued with this.
Well, all of these things we're plagued with. Only God can deliver
us from them. But the third reason is this.
an inordinate desire to be popular. We want people to like us. But I'm telling you, if the true
gospel is the subject under discussion, I wouldn't expect too much acceptance
on the part of persons who are not already believers. Let me
show you a couple of scriptures. This time it's in the New Testament,
so you can find it more quickly. I tell myself I'm not going to
have these turnings. I try to limit it to the same
book that I'm in, but I can't do it this morning. And I don't
do it a lot of other times when perhaps I could. But if you'll
turn to Luke chapter 16, Luke 16 begins with a parable
of what is called the unjust steward. And in verse 14 of the
same chapter, Luke 16, and the Pharisees also who were covetous,
they heard all these things and they derided, they laughed at
him. Look at this guy, would you? He is a hoot. And our Lord
said to them, you are they which justify yourselves before men,
but God knows your hearts, and since He is God, He knows them
too. For that which is highly esteemed among men is what? Abomination in the sight of God. If your religion ever becomes
popular, you ought to get out of it while you still can. Here's the fourth reason. I've
got some other scriptures, but this is just the introduction.
I've got to get started here. Number four. The average religious
person believes that his works have something to do with being
accepted of God. And the Bible, when it speaks
of being accepted with God, it says accepted in the Beloved,
that is, in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is found in Ephesians 1
and verse 6. Here is the fifth one. Now, you are going to need your song
book for this one. The average religious person
believes that Jesus saves good people and that He died for everybody. Everybody. Isn't that what Psyche
said in that hymn? Oh yeah. He said, Jesus died
for all mankind and Jesus died for me. If He died for all mankind, and all men are not in glory
when this thing is wound up and finished, He's not God. And if He ain't
God, He can't be our Savior. If He's not God, He cannot be
our Redeemer. We're not playing word games. This is not a matter of semantics.
This is the truth. Let me remind you of something
that I told that young man sitting behind Boat Barefoot. His name
is Jeffrey. I like his last name a whole lot. Jeffrey Beretta.
Anyway, we were talking about the Scriptures,
and he was talking about a particular statement in our Bibles that
is a little bit difficult to be understood. And I said, Jeffrey,
you remember this one thing. This book is not written for
doctors and lawyers or theologians. It's written for the average
man on the street. And don't you forget that. Preachers
sometimes get real inventive. We just think we know so much,
we're plumb stupid anyway. But that's just how it is. But
you can't get your religion from your preacher. It has to come
from God. It has to come from Holy Scripture. Are you ever wrong, preacher?
More times than not, I'm satisfied. There was a time in my life when
everything I said and everything I did, religiously speaking,
was a lie. Thank God He delivered me from
that. I don't understand why. This is my last statement now
about our introduction. There was a church on Ramsey
Street going into Fayetteville on 401 South. Recently, that
same character found this for me too, by the way. on a church
billboard, and here's what it said. As close as I can get it
now. Faith is allowing God. That ought to be the first red
flag. We don't allow God to do anything. Faith is allowing God to do what
we can't do for ourselves. Well, you pray, tell me, what
can you do for yourself when it comes to saving your soul?
And the truth is absolutely not anything at all. It's all Christ. It's all grace. It's all of God. It has to be. It has to be. All
right, let's see if we can answer this question. If I recollect, I got this outline
by talking to Brother Henry Mahan. They were having a meeting in
Cherokee where Brother James is pastor at Sequoia Baptist
Church on the reservation. And we were sitting at the motel
out in October, beautiful weather, and we were discussing some things
in regard to the Bible. And somehow we got to this question,
how can I know whether or not God is present? How to know where
God's presence is Himself. And we came up with four things,
and since both he and I both like alliteration, we started
them all with an M. Here's the first one. Oh, and
I wrote them on the back of an envelope. And I think the first
time I tried to preach that here would have been about November
of 1986. That was not yesterday. Where does God presence Himself? We can judge this by the message
that is preached. What is the preacher saying about
God? About sin? About the sinner? About being saved? What is he
saying? What is he saying? This is absolutely
essential to know the truth of the scriptures concerning this
and of God's Christ, or else God is not here. He's not here. We determine his presence by
the message preached. Now, I've been your pastor for
way too long probably for most of you, but soon be 32 years
I think if I can, if my math's not any better than my speech,
I may not be right on that, but it's close to it. But here are five questions on this
subject, the message that is preached. what happened in eternity past, what took place in God's heaven
before this earth was ever formed. Now, remember that the God of
the Bible is a triune God. He is God in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here is what happened in eternity
before man was ever created, before this world ever came into
being. A covenant was entered into by
the Holy Trinity. It is called in our Bibles the
covenant of grace. There is a glorious statement
in Hebrews chapter 13 at about verse 20 that describes this
covenant. But in general terms this morning,
this question has to do with the fact that God elected a people. God the Father chose a people. He gave those people to Christ
to be their Redeemer, their Savior, their Sanctifier, their All.
And the Holy Spirit promised that wherever this gospel was
proclaimed in this world that was yet to be made, that He would
work upon the hearts of those chosen sinners whom God elected
and gave to Christ, and He'd perform the work of regeneration,
of being born again. And I tell you, if that ever
happens to you, no matter how many people tell you you're going
to hell, you're going straight to heaven. Be born again. Born again. Have to be born again. Second question, what happened in the Garden of
Eden? There were only two people in
that garden at this time. One was Adam, and one was his
wife Eve, whom God made out of one of Adam's ribs. Now, Eve
ate the forbidden fruit first, whether it's an apple or a banana
or a pineapple or whatever, is immaterial. We don't need to
know that, and the Bible doesn't tell us that. But it was a tree
which they were forbidden to eat of. And they understood it
clearly and plainly. Remember, however long they've
been there, which Brother Pink thought to be a
very short period of time, but I can't tell you that because
I don't know that. So Eve ate of that tree, and Adam ate of
it. Now, some people say that the
reason that Adam ate of the forbidden fruit is because of his love
for Eve. But what about his love for God?
Now, it's possible that you can see a type of Christ in Adam
becoming condemned along with Eve. But as far as we're concerned,
here's the difference in that. Adam is our federal head and
representative. so that what he did, all of his
offspring did, therefore the entire human race from Adam in
the garden until the present hour, we're born spiritually
dead, we're born lost, we're born sinners, we're born hating
God. How many ways do you want me
to say it? I'm telling you this is the truth. I know some churches right here
in this county, if I said those words from the pulpit, I wouldn't
have to help myself out. They would throw me out. Because
I've been thrown out of a bunch with a lot less than that. I
told them everything I knew, but they didn't like that either. Not only what happened in eternity
and what happened in the garden, But what happened at the cross? What took place at Calvary? That's
the question. That's the question. Salvation
is accomplished. To use our Lord's own words in
John 19, 30, as he spoke these words from the cross, I have
finished the work. speaking to his Father in heaven,
which you gave me to do." And what work was that? To save God's
elect, to save God's people, to save every last one of Christ's
sheep, not a one missing ever, and never can be. Not only what happened in eternity
in the garden and on the cross, but what happens when God saves
a sinner? What happens? He is brought to the end of himself. He takes God's side against himself
and confesses himself to be God's enemy as well as the greatest
chief of sinners who has ever lived. This is what happens. We own God to be right in our
condemnation. And then our blessed Savior comes
and delivers us. So the last, if I hadn't already
given you this one, it's the last under this one of what happens
in conversion. Conversion is the work of God
the Holy Spirit. He performs in our soul, in our
heart, this new man in Christ. He performs what is called being
born again or the new birth or regeneration. They're all one
in the same thing. So this person who before hated
God, now loves Him, He who served Himself above all else, now serves
God in Christ above all else. I've got some more under that
heading, but I've got to move along. Here's the second thing that must be considered
if we are to consider whether or not God is present. Now, most
of you know my old religion. For many of you, it was yours
as well. It wasn't just mine. But I'll guarantee you, you understand what an invitation
system is, don't you? It was in high gear when I came
here, and had been in a higher gear than that in the seventies. I mean, they brought eighty-some
people into this church at one time. through some free-will
evangelist holding a meeting in the parking lot, because you
get people worked up, you get them emotionally involved, and
you know, they become all teary-eyed and the hair stands up on the
back of their head and all this stuff. Oh my goodness. And it's no good. It's no good. So the invitation system is no
longer at work in this place. We want you to have your eyes
wide open and your ears wide open, and by the grace of God,
your heart wide open. But we're not going to try to
use psychology on you. That's all it is. That's all
it is. We're not going to tell you how
much money to give. If you don't want to give it,
don't give it. When we motivate men as our method
of motivation, we'll take it from a fellow named Augustine
I usually say Augustine, but a lot of people who are more
learned than me, they like Augustine. He said, Love Christ and do as
you please. And that ain't the first time
I've said that. I got in trouble at another church one time for
saying it. I mean, I didn't get off the pulpit that night. Here's the rule. come straight
out of the New Testament. The love of Christ constrains
us. And if it doesn't, it's not for
me to constrain you. I thank God that where I got
this wisdom, it didn't come from me, I assure you. I have never,
in the 31 plus years I've been here, I've never tried to find
out who gives what. I don't know, and I don't want
to know, and it's not appropriate for me to know. I thank God for your generosity.
We've had some big expenses at times, but the Lord has provided. And I know He provided it through
you, but I don't need to know who it is. It'd be bad for me.
Unconsciously, I'd treat you better than the person that,
you know, didn't give anything. I just don't need to know it.
It makes life worse for me. Alright, the third thing in regard
to this matter about where God presences Himself is by the motives
that we use to move people to do this or that. What is our
motive? If you'll turn, I can't promise
you this is the last one, but it might be, to the book of Philippians
chapter 3. I might even quote this, but
I'd rather you look at it. Philippians chapter 3. The love of Christ constrains
us. Therefore, it is how and what
our motives are and how people are implored to do this, that,
or the other in the name of God. Here they are. Here are three
things in one statement. Philippians 3 and verse 3. Paul
has just been describing the Jews who claim to be believers,
but who are still Moses' disciples, and tries to bring circumcision
everywhere they go, telling them that Christ alone is not enough. Well, if He ain't enough, He
isn't God. And if He's God, He's enough. Here are three things. Worship
God. It's right there in that third
verse now. Worship God in spirit. Not in the flesh. Not in hooping
and hollering. Not in running the aisles. And
some people even walk the benches. I'm speaking about the top part
of the bench. You know, that belongs someplace else. You know,
put it in the circus. But the church has brought the
circus into the church. God help us. God help us. Second thing in that statement,
besides worshiping God in spiritual worship, is to rejoice in Christ
Jesus. And I mean Christ Jesus alone. It ain't me and Jesus. It's just
the Lord Jesus. And the third one, now this involves
us. and have no confidence in the
flesh. None. None. No confidence in
the flesh. What was Abraham and Ezra, what
was their greatest concern or consideration? How come Ezra didn't say, oh,
we're way off in a foreign land, let's just let this king give
us some soldiers? What can that hurt? Not but one
thing that I can tell, and that's the glory of God. How we do business as a church,
how we operate, what we do while we're here, and what's said from
this pulpit and from Bible classes has everything to do with the
glory of God. We have a debt that we must pay. It is the eternal welfare of
men's souls. Not but two categories, saved
or lost. There's not an A section and
then an F section, just saved and lost. Everybody in the human
race will answer to one of those two categories. And we all come
into this world lost, helpless, God-hating sinners. And the fourth thing has to do with the hymns that we sing. I spend a good deal of time almost
every Saturday. Now, if I'm someplace else, I
don't do this on Saturday, but if I'm here for the weekend,
I do. to match the hymns that we sing
with the gospel that we preach. And when the songs are bad, it
destroys the gospel that is preached. But let me confess up to something.
The whole trouble, in America at least, the whole trouble started
right here. in the pulpit. Songwriters only
wrote songs about what they'd been told, who God is, who Christ
is, who the sinner is, and what it means to be born again. So
you get some of the sorriest songs, blasphemous songs. I don't
know how many marked in this book, and I've got even more
marked than the one I use over at the house. You can't believe one thing and
sing something else. That's a contradiction. A contradiction. God help us. Oh, and help us
He will. On the second inside page of
your bulletin, and if you don't have a bulletin, if you'll raise
your hand, we'll have you one shortly. This song, it's unbelievable. It distinguishes between free
will and free grace. Written by Joseph Hart, who lived
1712 to 1768, it sings to the song that we sing in our bulletins,
Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed. And yes, we're going to sing
all ten stanzas. Ten of them. If you quit on me,
I'm going to keep going. All right, let's go, Donna. What makes this week a day in
our praise? Our sovereign grace to preach
the reason is They are so rich, why so often? Set me in their mouths, thus
what deletion seems. Feebles, they leave themselves And your Son, Him, a person. Thee falls, as masters o'erstraw,
Thee crowned the curse of the air. Oh Oh Where he looks to him that works
the home, that seeks his pleasure. Where his language is And hope is free because this
world was not so bad as mine. In death shall peace of earth
divine, I pray you may see, that God,
by His voice, preceded the tyrant, and chosen me, for mercy. That all creation be in Thy peace,
O Spirit, from this moment onward be in empty mind. Fly away, my bird, lest rarest
be. Now most men have brutal rage,
But Christ has given to the poor.