Acts 14. Let's read verses 11 through
15. Paul, the Lord, just healed a
man through the Apostle Paul. And it says in verse 11, when
the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices,
saying in the speech of the Iconia, the gods are come down to us
in the likeness of men. They called Barnabas Jupiter
and Paul Mercurius. because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Jupiter, which was before their city,
brought oxen and garlands unto the gates and would have done
sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles Barnabas
and Paul heard, they rent or ripped their clothing and ran
in among the people crying out and saying, Sirs, why do you
these things? We also are men. of like passions
with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these
vanities unto the living God which made heaven and earth and
the sea and all things that are therein. Now, you and I know
that man has no power at all to do anything, anything. except, as our Lord said, it
be given him from above. And even that understanding is
given. Most people don't know that,
but if you know that, even that's given to you. But man has no
power at all to do anything except it's given him from God who has
all power. Turn with me to Jeremiah 18,
the book of Jeremiah 18, which Paul quoted in Romans 9. Jeremiah 18. Man is a creature. Man lives and moves and has his
being by the direction, by the power, by the will and purpose
of God. No human being has any power
at all, not even to breathe. Scripture says a God in whose
hands our breath is. So we certainly can't do anything
of any greatness. We can't even breathe. Jeremiah
18, verses 1-6, The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
Arise, go down to the potter's house. There I will cause thee
to hear my word, the word of God. I went down to the potter's
house. Behold, he wrought a work on
the wheels, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter. So he made it again on another
vessel that seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word
of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, Cannot I do
with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay
is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
God is the potter. We are the clay. God is creator. We are creatures. All power that
men have is given from above. Romans 13 says the powers that
be are ordained of God. There is no power except from
God. And everything and everyone is
under the divine control of our God. Though men and women are
given some ability to do things, it is not them, but it is God. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
1. Romans chapter 1. The glory and honor, you see,
for all things, glory, honor, credits, thanksgiving is due
unto the God who made us, the God who sustains us, the God
who reigns, rules, controls, provides, keeps, saves, the God
who does all these things. That's what he said in Deuteronomy,
I the Lord do all things. Without me, you can do nothing. Idolatry. Idolatry is to give
or ascribe or attribute power, glory, honor to anything or anyone
other than God. to adore, to deify, to give great
honor and glory and consider high and lofty. Worship is another
word for all that. Anything or anyone but God is
idolatry. No person, no place, no thing. has any special power or special
grace. There's no such thing as a holy
water, holy land, or a holy man. Only God. Only God. So nothing
and no one is worthy of any glory and any honor but God. If we
do that, if we give it to anyone or anything, it is idolatry. Do you understand that? There
are very few people that do. Romans 1 says this in verse 20,
the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. It's evidence. It's obvious. Except to a blind fool. God made
everything. Being understood by the things
that are made. His eternal power and his Godhead. Even an utter
idiot can look around and say, God made this place. It's too
wonderful, too glorious, too amazing, too complex, too mysterious. An utter, utter fool would say
there's no God. That it all just banged. What kind of idiot would believe that. A fool? Read
on. Verse 21 says, But because when
they knew God, that is, His power, His Godhead, clearly seen just
by creation, they glorified Him not as God. They didn't worship
God. Read on with me. Listen. Listen. 21. Because He's the one that gives
us everything, that does all things, that feeds us, clothes
us, everything to sustain our life, we get from God who is
life, who gives life, who sustains it. Read on. They weren't thankful. That's all God requires. That's
all God requires of us. Thank Him. Be thankful. But became vain in their imagination. And their foolish heart was darkened,
but professing themselves to be wise, they claimed to be wise,
but they became utter fools. Why? They said, no God. Read on. They changed the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image, statue, picture, whatever. Like the corruptible, what's
the first image they make God into? Man. They make God. into a man. And we're going to
see in a minute, they make man into a God. Judgment is turned way backward
in Isaiah 59. It's completely reversed. Worship,
read on. And be it birds and four-footed
beasts creeping, thank God. So God gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own heart. This is the result of
idolatry. The result of idolatry is all
manner of wicked perversions and uncleanliness. Everything
changes. Verse 25, I change the truth
of God, that is, that God is God, into a lie. There is no God. And they worship and serve the
creature. No, we don't have a God. We have a Mother, Mother Earth. Save your mother. Worship your
mother. That's what they do. And they
serve the creature more than the Creator who is blessed or
should be by man forever. Amen. That's the way it is. God
and God alone. is to be worshiped. No person,
place, or thing. It's idolatry to do otherwise. And idolatry comes when men and
women reject the word of God. By faith we understand that the
things are made from nothing. That's what Hebrews said. And when man rejects God's word,
turn away their ears from the truth. Go back to Acts 14. They
turn unto what? When men turn away their ears
from the truth, what does the scripture say to turn to? Fables. or a lie, tall tales, fables,
make-believe. People make up all sorts of wild
stories. That's what's vain, imagine that.
Just think of something and somebody will believe it and they'll worship
it. Though they say they're wise. Images, idols, superstition.
Remember, when God Almighty reveals himself to a human being, this
is the first thing he reveals to every human being. I am God. Beside me there is no God. No little g-o-d. Not even a little
g-o-d. I am capital G-o-d. The true
God. God who reigns, rules, who works
all things after his will, his purpose, none can stay his hand. If they can't, he's not God.
If the creature can prevent God, the Creator, if the creature
has any control of the Creator, he's not the Creator. Man is
clay. God is the potter. What could
be plainer to you who have understanding? God reveals himself first as
creator. And being creator, it means owner.
You make something, you own it, don't you? Nobody can tell you
what you can do with that. Cannot I do with my own what
I will, God said? Yes, and he does. It's a good
pleasure of his will. He's the judge. Being the creator,
he's the judge. He's Lord. He's ruler. He's controller.
God who made all things. God who controls all things.
Scripture talks about the living and true God. Living as opposed to idols. A dead idol. All the way through
the Scripture, the Lord talks about these idols
that men make and serve and bow before. And He said they have
eyes, but you can't see. Men make them. Over in Isaiah, in one place,
he said this amazing thing is they go out and cut a tree down.
It's just an old tree. And they come in and they carve
it up and put things on it and now it's a god. No, it's not. It's a tree. Or brass. Like that serpent on a pole,
remember. He said, that's a worthless piece
of brass. Don't worship that. Don't worship
anything but God. Don't worship dead things. Worship
the living God, a person. We worship a person, not a thing,
not a place. A person. God. God. Living and true God. Creator. Our Lord said this, He said,
this is life eternal. This is when God Almighty begins
to give a human being eternal life, light. God whose life,
light, turns on the light. To see what ought to be clear,
that God is. A thumbprint should tell you
God is. A snowflake that God is. That big ball of fire hanging
in the sky that never moves an inch. If it did, it would burn
up or freeze. Just stays right there. Perfect
place. And we orbit around it just perfectly.
Just perfectly to sustain life. God turns the light on. Turns
the light on to give the light, the knowledge of the glory of
God. And God, this God, became a man. Became a man. Look over at Acts
chapter 17 with me. The first way that God reveals
himself is as a living and true God, God the Creator, God who
controls all things. And you know, though men and
women sit in so-called churches all over the land this very morning
and do and say what they do in the name of God, they're still
worshiping a God who's not God. They still believe lies, have
turned unto fables, and have idols, because if God who created
all of that, controls all of that, if he's not God over salvation
too, he's not God at all. In other words, if a man can
keep the Creator from doing something, he's not God. Be God. Brother Stan, you and I know,
we know Isaiah 43, where he says, I am God, I will work, and who
will let me? Who's going to prevent it? Who's
going to stay in my hand? It's the same in salvation. Our Lord, the Lord Jesus, God
manifests in the flesh, came down and said to a teacher in
Israel, he said, Are you a teacher and don't know this? Marvel not
that I said unto you, you must be born from above. Just like
God who created all things must give life to all things, it's
the same spiritually. God is spirit, we're flesh. God
is God, we're man. Flesh and blood can't inherit
the kingdom of God, don't even know God, until God
reveals Himself, until God gives life, until God creates new life,
spiritual life. Acts 17, Paul preaching at Mars
Hill, he said in verses 23, I passed by and observed your
devotions, found an altar with this description to the unknown
God." They had a God for everything, and they thought, well, in case
we've missed one, we'll make this one, to the unknown God. He said, "'Whom you ignorantly
worship, Him I declare, God that made the world.'" Not the one you made, not the
one you let be God, but God who made the world and all things
therein, seeing He is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't
dwell in temples made with hands. He's not worshiped with men's
hands. He doesn't need anything. We get it all from Him. He's
God. Back in our text, Acts 14, one of the last things Paul and
Barnabas were saying was in Look at Acts 14, our text. He said,
verse 17, God gave us rain from heaven. That's who we ought to
be worshiping, the one who gives us rain. I thought about that
this morning, that rain shouldn't keep us from worshiping. It ought to make us worship,
because life is the water of life. It just comes down out
of the sky. It comes down out of the sky.
Why? Well, all these wise men get
together, you know, and say, well, this cloud and that cloud
and moisture and a certain temperature and all that, and bam, you know,
lightning strikes and thunder rolls and all of a sudden it
rains. You bloomin' idiot. God sends the rain. Meteorologists, we call them.
And God makes fools out of them quite often, doesn't he? A hundred
percent chance of rain today. Yeah. It'll rain. It will rain if God sends it. And idolatry, here's the thing.
Idolatry, go back to the text, you are in the text. Idolatry,
these fables start when the word of God is not preached. When false prophets, Jeremiah
23 says, hide my word from the people. Take it away. Put it away. And start using
vain philosophies and deceits and so forth. Or when people
turn away their ears from the truth and say, I don't want to
hear that. That's too hard. We don't want a God. Prophesy
smooth things. Tell us how we can be gods. And
so then hirelings crop up, and they say everything and anything,
and people believe them. Barnabas and Paul were true preachers,
and they came sent from God with the truth, with the Word of God.
Then what did they do when they came to this place? Preach the
Word of God. Nothing else. They didn't have
entertainment. They didn't have a big show or
pageant. They preached. Preached the Word. That's how
you know a true preacher is sent from God. He preaches the Word
of God. He preaches God as God, not man. Man's not God. Make that very
clear. And when these people started
to adore and idolize these men, immediately, Mike, they said,
How are you doing this? Immediately, like John, they
came to John and said, Who are you? Nothing! Nobody! It gave them great grief and anguish
when men attributed to them any power. Look at it, verse 14. The apostles Barnabas and Paul
heard that the people were adoring them and making gods out of them.
They ripped their clothes and ran in among the people crying
out, Why are you doing these things? Don't do this. We're just men. And the Scriptures tells us,
1 John 4, try the spirits. Try them. Test them. Don't believe
them. Put them to the test. How? Preachers
at it. Put them to the test. How? Right
here. If they speak not according to
my word, John, what does the scripture say? There's no lie
in them. No truth in them. God didn't send them. If this
is not all they're doing, God didn't send them. If their name
is being exalted, God didn't send them. If they're pointing
men and women to anybody but Jesus Christ, God didn't send
them. That's right. And if they take any glory, if
they love to hear their names exalted, if they take any glory,
any credit, anything, anyone, God didn't send them. These men were sent by God. How
do you know? They preached God as God. They
preached the Word of God. They preached Christ and Him
crucified, which is the way, the truth, and the life of God,
salvation of God. preach not themselves. And if men today, these modern
evangelists so-called, if they preach And then they give God
all the glory and they cry out. They cry out if anybody began
to give them any glory or credit, or if their names were being
exalted. They cry out like this. Why are
you doing these things? Why do you these things? Let
me ask you a few questions that need to be asked to our generation.
Let me cry out against all the ridiculous blasphemy today. Why
do you do these things? Things that are going on today.
Why all the elaborate and ostentatious buildings that are being built
today, all the wood, hay and stubble, when God dwelleth not
in buildings made with hands? Why? Why all the pictures and
statues when God plainly forbids them, when he calls them an abominable
thing, when he said you saw no similitude of anything and don't
do it. Don't make a likeness of anything
in heaven, earth, or in the sea. Man, not a fish. Don't do it.
Don't make anything. You didn't see any God. God is
spirit. Don't make a likeness. Why do
they do that? Why do they do that? Why? Why all the plays and all the
pageants and all the entertainment and shows when God had pleased
God to use one thing to save the souls of men? The preaching
of the gospel. When the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. When the Word of God is His power.
God doesn't use anything or anyone else. Not music, not singing,
not plays, not pageants. It's the Word of His power. That's
what He uses. Then why do you do all these
things? Open these windows up so somebody else can hear this,
other than that. Or send the tape to somebody.
Why do we worship men like Peter and Paul and others when they
did not lay down their lives for us? They didn't save one
soul. They cannot, when there's one
name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.
And that's Jesus Christ and him alone. Why are the names of men
and women being displayed in every place when that name alone?
Why are people praying to a woman named Mary when there's one mediator
between God and men? The man, Christ Jesus. Why do
you these things? Why do you these things? Why?
Would somebody tell me? Why? Fellas are telling people that
God needs their money when all the gold and the silver and all
the mines is God, telling them God needs this, God needs that,
the Lord's acre, God needs to have a bake sale or He can't
get... When the Scripture says He needs
nothing. Why are so-called preachers calling
on men and women to do something for God when they ought to be
calling on God to do something for men? Telling people to accept
Jesus when we all ought to be crying out, would he please accept
us? Why? Why do ye these things? Turn from these vanities, he
said, verse 15. Turn from these vanities unto
the living God, the God who is God, who made heaven and earth
and the sea and everything therein. Do you believe this God? Why, if you do, have you turned
from these idols? Nearly every person in here was
in religion at one time and believed those gods. You're not God, didn't
you? Then why now? Do you see the
utter foolishness? How that this is all I've done?
Why? Why? Because God, flesh and blood,
didn't reveal it to you. But the Father which is in heaven turned you. Turn us and we'll
be turned, O Lord. Turned you from your idols to
serve the living and the true God. Oh, blessed are you, blessed
are you, Ed Barberry, former barbarian. Blessed are
you, the Heavenly Father revealed this thing to you. So blessed,
not chosen, loved by God. My, my, my, my, my. Well, Paul goes on to declare
in verse 7-16, who in times past God suffered all nations that
he has put up with to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless,
he left not himself without a witness. The truth has been declared in
every generation. He did good, gave rain, filled
our hearts with food and gladness. said that if men would walk in
the light they'd be given, they'd be given more light. Even the
native in the jungle, a heathen in the jungle, can look and see
these things. Eternal power in God's head,
clearly seen, without excuse. Verse 18, it says, "...though
with these saints scarce restrained the people." to keep them from
sacrificing unto them. They could scarcely restrain
them from doing this. Why is that? Because we can't
change anybody. We can't convince anybody. God alone can. Only God can reveal these things. The things that are so plain
to us, in Proverbs 8 it says they are all plain. to him that
understandeth." In other words, if you've been given eyes, who
gave them to us? God. So if we believe, if we
worship God in spirit, truth, don't be proud. Be thankful and
merciful because such were some of us, right? Like old Hosea,
he said, Ephraim said, what have I to do anymore with idols? When
God revealed Himself to him, he said, what have I to do anymore
with these idols? I've heard Him. Him. Living,
true God. And he quit with his stories.
Brother Walter Gruber tells this story of a young Mexican boy
who the Lord revealed Himself to. And down in that place, there's
a lot of idolatry, like here. Idols, pictures, statues, things
that people worship. Well, this Mexican boy was delivered
from that to worship God, worship Christ. And they tried to tell
his parents that, his dad. His dad had some little figurines,
little idols that he had propped up in his house. Little statues
that he would burn candles to and all that. people do in America
today, you know, places. And the little boy kept telling
his dad, those idols can't do anything, they're not gods, they're
not just statues somebody made them, they can't do anything,
God is God. And the man rejected it, refused it. And one day the
man went to work, and the little boy took a hammer It was about
five of these little idols, and they took a hammer and busted
four of them. Busted them to smithereens. And
they laid that hammer down right in front of that fifth idol.
They laid it down right there. And the man came home, and he
came into his little sanctuary and saw his idols all busted
up, and he said, Who did this? And he started hollering, Who
busted my God's And nobody would admit to it.
Somebody did this and a little boy said, that idol there did
it. Look at there, the hammer's right
in front of him. He did it. And the old man said, you fool,
that idol can't do anything. The little boy said, that's exactly
what I've been trying to tell you, Dad. And that's what we're trying
to tell our generation. And we try, only God can tell a man,
only God can turn a man from a God who wants to and can't
unless you let Him. The God who is standing outside
your door, and not the living God who is the door. Who breaks hearts, who is not
wanting you to give Him yours, but the God who must give us
a new heart. Oh, how blessed we are if we
know that.