Look with me this morning at
the book of Psalms, Psalm number 4, and I want to look at one
verse of Scripture with you, verse 2. And he says, God Almighty
says, through the psalmist David, O ye sons of men, how long will
ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity? and seek after leasing or lies. And then the word Selah is written. Selah is a musical pause. It means stop. Pause here. Consider what was just said.
How long, he says, God said, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after lies? How long? This is God's strong
judgment and condemnation, mostly, of religious leaders who dishonor
God, those who turn God's glory into shame. Now, let it be first
understood, as in the words of Job 35, if thou sinnest, what
doest thou against him? In other words, you can do nothing
against God. You can't change God. change
God's glory. They can't say anything or do
anything against God Almighty. He's in the heavens. We're on
the earth. No matter what happens, He's still God. Nothing's changed. We cannot shame God or do anything
to take away from His glory, but He says those things which
are God's glory, which give God glory, men have turned them into
shame. Men glory in their own shame. They glory in what they ought
to be ashamed of, and yet they are ashamed of what is God's
glory. They do not believe and reject
what is God's glory, which is God's glory is first His sovereign
power to do with as He will, with whom He will, because He
will, that He reigns and rules and controls all things and all
people and all events and all circumstances. Yes, Scripture
says in Daniel 4.35, reigns among the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand. That's
what makes Him God. That's His glory. That's what
makes Him different than us, so much different than us. He
does as He will. With whom he will, because he
will, it's his divine right as God. And yet men turn that glory
into shame. They say, though it is not so,
they say that he does only what men allow him to do. He can only
do what men let him do. They say things like this, he's
done all he can do. Now it's up to you. They turn
his glory into shame, the glory of God's character. And his chief
attribute or character is his holiness. God is holy. That means pure, separate from
sinners. The righteous Lord, Scripture
says, loveth righteousness. He loveth righteousness. And
yet men have him loving perverted people in their perversion. Men
even blame God for their perversions, saying that God made them that
way. He says in Psalm 5, verse 5,
The foolish shall not stand in his sight. Thou hatest all workers
of iniquity. That's people, not just their
perversions, but them, because God is holy. That's what God's
Word says. Yet men have turned His glory,
the glory of His holy person, into shame. God's glory is His
character, His justice. He said in Isaiah 45, I am a
just God. First, just means He does what
is right. Exodus 34, 7, God says, I will
by no means clear the guilty. God will punish sin. If He's
just, He must punish sin. What kind of judge would it be
who sat on the bench today and let guilty people go free? Well, there would be a public
outcry. Well, God must punish sin. The judge of the earth will
do right. And yet, men turn that glory
into shame by saying that God stands by idly, as wicked people
do wickedly, even saying that He loves them. Well, my, they
turned God's glory into shame. God's glorious love that God
chose of people set His love upon them, undeserving though
they were. And God's love is undeserving. And God's love is eternal. He said to Jeremiah, He said,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, With lovingkindness
have I drawn thee." That's eternal love. That's effectual love.
That's saving love. Whomever God loves, He always
loves. True love never faileth, 1 Corinthians
13 says. God's love cannot fail. God's
love is eternal. Whomever God sets His love upon,
He loves them forever. And whomever He loves, He saves
them. That's the power of His love.
He keeps them. from falling. That's the power
of His love. And yet men have turned that
love into shame. They say God loves, yet watches
His loved ones perish. That He can't stop them from
perishing. That there are people in hell right now whom God Almighty
loves. Oh, that's shameful, isn't it?
Why? Why do they do that? God's glory
is His grace, His sovereign grace. Powerful operation of God upon
men. Grace of God bestowed upon men,
His saving grace, keeping grace, His restraining grace, His constraining
grace, His providing grace, the grace that gives them the gift
of repentance and faith, a new heart, a new life, all-powerful
grace doing all for all He loves. And yet men have turned that
glory into shame, I say, and it's a mere offer on God's part
that men ignore while Jesus stands by crying, wishing they would
accept His offer. What a shame! Shamed God's glory. And God's wisdom is His glory,
yet men have shamed it. God's wisdom! Now He has purposed
all things before the world began, predestined all things, and all
things are working together to fulfill that divine, eternal,
all-wise purpose. Yet men turn it into shame by
saying God is a mere bystander, stands by while things are out
of His control and the world is in chaos and evil is winning. God's Word is His glory. God's
holy, inerrant, infallible, eternal, perfect Word is His glory. It's the Word of His power. He
created all things by a Word and He saves by His Word. He
still does all things by His Word. He just speaks and it happens. It's the Word of His power, able
to save the uttermost if He sends it. He said, My Word will not
return void. It will accomplish that whereunto
I sent it." That's His power, that's His glory, His Word. Yet,
men twist it and pervert it and ignore it and change it. Make fun of it and use it flippantly
and carelessly. Yea, men are more fond of their
own clever words than the eternal, all-powerful, all-wise Word of
God. Men would rather put their clever
clichés up on their so-called church bulletin boards than the
all-powerful, saving Word of God. Why is that? Because they
have never heard that Word. They don't believe it. They really
don't believe it. If they believed it was God's power, they would
use it. People, I blame preachers for
all of this, and God does too. Well, God does first, and I agree
with Him. That it's their fault they've
made a mockery of God and His Word, and therefore the world
mocks it and uses it flippantly and carelessly. God's Son is
His glory. The Son of God. The glorious
Son of God. Sent by God to this earth. Sent by God with a work to do. A work purposed by God before
the world began. purpose by God, and ordered in
all things, and sure, down to every jot and tittle of that
work, and sent His all-powerful, glorious Son to do what only
He could do, and to do it without fail, for a people whom God chose. the people whom God chose for
His Son to save. He sent Him down here to do just
that. And He did it when He hung on
that cross. He said, it's finished. When He prayed His priestly prayer,
He said, I've finished the work Thou gavest Me to do. He said,
the men that Thou hast given Me, of all that Thou hast given
Me, I've lost nothing. That's His glory. It's the glory
of His power to save, His power to keep, His power to do. what he was sent to do by God.
And now he sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
reigning and ruling, King of kings, Lord of lords, all authority
and all power in heaven and earth in His glorious hands, a glorious
Son of the Most High God reigning over the universe. Nothing can
stay His hand. doing as he will, and yet men,
worms, have turned that glory into shame, made him to be nothing
more than a mere martyr, killed by men, unable to accomplish
what he came to do, frustrated, disappointed, defeated, begging
men and women to let Him have His way. A mere man, a poor,
pitiful Jesus in the arms of a woman. My, my! How long will you turn my glory
into shame? God said. How long? And He goes
on to say, How long will you love vanity? Vanity! Scripture says all is vanity,
all flesh is vanity. Vanity means useless, empty,
can't do anything for anyone, cannot fulfill what it promises.
It's empty. All flesh. Did you hear that?
All flesh is vanity. That which is flesh is flesh. Fleshly wisdom is vanity. Hath
not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Fleshly wisdom.
psychology, psychiatry, sociology, all of it is vanity, all fleshly
possessions. Scripture says it is the deceitfulness
of riches promising what it cannot fulfill, riches that don't enrich
but rather make poor toward God. And especially fleshly religion
is vanity, all of the fleshly props symbols, crosses, statues,
pictures, plays, music, robes, holy water, holy men, all this
wildfire and fleshly emotion is vanity. They which worship
God must worship Him in spirit and truth, not in the flesh. What you see in religion today
reminds you of a rock concert or a ball game. Why? Because
that's all it is. Vanity. God's Word is His power. The preaching. All we need to
worship God is a Bible and a man to declare it. Vanity. And why, he said, do you seek
after? Why do you go after lies? Why do you listen to lying preachers
who are lying on God? Lying to us. Preachers who tell
us lies. Satan is the father of lies and
his Ministers are ministers of righteousness, wolves in sheep's
clothing, telling you how much God wants you and loves you,
and telling you, as He did Eve, lies about your free will and
your worth and your power and your goodness. God loves you
and needs you. It's all a lie. How long, God
said. How long? When you turn my glory
into shame and love vanity and seek after lies. Oh, may God
turn us before it's too late. Amen.