in the Old Testament to the book
of 1 Kings, chapter 18. I also want you to turn to what Brother Stan
read, Acts 17 in the New Testament. Our Lord said in John 17, verse
3, a verse that we quote often. Our Lord said this. He said,
This is life eternal. This is salvation. This is eternal life. That they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. This is what it's all about.
This is eternal life. This is salvation, to know the
only true God. Christ said that. The only true
God. Over and over throughout God's
Word, God himself says, I am God, there is none else. Over and over, he keeps saying
that. I'm the Lord. There's none beside me. There's
no God with me. I am God. The only true God. Now, God,
the word God, the name God, means this. Now, this is what God means. We use the word God, the name
God, capital G, capital O, capital D. It means absolute ruler. That absolute means over everything.
Not some things. All things. Absolute ruler and
controller. All powerful. Not some power. Not he does all he can and then
there's some things he can't do. That's not God. That's not
what the name means. It means creator, it means ruler,
it means judge. The name God means judge, not
innocent bystander. Judge. This is life eternal, our Lord
said, to know the only true God, God who is God. Now, true believers That is, those
who really know the true God have always been in the minority. We're going to see that in these
stories here. True believers, those who believe
the true God, have always been in the minority. You just look
at any Old Testament and New Testament story, it's always
been so. believe and know the true God,
while the vast majority of the world has some conception of
God. The vast majority of the world
has some conception of God, the way they think that God is. It was so in Noah's day, it was
so in Abraham's day, Elijah's day, Paul's day, and it's especially
so now, especially in America. You're going to see, I hope,
you're going to see with me as we look at these stories, that
there's but one true God, and he's vastly different than this one that people call
God today. The God that all of America is
telling, is asking to bless America. That the God of the Bible, the
true God, is vastly different. from the one that men call God
today. You're going to see that, I hope.
These are two stories, one of the Old Testament, one of the
New. They're very much the same. Two preachers. There's a prophet
in the Old Testament, and there's an apostle in the New. Two preachers
who stood up to declare the true God, the God of the Bible. You'll
hear me keep saying that, the God of the Bible. Not the God
that everybody, whatever you think God is, he's God to you. No, sir. God is revealed one
way, very clearly, in black and white, from this book right here.
There are no gray areas concerning the God of the Bible. Now, right
here in 1 Kings 18, look at it with me. Elijah is the prophet
of God. He's the man sent by God to his
generation. He's sent by God to his generation
to declare the truth, to declare the true God and how he may be
known and what salvation is. All right? But they called Elijah
a troublemaker. They called him a troublemaker.
Look at verse 17. Verse Kings 18, verse 17. And it came to pass when Ahab
saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth
Israel?" Are you the one that's causing all this trouble around
here? That's what he said to Elijah.
Elijah was a lone voice in his day. Elijah was pretty much alone
in his generation. He stood up and he said things
that nobody else was saying. He talked about a God that nobody
else believed in. He was saying things exactly
the opposite of what all of the prophets of his day were saying.
And all the people were together, the whole—everybody was together.
They agreed together, they worshiped the same God. Everybody was just
hunky-dory. Everybody was doing just fine
until Elijah came along. And Elijah started talking about
not a God of love. You'll not hear him say that
one time, nor will you hear the Apostle Paul say it one time.
Neither one of them talked about a God of love and how much he
needs you and how he's at peace with you and how everything's
going to just be fine. Not at all. They both talked
about God of judgment. And they called him a troublemaker. But he said in verse 18, he answered
and said, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's
house. And you have forsaken the commandments,
that is, the word of the Lord, and you're following Balaam.
I'm not the troublemaker here, Elijah said. You're the troublemaker. You and all your followers and
all these prophets that you've hired who are in it for money,
you're the troublemakers. because he rejected God's word
hands down. Everyone, to a man, has rejected God's word and are
going about saying whatever they feel like saying, instead of
exactly what God says. Elijah said, I'm not the troublemaker
here. The ones that are causing real
trouble Eternal trouble for men are the ones who are not preaching
God's word, not preaching the true and living God, but rather
preaching what men want to hear. Elijah said, I'm not the troublemaker
here. Do you remember the story of
that prophet named Michael? that this same one, Ahab, and
one of his friends got together and they wanted to do something.
They said, well, let's consult the preachers first. And they
called all of their hirelings, all these fellows that they were
on the payroll, you know, all these paid preachers. And they
called all of them and said, do you think we should do this?
And everyone of them would go, oh, yes, God will bless that,
go ahead and do it. They were all in agreement, yes,
God's in this. But one of them said, let's call
another fellow. There's another fellow over here
named Michael. Now, let's call him over. I hear he's a true prophet of
God. And they called him. And the other fellow he had said,
don't call him. He never says anything good.
Don't call him. He never says anything good.
He never tells anybody how much God loves him. He never tells
anybody how much God needs him. He never tells anybody that we
can't do anything without you. All he has to talk about is how
holy and sovereign and just God is, and how man is nothing, and
how that all creatures are in his hands, and repent, repent,
repent. That's all he ever said. Don't call him. He gets everybody
just in an uproar. As it turned out, he was the
only true woman. Look over at Acts 17 now. Turn
over to Acts chapter 17. You'll see a similar story. The Apostle Paul comes to Athens,
Greece, much like a large city in our nation. And it said that
he was, verse 16, Acts 17, it says, his spirit, his heart inside
he was just stirred up, he was just upset because he saw the
city wholly given to idolatry, that is, just full of idols. An idol is a man-made God. That's what an idol is. It doesn't
have to be a statue, people. It doesn't have to be a picture
or a statue. An idol can just be man's conception
of God. whatever man thinks, however
man wants God to be. That's an idol, a man-made God. And Paul looked around him at
this huge city full of politicians and artisans and
musicians and philosophers and all of this, and it seemed like
everybody was just worshiping a God as they wanted God to be. And they called Paul a troublemaker,
and they finally put him in jail and cut his head off. But he's a true preacher, and
at one time he said, Am I to become your enemy because I tell
you the truth? Yeah, he did. And as I said, they killed him
for it. Here in Acts chapter 17, he was upset. because of all the idolatry.
And verse 18, some of these philosophers, religious leaders, Epicureans,
Stoics, encountered him, confronted him, and said, What's this babbler
going to say? What's he going to say? He seems
to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto
them Jesus and the resurrection. They said, you're bringing certain
strange things to our ears. You're saying strange things.
You're saying things that nobody else is saying about God. Everybody else is pretty much
agreeing about God, but you're saying something different, a
strange thing. We haven't heard of a God. You
know, this is always the case. Every person I've ever known
whom God has really revealed himself to. They say this after they hear
the gospel, after they hear the true God, they say, I've never
heard anything like that before. Because all they're hearing from
the world is the same thing. All they're hearing from all
the preachers all over the world is the same thing about a God
who's not God. He wants to be God if you let
him be God. How that God loves everybody,
but some might die, some might go to hell, some might this,
some might that. How he's done all he can do,
and now it's up to man. He's standing over on the sidelines,
wanting so badly to do this and do that, but man won't let him.
Every man and woman, even women, are in on it. In agreement across
the land, across the world, saying that God's really not God at
all. not unless you let it. One fellow in our camp actually
made this ignorant statement. He said, we control the one who
controls us. How ignorant can you get? Somebody
either controls or they don't. Huh? We're going to see, God's
either God or he's not. Elijah is going to stand up and
say, God is God, there's only one God. They said, you're saying strange
things. We haven't heard anything like
this before. Everybody's saying one thing,
you're saying something the opposite. And in verse 22, read on. Well,
verse 21, you need to see this if you haven't seen it before.
Verse 21 says that all the Athenians and strangers that were there
spent their time and nothing else but either to tell or to
hear some mean thing. We've got it now. We've got something
new, and you need to have it. If you don't have it, you don't
have it. We've got it. You've come here,
and we'll give it to you. Something new, brand new. We've
got a brand new anointing of the Holy Spirit. Does that sound
like America today, religion today? Some new thing. They're
coming up with something new and something novel every day. Some little niche, some little
something that somebody doesn't have in order to attract a crowd
to their religion, to their denomination. We've got it. Some new thing. Nearly everybody has bypassed
the old paths. Jeremiah said, you need to seek
and search and find the old paths wherein is the good way, and
you'll find rest for your soul. But it went on to say, and they
said, we won't do it. We don't want that old stuff.
Well, we're a modern religion now. We've got modern music.
We've got a modern way to worship God. We've got a modern view.
It's contemporary, which means like the world. We worship God, and God's true
worshipers worship him the same way that Abel worshiped God. Not some new and novel way. If it's new, it's wrong. Count
on it. I just quoted you from Jeremiah.
And if the whole world is doing it, that doesn't mean it's right.
That usually means it's wrong. Because our God said, there is
a way that seemeth right unto men. But the end is destruction. Paul said, I went about the city
and I saw all your gods, verse 22 and 23. And here's what he
said. He stood in the midst of Mars
Hill, in the midst of all these Stoics and philosophers, one
man alone. And he said, I perceive in all
things you are too superstitious. Too superstitious, the word is
religious. Try this, try that, religious.
Verse 43, he said, I passed by and beheld all your devotion.
The word devotions is all the gods that they were worshiping,
different statues or pictures and symbols and whatever it was
that they were worshiping. They had all their bases covered.
We'll try this, just in case. I beheld all your gods. Paul's God, the God he was about
to declare, though he was strange to most of the people, and though what he was saying
was strange to most of the people, it was the truth and the true God. He said in
verse 23, he said, I found an altar there that said this, To
the unknown They had this plaque or altar
that had this inscription on it. To the unknown God, or in
case we don't have God's coverage, here's one just applied to it
all. To the unknown God. Paul said,
Him whom you ignorantly worship, whom you don't know, I'm going
to declare him unto you. This is the God who is God. Not
trying to be. Paul said, I'm going to declare
unto you, you're God. Go back to Elijah. Go back to
1 Kings 18. See how similar these are? These
stories are Elijah. Elijah, man alone, Paul, man
alone, in the midst of all these people and false prophets. Look
at verses 19 and 20. It says that they gathered together
the prophets of Baal, 450, and the prophets of the grove, 400,
that ate at Jezebel's table. That is, they were on the payroll
and they were queens, little palms, chaplains or whatever
they were. Eight hundred and fifty altogether
and one man. Now all these prophets can't
be wrong. Do you think you're right, Elijah,
and all these preachers are wrong? Yeah. Our Lord said, Jesus Christ said,
many false prophets are gone out of the world. And I've told
you before, if God says many, if Jesus Christ, who has the
stars numbered, He says many, there's a lot of them out there.
How many true preachers did our Lord have? Twelve. Twelve. Oh, later on, He ordained
seventy more. and sent them out, and they started
spreading out all over the world. But even at that, at any given
time, the ratio of true preachers to false ones was 850 to 1. Elijah faced them at Carmel. He faced all of these fellows.
There may have been some women in there. There probably was.
Jezebel was behind it. I guarantee you there were some
women. And the people didn't answer.
How long halt ye between two opinions? Whoever is God, bow
to him. Whoever is God, believe him.
Whatever the truth is, believe it. Whoever is God, pray to him. Whoever is in control, you better
be praying to him. Now listen to me, people. I'm
standing before you people. And I'm not saying I'm the only
one, not at all. I know many true preachers of
the gospel. I'm not the only one. But there
are few and far between. And every one of them, to a man,
is saying what Elijah is saying, what Paul is saying. Not what the world's preachers
are saying. And everyone's a man. We ask our generation this question. How long is everybody going to
halt between two opinions? Now, the whole world believes
in a God. Everybody is religious. Like
Paul said, I perceive everybody's religious. Whether you live in
Africa or India or America, everybody's religious. They've got a God. And it's certainly not politically
correct now to be bad-mouthing anybody's God, is it? We saw that very clearly when
all the religious leaders stood before the world. The world was
listening. And you had Hindus and Muslims
and everybody, you know, worshiping any God, but not one man stood
up and declared that there's one God, and his name is Jesus
Christ. I don't want to offend the Muslims.
They don't believe in it. I don't want to offend the Hindus.
I don't want to offend the Buddhists, you know. The whole world believes
in a God. Now listen, every one of them
worship their God. They claim to be the people of
God. Every one of them. Muslims claim
to be the people of God. Jews claim to be the people of
God. There's many, if not most of them, are willing to fight
for and die for their God, believe that they will be accepted and
rewarded by their God if they die for him. Everyone of them make claims
about their God. Everyone of them. In America. Now, let's just deal with America.
I don't think there's anybody in here right now who would acknowledge
the Buddhist gods, anything to that, or the Hindus, anything
to them. I don't think there's anyone
in here. Now, let's just deal with America here. All right?
One nation under God. Oh, is it now? I say it's halting between two
opinions. I say this nation right now is
halting between two opinions. They say God is God, but yet
Satan, he has a lot of power, too. They say that God doesn't want
this to happen. God didn't want that to happen.
God didn't want those planes flying in that direction. God
wasn't behind that. God had nothing to do with that. Well, but Satan
did it. They say God does all he can
do, and now the rest is up to man. He can only do so much,
and he's left up. They say, well, here's Satan's
doing whatever he wants to do. He's doing whatever he wants
to do. God can't. God's done all he can do. Satan's
not at the whim and the will of man. He's done whatever he
wants to. So God can't save unless it's
Satan. Now, he condemned you at will. It says, God's not willing that
any should perish, misquoting 2 Peter 3.9. God's not willing
that any should perish, but over here Satan is willing that some
perish, and they do. I say, who's God, anyway? Who is God? Sounds to me like
Satan's more God than God is. God didn't want that to happen.
God didn't mean for that to happen. God didn't want that to happen.
Then why didn't he do something about it? He can't. Well, then why are
you leaving? Why are you even calling on him?
Let's start praying to Satan. Is this shocking some people?
It's strange, isn't it? Let's start praying to Satan.
Please leave us alone. No use in praying to God. He
can't do anything. He didn't want it to happen, but it happened
anyway. Then why call on him? Let's go on straight and whoop
our nums to you if you'll quit this bominus. Whoever's in control is God,
right? If there's one thing outside
of his control, it's not God. Well, the whole world needs to
hear this. You either have a God or you
don't. And if you're healthy between two If God's not God,
you don't need him. If God loves you, and you might
be damned anyway, what good does his love do for you? If Jesus
Christ paid for your sins, you might have to pay for them anyway,
what good does the blood of Jesus Christ do? You don't need that. If God's a bystander, I don't
need him. This is strange, isn't it? Strange. Most of the world gets
mad at this. And they accuse me and us, people,
preachers who stand and say these things, of being blasphemers.
They're so shocked. And they accuse us, like they
did Elijah, of being troublemakers. Strange. This is strange. No,
it's not. This is the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible, whom men are ignorant of, Deuteronomy
32, 39, who says, I wound. That means I make sick. I heal. He says, I kill. If anybody dies, they do it because
God purposed it. No matter what the means are,
nobody enters into God's eternity by surprise. The God of the Bible does all
things on purpose. No accidents with God. The God
of the Bible is in control, he said, of the bird that falls
in the forest to the number of hairs on your head. Now, I don't
understand that. Why, no, he's God. You don't
want a God you can understand. If you've got a God you can understand,
that means he's just like you. He's a man, and no man can run
this universe. God said this in Psalm 50. He
said, Thou thoughtest thou was altogether such a one as yourself.
He said this to man. You think I'm just like you,
don't you? I'm not. I'm not a man. Paul said, The unknown God, him
I declare unto you. Look over back at Acts 7 again. Keep your place there in 1 Kings
18. Paul said in verse 24, now here's
the first thing Paul said in declaring God. In verse 24, he
said, God made the world and all things therein. He's Lord
of heaven and earth. He made this planet. He made
the stars. He made it all. He made man upon
it. Now, if you made something, what
does that mean? you own it. Whatever you make, you own it. Our Lord used this illustration.
He said, Have not the potter power over the clay? Make one
vessel whatever he purposes, and make another whatever he
purposes. Have not the potter power over the clay? The clay
has no say. The clay doesn't say, I'm going
to let you make me this. How ridiculous. God made all
things. All things. There would be no devils had
not God purposed them. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
That's what the Scripture says. He's Lord. He's absolute sovereign,
king, controller, despot, ruler, and judge of all flesh and spiritual
world, everything. Read on. It says, He dwelleth
not in temples made with hands. Verse 24. He dwelleth not in
temples made with hands. This is God's house. Oh, folks,
it ain't big enough. It just isn't big enough. I guess
that's why they keep building bigger buildings today, isn't
it? Keep building bigger ones. And
God dwelleth not in buildings made with hands. Read on. It
says in verse 25, neither is he worshipped with men's hands,
as though he needeth anything. Isn't this what men are doing
and saying today? in religion? Huh? Worship with
men's hands now. He's not worshipped with men's
hands. He's not worshipped, God doesn't dwell in buildings, there's
no holy land. Every dirt on this earth is just
that dirt. Every building on this earth
is just that wood, hay, and stubble. God's not worshipped when ceremonies,
symbols, objects, crosses, statues, holy water, robes, candles, or
fleshly, emotional, hand-waving, pep rally type, spiritual pep
rallies, crying and shouting. We're going to see this in a
minute in Elijah's day, hand-waving and all that. God's not worshipped
with men's hands, as it says there. Oh, but it says, let's lift up
holy hands without wrath and doubt. It must mean something
different, doesn't it? Because it says God is not worshiped
with men's hands. No, Jesus Christ said, they that
worship God is spirit. He said, they that worship him
must worship him. Not outward flesh, gimmicks,
tricks, crosses, statues, holy water, this and that and the
other, choirs and emotion and gimmicks. hollering and screaming
and shouting and waving. No, in the spirit, from the heart. God looks on the heart. He's
not looking at all the zeal and enthusiasm. If we can draw up
enough enthusiasm, God will pay attention to it. We're going
to see that in a minute, if I get to it. I've got to hurry, don't
I? All right, go back there. Go
back there. 1 Kings 18. All right, 1 Kings
18. I want you to notice with me
that this is what they were doing. Are you with me? If you've never
seen this before, you're going to see something strange. Yet
you're going to see what's going on in our day. Verse 23 and 24, 1 Kings 18. Now, Elijah said this, let them,
let those false prophets give us two bullets. Let them choose
a bullet. Cut it to pieces, lay it on the
wood, put no fire under it. I'll dress the other bullet,
lay it on the wood, put no fire under it. You call on the name
of your God, I'll call on the name of the Lord. And the God
who loves us and has a good, wonderful plan for our life,
no. The God that answereth by fire,
let him be God. The people said, that's good,
we like that, we'll do it. We'll call, you call. You know
Elijah's not saying we're going to let God be God. But he's telling
the people, whoever it is that answers by fire, that's God.
You going to bow to him as God? They said, that's fine, yes we
will. The world is about to find out
that the God who answereth by fire is God. They laugh and scoff and mock
at these old-fashioned hells fire preachers, and there aren't
many of them left. But I'm here to tell you, the world
is going to find out that the God who is going to
answer this world will declare himself by fire. He's God. Do you see that? Do you see the
significance of that? God's going to destroy this planet. I know people laugh at that,
but Jesus Christ said it more than anybody. Well, he's God. He's God. Now look at this. Elijah said
to them, verse 25, Elijah said, All right, you go first. Elijah
said to all these eight hundred and fifty, Y'all go first. If
he was from Virginia or Alabama, he'd say, Y'all go first. Y'all go first, you get your
bullet, cut him up, you call on the name of your God, Whoever
answers by fire, don't put any fire on them, whoever answers
by fire. You go first, you're many, there's lots of you, all
you preachers together, you all can't be wrong, all of you all
go first. Surely since all these people
are together and they're following you and all of you agree, surely
you must be true preachers, so go ahead, go ahead, call. Verse 26, now this sounds like
a modern-day Holy Ghost revival meeting right here. They took
the bullet and dressed it, called on the name of Baal from morning
until noon. Oh, Baal, hear us. There was
no voice, none that answered. So what did they do? They leaped
on the altar. They started jumping up and down,
waving their hands and shouting and rolling and screaming and
hollering. This sounds just like a modern
so-called Holy Ghost revival meeting. They all shouted and
shouted and shouted and finally jumping and hollering and dancing
and doing them. Please hear us. Oh, God. Oh,
you've seen it. You turn on the TV and look at
it. But there was no voice, no answer,
and no regard. Verse 30. Well, no, verse 27. Elijah began to mock them, and
said, Cry louder! Cry louder! Louder! And they got louder, and he said,
Louder! And they got louder, and louder,
and louder. Look at verse 27. He said, Well,
he's a God, well, maybe he's talking. He's talking to somebody
else. He can't hear you. Cry louder! He can't hear you. Barnard, Josh Barnard, an old
true preacher years ago, used to say that. He said, men try
to gang up on God or something. All of them together. He's pursuing. Look at verse 27. He's pursuing. Maybe he had the pursuit. He's
gone somewhere. What's he doing? I've been saying,
but the word there in the original is he has a private pursuit. He has a private pursuit. He's
doing something private. Maybe he's gone to the bathroom. Call on him. Maybe he's on a
journey or an adventure. Oh, he's sleeping. He has to
be awakened. Holler! Oh, that made him mad
then, didn't it? Shout, cry. There's no answer. And they began to cut themselves
with knives. They just did everything they
could do. And verse 29, and there was no answer. And then verse
30, all right, let's look at this. Verse 30, Elijah took twelve
stones. No, verse 30. He said, You come
near unto me. You come here, you listen to
me, and you watch. And what did Elijah do? He took
twelve stones. Now, all of this, people, is
a type of God's word and the type of the gospel. We only do
things according to the word of God and according to the prophets
and the apostles. Look at verse 31. He took twelve
stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel
shall be thy name. Elijah started doing what he
did according to the word of God. Nothing more, nothing less. And he did it in the name of
the Lord, verse 32. The stones he built an altar
in the name of the Lord. I'm doing what I'm doing in the
name of, for the glory of, for the exaltation of, for the declaration
of, for the glory of God. Not in my name. What I'm doing
is not in the name of Elijah, but in the name of God. And he
made a trench And at verse 33, he put wood in order, a bullock,
laid that bullock on the wood. What's that a picture of? A sacrifice on wood. Christ crucified. Elijah was drawing the attention
of the people to the word of God and to Christ crucified. Not himself. Read on. And he said, fill four barrels
with water, pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood, soak
everything in water. He filled everything with water
and soaked everything with water. That's the Word of God. The Word
of God. God's preachers, true preachers,
do everything they do according to the Word of God in the name
of the Lord God. And they're pointing people to
Christ crucified and him alone, and everything you hear them
say will be from this book right here. Nothing more, nothing less. Line upon line, precept upon
precept, verse by verse, verse by verse. This is the word of
God, not my comments on it, not so-and-so who's a great man.
This is the word of God. This is the power of God. And
Elijah prayed a thirty-second prayer. It takes thirty seconds
to pray this prayer. Thirty seconds. I timed it. It
wasn't some long, drawn-out, eloquent prayer. Look at it.
Thirty seconds, verses thirty-six and thirty-seven. It came to
pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah
the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
of Israel. Let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I
have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear
me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and
that thou hast turned their hearts back again." End of prayer. and the fire fell. And the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and stones and the
dust and licked up the water. Hebrews 12.29. Men say, well,
that's the God of the Old Testament. Paul, in concluding, Paul, in
concluding his message on Mars Hill, in Acts 17, verse 31, he
said, Now God hath appointed a day in which he would judge
the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all
men, and that he raised him from the dead. God is going to judge
this world. No mention of the love of God? judgment of God. Before that, Paul said, God commended
all men everywhere to repent. He doesn't ask anybody, doesn't
beg anybody, doesn't ask any human being to do anything. God
doesn't do that, and neither does his preacher. If God is God, he gives commands,
he doesn't make requests. And he said he's going to judge
the world in righteousness, absolute, perfect, holy, holiness according
to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, who's going to stand? Who's going to stand? Only those who believe Christ. Only those who know this true
and living God and worship him as such. No idolatrous will.
They'll be consumed Elijah had all 850 of those fellows killed.
Kelly, he told them, slay them all. No wonder they don't like the
prophets of the Old Testament, or the God of the Old Testament.
But now, Paul said in Hebrews 12.29, in case somebody says,
well, that's the God of the Old Testament. The God of the New
is different. He's all love and peace and understanding and compassion
and all that. Hebrews 12.29 says, Our God is
a consuming fire. Go learn what that means. Now, if we're in Christ, we've
already been consumed. If we're in Christ by faith,
the wrath of God has already fallen on us. God laid on him
the iniquity of all his people. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ. God is not angry with
those that are in Christ. God loves those that are in Christ. The love of God is not upon every
human being. It's for those that are in Christ.
Romans 8.39. But he says the wrath of God
abides upon those outside Christ. And our gods are consuming fire.
Now here's the picture. We'll either be judged in Christ. And if we've been judged in Christ,
there is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Christ died. But for those outside
of Christ, judgment, wrath, condemnation. This is the true God, Elijah's
God. And I poke fun at the God of
this generation, because he's not God at all. Preachers say he has no hands
but my hands, no feet but my feet. I can whip a guy with no
arms, can't you tell it? I can whip him. I challenge him. Meet me out back. I make fun of this guy today,
because he's not God at all. Not God at all. Elijah's God
is God, and Paul's God is God. And I say with the Apostle Paul,
after the way they call heresy, after the way everybody calls
heresy, and what they call heresy, what I've just preached this
morning, Paul said to a bunch of people, he said, after the
way they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers. Believe
in all things that are written in the prophets. I believe the God of the Old
Testament is the God of the New. He hasn't changed one bit. That's not a God. You see, that's
a God who's in control, a God you can trust. Though you don't
understand why something happened, if you know He did it, and He
did it according to a purpose, and He's too wise to do wrong,
it must have needed to be done. And you know if He's in control
of all things, you don't worry. You don't worry. He's in control. Anthrax is the least of your
worries. The least of your worries. When
you fear God, if you fear God, then there's no
fear of anything else. It's only God worth believing,
people. If I didn't have a God like that,
I'd quit. If you don't believe all this
book, throw it away. Throw it away. You can't pick and choose. All right, let's pick a closing
hymn. Number 34. I love this old hymn. Number 34. Immortal, invisible,
God only wise, in light inaccessible. He's hid from our eyes, but he's
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days. He's almighty,
Victoria, and that's whose name we pray. Number 34, stay with
us. Immortal, invisible body we are,
enlightened, accessible in our heart. Most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Faith. Almighty Victoria, thy great
name we sing. Unresting, unhastening, enshrouded
as a lie. For wanting, no wasting, the
root is in the mind. I've just been riding mountains,
I've thrown away the ground. I've crossed with top dolphins
of good luck and love. Last words, great father of glory.