Isaiah 46. Let's read two verses of Scripture. Isaiah 46, verses 8 and 9. God is speaking here, and he
says, Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it again to mind, O ye
transgressors. Remember the former things of
old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like
me. Over and over in scriptures,
God says this, I am God. There is none else. I am the
Lord. There is no other. You would
think one time would suffice. Why, everyone knows that God
is God. Oh, no. No, they don't either.
No, men—nearly everyone has thoughts and opinions about God, about
what he's like and how he does things. And out of these many
thoughts and opinions and imaginations, men and women have come up with
all sorts of strange and different descriptions of God, haven't
they? All sorts of strange things have come from men's opinions.
People like to think that they know something about God. And
that is the whole problem. That is the whole problem. The
old black preacher one time said, the title of his message was,
it ain't like you thought it was. It ain't like you thought
it was. God says, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways,
the way you do things. I don't think like you. I don't
do things like you. God said. So really, our thoughts
and opinions don't amount to a hill of beans, do they? They
don't matter in the least. Only what God says about himself
in this book matters, right? I continually emphasize that,
that only what is written matters. Only thus saith the Lord matters,
is of any importance. Well, whenever we hear somebody
say, perhaps, in light of this scripture, that God's thoughts
are not our thoughts, whenever we hear somebody say this, well,
I think, this is what I think. Just write it off. That's not
right. That's wrong. It's error, that
is, about God. Only what God says about himself
is the only true and reliable answer. Some people do use the word of
God to to talk about God. They do, but they usually only
use a few isolated verses. You know, they'll go over, my
pastor likes to call it versitis. Everybody's got versitis. They've
got one or two verses here and there that are pet verses to
them, and they go over like to John 3, 16. Well, God so loved
the world, and pull that out and create a whole denomination,
a whole doctrine out of that. Well, God is love, and they'll
go over and pull that out and create a whole, you know, they
love these scriptures. irregardless of the rest of the book. They
try to prove their already preconceived notions of God. They'll pull
out a few verses here and there to prove what they already think
about God. Well, I want to give you several widely accepted opinions
about God today, and then I'm going to endeavor to answer them
with about 140 million scripture verses. I'm going to give you
several things that men and women think about God, and then I'm
going to butcher them to pieces with this book right here. First
of all, and you can jot these verses down because you hear
these all the time, you hear this day in and day out about
God, what men think about God. First of all, most people believe
that God thinks and acts like a man, don't they? Everybody
does. They think God thinks and acts
and moves like a man. Well, Psalm 50, verse 21, lays
that in the dust. He says, Thou thoughtest that
I was altogether, that is, in every way, such a one as thyself. You thought altogether that I
was just like you. But he says, I will reprove you
now, Rick, by his grace and mercy, or later in condemnation. I will
reprove you, he says, and set things in order before thine
eyes. In other words, men have the
cart before the horse. And he said, I'm going to set
the matter straight. I don't think and act like a man. And men are going to see things
clearly at the judgment, aren't they? He's going to set things
in order before their eyes. Things will be put in their proper
perspective then, and all shall know that God is he that sitteth
upon the earth. He sits on the earth. And the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. What is our opinion of grasshoppers?
They're worthless, aren't they? That's what God says about man. God says this, Isaiah 55, 9,
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. But no, people
say God is like a man. He's like us. He's moved by this,
by that. He's moved by sentiment, emotion,
feelings. They say, you do this and God
will do that, like a man. You know, that's what we do.
If somebody does something, you react, right? If something happens,
you react to it. God doesn't react. God doesn't react. Oh no. Things,
God doesn't do things because things have happened. Oh no,
things happen because God's already done something. You see, here's
a big difference. He's getting the cart before
the horse. He said, I'm going to put this in order before your
eyes. God acts, and then things react. You see, things don't
happen because, and then God reacts to it. Oh no, he's already
acted, and that's why everything comes to pass like it does. Known
unto God, Acts 15, 18. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. Stan, that's clear to me, isn't
it? How can you... They say it's just a matter of
interpretation. How are you going to interpret it any other way?
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning. In other
words, everything he is going to do, has done, and is going
to do, he knew from the very foundation. It was already settled.
Does that mean he's going to do something differently later
on? He's going to see a man believe, and then he's going to act accordingly?
No. No, remember, God, are all his
works from the beginning. He's not waiting to see what's
going to happen. No, he says in Isaiah 46, 10,
he declares the end from the beginning. And from ancient times,
things are not even yet done. He's already declared it. Rick,
he declared you were going to be here at Central Baptist Church
at 10 a.m., July 2, 1989. You're going to be here. Is there
any possible way you weren't? No. He's declared it. He's declared
it. Well, that's what men think about
God. They think he thinks and he acts like a man. Secondly,
men think this, and you know it's true. They think that God
exists just to serve man. They think that God made everything
for man's enjoyment. He wants you, you know, to have
fun. That's the reason he created
it. Oral Roberts said God was lonely, so he needed Adam. He
created Adam. And he just lavished things on
him. Here, Adam, have a good time. This is for you. What does this book say? That's
all that matters, isn't it? Proverbs 16.4. Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord hath
made all things for himself. Case closed. All things for himself,
even the wicked, for the day of evil. He's going to get a
purpose out of them, or work his purpose out of them. Ezekiel
36, 22. He said, I don't do this for
your sake, but for my holy name's sake. That is salvation. You know, we reap the benefits.
We enjoy God's earth, yes we do, but it's not for us. It's
for his glory, first of all. Colossians 1.16, all things were
created by him and for him. That's what it says, doesn't
it, Barbara? All things were created by him and for him. Revelation
4.11, and this is going to be the final say, the final song
of all of God's true people. They're going to say, Thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Well, man enjoys this earth,
yes, but it's not for him, because the earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. We're just renting things a little
while. We're just renting them. Men think, first of all, that
God thinks and acts like a man. They think, secondly, that God
exists to serve man, and he created all this for man's enjoyment.
And they think this. How many times do you hear this?
God wants something from man. They think God wants something
from man, and he needs man to do things for him. Don't they?
Don't they? That's what everybody thinks.
Sit by his mercy and grace. I don't see anybody in here that
thinks that way. They think that God wants something
from—and I'm not preaching to those that aren't there, but
I'm giving us a reason for the hope that's within us, scriptural.
They think God wants something from man and needs man to do
things for him. They say, God wants you to do
this. Stan, God wants you to be this way. He does. God wants
you to be this way or that way. God wants to save you if you're
letting. That's what they say. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say God wants anything. Nowhere in the scriptures does
it say God wants anything. To imply that God wants something
means that there's something out there He doesn't have, and
He desires it. He didn't mean to tell me that
the Creator of the heaven and the earth, that there's something
He doesn't have, that he wants desperately from men. That's
what these fools would have us to believe. God says, Psalm 50,
verse 12, he says, If I were hungry, if I were hungry, and
this is hypothetical, I wouldn't tell you about it. If I were
hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and the
fullness thereof. I'd just round me up a million
sheep and butcher them and have me a feast. What do I need with
you?" Men say, God, God needs you and your money. He needs
your money. Well, he can't get his work done
without your five dollar. He has no hands, you know, but
your hands. Steve, he can't just go anywhere
without your feet. You're God's feet. Do you know
that? He has no feet but your feet, no mouth but your mouth. He can't say anything unless
you say it for him. They say. This is worthy to be laughed
at, isn't it? No money? You mean God needs my five bucks
when he says the silver and the gold is mine and all that is
in the heaven and the earth? You mean he has no hands? The
God in whose hands our very breath is, and who is all our ways,
he has no hands. The potter who fashioned it,
he has no hands. That's a tough task, making a
vessel without hands. He has no feet. The God who has
put all things under his feet has no feet. Where did they get
this stuff? No mouth? God has no mouth but
man's mouth? John the Apostle said, I heard
his voice. I heard his voice. I was in the
Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard his voice, and it sounded
like all the oceans of the world put together—a voice of many
waters. No mouth? Oh, my soul, men are fools, aren't
they? The fool has said, no God. Do we need ants or worms or grasshoppers
or grass? Henry, do you save that grass
you cut? You save it? What do you do with it? You rake
it up and throw it away or burn it, don't you? That's what the
Lord calls us. All flesh is grass. Grass. Would you take a second thought
about skipping on ants? Bob, you're nearly as sweet as
tea. In fact, we're going around trying to kill all we can, these
fire ants that are messing things up. Thirdly, men think that Satan
is equal to God, and he's messing up God's plan. Don't they? Everybody
does. They think Satan is just as powerful
as God, and he's messing things up. Folks think that Satan is the
cause of just about everything. They blame him for everything.
Sickness, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts,
famine, disease, poverty, all these things, they think Satan.
Where'd they get that at? Where'd they get that? Listen
to the Word of God. 1 Samuel 2.6. 1 Samuel 2.6 says
clearly, the Lord kills and maketh alive. He brings down to the
grave. He raises up. He makes poor. God wants you to be healthy,
wealthy, and wise. Oh, no. He says he makes poor, and he
makes rich. He bringeth low, he lifteth up. Deuteronomy 32, 39. See now,
you see now and understand this, he said, that I, even I, am he. There is no God with me. I kill,
I make alive. I wound, and I heal. Turn over to Job, the book of
Job, chapter 1, with me. I told this to a man I was with
one time. He kept talking about how God
wants you to be healthy and all this, and that sickness is all
from Satan. I said, well, what about Job? What about Job? He said, oh, don't talk about
Job. He said, everybody always talks about Job. That's the Word
of God. Goodness gracious, Job chapter
1, verse 9. Satan had to come one day and
present himself before God with everybody else. And Satan, listen
to this, the Lord said in verse 7, I like this, he's kind of
poking fun, I believe, a little bit at Satan here. The Lord said
unto Satan, where did you come from? Satan answered the Lord
and said, I'm going to and fro in the earth, walking up and
down, and I'm walking around, running around, trying to find
something to do. And the Lord said unto Satan, Well, have you
considered my servant Job? There's none like him in the
earth. He's a perfect and upright man, one that fears God and eschews
evil. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Oh, Job clears you for nothing. Haven't you put
a hedge about him? Oh, you're just protecting him
about his house and all that he has on the other side, but
you've blessed the work of his hands. You've surrounded him.
I can't get to him. His substance has increased in
the land. You've done everything for him. But, listen, Satan says
this, but if you put forth your hand now and touch everything
he has, God, if you do this, he'll curse you. And he'll curse
you. And the Lord said unto Satan,
then the Lord delegated his authority to Satan here. See, Satan didn't
do this of his own free will. The Lord simply allowed him to
do it. He says, OK. He says, Behold,
all that he has is in your power only upon himself. Put not forth
thine hand. So Satan went forth from his
presence. Well, he came back again. You know, all that befell
Job. And Satan came back again. In
chapter 2, he came back to present himself again. He had to come
before the Lord like all of his servants do, answer to him. And
God, I believe, said this much to Satan's embarrassment. He said, verse
2 of chapter 2, "'Whence comest thou? Where ye come from?' And
Satan answered, Going through and fro on the earth, running
up and down and all around, running around like a chicken with my
head cut off. The Lord said unto Satan, Have you considered my
servant Job? Yes, I have. I've tried everything possible
against him. Getting mad by this time. Have
you considered my servant Job, Satan? There's none like him. He's an upright, perfect man,
an upright man, one that fears God and eschews evil, and still
he holds fast his integrity. Although you moved me against
him." You see, Satan's God's devil. He's on a chain. Those
first angels that kept enough their first estate, the Scripture
says they're reserved in chains, doesn't it? Satan was one of
those angels. He's on a chain. He's on a leash. And God just lets it out every
now and then. Just lets it out every now and then. Well, fifthly, men say this about
God. They say, God's left it up to
you to decide your own destiny. Free will. Free will. Men say that God has left it
up to us to decide our own destiny. They say this, God has done all
he can do, now it's up to you. God is for you. This is their
description of election. God is for you. Satan's against
you. So you'd better cast your deciding
vote. You'd better vote for God. God's running for election. God wants to save you if you'll
only let him. Daniel 4.35 says, "...he doeth
according to his will, and the armies of heaven, and the inhabitants
of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou?" The Lord shall work, another
verse, and who shall let it? John 15-16, Christ said, you
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Nowhere in the Bible
does it say, make Jesus Lord. It doesn't say that anywhere.
Nowhere in the Bible. It does say this, that God has
made that same Jesus Lord, and at every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess that he is Lord already, and that God
made him Lord. It does say, nowhere does it
say in the scriptures, accept Jesus as your personal Savior.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that, Barber. Nowhere. It
does say this, though, that God has made us accepted in the Beloved. We're the ones on trial, Stan,
aren't we? We're the ones that have to be
accepted or else rejected. We're the ones, not God. But
men say, that's not fair. That's not fair. Why should God
choose one over another? I agree. I agree. Why should God choose anybody?
Why should God choose anybody? There's no reason, except in
the good pleasure of his own will, simply because he decided
to do so. Aren't you thankful he did? If
God would have just chosen one man, one woman, to elect to save,
that would have been mercy, wouldn't it? That would have been grace.
and fallen short, come short of the glory of God. Kenna, what I do with my own
as I will, he said, Kenna, say, what would you do if I came in
your house one day and said, I don't like your furniture.
Get rid of it. I don't like this. You've got bad taste, man. Get
rid of that. Deborah, what if I came in your
house and said, Andrew, you're not raising him right. Let me
have him. No, here, here's my daughter.
Now, I've decided that you're to have my daughter as your daughter."
Men, they don't let anybody tell them what to do, do they? Wouldn't
dream of it. I tell you what, they'd raise
up and fight you over it, wouldn't they? What does Paul say in answer
to this? Paul's answer to this is, all he says is, oh man, who
are you to reply against God? Who are you to say anything about
God? That's not fair. Can you imagine
me walking out in the yard some day, and I see some ants all
over, or I see something, some insects messing up my property,
and I start snuffing them out. And one of them says, that's
not fair. Say all men, but that's not fair. This is my yard. You're trespassing,
right? Forgive us our trespasses. Well,
you parents. This will really put this thing
to rest. You parents. Terry, did you decide to have
those boys or did they decide to have you? That's absurd, isn't
it? Isn't that what men are saying?
Isn't that what they're saying? I got saved. I accepted Jesus,
my personal Savior. I decided for Jesus. I got born
again. I born to myself again. Well,
the true believer. Men see these teachings in the
scriptures. They hear this and they say,
that's fatalism. Oh, no. True believers, they
hear this, they see this and say, no, that's Bible. Not fatalism,
it's just God's Word, that's all it is. And the difference
between being a child of God and not is this. Some believe,
some don't. There's the whole difference.
Some, by God's grace, believe. They bow to it. Rest in Christ. Trust in Him and Him alone. Some
don't. He's left some of them to their
own free will. The true child of God, a true
Christian, sees things in God's Word, and he says, I believe
that. I may not understand it, but I believe it. Lord, help
my unbelief. You help me when I don't believe
it. I know you're sovereign, God. I know you are, and I love
it, but you help me at times when I'm, you know, a little
rebelling against that a little bit. When somebody says, well,
this kind of belief in God's absolute sovereignty and justification
by faith, that will lead to careless indifference. Oh no, it'll lead
to this if God uses it. It'll lead to this. It'll lead
to fear. Fear. And the fear of the Lord
is the very beginning of all real understanding. You know
what I say? It'll lead to fear. All error
comes from ignorance of God. All error. Because men start
with man. You don't start with man. You
start with, in the beginning, God. Let's talk about salvation.
Okay, in the beginning, God. Let's talk about creation. Okay,
in the beginning, God. You see? Men start with men. All error comes from an ignorance
of the character of God. And the only characteristic—and
this is the last one. This is what men think. Men think
God is love. All men and women, that's the
only thing they think. Describe to me God, man. God
is love. Well, you know, I was watching
a talk show the other day. Wish I hadn't. It made me angry.
Everybody on it—you may have seen it—everybody on there was
talking about God. The talk show host was a blasphemous
fellow. I mean, he was spewing out blasphemy
after blasphemy, mocking God, mocking the Holy Spirit. I was
sick in my stomach. I couldn't go to sleep after
I watched that program. And there was some so-called Christians
up there. They were giving their little answers to what he was
saying and all that. He made them look like fools,
too. He said this. Listen to this. Here is this pagan talk show
host. I bet he can't quote one verse
of Scripture. But he said, OK, what you're saying is this. You're
saying if God loves, if God loves those people over there and Christ
died for them, if God loves those people over there and Christ
died for them, then everybody's OK. What have we got to worry about?
Terry, he said that. Mort Downey. He said that. He said, if God loves this man
and crossed out for this man, then what have we got to worry
about? And he walked off. That's true, isn't it? But that's
not the Bible. You see? And they all started
saying, oh, blah, blah, blah. They were talking about heaven
and hell. Heaven and hell. And this talk show man was saying
how that it wasn't fair for God to send a heathen out of the,
or a fellow out of the jungle who's never heard of Jesus Christ.
He kept asking these people, does a man have to believe in
Jesus Christ to be saved? If he doesn't, is he going to
go to hell? None of those Christians would answer yes. None of them. The whole time they were talking
about heaven and hell, and one little girl got up and she said,
one young lady got up and said, the whole issue here is not going
to heaven or hell. It's that God loves you. God
loves everybody. I thought to myself, you mean
it's not an issue whether I'm going to heaven or not? I think
the folks in hell think it's a pretty big issue. Not one time did I hear this
during the course of the whole talk show. I didn't hear one
mention of this word. Holy. And that puts it all into
perspective. If one of those people has said,
you don't understand, man, why should God send a man to hell?
Because God is holy. He's holy. That means absolutely. white, pure, perfect, spotless,
clean. He can't think upon. He can't
look upon. He can't receive. He can't have
anything to do with anybody or anything that's not holy. God is a consuming fire. Yes, God is love, but God is
a consuming fire. Now, which is it? God is holy.
That's what He is. And all these things are under
that. characteristic. He's referred
to as being holy more than anything else. God is love, yes, but it's
a holy love. He loves righteousness. He loves
holiness. He loves truth. But we're all
together unlovely and ungodly. How's he going to love us? That's
the point I need to get to. only in Christ, His perfect,
holy Son. You see, God is just. He will
by no means clear the guilty. God is immutable. He never changes.
I'm the Lord. I change not. He learns nothing. He forgets nothing. He has been,
is now, always will be, forever the same, eternal God. He's God.
He never changes. And this God is holy, white,
pure, holy. You can't even describe Him,
can you, Rick? Holy. How do you describe holiness?
This God was manifest in the flesh. This God, this holy God, became a man. And He lived on
this earth as a man, like you see. A perfect life in thought,
in word, and in deed. All His life, from a baby, lived
a perfect life. As a man, for some men, for God's
chosen, ones that God in mercy before the foundation of the
world said, I'm going to choose Rick Williams. I'm going to choose
Terry Elliott, Henry Soar, Gannett Berry. I'm going to choose these
people. Oh, they're not going to deserve it, but I want to
do it. It pleases me to do this. I'm going to choose them. And
he gave them to his son. His son came down here and lived
a perfect life as Rick Williams. as Rick Williams. And he imputed,
he charged to Rick Williams' account, he charged it to, he
put it all over his record. Holiness, holiness. God turns
the book on Rick Williams. In the end, God's going to look
at this, he's going to pull up the file on Rick Williams. Pull
up the W's and see, Rick Williams, let's see what Rick's done. Holiness,
holy, holy, holy. Rick's holy. Son, you're holy. I can have fellowship with you."
And then Christ took Rick's black judgment, his rebellion, his
sin. God looked at Christ's record
that day, and he saw Rick Williams' sins. He saw this against him.
What has Jesus Christ done? Sin! Sin! Sin! Sin! He was made sin for us. And he
went to the cross. and bore that sin that was due
him, that was due me. That punishment that God says,
the wages of sin, what you earn from sinning is death, and Christ
died. But in the third day, he rose
again, accepted of the Father, proving that that sacrifice was
acceptable to the Father. Rising again, depositing our
sins somewhere in hell, wherever that was. Depositing our sins,
and now God accepts us. solely because of that, because
he's holy. He's holy. And he waits for the
day, and that's only the day that he knows when he's going
to come again and receive his people all up to himself. And
our God, that God, the God of the Bible, his name is Jesus
Christ. That's his name, Jesus Christ. And that's the God of the Bible.
That is the God of the Bible. There is no God else besides
this one. That's it. He's it. He's the only one. Well, I want you to stand with
me and sing this thing. M number 70. M number 70.