Last Sunday night, I mentioned
we were dealing with speaking in tongues, and out of 1 Corinthians
14, I mentioned Babel, where God made everyone to speak in
different languages. And I had that on my heart all
week, and I hope that the Lord's been pleased to give me something
to say about it. But let's look first here in
Genesis chapter 10 and verse 8 to set this message up. And Cush begat Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in
the earth. He was a mighty hunter before
the Lord. Wherefore it is said, even as
Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel, or Babylon. and Eric, and Achad, and Caldee,
and the land of Shiner. Out of that land went forth Asher,
and buildeth Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah.
And reasoned between Nineveh and Calah, the same is a great
city." So now we know who this is, this Nimrod, mighty hunter,
mighty one. Then let's go down here in chapter
11 and deal with these first nine verses. And the whole earth
was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass,
as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the
land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said one to another,
Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they
had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they
said, Go to, Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And
the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the
children of men built. And the Lord said, Behold, the
people is one, and they all have one language, and this they begin
to do. And now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down. and there confound their language,
that they may not understand one another's speech. So the
Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the
earth, and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name
of it called Babel, that is, Confusion, because the Lord did
there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence
did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
There is not any time in history after the fall of Adam, not any
moment in history. Choose any year, choose any decade,
choose any century, choose any millennium, choose any place
on the face of the earth you want to go, and this is the best
you'll find man doing, trying to reach God on his own terms. That's the best, I don't care,
the best that man can do is trying to reach God on his own terms.
He's going about to build himself a way to get to God. And he'll
go to great extremes. He'll grow to great effort. He
will spare no expense. And he will get everybody involved
in his way of approaching God that he possibly can. And the
only way in the world that you'll ever approach God rightly is
if God approaches you first. God's got to come to you first,
got to do something for you first, or you will be like Nimrod and
the rest of these rebels, the rest of these rebels. You know,
we rarely hear about Nimrod. And oh, I tell you what man began
to do. They began to revolt against
God to seek and glorify themselves and deify themselves. Now, first
of all, we have Nimrod. He's the fellow that built Babylon.
Called it Babel. It was called Babylon. And it
tells us that he was Cush begat Nimrod. Cush was Ham's first
son. And Ham was the one that was
cursed by God. Remember, Ham was the one that
God said, you're cursed. Canaan, and Canaan begat Ham,
Ham begat Gush, Gush begat Nimrod. So he's coming from a cursed
place to begin with. He's coming from some people
that hated God, rejected God, despised God, and dishonored
God, and exposed his father's nakedness. So they were going
to be servants. They were cursed. But yet, here
we have Nimrod, this one that's a descendant of Ham who is cursed.
And the first thing we see about him, we see human ambition. We
see the best that man can do, human ambition. Look what it
says, you know, it said, the beginning of his kingdom, back
there in verse 10 of chapter 10. And the beginning of his
kingdom was Babylon. Babylon. Aaron, Achad, Calni, and the
land of Shani. So you see, this fellow started
out seeking to make himself a kingdom. Started out with the kingdom.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon. And Nimrod, this
is what Nimrod means. It means, his very name means
rebel. His very name means rebel. When it says back up there that
Christ began Nimrod, that he began to be a mighty one in the
earth, I mean, beloved, he's one of those fellows who struggled
for the preeminence. He said, I won't let anybody
wreck him, but he began to be a mighty one. When they said
he was a mighty hunter, I've read someplace where it says
that he actually hunted people, not just that he hunted something
to eat, but he was a hunter of men. I mean, he would run men
down. He was a bloodthirsty man. He
was a cruel man. He was a mighty one, and it says
before the Lord. You see, God saw him and saw
how he regarded himself, and how he sought to establish himself,
and saw all of his preeminence. And he was cruel, and he pursued
his own ambitions in open defiance before the Lord. He said he was
before the Lord, this mighty thing. So here's a fellow that
he, first of all, he comes from a family that despised God and
rejected God, and began to build himself a kingdom. set up a kingdom. And I'm telling you something,
beloved, in most Baptist churches now, the little kings over the
little kingdoms, little popes over the popetums. You know,
that's what they try to do. They try to run everything. They
want everything done their way. But I'm telling you, beloved,
God said that Yimrod, here he is, he's a descendant of Cush
and Ham, cursed before the Lord. And this word Babel, Babel started
out meaning the gate of God. going to build a gate to God,
and ended up being confusion. What started out to be going
to be a gate to God ended up being confusion. And that's why
Scripture says that out of the heart, out of the heart are the
issues of life. Why does he, bloodthirsty? Why was he a mighty one? Why
is his name Rebel? Why is all this? Why did he want
to build a tower to God? Why did he want to have a kingdom?
Why did he want to pursue other men and subdue other men? I'll
tell you why. Because out of the heart are
the issues of life. That's what was in his heart.
And I'll tell you, beloved, what's in your heart, that's what you
are. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. You see, God, this business of
heart means us personally, and that's where God's got to deal
with us, in our heart. And then not only do you see
human ambition, he's going to build him a tower. He's got a
kingdom, he's going to build him a tower. And Noah, look down
here in verse 4 of chapter 11. Here's his, the object of their
ambition was this. And they said, go to, let us
build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. Here's
their ambition, the object of it. Let us make us a name. Let us make us a name. Let's be somebody. Let us make
us a name. Let us make us a name. So the
Scripture says, Diocrates loved to have the preeminence, and
when John sent other people down there, he said that he wouldn't
receive them, nor let the church receive them. We was talking
to somebody this week, who was Brother Jean Paul, and he said,
ever been in trouble they've ever had in France in the services,
and any church that he knows of is somebody seeking to have
the preeminence. Somebody wanted to set himself
above everybody else and have their way. He wanted the preeminence. And the scripture said in Galatians
6.3, if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing,
he deceives himself. Oh, you think I'm somebody? And
the God says you're nothing? You're deceiving nobody but yourself. And he says if a man Seeing as
how he knows something when he knows nothing, here again he
deceives himself. And here's the thing with it.
Everybody says, let's make up a name. I want my name in the
who's who. I want my name on that brick. I want my name all over my place. Now you know, Scott Richard used
to say that people, you know, they get them a mailbox, I mean
big enough to park a car in, and put their name plastered
all over it. and, ah, this is my place, this
is my, you know, go on and on about it. By the time they get
to where they want to be, ah, we're all alone. They want everybody
to know who they are, what they've accomplished. I was talking to another fellow
kid this week, and he started talking about this preacher,
and I said, yeah, I said, he mentioned him, so I looked him
up on the internet, and he had a PhD. He said, oh, that's just
one of his PhDs. He said, he's got two or three
PhDs, he's got a master's degree in this or any other. And that's
why when you call and ask for the pastor, you know what they'll
say? Dr. So-and-so's not available right
now. Just make yourself a name. Just
make us a name. Oh, my. And making name-making
is common and popular among business. But all to the end of those who
do it. Look with me. You keep Genesis
11. Look in Proverbs with me just a moment. Proverbs 20. Proverbs
20. You know, there's only one name.
One name. One name that moves God. One name that God pays attention
to. One name that has any preeminence. One man, if you're in Proverbs
20 and verse 6, look what he said here. Most men will proclaim
every one his own goodness. Most men will proclaim every
one his own goodness. What else does it say? But a
faithful man who can find. A man who knows what he is. Huh? Let me show you something. Talk
about human ambition. I ain't done this in a long time. Has that got any worth to it?
What are those? What are they stealing? Now what is it? It's a glass of tea. Put a one in front of it, that
makes it worth something. But I don't care how many zeros
you have until you have a number in front of it, just zeros. And
we're nothing but a bunch of zeros. Nimrod was a zero. Every
human being is a zero until Christ is put in the equation. And God
won't hear zeroes have nothing to do with the zeroes. I don't
care how many zeroes he's got behind his neck until Christ
is his master, Christ is his Lord, Christ is his Redeemer,
Christ is his substitute, Christ is his all. He's going to be
zero at the judgment, too. Now, ain't that right? And oh, look what happened to
old Cory. Remember what happened to him? He told him and Duncan,
They got together and they went up to Moses and said, Moses,
you know, we know we're just as good a preacher as you are.
We're as holy as you are. We know enough about the law
of God as you do. So, you know, we want to take
over. We want to have some part in this lot. We want everybody
to hear us. We want to do some of the preaching.
Now, we want you to sit down and listen to us a while. God said, Moses, get out of the
way. And the next day, Moses said,
who's on the Lord's side? Get over here. He found the Lord's
side and got over there. Two hundred and fifty rebels
got over here, Korah, Dothan, and Adam and all that. They got
over here. And with all their children,
God opened the earth and swallowed everything that belonged to those
rebels. They fought to have the preeminence,
they fought that I'll be somebody, and God sent them to fail without
giving them a chance to pack a suitcase. Ain't that right? That's what happens to people
who want to have us make us a name. Well, how in the world are they
going to try to do it? How are they going to make a name for themselves?
Well, here's how they're going to do it. Again, in verse 4.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower.
And oh, not just a city and a tower. Nothing wrong with building cities.
Nothing wrong with building towers. But here's what they wanted to
do. They wanted to reach heaven with it. They wanted to go all
the way to heaven, you know. Oh, they wanted to go all the
way. Let's build us a city, and let's build us a tower that'll
reach heaven itself. And ain't that what man's always
trying to do, is get to heaven? And you know how he tries to
get to heaven. He wants to build. He wants to work. He wants to
labor. He wants him a city where he can be safe. First of all,
let's build us a city. And after we get us a place where
we're safe, we'll start trying to get up to heaven itself. And
so they wanted a city. They wanted a tower for security
and hope and a stronghold. But they began to build, build
a city. And we're going to build us a
city. When we get through, we'll have a tower and we'll walk right
up into the presence of God. They'll be like Pharaoh when
Moses walked in and said, God said, let my people go. Pharaoh
said, who is the Lord that I should obey him? And that's the way
these people were. You know, God, we'll go all the way to
heaven. We'll let folks know how powerful we are, how glorious
we are, how wise we are, how strong we are. We're going to
build us a city and then we're going to build us a tower and
going to build us a strong power for refuge and death. But you
keep Genesis 11. Let me show you something over
here. In Isaiah 28. You know, Paul told the Corinthians,
I mean, excuse me, he told the Romans, he said, brethren, brethren,
my heart's desire, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Now here's some people,
beloved, they thought they were saved. When it came to so-called
living right, they lived right. When it comes to having the laws
and rule of life, not only was it their rule of life, they had
a bunch to it to make it a little more strict. When they talked
about sanctification, there wasn't nobody lived a cleaner life,
whatever that is. They prayed, standing on the
street corners. They walked in the temple and
started throwing their money in the box. They had scriptures
on their arm in robes and had them on their phylactery across
the top of their head. Oh, and these fellas, I mean,
man, they were somebody. They were somebody. But Paul
says, my heart's desire to Israel, for God to Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record. I go on record before
God, before Israel, and before everybody reads this book. That
they have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge.
What do you mean, not according to knowledge? They don't know
God. They don't know the curse of the law. They don't know that
by the law is a knowledge of sin. They don't know God. They
don't know themselves. They don't know what sin is.
They don't know what flesh is. They don't know what holiness
is. They don't know what righteousness is. They don't know nothing! How do you know they don't? They're
going about to establish their own righteousness. And that's
what these fellows are doing. And, oh, beloved, look here in
Isaiah 28, in verse 20. He said, here's what just happens
when people try to establish their own righteousness, try
to get to heaven, try to work. The bed is shorter than a man
can stretch himself on. You don't have to try to sleep
on it. Couch, you know when you can't get stretched out or a
bed too short for you, too little? No, you can't get stretched out
on it, you have to bunch up all the time. And then my son, not
only that, but the coverage now that he can wrap himself in it.
He turns over and he goes like that, he's uncovered. He turns
to uncover this, and that part over here is uncovered. That's
what he is before God. He can't stretch out, he can't
rest. He can't cover his nakedness, he can't cover his coldness.
And, oh, beloved, that's what they want to do. Let us, let
us, let us, let us. And then look what they're going
to do it with. Look how they're going to do
it. First of all, they want to make themselves a name. Then how are
they going to do it? They're going to build them a
city, a place where they can be safe, a tower where they have
security and hope, a stronghold. And then I'm going to reach to
heaven. But look what else they do. How are they going to do
this? It says here back over in our text, back in Genesis 11. Look what it says.
How are they going to do this? And they said in verse 3, Go
to, they said one to another, go to and let us make brick and
burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone
and slime had they for burning. Well, they're going to, first
of all, they're going to build them a house. And how are they going to do
it? They're going to start making bricks. Making bricks. If a man's going to try to be
saved with what he does, he's going to have to make a lot of
bricks. He's going to have to make a lot of bricks. And these
fellows are going to make enough bricks to build a city, to build
a tower, that's going to go all the way to God. Huh? They not
only have to build a building, but they have to make every single
brick that goes in it. And then, after they've got it
done, all there is is a brick. Just a brick. Huh? Oh, you ever
seen any brick builders? I'm going to show you some brick
builders from the Scriptures. First of all, look with me in
Luke 18. Luke 18. I'm going to show you a brick
builder. I'm going to show you a fella that's a brick builder.
He's making bricks. Luke 18, here's a fella making
bricks. He's laying bricks in his house.
You know, our Lord says, you know, that two men builded a
house. One builded on the sand, the
other builded on the rock. But here's these fellas, not
only gonna build a house, they're gonna build a whole, whole city. But here's a brick builder. Luke
18.9. Here's a fellow going to build
him. He's done built his house, got all these bricks in it already. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Republican. Now watch
these bricks. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
at all like this publican. I fast twice in the week, and
I give tithes of all that I possess." Boy, he had him a nice house
built, didn't he? He put a lot of bricks in that
house. He made a lot of bricks to build a house like that. And
our Lord Jesus Christ, He said over in Matthew, let me show
you this one too, in Matthew 7. I know I'm having you look
at a thing, but this is just, this is just, this is some of
these people building these bridges. In fact, there's an old song
that people used to sing. I'm building a bridge. Building
it strong and I'm building it wide. Building it all the way
across the great divide. Oh, look what it said here in
Matthew 7, 21. 21. 21. 21. 21. 21. 21. 21. 21.
21. 21. 21. 21. And then by Dane, we cast out
devils. Oh my, they just lined up for
us to throw the devils out of them. Throw their crutches away,
got out of their wheelchairs. Man, oh man, they was really
doing something. And then by Dane, done many wonderful
works. And then, while I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. There you go. Gotta make a break. Not only do they have to work,
But they've got to make bricks one at a time. One at a time. And that's what folks will do.
They'll talk about their bricks. I got up at 4 o'clock this morning,
prayed. My heart was so burdened over
this, you know, and I wept so much over that. I read the Bible
through. I read it through every year.
And every time they talk about all that they're doing, what
they're doing, just tell me how many bricks they've got made.
Every time they talk about what they're doing, talk about how
many bricks they've got made. You know, I give this, and I go there,
and I pass out this tract, and I do this other thing. And all
they're doing is telling you the bricks. Look at this brick
I made. Here's another brick in my building. Another brick
in my building. Now, let's see what God thinks
about all this. Back over in Genesis 11. See
what God says about this. Huh? What does God say? God don't
do it. But what does He do about all
this building, all this working, all this labor? Does it please
God? Does it satisfy God? Can God
look at it and say, Lord, man, those folks are really doing
something. I'm impressed. Oh, I'm impressed.
I was looking at one of the songs this morning and said, have I
done my best for Jesus? No, it's not what we do for Him
as He done His best for me, because it's going to take what He does
for me, not what I'll do for Him. And I'll tell you something else
about this business about they want to build a place to heaven.
Some issue's got to be settled before there's going to be any
talk about going to heaven at all, and that's the issue of
sin. Sin, but Christ came not to take people to heaven. He
came to put away sin. The issue of sin, Christ came
to, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for thou shalt save his
people from their sin. And once that sin business, once
that sin is taken care of, once Christ has put your sin away
and washed your soul in his blood and cleansed your heart and applied
his blood to your conscience, then you're not even so much
as interested in heaven as going to where he is to see the Lord
face to face. Floyd's not talking about, I
can't hardly wait to get there and see them streets of gold.
Floyd's not talking about, I can't hardly wait to see those gates
of pearl. Floyd's talking about, I want to go home and be with
my Master, to be where the Lord is, to see Him face to face. To be absent from the bodies,
to be present with the Lord. I'm not so much interested in,
listen, there's going to be a city come down out of heaven, let's
do Jerusalem. But you know, beloved, you know
what's going to be the light of that city? Christ is. You know who we're singing songs
about when we get there? Christ, the love of God. So these folks, they got the
wrong thing pulled by the horns, starting with they want to go
to heaven. That's the first thing a false prophet will ask you.
That's the first thing a soul man will ask you. That's the
first thing somebody that don't know nothing about God will ask
you. Do you want to go to heaven? That's the first thing they ask
you. Do you want to go to heaven? I dare—next time somebody asks
you that, say, no, I don't. no, I don't." And take him aback. And then say, well, if I was
to go, how in the world would I get there? Oh, what's God's view of all
this? Oh, does it please, does it satisfy
Him? I tell you, there's only one
word for all that these fellows did, wood, hay, and stubble,
nothing but pit for the fire. Now, here in verse 5 of Genesis
11, look what the Lord did. And the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower which the children of men built. Now,
when it talks about the Lord coming down, that has to be the
Lord Jesus Christ walking. That has to be Him. has to be
Him, because I just read to you that God has to humble Himself
to behold the things that are in heaven. I mean, God is so
high and so glorious and so holy and so exalted that He has to
even humble Himself to look at things in the heavens and on
the earth. And so when it says He came down
to see, it has to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And then He came
down to see the city. See the city these people are
building. I want to see this tower. And He sees our building. He sees every brick. He sees
every drop of sweat. He sees every act that a soul
does. And He sees every motive that
a person has for what they do. And God Himself is looking dead
at it. God Himself. And John Claude,
his last point, Wednesday night, was this. What will be the ground
of your acceptance before God? And you leave this world. And
that's what the thing is here. God Himself is looking. Looking. Seeing. Looking into the mind. Looking into the heart. Looking
into the will. Looking into the motive. Oh, we can talk about all we
want to talk about. But the scripture says, you know,
that we're open and naked before Him with whom we have to do.
That now, as far as God's concerned, if you ain't got the righteousness
of Christ on, you're as naked as the day you was born. And
not only that, but we not only are naked, but you've got dung
all over your body. You've got corruption all over
your body. You've got corruption all over
yourself. Huh? And, oh, beloved, he has never,
ever, when he comes down to see what, says, go down and see what
they're doing, the children of men, beloved. He has never found
anything or anyone that's ever pleased him on the topside of
God's earth. But one person, one person has
ever done anything that God can look at and say, I'm well pleased.
There's only one name that God can look at and say, I love that
name. There's only one name that God
will look at and say, speak to me in this name. There's only
one person that ever God can look at him and say, I'm well
pleased with him, can look at him and say, I saw the travail
of his soul, and I'm satisfied. There's only one person that
God was satisfied enough with that he took him from this earth
and set him at his own right hand, and set him with all power
and authority in heaven and earth and heaven. One person, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh beloved, no wonder our Lord
said, He said, I delight to do thy will. Oh God, I delight to
do thy will. And I came to do thy will. And oh, here's the thing about
it. It's not doing, it's not doing that men are saved by,
it's the doing of Christ that men are saved by. And it's believing. Faith. Faith. Faith. Believing Christ. Resting. It's
not doing, it's resting. It's not working, it's ceasing
from you later. Huh? Ceasing from you. Let us... A man who has ceased
from his labors is like God. He's... He that enters into his
rest is ceased from his own labor as God did. That's the heart,
you know, that's the purpose of the gospel. That's the purpose
of God's people. And the scriptures is to cause,
let folks know, it's not in what you do, it's what Christ already
did. Stop! Quit! Rest! Come unto me, all ye that labor
in every land, and I will give you rest. That's what he gives
you. Then he says, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, and then what you know what you'll do?
You'll find rest. He gives it, and then you'll
find it. Have you found it? Oh, I've found it. Floyd's found
it. Here he is, he's facing eternity. That tumor gets bigger and bigger
and bigger. He's laying there, gets up and
talks. Tells everybody that is listening,
I'm going home, I'm going home. And he says, I've got such a
restful pillar. What the Lord Jesus did. He's
my hope. He's my plea. I've got nothing
to offer. Nothing to do. I've seen that
He's my righteousness. He's my hope. He's everything
I've got, and I'm willing to go out into eternity and cast
it all on Him just like I did here, without any fear, without
any trepidation, without any anxiety. He said I'm not anxious
about it a bit. Oh, I tell you, this gospel brings
rest. Oh, then look what happens when
God comes down. In verse 7. Oh, let's go down now, and there
confound the language. Down in verse 9, Therefore is
the name of it called Babble, because the Lord there did confound
the language. You know, God brought a sudden
confusion. And here's the thing about it.
Whenever God comes around, and you hear the gospel, whenever
God makes Himself manifest, It confounds the self-righteous
every single time. They're just worthless. They're
confounded. You mean to tell me that everything
I've done all my life ain't worth nothing? That's what I'm telling
you. You mean to tell me that all
my prayers and my decisions And all my witnesses, all my tithe
payers, all my Sunday school attendants, all my preachers,
all my Bible readers, don't have any way with God? That's what
I'm telling you. And so when God comes, He confounds
them. And I'll tell you what, I've
never seen it fail yet that the first time somebody hears the
gospel, if they've been steeped in religion, it confounds them
to no end. They start packing up, start
making excuses. They start worrying about who
did what and why they didn't know. But listen. Oh, you count
God's presence confounds the self-righteous and the self-willed.
And, oh, my. And He's the only one that can
make a man leave off the vein for sumptuous work. And He scattered
them. He scattered them. I want you to see another verse
of Scripture. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. I want you to see this
verse. You know, talking about compounds. 1 Peter chapter 2
and verse 6. And God calls these people to
leave off what they was doing. Leave it off. All of a sudden, confusion. Sudden
confusion. And I tell you, there will always
be confusion wherever the gospel is not preached. In 1 Peter 2
and verse 6, it says this, Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a cheap cornerstone, elect, precious,
now listen to it, and he that believeth on him shall not, shall
not, believeth on him shall not, shall not, be what? Oh, God took
away our confusion. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
said, I know, I know that what you think is well-pleasing in
the sight of me, and I know what you do is well-pleasing in the
sight of me. But He says, that that's well-pleasing in the sight
of me is abomination in the sight of Then look at God's judgment
when He comes down. Look at His judgment. Back over
here, Genesis 11. In verse 8 it says, So the Lord
scattered them abroad from thence. In verse 9 it says, the last
part of the verse, And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad
upon the face of the earth. That's God's judgment. He scattered
them. He scattered them. And you know
what? This was the very thing that they were trying their dead-level
best to keep from happening. Huh? Yeah. Look back up there
in verse 4. This is the thing that they were
laboring to keep from happening. And they said, Go to, let us
build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and
let us make a name, watch this, lest we be scattered abroad upon
the face of the whole earth. So the very thing that they were
laboring to keep from happening. Happened to him. And that's what's
going to happen. The very thing that man labors
for, to be accepted of God, when he gets to the end, the very
thing that he labored to keep from happening, is exactly what's
going to happen to him. Exactly what's going to happen
to him. And then this is the thing. He says back up in verse 6, the
last part of that verse. And now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have left them to do. You know what that
tells us? That God gave them up. God gave
them up. Whatever you want to do, whatever
you want to do, I'm not going to restrain you. Be as wicked
as you can be. You go ahead, and here's the
thing is, you know what the wickedness is? Trying to get to glory, trying
to get to God, trying to get to heaven. And so here he says,
God gave them up. And beloved, God gives up. I
believe that God gives up more people than you and I can ever
imagine. God gives up a lot. He sends
men strong delusions to believe a lie. He ordains men of old
to condemnation to go out and preach a lie. You say, well, listen, if there's
an election, there's a reprobation. If there's a choosing, there's
a passing by. If there's a loving Jacob, then
there's an Esau that's hated. And it's always been that way
and always will be that way. And a man had a son named Charles,
and he said, I hope he grows up to be Charles Pershing and
not Charles Manson, because he understood what's in human nature. And let me show you this quickly,
and I'll be done. Men labor, work to save themselves from
being cast out by God. And the very thing that they
do is what will cause them to be cast out into outer darkness
in their last day. The very thing that they do.
You know, they said, Lord, we visited the prisons, we've done
all these things. And he said, Lord, it don't amount
to nothing. Then he asked his people, what
have you done? They've done nothing. Done nothing. In all, beloved,
the very thing that they labor to keep from happening is the
very thing that brings judgment on them. Beloved, there is a
tower, though, where you can run into it and be safe. And
you look at this yourself when you get on Proverbs 18, 10, it
says this, The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous
run into it, and they're safe. They're safe. You know, Abraham
was looking for a city, too. But you know whose city he was
looking for? Whose builder and baker was God. Then, O beloved, cease from your
works, and enter into rest, as God ceased from his. Our Father,
in the blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for this
day. Thank You for the Gospel. Thank
You for the truth as it is in Christ. Father, cause this gospel
to be fruitful today, effectual today. Tear down strongholds,
cast down imaginations, bring hearts here captive to the obedience
of our Lord Jesus Christ, His obedience, what He did. Enable men to quit, stop, cease
from their own works and labor and enter into rest, rest of
Christ. Embrace Him, bow to Him, submit
to Him, see the great, great need of
Him who has these things in Christ's name. Amen.