Psalms 115. The Lord will help me make some observations
here. Truth that's contained here in
these passages. Psalms 115. You know, it's inherent in our
carnal nature to like to be patted on the back. We like to be congratulated.
We like to receive praise from other men for the things that
we do. We like to have recognition for
accomplishments that we make. And you know, to some degree,
you know, currently speaking, you know that, you know, I like
to give credit to people that have done something that's really
nice and great. But we got to remember that at
the end of the day, the Lord is the one who has disposed all
things, your abilities, your knowledge, your understanding,
your restraint, whatever the case might be, it's all by the
power of God that anything is done. And it's only by the will
of God that anything is ever brought forth. And so whether
it's me posting the new x-ray system that I just put in, you
know, while I like to be patted on the back and get lots of likes
on Facebook and LinkedIn and all that kind of stuff for my
great x-ray prowess, At the end of the day, all that
comes because of something that God has done. Everything that
we do in this life comes because God has enabled us, at the very
basis, to breathe. He's given us life, and He's
given us abilities, and He's given us knowledge. He's given
us wisdom. He's given us different gifts
that some are more apt to be able to do certain things than
other people. A lot of times we think that everybody should
be the same as us. And if everybody was the same,
how boring would that be? But all of us have been made
and been given different abilities and things. But when it comes to religion,
When it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the things of
Christ and the spiritual nature of things, there is no room whatsoever
for boasting. In our carnal lives, in our carnal
nature, in the carnal things of this world, temporal things
maybe I should say, the temporal things of this world, we often
give credence to the people that created. I'm thankful for the
man who invented the central heat, especially in the last
few days. I'm thankful for the man that
made the air conditioner whenever it gets 115 degrees later on
in the summer. Okay? I'm thankful that we don't
have to walk everywhere we go or ride a horse everywhere we
go, that we have a vehicle to get in. Okay? Thankful for those
things. But again, those things come
from God. But whenever we're talking about spiritual things,
whenever we get down to talking about religion and we talk about
salvation, we talk about the gospel, the proclamation of the
gospel, and things like that, there is absolutely positively
no room for boasting at any juncture. There is no, well I did this
or I did that. There is no this is my ministry,
this is my this or that. Not to say that God hasn't given
men ministry. God has given men ministry. Paul even said himself that he
was a part of a ministry that it was his ministry, not in the
fact that it was something that Paul had built of himself and
sustained by himself, but Paul recognized that this is the ministerial
work that God has ordained me to do. Okay? And this is what
I am carrying out as God enables me and moves me and walks me
through this thing. It's ultimately his ministry,
but the ministry that he has for me. However, we often hear people
talk about their ministries you see on TV all the time, you know. Now his name forgets me, the
old evil. Kenneth Copeland. Kenneth Copeland Ministries,
Jesse Duplantis Ministries, you know. John MacArthur Ministries. Yeah,
all those things. You know, they have their ministries.
It's not their ministry. I guess it is. It's their heresy
ministries. But the thing is, is we don't
have, nor can we claim, a ministry of our own. The church is Christ. He is the head of the church.
It's His body. It's His people. And it's His
salvation. He's the one who is working out
this salvation. He's the one who has worked out
that salvation and has completed that salvation. and is giving
the gifts and the works of that salvation in
the hearts and the minds of his people. He's the one who's working
those things in them. And so, these people that are
claiming their ministries, number one, They don't have anything
to stand on because it's either Christ is the head or he's not.
And they're making themselves the head of their dynasties,
of their heretical movements. Second of all, they're transgressing
in the fact that the Lord has given the church that role as
far as ministry is concerned. The ministry is given through
the local church and is in the local church that he has placed
the gospel. It is the pillar of the ground
of truth. He has given the church the place where the men of God
are raised up and the church of God recognizes what God has
ordained from heaven. They have recognized and ordained
on earth by laying on of hands and ordaining into the ministry
for the preaching of the gospel. These are the things in the works
that are being given. The ordinances of the church,
or the ordinances of Christ are given to the church to carry
out and to observe. And yet these people are out
there and they're bringing glory and honor to themselves instead
of where glory is due. When it comes to the religious
things, the spiritual things, when it comes to the Gospel,
brethren, we all come to the foot of God's throne. We all
come and we bow before Him because there is nothing that we have
done or can do that we can lay claim of. I can't claim. We used
to sing a song There used to be a song, I can't remember if
we sang it or not, whenever I was traveling and singing, but there
used to be a song that whenever we get to heaven, we're
gonna see all these people that were there and they're all gonna
say, you know, I was there because of you, you know. I think it
was Ray Bolts was the original singer of the song. When I get
to heaven, I looked around and thought, well, something like
that, I can't remember. I'm not gonna try to get at you,
but you know what song I'm talking about. You know what song I'm
talking about. Okay, okay. When we get to heaven, there's
nobody gonna point and say, I'm here because of you. When we
get to heaven, there's nobody gonna say, I'm thankful that
so-and-so shared the gospel with me because if they had not done,
we're not gonna say, I am so thankful that my mama prayed
for me because if she would not have prayed for me, I would not
be here. I'm so thankful that my daddy was such a great example
to me because I'm here because of his great example. No, brother,
as nice as that sounds, as emotional as that stirs our hearts, as
ooey gooey as that makes us feel, and what a nice Hallmark movie
that that would make, a good Christian flick for people to
watch on Christian TV, that is not what is going to happen whenever
we come before the throne of God. Because whenever we come
before the throne of God, the only thing that's going to be
done is glory and honor and praise will be given unto God. And so
often we try to take that glory onto ourselves. But here in the
115th Psalm, we read a few things about God and about ourselves
and about our worship. Look with me if you would, and
let's read down here, and I'll kind of pause and maybe make
some statements about this. I don't really have a whole lot
to say, but I just want to point out a few things here. Psalms
115, verse 1, it says, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy true sake. Now, what a way to open up this
psalm. So many of us, and we can't help
it because it's our default nature. Again, we want to bring everything
back to focus on me. Me, my, mine. Me, me, me, me,
me. Okay? It's all about me. Okay? Toby Keith song, it's all about
me. Oh, yeah. I want to talk about me or something. Yeah, there you go. Well, when
it gets around to it, all we want to do is talk about me. Not unto us, oh Lord. Not unto us. A lot of us think
that salvation is about us. That the central point of salvation
is the saving of the person. And you'll hear that in a lot
of gospel presentations out there, or false gospel presentations
out there, that the point of salvation is the person who is
being saved. Now, I'm thankful for salvation
and that it included me. If I'm His, and included in that
salvation, included in that death of Christ, that salvation is
for me, and I'm thankful for that. But brethren, listen, salvation
wasn't designed and wasn't decreed to bring forth glory to who you
are. I remember as a child, and I'm
not necessarily saying my family said this or anything, but I've
heard preachers say this a lot of times, that you had so much
worth in God's eyes that he sent his son to die for you that you
are so worthy in His eyes that He sent Christ to die for you.
Or that we must have been so valuable because Christ gave
His only Son for us. And so it's putting salvation,
that God's salvation is all about the worth of the sinner. But brethren, listen, the salvation
of any sinner is not for the pumping up or the boasting or
the glorifying in any worth of the sinner, the salvation that
God has for sinners is for the glorification of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is for His glory, His praise,
and His honor. The whole scheme of having salvation,
listen, God dwelt in eternity before anything was formed. And
God had no need, I also have heard that in my past life, that
God needed someone to show His love to, so that's why He created.
Or God needed someone to love Him, that's why He created people. God needed to show His greatness,
therefore He created people. God didn't need anything. God
has no need of anything outside of Himself. He doesn't need anybody
to worship Him. He doesn't need anybody to serve
Him. He doesn't need anybody to do
anything for Him. He said that I am that I am.
That means that I am self-existent, that I don't have any need. And
the Bible also says that who shall be His counselor? Who's
going to teach Him anything? I mean, if we can teach God something,
He's not God. If I have more knowledge than
God in an area or something, then God's not God. I am in that
area. God has no need of anything,
so He didn't need to create anything. He chose for Himself a purpose
to create, and the purpose of creating was to glorify Himself
through all that His creation will do. That's why He's predestined
everything, the end from the beginning, and the things that
are not yet done. Saying, My counsel shall stand,
The reason that He did that all, as we see in Romans chapter 11,
I believe it is, that all things are by Him and through Him and
to Him be glory forever. The whole purpose to end from
the beginning is so that God might be glorified. The salvation
of sinners, the election of a group of people to give to Christ for
their redemption, was all that God in Christ Jesus would be
magnified, be glorified, be praised, be honored. That is Him. It's
not unto us. Salvation is not unto our glory. Our salvation, and listen, we
talk about that, we give out, we don't, we don't. Professing
Christians out there, other churches that I've been involved in and
been ministry have tried to minister in and things like that. They
give out awards to people for their religious service. They
give out rewards for being baptized. They give out rewards for coming
to church. They give out rewards for making
a decision for Christ or being rededicated to Christ, for going
out into the mission field and doing missionary work. They're
recognized and given. Listen, Oklahoma at their annual
Southern Baptist Convention, they would always give out certificates
to the churches for however many baptisms they had. If your church
memberships are between zero and 99 members, whoever had the
most baptisms in ratio in that, from 100 to 199, to and so forth. And they give out these baptismal
awards for whoever did it. We got it one year, my grandpa
turned it down. He said, why should we be getting
awards for something the Lord's done? So I'm thankful that my
grandfather had that mind given to him to see it that way. But
it's all about us. But here, the psalmist is saying,
not unto us, O Lord, be glory forever. Not to us give glory,
not to us, but to thy name. For thy mercy and for truth's
sake, See, anything that we have, we've been given by grace. Anything
that we do has been given to us. Everything that we have,
especially as it pertains to the Gospel and salvation, it
is by His mercy. And it's all the glory for Him
for His truth sake. The truth about who God is. This
whole salvation is a picture and is a story about the character
and the nature of who God is. Salvation shows forth everything
and every attribute of who God is. It shows His mercy, His grace,
His love, His compassion. It shows His dedication to His
cause. It shows His wrath. It shows His justice. It shows
His holiness, His righteousness. It shows His hatred of sin and
evil. It shows all these things. Our
characteristics of God in every bit of that, brethren, culminates
in the cross of Jesus Christ. Every bit of that is shown on
the cross of Jesus Christ. Whenever we see Christ crucified,
nailed to that cross, bleeding, guts poured out, thirsty, crown
of thorns, all that wicked stuff that was done to Him, the torture
that He endured, hanging on that cross for those few hours that
He was there, What did He say? Father, forgive them, they know
not what they do. We see His love and His compassion. Whenever
we look to the cross, we see love, compassion, we see salvation,
we see mercy, we see grace, and all that horrific scene that
we see, we see the love and compassion, we see all the positive things
of God that we speak of. And we see those because that
is being poured out for His people. But whenever we also see Christ
on the cross, we see all those what we would call the negative
things of God, although I wouldn't call them negative because they're
the attributes of God. We see His justice. We see His
wrath. We see His hatred of sin because
God hated sin so much that He hung His Son on a cross to die
for it. He became sin for us that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him. And so God hated
sin so much that He sent His Son to die for sin. We see His
justice that even though His Son did not do one sin ever,
His Son was perfect and holy and righteous and just. But yet,
because He took on our sin for us and became our advocate and
our substitute, and He stood in the covenant as our Redeemer,
as our substitute, as our surety, God punished Him as if He would
punish any sinner. That shows God's justice. God
did not show any deviation. He didn't show any bias. He didn't
show anything. He pulled out the full wrath
of God upon His Son as if His Son was no different than any
sinner. Can you imagine that? The Holy
Son of God, the righteous God of the universe who the Bible
says all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him. He is the
image of the invisible God. He is God manifested in the flesh
and He hung on a cross for you and for me if we are His children.
And God didn't put down any bit of wrath. He poured out the full cup of
His wrath and Christ drank every bit of it. That shows God's justice. God didn't wink at any sin. He
poured it all out on Christ Jesus and for every sin that His people
would ever commit, has ever committed, will ever commit in the future,
all the sins are zipped up in a bag. And Christ took them all. Paid for
them all. That's justice. But we see the
righteousness of God too. Whenever Christ took all of our
sins, died for all of our sins, paid the penalty in its fullness
for our sins, God, because Christ did that on our behalf, we go
free. God's justice did not continue
after us, the sinful rich that we are. No, He said you shall
go free because Christ has paid it all. Christ has paid all your
debt that you owe to God's righteousness and justice. The justice of God
was satisfied in the death of Christ on your behalf and you
don't have to pay for that. You don't have to worry about
condemnation for any of your sin ever again. That is God's
righteousness. God was righteous in doing that
because Jesus died for it, therefore it cannot be laid to your account. But what does modern Christianity
say? Jesus died for everybody, but
yet there are people in hell that Jesus died for. How in the
world could that be? You tell me, how can there be
anybody in hell if Jesus paid for all their debt? What debt
are you laying at their feet to send them to hell? What accusation
are you bringing? to them that they are going to
hell, because Jesus paid for all their transgressions. What
transgression are you going to leave? Well, they didn't believe
on Him. Well, is not believing on Him a transgression? Christ
didn't die for that transgression? Well, if Christ didn't die for
that transgression, then none of us are going to heaven, because
every one of us has existed in unbelief at some point in our
time. As a matter of fact, as children of God, after our conversion,
We still have unbelief. We live in unbelief. So how can that accusation come
against any child of God? The Bible says, who can lay any
charge against God's elect? Nobody can lay any charge. Why?
Because it's Christ who died. And it's God who justified. God
justified everyone for whom Christ died, therefore there can't be
any charge because all the charge was laid on Christ and Christ
paid the full price of the thing. His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, His mercy, His grace.
Even in the dying hours that he was there, his mercy was seen
on that thief on the cross who the Lord had given faith to.
He didn't teach him the doctrines of grace. He didn't teach him
Robert's Rules of Orders. He didn't teach him anything
else. That sinner on the cross God gives faith to, that whenever
he's seen this dying man dying in the stead of others, he said,
this man has done nothing. We deserve what we get. This
man has done nothing. And he said, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, today you will
be with me in paradise. We see the mercy of Christ, even
in his dying hours, looking to his children. That was his children.
That thief was his children. who had yet been given the understanding
of that. That thief was as much his child
and justified of all of his sin before he had ever been hung
on that cross next to Christ. Christ had that child given to
Him before the foundation of the world as the Father had given
all that was His to Christ as the surety. Christ stood for
that thief before the foundation of the world as the Lamb slain.
that before the throne of God, that thief before he was ever
breathing life, that thief was already a gracious child of God
and whose the spirit and the life of that child was in Christ
Jesus already from the foundation of the world, waiting to be manifested
in that time for God's purpose and to hang on that cross. And
listen, God kept that man throughout his whole entire life, led that
man through a life of thievery, so that that man would be upon
that cross? To declare the salvation of Jehovah
to all those who were watching? This man has done nothing, but
yet he is dying, and we deserve everything that we get? That
is substitution. That man understood substitution. Now, he wasn't taught the doctrines
of grace. He wasn't taught John Calvin. He wasn't taught anybody
else. He was taught No preacher had preached to him.
No systematic theology had been put into his mind. No, the Spirit
of God gave this man faith, taught this man what it was all about. And this man looked to Christ
and he said, remember me. He didn't say, look at all the
good things that I did do. Please understand that I'm here,
and I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here. No, he said,
no, I'm here getting what I deserve. But you, you haven't done anything. So please remember me when you
come into your kingdom. Brethren, listen, that is mercy.
That is forgiveness. That is love, compassion. We
see that all on the cross of Jesus Christ. And so, listen,
everything in the salvation of the sinner was for the glory
of Christ Jesus. It's not for your glory. Now,
thankfully, brethren, we get to partake in the inheritance.
Being made joint heirs with Jesus, being called His brother, being
grafted in, being made part of the commonwealth of Israel, we
get to receive of the inheritance. Everything that Christ receives
because of His great work, we become a part of. Therefore,
that's why the book of Ephesians says that God has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy Name. Give glory for mercy, for Thy
mercy, and for Thy true state. Look at verse 2. Wherefore should
the heathens say, Where is now their God? But our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. See, the heathens are going to
look and they're going to say, Well, where is your God? You're giving all this
glory and this honor to God. Look, look what's going on with
you. How is it that God is doing this to you? If you're His child,
if you're giving Him all this glory and all this praise and
He's such a great God, I mean, I hear this all the time. Well,
if God's such a good God and everything, why does He allow
evil to exist? Why does He let this happen? Why does He let
that happen? Why does He let this happen? Isn't that what the friends of
Job came to Job and said, obviously, Job, you did something wrong
because God's punishing you. That ain't the reason that God
was punishing Job. What was the reason that God
allowed Satan to sift or to afflict Job? It wasn't because Job had
done anything wrong. It was because God was proving
the faith of Christ in Job. It was to prove that you cannot
destroy that. If you remember, Satan had said
to God, you know, hey, you take down your protection, he's going
to curse you to your face. Job never did curse God to his
face, even whenever his wife told him to. He never did that.
Why? Because when God instills faith
in the child of grace, we can't remove it. We can't take it out. We can't stop that grace of faith
in us. It will continue. It will persevere. Faith will continue and persevere
in the child of grace because God put it there. It's a gift
of God. It's not something inherent in
our nature. And therefore, if God put it there and it's not
inherited in our nature, then we have no ability to pluck it
out. We have no way of rising it up.
We have no way of pressing it down. Christ has given us the
measure. Christ has given us the 30-fold,
the 50-fold, the 60-fold, however many folds. God is the one who
has done that. And in doing that, we don't have
any control over that. Therefore, whenever God exercises
affliction, exercises stuff upon us, listen, it's to prove His
work of faith in us, that the child of grace will not be destroyed,
will not be conquered, will not be overcome. Yes, there may be
times where we doubt, there may be times where we sin, where
we fail and we look to Him, but it will not destroy our trust
and our love for Him. Though we may waver, He will
always kindly bring us back to Him and to a right mind of looking
unto Him. And so the heathen is going to
say, where is now their God? And we say, our God is in the
heavens. He does whatever He pleases.
It might not look to you like God is doing anything, but to
us, we know that everything that God does is by purpose and for,
as verse one said, for His name, for His glory, for His mercy
and truth's sake. Everything is for that end. And
though what you think is right and what you think is wrong has
no bearing on what God does, because God does whatever He
wants in the armies of the heaven and among the inhabitants of
the men, and who can stay His hand? And you say, well, I don't
want to worship a God that's like that. Well, that's because
you're part of the heathen who wants to worship other things
and not the God that is revealed in Scripture. You want to worship
a God that is all good, all merciful, all loving, all generous, all
gracious, all forgiving, but you don't want to worship the
God that is also just and righteous and wrathful. You don't want
to worship that God. That God doesn't have anything
to do with me. The God that has purposed and declared evil? The
God that has decreed that evil things would happen and allowed
it to happen? I know I'm getting off track
here. Just a side note, because this
gets in my crawl, and it's something that we argue all the time and
debate throughout chat groups and things like that.
I hear people all the time, because they are afraid of the being
tagged, you believe in God being the author of sin. They will say God permitted it
to happen. Or God allowed that to happen.
But He didn't purpose it or decree it. Listen, brethren. I don't
see how you can get past the fact that if God allowed it,
or if God permitted it to happen, then that obviously was God's
will for it to happen. that he permitted it. May I do
that? I really don't like that, but
yes, go ahead and do that. Well, if I say, well, I really
don't like that, but yes, go ahead and do that, then it was
my will that that be done. Otherwise, I would have said,
I don't like that. No, that will not be done. Especially
if I am God, and I have all power." See, a God that has all power
can stop anything that He wants to stop. A God that has all power
can allow anything that He wants to allow. And a God who has declared
and decreed all things and worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will can say, that does not work according to my
will, it will not happen. God can say that. So His permitting
and His allowing is only evidence of His divine will, His divine
decree, His predestinated purpose that that act, that that person
either be evil or do evil things. Now you can say whatever you
want about God being the author of sin and what does that make
me, a heretic? Call me whatever you want. If
I don't line up with the orthodox people of the past, let God be
true and every man a liar. God says that He controls all
things. I've made all things for myself,
yea, even the wicked. Why did God say it that way?
Why did He say, I've made all things for myself, yea, even
the wicked? for the day of evil because he
was stressing the fact that carnal man is going to say or religious
man is going to say, well, God doesn't create evil. God doesn't
permit evil. God doesn't desire evil to happen. Doesn't decree that. So God said
for our benefit that we might know that he is God unto him
be glory, not unto us, but unto him be glory. I have created all things for
Myself, yea, even the wicked, that's the person, for the day
of evil, that's the action. He has created the wicked for
the day that the evil will be done. He created the Judas for
the purpose that Judas was created. The false prophets, He created
them for the purpose that He created them. He created the
Chaldeans for the purpose that He created them. He created the
Egyptians for the day that He created them. He judged them. He destroyed them. They come
before His throne. They say, how in the world can
you do that because you purpose from the foundation of the world
that we would be a people that would not know you, believe on
you, that you would use us to glorify your name and that you
would harden our hearts and that you would make us do these wicked
things because you have hardened our hearts And we did those wicked
things, just as you had said we would do, and now you're holding
us accountable? And the Lord says, Who replyeth unto me? what doest
thou? Shall the thing formed say to
that which is formed? Why hast thou made me this way?
Hath not the potter power over the clay, to make one vessel
unto honour, and another unto dishonor, that he's in the midst of saying,
where now is there a God? But our God is in the heaven,
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Now here's where it
comes down to what happens, why these people speak this way.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. See, they've created for themselves
idols. This modern day Christianity that's out here, brethren, that
is not according to the truth That is not according to the
true church of Jesus Christ and the message that they've preached
and the gospel that they have held and the Bible that they
have been holding for centuries. It's the work of their hands.
This Jesus that they have fabricated out here sounds kind of like
our Jesus, kind of looks a little bit like our Jesus, but it isn't
our Jesus. And a lot of people say, well,
they're worshiping the same God just like what Brother Larry
was talking about a while ago about the heretic Billy Graham.
Billy Graham preached a Jesus that everybody could come to
and then at the end said, well, even if you don't like this wide,
broad view of Jesus, you may not even know Jesus and you're
still going to come anyway. You can be a Buddhist. You can
be a Hindu. You can be a Muslim. And you're
still, and never know Jesus, you're still going to come to
crush you. The Bible says that all that the Father given me
shall come to me. Not to Buddha, not to Hinduism,
not to anything else. It shall come to me. He said
all my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. He said all that
he has given me I shall lose none. They will come to me. It
doesn't mean that they'll be out there and not realize who
it is. They're eternally alive, but they'll never come. That's
what conditional time salvation people say. They say there's
a group of people that can know Christ and go to heaven knowing
Christ, but yet there are those that are eternally saved that
never come to know Christ, but they'll be in heaven because
of what Christ did for them. But in time, they never came
to the experience of that salvation, and therefore they never knew
All about it, so they're going to wake up in heaven surprised
that they're there. Surprised of who their father is. Listen,
brethren, the whole purpose of Christ being given to us is so
that we might know the Father. And he teaches us the Father. If
you haven't listened to Brother Dan O'Dell's messages that he's
been preaching at Welch Track on Christ being that very mediator
showing us the Father. They've been very good messages.
I encourage you to go listen to them. But what does it say
here? Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He pleases,
but their idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they
see not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. have they, but they walk not,
neither speak they through their fruit." And someone will say,
well, doesn't the Bible say that your God is a spirit? Well, spirit
doesn't have eyes and hands and mouths and feet and walk like
that. Guess what? Our God does. Is our God a spirit? Absolutely.
The Bible says that our God is a spirit. And they who worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. But the Bible also
says that the spirit of that God in its fullness became bodily. Became a body and indwelt in
all of its fullness. Not in part of its fullness.
In all of its fullness. to show the glory and the fullness
and the greatness of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is Emmanuel, God manifested in the flesh. Yes, our God has eyes
and a mouth and a nose and has words and can speak and can walk. He has. It says, they that make them
are like unto them. So is everyone that trusted them. Now, at first you don't realize
that, but it's kind of a back end diss on these folks. He says,
they that make them are like unto them. They don't have mouths
or speak or see or hear or understand. What is he talking about? They're
just as dead spiritually. They're just as dead spiritually
as these idols are dead physically. These idols are nothing. They've
been carved out of wood. They've been made out of metal.
They've been made out of gold, silver, whatever precious metal
that they want to make it out of. They want to make it out
of mud, straw, cloth, whatever you want to make it out of. Draw
a picture of it. Whatever, it's made with hands.
And he said, these people that serve these things and preach
these things, listen, they're just as dead as they are. And
brethren, listen, I'm telling you, Modern Christianity that's
out there, not biblical Christianity, modern Christianity that is out
there is just as dead as the idols that they're preaching.
Those Jesuses that they're preaching out there that has died for everybody,
but losing a lot of them to hell, that's not the Bible saying.
Many there are that is on that broad way that leads to destruction. There are going to be many that
goes to hell. Jesus has lost a majority of
those who He died for. Can you believe that? What kind
of Savior is that? Well, it's a dead Savior. And
you're preaching a dead gospel to dead people. And if God doesn't
give them life, if God doesn't give them faith, if God doesn't
give them a revelation of the truth, then they're going to
continue to serve their idols They're going to continue to
be dead. There's no hope for them because only God can give
life. Only God can give the seeing
eye and the hearing ear. He says, look at verse 9, O Israel,
trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. See, we're to trust in God. Don't
trust in men. Don't trust in organizations.
Don't trust in anything else. Listen, don't trust in a pastor.
A pastor is going to fail you. Listen, I am not the person that
you should look to. I am going to fail you. I'm going to be not what you
need. At some points, I might help
you and I might be encouraging to you. I might even do you good
once in a while. But brother, listen, I am not
your help and I am not your shield. I cannot be your help and shield
because I'm just carnal man in the flesh. And as much as in
my spirit I would want to help you and do all those things for
you, I'm not going to be able to do that. It says, O Israel,
trust thou in the Lord. He is their help. Now, I'm kind
of looking at these two verses in this way, and I might be wrong
how I'm interpreting them, and if so, I'll take correction on
it. But at least it's how it seems to me. He says, first,
O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
Then he says, O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their
help and their shield. Why did God split that up and
say, O Israel? Because the house of Aaron was
also a part of Israel. But what has God done? God has
separated the house of Aaron to be what? The priesthood. To be the ones who proclaimed
the name of the Lord, who proclaimed the things of God to oversee
the ordinances of God. So there seemed to be a distinction
here that God was making. He said, O Israel, trust thou
in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
So He's telling the people of God, look unto Me. Look to Me. I am your help. I am your shield. No one else is. But then He also
says to the house of Aaron. I think He's also Maybe tell
them the preachers that God has raised up and ordained to carry
His gospel to keep this also in mind when you're preaching
to these people. Don't preach other things. Preach
me. Trust in the Lord. He is their
help and their shield. Don't be telling them to look
to the Southern Baptist Convention. Don't be telling them to look
to some denomination. Don't be telling them to even look at
the church itself as good as the church is and ordained of
God and given for a purpose and should be highly respected and
highly sought after to be a part of. He still says that is not
their trust and hope. It is not their shield. Christ
Jesus is their hope and their shield. And we as a people should
believe and trust in Him. And we who preach the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, when we preach the Gospel, should be preaching
Christ and not something else. We shouldn't be preaching their
faith, their repentance, their decision. We shouldn't be preaching
their works. We should be preaching their
finished work, which was Christ. Verse 11, he says, Trust in the
Lord. He is their help and their shield. Those who have the reverence...
And listen, reverence isn't something that we just automatically have.
The reverence to the Lord, that reverential awe of the Lord... Now this fear isn't a scared
fear. I've been beat with a stick and
I'm not going to go near that guy anymore. Okay? That's not
what we're talking about. When it talks about the fear
of the Lord, it's talking about a reverential awe. Listen, there's
only one people that has a reverential awe for God, and that is His
people. If He has given them that reverential awe, He tells
them, trust in the Lord. He is your help and your shield. Verse 12. The Lord hath been
mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless
the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless them that fear the Lord, and great. The Lord shall increase you more
and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord, which
made heaven and earth. The earth, even the heavens,
are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children
of men. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down
into silence. But we will bless the Lord from
this time forth and forevermore. The children of the Lord have
been given to bless Christ. They will speak of Christ. They
will preach of Christ. They're not going to preach of
themselves. They're not going to preach of a system. They're not going
to preach of a denomination. They're not going to preach of
any kind of works of any kind. They're going to preach Christ
Jesus. All right. Does anybody have
anything? I think that's all we've got.
Anything you want to add? Any questions or anything? Lord, once again, we come humbly
before you, thanking you for all that you are and all that
you've done for us. Father, we thank you for your
word that once again reveals Christ to us, that reveals who
you are in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it reveals
your work among your people. We thank you for these admonitions
that are given to us to let us know the state and the nature
of the child of grace and the work of God in their heart as
we see it being manifested in our lives as the Holy Spirit
works in us. And Father Lord, we just pray
that you would always keep us mindful of these things, as you
would always bring them to our memory, as you would always keep
us looking unto you. Father, we thank you for your
salvation that has set us apart, sanctified us from this world. We thank you, Father, for the
cross of Jesus Christ that has taken away our sins, taken away
any separation that would be between us and you. Father, that
has taken away all of the wrath of God that would be upon the
child of grace had he not been given to Christ Jesus and his
surety had stood before him. Father, we thank you for this
day. We thank you for the time once
again together, together for the safety you've given all these
brethren throughout these weeks and the sicknesses that we've
all been through, through the weather that we've all had, Lord,
we're thankful that you've kept us, that you brought us together
once again. We look forward to the next time
we have to meet together. And again, may you keep us, that
you may preserve us, that you might encourage us, Lord, that
Christ might be glorified among us. Thank you again for your
love, your mercy, for your grace, for your kindness. Father, we
cannot ever say enough. how grateful we are for those
things. And we ask all these things in the Lord Jesus Christ,
his name's sake. Amen.