If you would open your Bibles
with me to begin our service to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. I will praise Thee with my whole
heart. Before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee. I will worship
toward Thy holy temple and praise Thy name for thy lovingkindness
and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified thy word above all
thy name. In the day when I cried, thou
answerest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul.
All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they
hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the
Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. But the proud
he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. All right. Sean, come lead us
in our singing. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 70, Holy, Holy, Holy. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy
sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling
down before thee, which word and art that evermore shall be? Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may
not see, Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, Perfect
in power and love and purity. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
All thy works shall praise thy name In earth and sky and sea
Holy, holy, holy Merciful and mighty God in three persons,
blessed Trinity. Okay, and now if you would turn
to song number 296, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
and my soul a thirst may be, gushing from the rock me, blow
a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rod before me,
blow a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect He is to me, is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song in endless ages,
Jesus led me all the way. If you wouldn't open our Bibles
to Genesis chapter 11 Genesis, the 11th chapter beginning in verse one 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 plane
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 they had for mortar.
And they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose
top may reach in to the 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 builded. And the Lord said, behold, the
people is one, and they have all 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, Babylon, 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 all the earth. We'll
end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy sovereign,
wise and merciful heavenly father. We bow before you this evening
giving thanks for the countless many ways that
you have blessed your people. Chiefly, above all, Father, how
we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, how we thank you for
faith that you've given your people, some knowledge of who
he is and who we are, the horrible condition that we're in by nature,
and some faith that you've given to believe and rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, by his sacrifice has put away
the sin of his people, made us perfect and accepted in him. Father, how we thank you. How
could we ever ask for anything else, any other thing of this
earth, of this life, after you've given us the greatest blessing,
the blessing of your own son, salvation in him. Father, how
we thank you. And Father, I do beg of you that
this evening that you would bless us with your presence and that
you enable us to worship, that you enable us to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray you'd make it
plain and simple that we might understand the words that are
said and that you might give us faith to believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, I pray you deliver us
from ourselves, from our own thoughts and our own ways, from
trying to promote ourself, but Father, that you deliver us from
ourself and deliver us over to your mercy and grace that's found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I thank you for this
place. I thank you that you provided a place where your gospels preached
and where your people meet together in peace and love and unity. Father, I pray you'd protect
it and that you'd give us the wisdom to carefully protect this
great blessing that you've given to us. Continue to cause your
word to go forth to the glory of your name and for the good
of your people from this place, we pray. Father, for those who
you brought in the time of trouble and trial, we pray for them.
We pray you'd meet their need, that you'd comfort their heart.
And Father, that you would deliver them as soon as it could be thy
will. And all these things we ask in
that name which is above every name, for his sake and the glory
of his name, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. All right, now you're probably
know we've been going verse by verse pretty much so far through
the book of Genesis and finished up chapter nine last week and
began to look at chapter 10 this week. And I'll just have to tell
you, the Lord gave me no message at all from the genealogy that's
listed in that chapter. I know this is the inspired word
of God. I know Christ is there. I know he is. I just don't see
him. The Lord has not been pleased
to give me any light there. If the Lord ever does give me
more light on it, we'll come back to chapter 10. But I do
see Christ in chapter 11, and that's where I want us to go
tonight. But the story that we're gonna look at here of the very
familiar story of the Tower of Babel in chapter 11 actually
begins back in chapter 10, where we're told about a man named
Nimrod. Verse eight in Genesis chapter
10, 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. And Eric and Aknad
and Kalna in the land of Shinar. Now Nimrod founded this Babel
as Babylon. And his descendants, the people
that live in that neck of the woods, this modern day ISIS,
those kind of people, these are the ones who descended from Nimrod,
he founded Babylon. Babylon, it's all throughout
the scripture. If you hold your place there,
look over Revelations chapter 14. Babylon, all the time that you
see it in scripture, is given to us as a picture of false religion. In Revelation chapter 14, in
verse eight, And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. And that fornication, not speaking
of earthly things, that's a spiritual thing, spiritual fornication,
seeking after other gods. If you look over another page,
chapter 17 of Revelation, verse five, and upon her forehead was a name
written mystery Babylon, the great mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration and you
know, that's not admiration. It's, it's, it's astonishment.
Babylon is given to us as a picture of false religion that opposes
Christ that opposes those who believe upon him. Well, here's
where Babylon all began. Here's where the whole thing
began, when Nimrod founded a monument to false religion. Less than
100 years after the flood, here he is establishing this city
as a monument to false religion. And the hallmarks of that false
religion that is seen here in Babylon, they're still true. They're still the hallmarks of
false religion to this day. So first, I want to look at some
of those hallmarks and see then how God's people are delivered
from those things. And I've titled the message,
The Confusion of False Religion, because that's what the word
Babel, and Babel means, it means confusion. Well, the first hallmark
of false religion is this. It's all about control. Nimrod
describes him here as a great hunter, and I'm sure that he
was. I kind of, in my mind's eye, view him like Gaston in
Beauty and the Beast. He's talented, but boy, he's
full of himself. But this doesn't just mean he
was a great hunter. He's skilled with a bow and so
forth. The words mighty hunter, mighty one that we read back
there in Genesis chapter 10, means one who is strong and who
reigns, who can conform people to his will. He makes them do
what he wants them to do. Nimrod used his might to control
people, to get them to do what he wanted them to do. And that's
exactly what false religion tries to do. It tries to control people. Now they know that they can't
do anything about a sinful nature. They can't do anything about
sinful thoughts and sinful desires that come up in people. But what
they do is they try to control how that's people act upon that.
And the way they do it is they use threats of the law. And they
use promises of rewards, trying to control people and get them
to act the way that they want them to act, to try to get them
to not commit these outward sinful acts, or at least hide them so
you don't get caught doing them. False religions, they just use
threats, don't do this, don't do that, don't do the other,
because if you do now, God's gonna get you. God's watching,
God's gonna get you, and he's gonna send you to hell, so don't
do that. And then what they say, now here's
how we're going to help you. We're going to impose some rules
and regulations. We'll check up on you and kind
of watch you, just to make sure you're doing what you're supposed
to be doing and not doing what you're not supposed to be doing.
We're just going to check up on you. And you'll notice one
of the rules that I don't care what false religion it is, under
whatever name that you want to put it, you'll notice one of
the rules they insist on is always this, money. tithing or whatever
they want to call it. And nowadays, they've gotten
even more bold. Get more than 10%. Send your
whole check in. What a racket. They tell you. And you know why the false prophet's
doing this. He's looking for a way to get
rich. He's looking for a way to get comfortable. And how horrible. Oftentimes older people, widows
and things, just send in your whole social security check to
me, God will take care of you. Why don't you keep your social
security check and let God take care of you? That's always what
I ask, but anyway, that's what they're doing. They always use,
it's always involving money. Always involving money. They
use the threat of the law and then they use the caret of temporary
earthly blessings. And again, a lot of it's tied
to money. Give your money to the church,
which means give your money to me, and God will bless you. The more money that you give
to me, the more God will bless you, the more money God will
give you. Now that's investing. That's
not giving. That's investing. But this is
the carrot that they use. And then they use the next closest
thing to your heart, your children. Oh, now, follow my sets of rules. Your children won't get on drugs.
Your children will do well in school. They'll get good jobs.
Do these things and you'll have more friends. You'll be more
successful in your work. Life will just be easier and
happier for you. I almost wouldn't believe this
if I didn't see it with my own two eyes. I was channel surfing
around the other night and there was one of those religious stations,
a program actually named this name. God wants you to be happier. And it's just all about do this,
you know, follow my program, you know, and you'll be happier.
And you'll be happier because you got more of this world stuff,
you know, just life will be easier for you. And they use the promise
of rewards in heaven, you know, that it's just, you have a bigger
mansion, you have more crowns, you know, than somebody else.
And they use these chains of the law and chains of this promise
of material blessings to bind people, put them in bondage to
try to get them the way they want to act. And they never deal
with any matter of the heart, of the nature. They never deal
with the question of how can sin be put away? I mean, I'm
all for sin and less, but brother, that horse already out of the
barn. Here's my question. My main question is how can my
sin be put away? How can it be paid for? Is there
a way that God can be just and still justify the ungodly? They
never deal with those questions. It's just all the outward. And
they do it with bondage. Number two, false religion is
all about self. It's self promotion and self
gratification. Look here at chapter 11 again,
verse of Genesis, verse one. The whole earth was of one language
and one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed
from the east that they found a plane 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 they had 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
upon the face of the whole earth. Now that's their goal, let us
make us a name. Now pretty much everybody that
I read about this tower, they all agree. The tower builders
here were not trying to build a tower that would go past the
planets, go past the sun, and would actually let them step
out into heaven, into God's presence. That really wasn't what they
were trying to do. I mean, you think even today, with all of
our modern technology and engineering and stuff, I mean, we can't even
come close to that. And the best estimates of what
people say about this is this tower got up to, I guess, about
300 feet, which is a big tower for that day. But their goal
was not to make a tower to walk into God's presence. Their goal
is exactly what they stated here. Let us make us a name. Let's
build us a monument to ourselves so everybody will remember me.
So everybody will look at me. That was their goal. And if you
look over Daniel chapter four, now this is the very beginning
of Babylon. And hundreds of years later, that attitude was still
alive and well in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar became the king
of that powerful and rich nation. And one day he built him a great
big statue, a statue of himself. And he forced people to bow down
to it and worship it. He was making a name for himself,
wasn't he? That was his goal. Now look here in Daniel chapter
four, verse 30. This is after he had, I'm sure this was the
city that he built and the gardens and things were extraordinary.
But look what he says here, verse 30. The king spake and said,
is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of
the kingdom By the might of my power and for the honor of my
majesty, that attitude was alive and well all the way down to
Nebuchadnezzar, wasn't it? I'm doing this for my majesty,
for my honor, for my glory. And that's the goal of false
religion to this day. Look at the righteousness that
I've created by my own works, by my own obedience to the law. Look at all the good works that
I've done. Look how I've given to the poor.
Look how I've fed the hungry. Look how I've gone out and tried
to help the homeless. Just aren't I something? Well,
look at my offering. I mean, I tie the mint and cumin
and anise. I mean, look how pious I am.
Everyone, everybody see how pious I am, how doctrinally straight
I am. That's the works of man. It's represented by these bricks
and the slime. You know, the bricks were not
stones that they found laying around. Remember when God gave
instructions to build my altar, he said, if you're going to build
an altar of stones, you take the stones exactly how you find
them. Don't put your tool to it. Don't
shape it trying to make that altar look impressive to men.
You take the stones exactly like you find them, the way I've provided
them. And don't you put your tool to
them. Well, these fellas didn't even bother with stones and trying
to carve them and shape them and make them what they wanted.
These things are 100% man-made. 100%. And they just shaped them
the way that they wanted to shape them. And the slime that they
used, the word has something to do with being bubbled up.
It's some sort of asphalt that they made from what was bubbling
up out of the earth. That's a very oil-rich land.
Stuff was bubbling up. And they took it and made this
asphalt to hold their stones together. I think it's very fitting
that the thing holding all this together, they called it slime. The serpent's slime. That's what's
holding this whole thing together. And this whole business of being
self-promoting, you know, free will works religion is all to
promote self. It's all to gratify self. This
is what I've done. I'm saved because I made the
right decision. I've kept my salvation because
I've acted a certain way. Look at me. It's the religion
of Satan. Satan is the great deceiver. But he's not out there in the
bars and in the heroin dens and all these horrible places of
just horrible stuff going on. He's not working there. You don't
have to work there. Everything's just fine there.
Satan's whole goal is to take your eyes off Christ. So for
folks like us, boy, you come to church, you read your Bible,
you care about conducting yourself a certain way, the way a believer
ought to conduct themselves. Satan could use something that
we would say is good. It's good that you don't do heroin. You don't go to these places.
I mean, that's good. Please don't think you ought to start doing
that. It's good you don't do that. But Satan is a great deceiver. He's a great imitator. He'll
get you looking at something good yourself. The things that
you do right. The things that you don't do
wrong. Anything to get your eyes off Christ. Anything to get your
eyes off Christ. Free will, work, self-promoting
religion is all of Satan. All of it. He's holding it all
together. And maybe that makes better citizens. Maybe that makes
better neighbors. I don't know. Maybe it does,
maybe it doesn't. It's satanic nevertheless. It's
satanic. That's what's holding it all
together. And here's why false religion is so successful among
the masses that just follow it. This promise of rewards is so
successful because it appeals to the flesh to make a name for
me, to build a monument to my name. I'll have more crowns than
you, so I can trash talk you throughout eternity. Isn't that
an attitude? I mean, what an attitude to have. That's awful, isn't it? But that's
the motive. All right, number three. false
religion, tries to build a protection from God's wrath by man's works.
Now Nimrod is not a stupid man. I mean, these are smart fellows
building this tower. You know, the engineering things
that they could do, they're smart people. He's a smart man. He
knew all about Noah's curse on Ham and on Canaan, Ham's son. He knew that. He knew the prophecy
very well that his family, him included, they're all going to
be slaves to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. He knew
that. He knew the prophecy that they would be scattered and that
they would just be, you know, slaves everywhere they went in
the world. He knew that. So Nimrod and his sons decided
they're going to start building great cities. They're going to
build this great tower and all their, their cities were walled
cities. How many ever years later it
was, Israel came back to take the land. They looked up, they
said they could almost not see the top of the walls. I mean,
they were so tall and some of those, were double walled. They
had a wall here and then they had a little space, they had
another wall. I mean, you know, these things were massive. They
did all that to protect them from God's will being done to
them. They did this to try to stop God's, this prophecy from
happening. They said, God, we'll show you.
We're going to defend ourself and stop your will from being
done. That's exactly why they're building this wall. And I'm telling
you, It looked like it was working for a long time. I bet when Nimrod
died, he thought, I got this thing going on just the right
track. It's going just the way I want it to go. Shem's descendants,
where were they? They were down there in Egypt
making brick without straws, building pyramids to Pharaoh.
They were slaves, slaves, who had no control over their lives
whatsoever. Pharaoh, with just the wave of
his finger, had all their boy babies, two years and under,
killed one day. I mean, the bloodbath, the horror. They couldn't stop
somebody from killing their toddler, their baby. I mean, they're slaves. They had absolutely no control. I mean, Pharaoh just laughed
and laughed and laughed when Pharaoh said, let my people go.
Pharaoh said, who are you? Who's your god? Nobody's going
to make me do it. No. He just laughed. And that's
the way it stayed. The descendants of Ham? wealthy,
wildly wealthy, living in prosperity, living in security in their big
walled cities and so forth. God's people down there are slaves.
And that's the way it stayed until the day came for God's
purpose to be fulfilled. God's gonna keep his promise.
The day came, God kept his promise. And God sent his people to Canaan.
And you know what the Canaanites found out? All this time that
they were prospering in their cities and their walls and their
towers and so forth, they thought they were prospering. You know
what they found out? We were slaves to those slaves down there
in Egypt the whole time. We were building these walled
cities and these great vineyards and these great farms and all
this irrigation system. We were building all this, not
for us to live in, but for Israel to come take for free and take
away from us and make us their slaves. We were, we weren't building
this for us. We were building this for Israel
to enjoy. We were their slaves the entire time. And despite
all their walls, despite all their planning, it happened exactly
the way God said it happened. Now imagine if you're one of
those slaves down there in Egypt and you, you ask yourself this
question, why is it God's people are here suffering so much? and
the descendants of Ham are up there prospering, living the
high life. Have you ever asked that question
today? Why are these people in false religion, why are they
prospering so much? Why are they? Look at Psalm 73. Don't get too worried. Don't
get worried at all, actually. When you see people in false
religion seem to prosper, even if they're prospering for a long
time. David had the same question.
If you ask yourself that question, you're in good company. David
asked himself that question. Psalm 73, truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. I know that's
right. David said, I believe that, truly. But as for me, David
said, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I saw these people
in false religion. They were prospering. There are
no bans in their death, but their strength is firm. They're not
in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued like
other men. They got no problems. Therefore, pride compasseth them
about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They're corrupt, speaking wickedly concerning oppression.
They speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore
his people, God's people, return hither, and the waters of a full
cup are wrung out to them. They're dried and twisted and
just put in the furnace. And they say, how does God know? Is there knowledge in the most
high? Does God know these things are happening to us, and the
wicked are prospering? Behold, David says, these are
the ungodly. They're prospering in the world.
They increase in riches. Verily, I've cleansed my heart
in vain. I've washed my hands of innocency. Have I wasted my
time, David says, worshiping God? For all the day long, I've
been plagued and I've been chastened every morning. I'm supposed to
be this man after God's own heart. I'm chastened every morning.
These in false religion, these wicked, they may never have a
single trial. And if I say I'll speak thus,
if I open my mouth and say this to God's people, Behold, I should
offend against the generation of thy children. And when I thought
to know this, it was too painful for me. Until, until I went into
the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou did
set them in slippery places. Thou casted them down into destruction.
How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they're utterly
consumed with terrors. David said, when I was thinking,
you know, along the lines of my logic, upon the lines of human
logic, this all looked backwards to me. This all looked like a
mess to me. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God. Until somebody read the word
to me. Until somebody preached the word to me. Then I understood. People in false religion are
gonna seem to prosper. But their end's gonna be the
same. God's gonna cast them down and their refuge of lies will
not protect them from God's wrath. And they'll be destroyed just
as surely as the builders of this tower were destroyed. Okay,
here's fourth thing. False religion has a message
that is in open defiance to the word of God. The name Nimrod
means rebellion and valiant one. His very name told us what he
is, he's a rebel. Nimrod is so brave. He's so strong. He's not afraid to rebel against
God. Nimrod's one of these fellows
wearing this shirt, you know, no fear. He's just not afraid
of anybody. He's advertising his rebellion
saying, I'm not even afraid of God. I'm just, I'm not afraid.
Now Nimrod knew this prophecy that was against him. And rather
than beg God for mercy, he said, no, I'm going to do this my way. I'm going to bring my will to
pass, not God's will to pass. And false religion does the exact
same thing today. They'll say, I'm going to approach
God in my way. This was written in God's word
about how to approach God. That's ancient writing. I'm not
going to do that. I'm going to approach God in
my way. They continue to use the carrot. of blessings in this
life. They just preach blessings. God
wants you to be happy. When the Savior plainly says
in his word, my kingdom's not of this earth. I have a spiritual
kingdom, spiritual blessings for my people. They continue
to push man's obedience. Man's obedience to law will give
you a righteousness, will give you a holiness, it'll make God
happy with you. When God's word plainly says, we're saved by
grace, through faith, without works. The Apostle Paul wrote
an entire epistle to make that point. We're saved by grace through
faith without works. And when they push these works
now, it's not just trying to get people to act better, it's
open defiance to God's word. They continue to say that you
can live and live your life in such a way you'll make God happy
with you and he won't damn you in judgment because of what you've
done. When God's word plainly says the only hiding place from
God's wrath is in the Lord Jesus Christ. These fellows aren't
just mistaken. They're open defiance to God's
word. Nobody can misinterpret what
that says. Their problem is they don't believe
it. And it's just open defiance. And sadly, their end is gonna
be the same as Nimrod and the Canaanites, unless God's merciful. All right, here's the fifth thing.
False religion is marked by confusion. Like I said earlier, that's what
Babel and Babylon means. It means confusion. And that
confusion is what God used to bring their works to nothing.
Look here at verse five in our text. And the Lord came down
to see the city and the tower. You know the Lord saw. He's just
using something that we can understand. The Lord came down to see the
city and the towers. Now it's time to deal with this
thing. which the children of men builded. And the Lord said,
behold, the people is one. 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 now, 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. 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 all the earth. You just imagine them building
this tower and everything's going so well. They got their brick,
they got their slime. Boy, the tower's going up nice
and straight. And suddenly, nobody can understand
what their coworkers were saying. I mean, you just imagine knowing
somebody your whole life and now you can't understand what
they're saying. I remember, I thought about this today, being down
at the preacher school in Mexico one year, and one of the men
asked, I don't know how, somehow I understood what he was saying,
asked me, do I speak Spanish? And I said, nope. I could say
good morning, you know, or buenos dias or something, you know.
And it was really frustrating, and finally, eight or nine guys
are just talking amongst themselves, you know. I had no idea what was going
on. I mean, no idea. That's the way these guys were. I mean, they had no idea. They just couldn't get anything
done. So they just had to quit. I mean, they just had no option.
They just had to quit. And they couldn't even live around
each other. They all had to go over to this country and this
country and this island because they can't understand each other.
We can't get along because we can't communicate. That's false
religion. Their language, their speech
is confusing. And it doesn't make any sense. James, in his epistle, said,
let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. I mean, what he means
is do what you say you're going to do. If you say yes, I'm going
to do something, do it. If you say no, I'm not going to do it,
don't do it. That ought to be the character of a believer,
your word. That's all I need. I don't need a contract from
you. If you say you're going to do something, I believe you.
But the main meaning here of our speech Yay, yay, nay, nay,
means are preaching. Means are preaching. And false
religion is confusing because their preaching is yay and nay. Their preaching is yes and no.
I'll give you a few examples. They say yes, yes, Christ died
for everyone. But no, everybody won't be saved.
They're still gonna perish because they decided not to accept Jesus
as their personal savior. Yes, Christ died for them, but
no, they won't be saved. That's confusing. Yes, they say
God chose a people. I mean, they can't deny God elected
a people, but no, he didn't choose them of his own free will and
his own mercy and grace to his people. He looked down through
time and saw who'd choose him, so he chose them. Donny Bell
says that's God taking credit for what man would do anyway.
That's confusing, isn't it? They say yes, salvation is by
grace, but You can still lose it if you don't act right. Yes,
salvation by grace, but no, it's not sure. You gotta make it sure
by your works. That kind of preaching is confusing and it's depressing. I mean, it never gives you any
rest. It's so depressing. That message can't accomplish
anything but depressing people. It's not gonna save anybody.
It won't do anybody any spiritual good and it'll damn those that
believe it. See, the reason that Nimrod's
monument to self came to nothing is God put it to confusion. Now later on, when Israel came
to take Canaan, they came to all those walled cities. Those walled cities offered no
protection from God's wrath, from God's judgment. I bet those
people living in those cities were put to confusion. They were
confused. How are these people just taking
the cities? How do they march around this city once a day for
seven days and the walls fall down flat? They're just confused
how that happened. I mean, we dug footers. We got
slime. We engineered these things. These
things have been here forever. How did they fall down flat in
one day? They're confused. They're just confused. And you
know, every one of us, I hope this has crossed your mind. It
kind of concerned you. Every one of us would be deceived. by this confusion, this confusion
of false religion because this confusion makes sense to our
flesh. We're so easily deceived. If it weren't for the grace and
power of God, every one of us would be in this confusion. And
God delivers his people from the confusion of false religion. Now we're all born in it, aren't
we? We're all born in this confusion. We're all born trying to build
a monument to God. Joe Terrell told me one time,
he said, you have children. He said, the first thing you've
got to teach them is they're not God. I mean, that's what
we're born thinking. It's all about me. And God delivers
his people from the confusion of false religion when he moves
in power and makes the gospel plain, enables them to see Christ
plainly. I say God delivers us from confusion.
Certainly, we're not going to know everything there is to know
about God. I mean, why is God doing this? What is God's purpose? Just fill in the blank of any
event of the day. I got no idea. That's not what
we're talking about. But anybody that God saves, they're
not going to have any confusion at all about who God is, who
they are, and how God saves sinners. And if you look over in Acts
chapter two, I'll show you a wonderful illustration of this, where God
removes the confusion of false religion when he saves his people. Acts chapter two, in verse one. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, They were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when
this was noised abroad, The multitude came together and they were confounded
because every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and
marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these speak
Galileans? And how here we every man in
our own tongue wherein we were born. See, that's what happens
when God delivers his people from the confusion of false religion.
He makes them hear. They hear the gospel. It's plain
as day to them. And look over at verse 37. This
is what happens when somebody hears, hears the gospel. They
believe Christ and they follow him. Verse 37. And when they
heard this, they were pricked in their heart. And they said
unto Peter to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent
and be baptized. every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and
to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And that same day there were
added unto them about 3,000 souls, And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers. See, they heard the gospel and
they followed Christ. They heard it. The confusion
is removed and they saw this. The only issue is Christ. He's
the only, and they followed him. Look at second Corinthians chapter
two. I said all that about, about false religion. So I could get
to this place here. The gospel of Christ is the opposite
of false religion in every way. Second Corinthians two. Well, no, I'm sorry. Second Corinthians one verse
18, but as God is true, our word towards you is not yay and nay
for the son of God. Jesus Christ, who is preached
among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus was not
yea and nay, but in him was yea. And all the promises of God in
him are yea. And in him, amen unto the glory
of God by us. See the gospel is not confusing. The gospel is not hard to understand.
It's mysterious, but it's not hard to understand. The gospel
is never yea and nay. The gospel is always yes, yes
and yes in Christ. The gospel says yes, the father
chose a people and all of those people shall be saved. Yes, Christ
died for a people and yes, their sin is gone so they can never
be condemned. Yes, Christ is all the righteousness
of his people without any of their works. Yes, they can rest
because Christ is all of their righteousness. Yes, Christ will
keep his people by his power, not by their works, by the power
of his love and grace. And yes, they'll be kept. Yes.
See false gospels are confusing, but God's gospel never is because
there's simplicity and clarity in this statement. Christ is
all the gospels that simple. It's that clear. Christ is all.
One of my favorite teachers in high school, named Mr. Schrader. Mr. Schrader taught senior government. And he was notorious, I thought,
for giving pretty easy tests. If you didn't get a good grade
in Mr. Schrader's class, you just simply were not trying.
And he told us one day, he said, now, this test is going to be
hard. This is going to be a hard test.
And most of you are not going to pass. It's going to be a hard
test. The test was easy. I said, Mr.
Schrader, I mean, this is how dumb a teenager can be. I mean,
Mr. Schrader, that test was not hard. When I should have just shut
my mouth, instead of challenging him to come up with a hard test,
that wasn't real right. I should have just taken my good
grace and shut my mouth. But here's what Mr. Schrader said. He said,
Frank, every test is easy if you know the answers. Well, the
answer to every question of the gospel is Christ. I don't care
what the question is, the answer's Christ. Now that makes it easy,
doesn't it? That makes it easy. False gospels
try to keep people in bondage to the law, you know, with all
their promises and things. You're just in bondage, you just
can never let up. The gospel declares freedom,
freedom. There's a new will. in every
believer that comes from a new nature that's born in us in the
new birth. When you got a new nature, you
got a new will. Nobody's twisting your arm. Nobody's telling what
you got. Nobody's putting you in bondage. I'm telling you come
to Christ and come willingly. Come because you want to. Come
to Christ because you want to. Believe in Him because you want
to. Believe in Him because you don't want anything else. The
gospel says you're free. You're free to serve Christ with
whatever talents and abilities God gave you. You're free to
drink the water of life. Drink it freely. Eat all the
cheap foods you want of God's word. You are never in bondage
to trust Christ, if you trust Christ. You're free. You're free
in him. You're free to serve him, and
you're free from fear. Free from, you're free. False
gospels promote self. The gospel promotes Christ. And our gospel is all Christ
all the time. Christ is all in salvation. He's all of our righteousness.
He's all of our sanctification. Christ is all in election. Christ
is all in redemption. Christ is all in the forgiveness
of our sins. He's all in our peace, comfort,
and hope. And that's the way everybody
that knows him wants it. I want Christ to be exalted. I love him. I want him to be
exalted. He's just the only thing worth
talking about. And if you look back at Isaiah chapter 63, Nimrod and his boys said, we're
going to make us a name. Well, I love how Christ made
himself a name. Look here, Isaiah 63 verse 11. Then he remembered the days of
old, Moses and his people, saying, where is he that brought them
up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that
put his Holy Spirit within him, that led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them
to make himself an everlasting name? You know how God made himself
an everlasting name? By redeeming his people. and
setting them free. And they said, where is he? I
know where he is, do you? Where is Christ today? Where
is this one with all this power who made himself an everlasting
name today? He's on his throne. And you know
what he's doing? He's still redeeming his people.
He's still bringing his people out of Egypt. He's still delivering
his people from Babylon and doing his will. He's redeeming them
by the power of his He made himself a name. That's why we don't want
to talk about anything else but him. False gospels oppose God's
word. They just say we're gonna do
it our way. The gospel says simply believe Christ. Simply believe
God's word. You don't have to understand
it, just believe it. Just believe what God says about
us. That we're helpless, that we're hopeless, that we can't
do anything at all. And trust Christ, but believe
what God says about himself. He is the savior of sinners. He said, come unto me and rest.
Now quit trying to get all your doctrinal ducks in a row and
come to Christ and rest. Just believe what God says. Easy's
better. It's easier to disbelieve God
in it than try to establish my own righteousness. False gospels
try to build a protection from God's wrath by man's works. And
just like this tower, the work's never finished. It's never complete. And it doesn't get the job done.
The gospel says, hide in Christ. Hide in Him. He's already borne
all the wrath of God against the sin of His people. He's already
paid for it and put it away. Now just rest. I'm telling you,
I never get tired of hearing that message. Just rest in Christ. You're safe and secure in Him.
I sure would get tired of a message of a false prophet constantly
threatening me and constantly holding this carrot of blessings
out there in front of me, just always demanding more from me.
I'd get tired of that. But I'd never get tired of hearing
Christ is all. Christ, now rest. Rest in Him. All right, let's bow together.
Our Father, how we thank You for removing the confusion of
false religion from the hearts and the minds of Your people.
You remove the confusion when you reveal Christ to us. Father,
I beg of you that this evening that you take your word as it's
been preached and that you would use it, the preaching of your
word, to reveal Christ to the hearts of your people. Remove
the confusion and cause us to rest in him. Remove the care
and the worry and the fear and cause us to enjoy peace and rest
in Christ our Savior. Cause us, Father, to humble ourselves
and quit trying to make a name for ourselves and to glorify. Enable us to use our mouths from
the heart to glorify, lift up and magnify the name of Christ
our Savior because He's worthy. It's in His precious name. For
His sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean. If you would, turn to song number
355 and stand as we sing. From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes, There is a calm, a sure retreat,
Tis found beneath the mercy sea. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads, a place that all besides
more sweet. It is the blood-bought mercy
seat. There is a scene where spirits
blend, where friend holds fellowship with friend. Though sundered
far, by faith they meet around one common mercy seat. Ah, whither could we flee for
aid When tempted, desolate, dismayed? Or how the hopes of hell defeat? Had suffering saints no mercy? While there on eagle wings we
soar, And sin and sins molest no more, And heaven calms down
our souls to greed, While glory crowns the mercy seat.