I just dropped a book. Almost 39 years ago, you called
me to be your pastor. Some of you will remember some
of our conversations. I said to you then, if you call
me as your pastor, The staple diet of every message in this
pulpit, as long as I am your pastor, will be what's commonly
called Calvinism. I don't like the term, but I
mean by that I will constantly, relentlessly, forcefully preach
to you the total depravity of man. God's free sovereign election
of his people to salvation from eternity. Limited atonement. The fact that Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, died for God's elect and actually accomplished the
redemption of God's elect when he died. Irresistible grace. Salvation by God's omnipotent
mercy, which no man can resist. Dead sinners have to be awakened
and only God can do it. And the preservation of God's
elect in faith by the grace of God. Things have not changed. that is and will be the steady
staple diet of this pulpit for as long as God gives me breath
and grace to proclaim his word to you. Sadly, I have watched
over the years as many, many who see the cost of preaching
God's free grace Gradually, little by little, find a way to compromise. Trying to make the gospel palatable
to unregenerate men. Trying to get along with a generation
of idolaters who do not know God, but call themselves by the
name of God. As I was preparing this message
this week, I ran across a sermon advertised by a fellow I went
to school with. I haven't even had a chance to
discuss it with Shelby, but we'll listen to it in a day or two,
maybe. I know the subject. I know what
he's doing. I haven't heard him preach in
40 years, but I know what he's doing. I'm as sure of it as I'm
standing here. The title of the message is Fresh
Thoughts About the Death of Christ. I know just exactly what he's
fixing to do. I don't even know when he preached the sermon,
but I know what it contains. Figured out a way to try to say
Christ redeemed his people, but he really didn't. The point at
which all men compromise and run from God and subject God
to the will of man is the sin atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The glory of the cross, the glory
of God in redemption is the central point of assault by Satan and
all his minions in this religious world. Like Jeshurun of old,
this generation of religionists has forsaken God. I said to you
back before you called me as pastor, before you called me
as pastor, understand this. If there is any place else in
this tale where you can go hear the gospel and worship God, go
join up with him. Don't call me. If you call me
as your pastor, you are testifying plainly that there is no other
place here where the gospel of God is preached and God is worshiped. Nothing has changed. Nothing
has changed. This generation has forsaken
God altogether and replaced him whose name they use as God with
an idol made by their own hands, a God who waits on men, a God
who's manipulated by men, a God who's controlled by men, a God
who is inspired by men, a God who's motivated by men, a God
who's limited and restrained by men. Such a God, such a God
is worthless. To all such idolaters, the Lord
God says, let thy foreskin be uncovered. Let thy foreskin be
uncovered. One identifying characteristic
of God's people is their circumcision. Circumcision is necessary. Oh no, not the Jewish rite of
circumcision, not circumcision in the flesh, the circumcision
of your heart. We are the circumcision who worship
God in spirit and in truth and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. For those who are idolaters,
they are the uncircumcised. Some of you here, I'm sure. And
your foreskin must be uncovered. You'll find my text and my subject
in Habakkuk chapter two and verse 16. God's prophet Habakkuk in verse
14 tells us about this blessed gospel age of which all the prophets
wrote. This age in which the gospel
of God's free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ is preached in
all the earth. For the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. Then in the very next sentence,
he pronounces God's judgment upon all false prophets of Babylon. All the preachers, evangelists,
missionaries, teachers, soul winners, Bible colleges, seminaries,
professors, and churches, who by the sorceries of Babylon intoxicate
their neighbors with the wine of Babylon, the intoxicating
wine of idolatry, intoxicating wine of freewill works religion. Look at verse 15. Woe unto him
that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him. Now that's not just talking about
taking a fellow down to the bar and getting him drunk on Saturday
night. That's talking about something more than that. He's talking
about Babylon. And makest him drunken also,
that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Religious hucksters. religious soul winners, as they're
called, religious evangelist, as they're called, encompass
land and sea to make a disciple. And they do so that they may
look upon their nakedness with pride. Look what we have done. Look how we are blessed. Look
what we are doing. Look how great we are. That's
what Habakkuk tells us in verse 15. Read on, verse 16. Thou art filled with shame for
thy glory. Drink thou also, and let thy
foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand
shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on
thy glory. Here God's prophet declares that
though they claim to be the people of God, all who worship at the
altar of Babylon, everybody, everybody, you, me, your brother,
my brother, your sister, my sister, your mother or father, my mother
or father, your son or daughter, my son or daughter, your neighbor,
my neighbor, everybody, though they claim to be gods, who worship
at the altar of Babylon, at the altar of freewill works religion,
shall have their foreskins uncovered, and the shameful vomit of the
drunk shall cover them. I take the words of Habakkuk
in verse 16 for my subject. Let thy foreskin be uncovered,
better now than in the day of judgment. The people of God are
identified by the God we worship. and those who are not God's people
are identified by the gods they worship. We worship the true
and living God, the creator, the sustainer of all things,
the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the God of redemption,
grace, and salvation. The only true and living God
who is revealed and known only in the person and work of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He is set forth in this book. All others who are called gods
are but idols. Useless, helpless, debasing idols. If you tried to write down all
the idols that men have made and worshipped through the ages,
I doubt you'd have paper and ink enough in the world to do
the job. Men love to make gods. They'll make gods out of most
anything. Some folks make gods out of crosses and wear them
around their neck. I don't look at that as a god. Why don't you
throw it away then? Hey, make gods out of pictures
of Jesus, hang them, oh boy, we don't worship that, why don't
you get rid of it then? Go in a church somewhere where they
got him and try throwing one down. I've seen it happen. I've seen
it happen. I know a Baptist preacher. Matter of fact, he recommended
me to pastor where I pastored, look at First Church I pastored.
Recommended me several before that. And he was pastor of the
church in Winston-Salem. They had a great big picture
of Jesus hanging on back, right behind the, right behind, at
the end, I'm sorry, that end, that end of the auditorium. And he
started pastoring there. He went in and took it down.
They put it back up and got rid of him. No, no, we don't worship
that. Oh, no, no, no, no. The children
of Israel kept that brazen serpent. That brazen serpent, they kept
that stinking thing all through their history from the days of
Moses right on through days of David and Solomon. They kept
it, they kept it. They kept it for so long that
it no longer was just a historic figure reminding them of what
God had done for them. They worshipped it. They worshipped
it. You know in 1 Kings, this young
king comes along and he saw worshipping that brazen serpent and he ground
it to powder. He said, it's a worthless piece
of brass. Men love to make gods. Papists
make gods of Mary and saints and rosary beads and sacrifices.
Jews make gods of their laws and ceremonies and traditions. Protestants make gods of their
creeds and traditions. Baptists make gods of water and
history. Mohammedans, the sons of Ishmael,
used to worship hundreds of gods. Since the days of Mohammed, they
worship all of those hundreds of gods under the name of one
god who was their chief god before Allah. Allah, the name of their
ancient moon god. All make gods. All make gods,
doesn't matter whether Baptist or Protestant, Hindu or Methodist
or Mohammedan or Jewish, all make gods of their will. You see, idolatry, when it's
all said and done, is you worshiping you. Man worshiping the work
of his hands. basest form of idolatry imaginable. That's the reason the Apostle
Paul speaks of all idolaters as will worshipers in Colossians
2.23. Now because preachers keep regurgitating
the same false doctrine, the vomit of free will works religion
in one form or another, and dogs keep lapping it up, we must fight
it. We cannot and must not be passive
or indifferent about the corruption of the gospel, the corruption
of the faith. We must, as Jews, urges us earnestly
contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Of all the imaginary
gods men have concocted, none is less godlike than the God
of modern day Christianity. Brother Jerry sadly reminded
me last week of something I'd written a long time ago in one
of the daily readings. I've forgotten which one it was.
I said, the God of this age no more resembles the God of the
Bible than a gnat resembles the angel. I apologize to the gnat. The God of this age is no God
at all. The God of this age is impotent
before the mighty will of man. You listen to preachers preach.
Go anywhere in town. I challenge you. Go anywhere
in town. Listen to any of them. Go anywhere
in the county. Listen to any of them. Go around
the state. Listen to them. I challenge you.
God of this age, according to modern religion, men have him
in a hammerlock. Any of y'all ever do any wrestling?
You ever felt his arm twisted up behind his back? You pretty
well got him. If you're strong enough to hold
it there, he can't do nothing as long as you got his arm behind
his back. Well, God's not in a hammerlock by man's will. The Jesus of this age, we're
told, tries to save everybody. but has no ability to save anyone
unless they'll do something to help him. The Holy Spirit of
this age is spoken of as nothing but a good influence. Even their
wild Pentecostals who talk so much about the Holy Ghost, the
Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, will tell you the Holy Ghost can't
do anything unless you let him. Like Aaron's golden calf, men
call their God Jehovah. But the God of modern day freewill
works religion no more resembles the God of this book than the
ancient moon God worshipped at Mecca or the various phallic
symbols worshipped by our forefathers resemble God Almighty. I want
to show you some contrast. Contrasts. I've given you these
before, these five contrasts between the God of the Bible
and the gods of men. I got them when I was 19 years
old from a preacher. Shelby and I drove out to Asheboro,
North Carolina, where Brother Harry Graham was pastor, and
I listened to a preacher from down in Swansboro, North Carolina.
And he gave these five stark contrasts, and I wrote them down. I knew they'd be useful sometime.
So let's look at them this morning. Habakkuk is describing the overthrow
of Jerusalem and the temple of divine worship by Nebuchadnezzar
and the Chaldeans. He's talking about Israel's 70
years of Babylonian captivity. God's prophet told Israel that
God would use base pagan idolaters to chastise and correct his chosen. God's going to raise up base
pagan idolaters and they're going to be my instrument in my hand
to serve you. The whole thing is a picture
of Babylon, the great whore described in Revelation 17, 18, 19, who
makes the earth drunk with the wine of her fornications. the
intoxicating mixture of free will, works, righteousness, by
which many women around the world make their shame their glory,
expose their nakedness and uncover their forskins. Now let's read
a portion of Habakkuk's prophecy leading up to and including our
text. Begin back in chapter one, verse
11. Then shall his mind change. and he shall pass over and offend.
Watch this, imputing his power unto his God. Here's a stump. See the stump? What's it gonna do? Well, doubt
it's just a stump, what do you think it's gonna do? Oh no, this
is God Almighty. He has power. He has power. This is God. He has power that
I give him. Imputing power to his God. You remember that when Nebuchadnezzar
attributed his greatness and his power to his God that he
had made, the Lord God Almighty turned that mighty king of the
mightiest kingdom the world had ever known into a raving lunatic. until he learned that the heavens
do rule, and the Lord God, our God, he is God. We don't impute
power to our God, he is power. Look at verse 12. Art thou not
from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. Oh Lord, thou has ordained them
for judgment and almighty God. If you have a marginal translation,
almighty rock, almighty rock. Thou has established them for
correction. In Deuteronomy 32, I read to
you earlier, Moses shows us numerous differences between the rock
of refuges and the, that the heathen make. And Christ who
is our rock, the rock of our salvation. Moses says, the heathen
say. Now you go, I'll tell you what,
if you want to find out how much more committed the heathen are
to, to their God and their religion than most folks are to truth
in Christ and His righteousness. You take any message I preach
to you, this one, any message about the character of God, His
sovereignty, His holiness, His justice, His truth, Christ's
substitutionary work, irresistible grace, take it and play it to
any preacher in town. Just take a second, could I listen
to a sermon with you, Brother David? Let's sit down and listen
to it. I'll guarantee you before it's over, he'll say, that's
enough, I don't worship that God. He's exactly right, that's
exactly right. The heathens say, they're rock,
he's not like I rock, oh no, I wouldn't have a God like that.
But you're afraid to say it. Oh, we can't do that, that's
mean, that's hard. That's judgmental. Why, you're
saying everybody's lost. No, I'm not. They are. They are. I'm saying if you worship God,
if you know God, you have life. If you don't worship God, if
you don't worship our Savior, you don't have life. Well, I
ain't gonna have him. Like I said, they said they don't
have life. I didn't. They said they're lost. I didn't. Moses
describes our rock. He says, our rock, he's the sure
foundation. Our rock, he is the rock smitten
for us. Our rock, he is the rock that
has water of life flowing from him to chosen people. He is our
refuge. He is our high tower, a rock
higher than I. Habakkuk 115. They take up all
of them with the angle. They catch them in their net.
They gather them in their drag. Therefore they rejoice and are
glad. Therefore, this just makes good sense, doesn't it? They
make a God out of their net and a God out of their drag. Therefore
they sacrifice under their net and burn incense under their
drag because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. Verse one of chapter two. Habakkuk says, I will stand upon
my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see
what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am
reproved. And the Lord answered me and
said, Write the vision, make it plain upon tables, that he
may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an
appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though
it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come and will
not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith.
Yea, because he transgresseth by wine, he is proud. A proud man neither keepeth at
home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and
cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth
unto him all people. Shall not all these take up a
parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say,
woe to him that increaseth that which is not his? How long? And to him that ladeth himself
with thick clay, shall they not rise up suddenly, that shall
bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee? And thou shalt be for
booties unto them, because thou hast spoiled many nations. All
the remnant of the people shall spoil thee. because of men's
blood and for the violence of the land of the city and of all
that dwell therein. Woe to him that coveteth an evil
covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high,
that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou has consulted
shame to thy house by cutting off many people and has sinned
against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of
the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Woe
to him that buildeth a town with blood. Establisheth the city
by iniquity. Behold, is it not of the Lord
of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the
people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Verse 15. Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor a drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, that makest
him drunken also, that thou mayest look on his nakedness, that thou
art filled with shame for glory. Drink thou also, and let thy
foreskin be uncovered, the cup of the Lord's right hand shall
be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall
cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid
because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of
the city, and of all that dwell therein. What profiteth the graven
image, that the maker thereof hath graven it? Here Habakkuk
tells us now, remember I've been using a parable here. I've been
talking to you about men getting gold and riches and a name and
lands and people. I'm talking about religion. What
profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven
it? And the molten image and a teacher of lies that the maker
of his work trusteth therein to make dumb idols. Woe unto
him that saith to the wood, awake, to the dumb stone, arise, it
shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with
gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst
of it, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth
keep silence before him. And then Habakkuk realizing this
prophecy of judgment, great judgment. At the same time, he says, there's
a day coming. All the prophets have told about
it when the gospel is going to be preached in every nation,
not just the Jews, but every people of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue, and the knowledge of the glory of God is gonna
cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. But in the meantime,
Babylon, her idolatry, her fornication, her wine, her ungodliness is
gonna spread everywhere. And then Habakkuk prays. A prayer
of Habakkuk, the prophet upon Shuganoth. Oh Lord, I've heard
thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known In wrath, oh God, in wrath, remember mercy. Habakkuk's praying
like you've heard me pray and I've heard you pray, oh God.
As you've done in the past, do again now. Oh, God come in great
mercy in this dark, dark, heathen idolatrous day in wrath, remember
mercy and cause the light of the gospel to spread in our day. God came from Tietman and the
Holy One from Mount Paran. That is God showed his glory
in these places. Think on this now, think on this,
God, showed his glory in Timon. God showed his glory at Mount
Paran in these places of darkness, darkness, darkness. God arose
and God spoke. His glory covered the heavens
and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was
as the light. He had horns, power coming out
of his hand. and there was the hiding of his
power. Before him went the pestilence,
and the burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured
the earth, he beheld and drove asunder the nations, and the
everlasting mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow. His ways, the ways of our God
are everlasting. Well Habakkuk, what's the difference
between your God and our God's? What makes your God so special
and our God so worthless? Let me make five plain comparisons. Not really comparisons, contrast.
Number one, the Lord our God, the one true and living God,
makes his worshipers, whereas the worshipers of idols make
their God. Our God is he who made us and
made us his. He made us and he makes us his
worshipers. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God, it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We're
his people and the sheep of his pasture. Idolaters mold their
gods after their own whims. They have a thought, they have
an idea, they have a speculation. They say, this is what I would
like to have a God like. He's passionate and good and
loving and kind, like me. Not the kind of love you can
count on. Not the kind of love you can depend on. Not the kind
of love that you really want anybody to have for you because
you never know whether it's going to be good tomorrow or not, but
he's like me. He loves if you love him. He
forgives if you let him. He saves if you let him. This
is the God I'll make. No believers, men and women who
know God, those who are circumcised at the heart are people made
by God. And we worship God who made us. Second, the one true and living
God. He who is God can be known only
by self-revelation. You will know him only if he
reveals himself to you. The apostle Paul, who didn't
know God from a bit ago. Now Paul was religious. He was
a Pharisee. He was a top dog Pharisee. He could recite the law inside
and out. He could recite the prophets
line by line. He had the Bible memorized. He
even walked the Bible because he had verses sewn to the hem
of his breeches. Everywhere he went, people looked
at Paul and said, boy, if anybody goes to heaven, he will. He's
the godliest, most holy man I ever met. He's such a holy man. He's
such a good man. Well, you know, Paul said, he
didn't know God from a billy goat until one day he said, it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace to reveal his son in me. The only way you'll ever know
God is this way. God who commands the light to
shine out of darkness must shine in your heart to give you the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. The idols of men, however, are
dependent upon the teachers of lies. take you down the Roman's road
of salvation. If you, I don't know what it's
like in ladies bathrooms, I've only been one or two by mistake.
I thought I was going to write one but I went wrong one time
or two at an airport. But in men's bathrooms they have these
things in there and you go in there and folks are real religious,
they'll leave a Roman's road salvation tract right on the
urinal. That's a good place for it. That's a good place for it. Tell you how to be saved. tell
you how to get God, tell you, oh, God so much wants to save
you, won't you let in? If you make your decision, you
make your decision. They tell folks fables, moralisms
of religion, fables, you know, like Aesop's fables, lies written
on paper to get folks to act morally. That's pretty well what
religion is. Mark, caught your eye. You were
raised in religion all your life, taught to live a moral life,
and didn't know God from a billion years ago. That's the idea of
the fable. That's the idea of the fable.
Third, he who is God prompts the work of all his servants, whereas idols have to be prompted
by their servants, by their worshipers, rather. Our God inspires worship. He sends forth laborers into
his vineyard. He gives pastors after his own
heart. He sends missionaries into faraway
places. But the heathen, they had to
get committees and denominations and organizations and gotta work
hard and get folks to commit themselves to full-time Christian
service and raise your hand and commit yourself to go to the
mission field. And now we got you on the hook. Number four, look back at Habakkuk
chapter two again. He who is God, commands his position
as God by the might of his own power and grace. But the breathless
idols of men are manipulated by the hands of men. Revelation
2, 19. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood, awake. To the dumb stone, arise, it
shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with
gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst
of it. Now let's look at a passage of
scripture not too familiar to a lot of folks, 1 Samuel chapter
five. 1 Samuel chapter five. You remember the symbolism of
the ark in the Old Testament. The ark portrayed Christ our
Savior. The ark portrayed redemption
accomplished. The ark portrayed Reconciliation
done by the blood of Christ. The Ark portrayed God our Savior
symbolically. And the Philistines didn't know
that. They didn't know that. They thought
it was God. They thought the Ark was God.
So they captured the Ark of God. 1 Samuel chapter 5 verse 1. The Philistines took the Ark
of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. their God. And when the Philistines took
the ark of God, they brought it to the house of Dagon, and
they set it by Dagon. And when day of Ashdod arose
early on the morning, behold, their God was fallen from the
mantle. Mr. Spurgeon has a sermon I've
read years ago. I've forgotten most of it. The
title of the sermon was great. He said, Dagon's ups and downs.
They said, how come God in there? And they said, they walked out
and shut the door and here goes Dagon. They're God. He's fallen
on his face. Look at it. And when they of
Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon
his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they
took Dagon and set him up in his place again. Oh, Dagon, you
sit right there, buddy. Set him up in his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon
was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the
Lord and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were
cut off upon the threshold. Only the trump of Dagon was left
to him. Therefore, neither the priest
of Dagon nor any that came into Dagon's house tread on the threshold
of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. They loaded the Ark of God
up with golden emeralds and sent it back with riches piled up
on it, making sacrifices to the Ark as though it was God. But
that one who's represented cast Dagon down. Back many, many years
ago, some of you probably remember him, there was a fella out in
Ohio by the name of Rex Humbard. He was one of the modern health,
wealth, prosperity, gospel preachers, those fellows who say, you sow
seed money in my pocket, and God'll make you a millionaire.
That's the secret. You gotta give me some money,
God'll make you a millionaire. And he owned a girdle factory
in Ohio. He had other stuff, but he owned
a girdle factory. One morning, on his national
television broadcast, he made this statement, he said, God
has no eyes, but your eyes. God has no hands, but your hands. God has no feet, but your feet. God has no mouth, but your mouth. God needs you. God needs you. And Brother Pharaoh Griswold,
yelled at the top of his voice to his wife, Joyce. He was sitting
in the living room watching that, getting ready to preach. That
would get a fella motivated. He said, Joyce, this fool has made
God blind, deaf, dumb, and lame. That's exactly what men have
done with God. The one true God, the living
God, he who is God, performs his almighty deeds and commands
that his worshipers be still, be silent. Whereas the idols
of men are still and silent while the worshipers busy themselves
with religious commotion. I hadn't had any connection with
Arminian, fundamentalist, conservative, religious, stupidity since I
was a boy. Brother Greg Elmquist, God saved
him about 11, 12 years ago. I think this Sunday is their
10th anniversary at starting to work down there. But Greg
told me where he pastored. He pastored a big church down
there. He said, we had everything choreographed. Everything choreographed, the
songs, the music, the hymns, the special music, whatever was
going to go on, whatever reading was going to be there, and especially
the short sermon, had it choreographed six months ahead of time. We
spent days, every week, days planning the services, getting
everything choreographed because we got to move around and make
a commotion and act religious and behave like religious folks
are expected to behave and get you to do the same thing and
put on a show. Kind of like the prophets of
Baal. You remember I Kings 18? They're
jumping around on their altar and they're screaming and they're
cutting themselves and beating themselves and they're dancing
and they're crying, oh, Baal, hear us. And Elijah said, cry
a little louder, maybe he can't hear you. Cry a little louder. He may be in the bathroom, got
the door shut. Cry a little louder, maybe he's
asleep. And all they did make a lot of
commotion. God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands. Neither is worship with men's
hands, as though he needed anything. I say with regard to the rock,
the God of all the will-worshipping pagans of our day, their rock
is not as our rock. Let thy foreskin be uncovered." God divided the nations, their
inheritance, and he separated the sons of Adam and set the
bounds of all the people of the earth. according to the number
of the children of Israel. And he keeps them as the apple
of his eye. He makes them to ride upon the
high places of the earth. And he gives them honey out of
the rock and oil out of the flinty rock. I'm trying to show you
that their rock is not as our rock, even as our enemies themselves
say. Modern day religion, makes the
eternal God an absolute pathetic failure. Now listen carefully,
I'll wrap this up. They tell us that God is trying
to save everybody. That God wants to save everybody. But you won't let Him. He's got to have your consent.
God's given you a will, and the choice is yours. Well, that makes God's will subject
to your will. God's power subject to your power. God's purpose subject to your
purpose. And that means that you, a dead sinner, have got
to do something for God before God does anything for you. You
may as well worship a stump. You may as well take your rabbit's
foot out and, oh, I don't care that rabbit's foot because I'm
superstitious. It's just, well, I know why you care. Take it
out and rub it. You may as well. When you read your Bible, lay
your rabbit's foot right there and read it. And everywhere you
see the word God, think rabbit's foot. That's what the God you
worship is worth. They tell us that God wants to
do many things for us, but we just won't let him. They tell
us that Christ died for all people in an attempt to redeem and save
all people. He made salvation possible for
everyone. He's done everything he can. Now it's up to you. But if Christ died for all men,
and some go to hell anyway, then his death is meaningless. It
ain't worth spitting. It ain't worth spit. Preacher,
you ought not talk like that. Okay. It ain't worth spit. It didn't do anything. It didn't
accomplish anything. He didn't justify, didn't redeem,
didn't save, didn't put away sin, didn't satisfy justice,
didn't do anything. But you, almighty man, in the
house of God, being worshiped as God, we'll bow down to you
and say, you believe, and that will give power to the blood
of Christ to save you. And we'll spend the rest of our
lives bowing and scraping to you. Go down the road and see
if they don't. We're told that God, the Holy
Spirit, calls all men alike. But some resist his power, resist
his grace, and others let God have his way with them. Let the
Lord have his way with you. Let the Lord have his way with
you. God has his way with you. Whether
you go to hell or not, God has his way with you. And you don't
let God do anything. If you can hinder or assist God
in anything, he's not worthy of the name God. We're told that
the Holy Spirit calls everybody. He doesn't even send the gospel
to everybody, let alone call everybody. He calls whom he will. And thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. His call is irresistible. Well,
I know the Holy Spirit has to draw you, but that doesn't mean
that you don't have to do something. I've told you this before, but
I don't know of a better way to express what I'm trying to
say. When I was a boy, just a boy, I'd go visit my grandparents
in the mountains, and they had an outdoor well and a spring
house. And if they sent me to go draw
some water, I knew exactly what they wanted. If they had caught
me, seven, eight, nine years old, standing out by the spring
house, standing by that spring with a bucket in my hand, and
saying, oh, water, water, water, won't you please jump in my bucket?
Water, please jump in my bucket. Grandma wants some water. Ma
wants some water. Please get in my bucket. They'd
have checked me into the funny farm. The boy's popped a cork,
he's lost his mind. But they think the drawing of
the Spirit, is God the Spirit calling you to do something?
Oh no, oh no. When God the Holy Spirit calls,
sinners live. He called by the voice of the
Savior at the tomb of Lazarus and said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. I don't spend time or energy
or foolishness begging you to come to Christ. Before I ever
come here, I spend day and night begging God to bring you to Christ. And I leave it in his hands.
Salvation is God's work. And he alone is God, who gives
mercy to whom he will give mercy, and is gracious to whom he will
be gracious, so that salvation is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And if I
read this book aright, And I know I do. Soon there is a day coming
when Habakkuk's word of prophecy shall surely be fulfilled. The
knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as
the waters cover the sea. Oh God, do it. Do it. God's witnesses will arise with
the Spirit of the Lord in them. and the word of God will be preached
and men will hear. It's been a while since seeing
the evidence of God so doing. We go on doing our work, preachers
preach, and we go on preaching, preaching, preaching, and waiting,
waiting, waiting. Keep waiting, my brother. Keep
waiting, my sister, before the throne of God, begging God to
cause His Word to flourish. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't
that be something? Oh, that God would make his word
flourish in this day, that sinners in this day of darkness might
have the light, the light of God shine in their hearts, even
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh, may God do that for you.
Amen.