Someone said a long time ago,
we ought to take a big black paintbrush and paint the word
Ichabod on the doors of the church of this age. I fully agree. I fully agree. I don't suggest
that you do so literally, that gets you in trouble with the
law. But as you drive through this town and most any other,
every time you pass by a church building, no matter how pretty
it is, no matter how impressive it is, no matter who you know
who goes there regularly, mentally, in your mind, paint the word
Ichabod over the door face. The word means the glory has
departed. The glory of God has departed. If anything could describe the
religion of this age in one word, that's the word Ichabod. There's no glory, no revelation,
no knowledge of the glory of God in this apostate, anti-Christ,
religious world. You can read about such times
in history. You can read about such times
in this book. One such place is in 2 Chronicles
Chapter 34. 2 Chronicles Chapter 34. My text is verses 14 through
21 of 2 Chronicles chapter 34. I can't tell you when I have
been more heavy hearted in preparing a
message and this message I've been preparing for a long, long
time. I've sought the direction of
God's spirit. I believe I've had it. And I have a message
for you. God help you to hear me. Oh,
God, help you to hear me. Second Chronicles, chapter 34,
verse 14. Hear what God says in his word
and hear what I have to say to you with regard to God's word
as we read it here. Our subject is restoring the
worship of God. Restoring the worship of God. 2 Chronicles 34 verse 14. When they brought out the money
that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest
found a book of the law of the Lord. given by Moses, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the book of the law, the first
five books of the Bible. It was the book of the law of
God written by Moses. Hilkiah, the priest, had never
seen it. He'd been there all the time,
but he'd never seen it. Nobody ever bothered to tell him, priest
ought to read this book. He'd never seen it. And Hilkiah
delivered the book to Shaphan the scribe. And Shaphan the scribe
carried the book to the king and brought the king word back
again saying, all that was committed to thy servants, they do it. And they have gathered together
the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered
it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.
Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Heokiah the
priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the
king. Shaphan read the book of God.
to the king. He read the book of God to the
king. And it came to pass, when the
king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah
and Ahicham, the son of Shaphan, and Abednon, the son of Micah,
and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying,
Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in
Israel and in Judah. Inquire concerning the words
of the book that is found, for great is the wrath of the Lord
that is poured out upon us because our fathers have not kept the
word of the Lord to do after all that is written in this book. The nation of Israel had long,
long before this departed from the worship of God. The temple
had been deserted. It lay in ruins. Evil kings reigned
in Jerusalem and in Judah and in Israel. Covetous priests and
covetous harling prophets had led the people into every imaginable
form of idolatry and superstition, departing from the living God,
leading the children who were God's covenant people, God's
professed people, those to whom alone God had in days gone by
made himself known. These priests and prophets had
led them away from God into the worship of idols. They built
altars to Baal and to Ashtoreth, to the sun, to the moon, to the
stars, to all the hosts of heaven, and they worshipped every imaginable
abomination right in the house of God before the Ark of the
Covenant. They went into God's house every
day and cleared their throat and spit in God's face and called
it worshipping God. every day, every day. Then God
raised up a young man. When he was eight years old,
a young king was set on the throne by the name of Josiah. They crowned
him king when he was just an eight-year-old boy, in 2 Chronicles
34, 3. We're told that when Josiah was
16 years old, he began to seek after the God of David. He began
to have some concern. He heard his grandfather talk
about God and his grace and his mercy, what God had done for
him as a rebel. He heard about his great-grandfather
and all the great things he had done and he began to seek the
God of his father David And when he was 20 years old Josiah began
purging idolatry from Judah and Jerusalem He began to destroy
all the idols, all the groves. He killed the priest and the
sodomites. The sodomites whose numbers are
always multiplied where the worship of God is abandoned. Sodomites
whose numbers are always multiplied where idolatry runs rampant.
You wonder why sodomy is so common in this dark, dark day is because
the religion of the day teaches men to worship men and not worship
God. By the time Josiah was 26 years
old, he had purged the land of idolatry and began to repair
the house of the Lord, his God, we're told in verse 8. Josiah
was determined. He was He made up his mind as
a young man. God made it up for him. I understand
that. I understand that. But if God
gives you faith in Christ, that faith in Christ is active. And
Josiah, as a young man, made up his mind to follow the God
of his fathers. He was determined. He was determined
to restore the worship of God in his day. Now, I'm no Josiah,
and don't pretend to be. But that's been my ambition all
of my adult life. Soon after God saved me as a
16-year-old boy, just shortly thereafter, I began to realize
that the religious world in which I lived had no Reverence for God. Men read this book every Sunday. And they'd quote and recite this
book all the time, but never paid any attention to it. They'd
read a text of scripture and run to the moon and back, never
expanded. Just no regard for God, no regard for His Word.
Every kind of tomfoolery you could imagine was going on all
around us, all around us. Preachers try to get folks to
pack the pews and fill the pews up, fill the church house up.
And if you bring so many preachers, sit on top of the building, swallow
goldfish. Somebody ought to have shot him
off the top of the building. That's such tomfoolery. And that's
nothing compared to what goes on today. That's nothing. The word of God was trampled
in the streets by the very man who was supposed to be teaching
the Word of God and leading people in the worship of God and things
have gotten no better. I've been trying by every means
God's given me my whole life to restore the worship of my
God. This is a message been God been
working in me for 45 years. to get it out today. Josiah ordered
that the idols be destroyed, that the reprobate priest be
put to death, ran the sodomites out of the land. I've got to
pause and say this to you young people and old folks as well.
Don't begin to start to have sympathy for the promotion of
sodomy in this age. Don't begin to start to have
sympathy for it. It is ungodliness, ungodliness
run rampant. There's no place for sympathy
for it. When Josiah destroyed the temples of the idols and
their altars in the house of God, he destroyed the sodomites
and sought to restore the worship of God. while they were cleaning
up the temple that was in ruins, sweeping it out, trying to make
some more of that place that had been so ruined for so long. Hilkiah, the priest, he picked
something up. He said, what's this? And he sat down right in the
middle of that rubbish pile and opened it up and started to read
it. And he said, oh, I've heard about
this. This is God's word. This is the
word God gave by Moses. This, now this is what God gave
us. By which to reveal himself to
us. By which to order our lives. By which to bring us to glory.
By which to reveal his son in us. Oh, this is the book of God. And he called Schaeffer and the
scribe and he said, look at what I found. Look at this. You remember hearing
about this? And Shaphen the scribe carried
it to the king, and the king had the book read before him. He had never read it before.
He had never even heard anyone read it. And it came to pass
when the king heard the words of the Lord, he rent his clothes. He fell down and just ran his
clothes. He seems to say, oh, oh, what
shall come upon us now? What's going to happen to this
nation now? What shall follow what I've read
here now? In verse 21, he said, go inquire
of the Lord for me. Not just for me, but for them
that are left of Judah, of Israel and Judah, concerning the words
of the book that's found, for great is the wrath of the Lord
that is poured upon us. Because our fathers, my daddy
and yours, our fathers, those that In all
other regards, we properly respect and admire. But our fathers,
our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord. They've not
worshipped God. They've not worshipped God. To
do after all that is written in this book. Later on, we'll
see that when he had gone about business of restoring the worship
of God, and he made a covenant before God, before all the people,
and he promised to live according to the book, the first thing
he did was observe the Passover. That's what the book is all about,
teaching us to trust Jesus Christ, that one who is God's Passover
sacrifice for us. He comes and says, now, what
will the Lord do? These things, Paul tells us,
are written for our learning and our admonition upon whom
the ends of the world are come. Rex Bartley, what we just read
in the book of God, God wrote just for you and just for me. He wrote for this day and for
this age. for this church and for everyone
whose ear he will give to hear this message. This is written
for you, for your learning, for your admonition. Pay attention
to it. It must be acknowledged first.
It must be confessed. It must be said. Our fathers,
our church leaders have not taught and they have not preached the
words of this book. They haven't done it. The religion
of this age, and I'm talking about Baptists, just forget the
others. I'm just talking about Baptists
now, just Baptists and conservative folks, those who profess to be
Christian. The religion of this age, No
more resembles New Testament Christianity and the Church of
God and the Church of the New Testament than a brothel resembles
chastity. Brother Don, you speak so contentiously. Be sure you understand this.
No matter how contentious I sound, I haven't come close to expressing
myself. I hold the religion of this world
in utter, utter, utter, utter contempt, because the religion
of this world holds my God and my Savior and His Word in utter
contempt. And I'm not about to back up.
God help me. You go into churches these days,
and I haven't been in any except Baptist churches, More than two
or three times, maybe a dozen times in my life, but you go
in Baptist churches and you see strangest things. Walk in there,
stained glass windows with pictures of angels and Jesus and images
of God and light shining from heaven. That's called idolatry
and altars. And they don't hide it anymore.
They call them altars. And candles burning, candles
burning. Like you have you went into a
witch's store and she's going to have a séance with you. Burn
some candles, ward off evil spirits, and lift up a prayer to God. And the preachers wear their
clerical robes and their dog collars, identifying themselves
for what they are. And choir robes and all the ostentatious,
put-on junk. All the entertainment and all
the images and crosses and icons and programs and programs and
programs galore. Churches, preachers, and religious
leaders of this age just neglect this book altogether.
They line the streets with it and walk on it. Trample it under
their feet. Oh, they'll fight to get the
Supreme Court to let you post the Ten Commandments in the courthouse
and trample God's Word under their feet. They'll fight to
get you to pass laws enforcing folks to act like they believe
the book and trample God's Word under their feet. the ceremonies and the traditions
and the customs of this religious world and all its rituals. In
2012, the entertainment and the foolishness that go on in the
name of religion would make the prophets of Baal blush with shame. It's utter foolishness. put on
theatrical productions, and have plays and skits and entertainment
in the name of God, and no preaching. And no preaching. I don't know
how bad it's gotten now. I read an article in Time Magazine,
and I haven't gotten Time Magazine in 20 years, so it's been at
least that long, and this was one of the seminaries was recommending
to preachers how to conduct things and said you ought never preach
more than 12, maybe 15 minutes. Never. A lot of people are turned
off by preaching. Bob, folks, have always been
turned off by gospel preaching. Well, what are you going to do
the rest of the time? Watch the program. We've got
this thing planned out and these things people expect and these
things we're going to do. The most contemptible thing in
this apostate religious world is its religion. You know that
and I know that. And it's way past time somebody
declare it. Our gods declares, God is spirit. They that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Pastor, will we ever have a return
to really worshiping God in this day? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. If we do, it will be by
these two things. God will raise up men to preach
the gospel of his free grace, to faithfully expound his word,
to stand up and boldly declare God's truth to men who hate God. He'll raise up men. to proclaim
his word. They may be men like Spurgeon
preaching to thousands in a huge metropolitan area like London.
Or there may be men like John Fawcett 40 miles out in the country
where nobody ever knew his name or knew anything about him but
faithfully proclaiming the word. Or there may be someone like
a brilliant Jonathan Edwards or someone like an unlearned
Christmas Evans. But God raises up his servants
when God has a work to do. Revival doesn't come by planning
and programming. Revival comes by the preaching
of the word, but something else is required. God's worship will be restored
if God raises up men to preach his word faithfully and will
pour out his spirit upon us. That's all. That's all. For 45 years, I've been reading
religious literature. I don't read anything but good
stuff. I used to chase rabbits, but
I gave that up a long time ago. I used to try to find out why
Muslims believe what they do and why Hindus believe what they
do and why Papists believe what they do and all that nonsense.
But there's nothing good to come from that. Nothing good to come
from that. I only read good stuff. You remember I told you when
you first came here, no point in reading garbage. There's plenty
of garbage out there. But I tell you what I do observe,
I observe what's on the shelf and what's advertised. For 45
years, these are the most popular books out there. The most popular
books out there. How to. How to raise your family. how to get saved, and how to
be born again, and how to get revival, and how to be filled
with the spirit, and how to please God, and how to be a good husband,
and how to be a good wife, and how to be a good church member,
how to, how to, how to, how to, how to. Most popular books out
there, and prophecy. Man alive. I saw on the news
last night, just briefly, There's some kind of scandal going over
in the Vatican that made the news. Some prophecy duck will
get hold of that and say, that's a sign! The Lord's coming and
a million people will buy his book. I mean, every new event
that happens, prophecy, prophecy. Folks go crazy with it. And charismatic
Pentecostal stupidity. Pentecostal nonsense. I heard
Brother Mahan say years ago, if God put a bit and bridle,
In the mouth of every woman in the world, Pentecostalism would
die overnight. Women make horrible theologians,
and that's where Pentecostalism comes from. Oh, brother Don,
you shouldn't say that. Well, let's try it again. Women
make horrible theologians, and that's where Pentecostalism comes
from. I'm getting so many letters from women who think they're
theologians. I'm getting sick of it. Women are not to be theologians. You learn at home from your husbands.
Well, man, that's out of step with the age, isn't it? I've been trying to be out of
step with this world all my life, and I've succeeded pretty good.
Yeah, it's just not acceptable. And this day, preaching and teaching
the word of God had been pushed aside to make way for entertainment
and education and sharing programs and social networking and testimony
time. religious tomfoolery. Men justify
every gimmick and every trick they can come up with to get
people to come to church and join their church. But they ignore
and hold the Word of God in utter contempt. Oh, they talk about
preaching. They talk about preaching the
gospel. They brag about preaching the gospel. But preach the gospel? Never. We've got to recognize
people. We've got prizes to give away,
and Sunday school awards to give, and pens to put on folks, and
records to break, and activities to promote, and programs to implement,
and money to raise, and bills to pay, and money to raise, and
entertainers to hire, and money to raise, and preaching evangelism
teams to bring in, and money to raise, and games to play,
and money to raise. And that's what it's all about.
I just got through reading a very good biography of J.P. Boyce, who started Southern Seminary,
is a very good biographer. Tom Nettles is a good biographer.
But I put the book down, closed it, and I said to my wife, I
said, I'm so thankful God never allowed me to get tied up in
denominational religion. The book was all about raising
money, finding more ways to raise money, finding more ways to get
folks to commit to giving money, and then go get the money. When they do get around talking
about God and talking about the Lord Jesus and talking about
the Spirit of God, when preachers do get around talking about salvation
or grace or righteousness, everything they teach is contrary to this
book. Everything they teach. It's 1
Corinthians chapter 11, Galatians chapter 1. Paul said, he said,
the day is coming when fellows are going to come and preach
another God who's not God. Another Jesus, who's not Jesus.
Another spirit, who's not the spirit of God. Another gospel,
that's not the gospel. And don't pay any attention to
them. My message, I'm certain will offend some, but I'm going
to speak to you as plainly as I possibly can. I'm convinced
that most of what's going on in our day, in the name of God,
is another gospel. Another spirit. another Jesus,
and another God. That which is presented as the
gospel is not the gospel. As a result of the religion of
this age, as a result of the religion of this age, everybody
you know has got religion. Some a bigger dose than others,
but everybody's got some religion. Everybody. I've said it many times, and
I'll keep repeating it. First, oh, less than a year after
I came here, all the churches got together and went out to
the high school out here at Boyle County, and they were showing
a movie. Oh, it was a movie. Tried to get me to get in and
join it and promote it. Some of our folks at the time
took their children out there to see it. Some of you may have.
I don't know. called the burning hell. I'm
talking about every church I know of in town was involved in it.
Went out to see the burning hell. And what they were doing was
trying to scare the hell out of everybody. And they succeeded. They succeeded. Everybody was
wanting to get saved. Everybody wanting to get baptized
everybody joined the church the young people in the Young adults
and older folks as well next the next week and just filled
up the church building and folks were all getting baptized And
about a week two weeks month two months six months everything
right back to normal But they got a dose of religion Now don't
let anybody tell you you're lost. You remember backyard when you
made that profession of faith? You remember how you felt? You remember
how Jesus came into your heart? You remember that tingling spirit
feeling that just went up your spine and made you feel so good?
Well, you know you're saved. Everybody's got a dose of religion.
Nobody knows God. Nobody. Go talk to somebody about
it. Go talk, pick up the phone this
afternoon, call your neighbor and talk to him about the work
of Christ, the work of God, the Holy Spirit, the character of
God. And if you can get him on one of those things on your computer
where you can see the picture, watch the face go up. Wonder who he's talking about.
Wonder what's wrong with him. Never heard such stuff. Everybody's
got a dose of religion. Nobody knows God. Nobody knows
God. Everybody's been talked into
a profession of faith. Nobody knows God. Everybody's
been stirred up to join the church, but nobody knows God. That which passes for the worship
of God, that which passes for the gospel of God, is not the
worship of God, is not the gospel of God. I want to make 11 statements. I lay these 11 charges against
all Armenian freewill works religion. And all I will do is just make
the statements. I won't make much comment about
them. Today's gospel, what people call the gospel, all but ignores
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All but ignores the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they talk about the fact
of Christ's coming, His incarnation, and His death, and His resurrection,
and His coming again. When was the last time you heard
anybody attempt to declare what all that means? God's gospel
is all Christ. Christ is all. Of Him are you
in Christ Jesus, who God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Today's gospel is much more concerned
with your will and your honor than with God's will and God's
honor. What do you want? We'll give
that to you. Oh, we've got Mother's Day, Father's
Day. I'm surprised we don't have Fornicator's
Day. We've got every kind of day there
is imaginable. Give honor to folks. Honor me
and they'll love it. Honor men, they'll appreciate
it. Honor men, they'll feel good. Honor God. Seek to know His will and do
it. Bow before Him as the Savior did. Thy will be done. Number
three, today's gospel calls for men to stand up and be counted.
Stand up and show yourself. The book of God demands that
you bow down. and worship, that you bow down
at his feet. The Pharisee stood, lifted up
his eyes, and he smiled at God and said, look at me and look
at what I've done. Oh, God, I thank you. I'm not
like that fellow. And that publican, that notorious
publican, wouldn't so much as lift his eyes toward heaven,
let alone his holy hands. He smote on his breast and cried,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That harlot fell at his feet
and washed them with her tears and wiped them with the hairs
of her head and kissed them. Judas walked up and kissed him
on the cheek. Today's gospel tells you how
to be born again. Anybody tells you how to be born
again, run from it. He doesn't have a clue what he's
talking about. He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
I can't tell you how to be born again. Any more than I could
take a mother with a baby in her womb and speak to that baby
and say, now this is how you get out of that womb. I can't
tell you how to be born again. The book of God doesn't say how
you must be born again. The book of God says you must
be born again. God's got to do something for
you before you can do anything for Him. God's got to give you
life before you can believe Him. Today's gospel makes salvation
an offer. The Lord's offering you life.
He's offering you heaven. He's offering you salvation. Alan, find that in the book.
Find it in the book. Oh, but Brother Don, everybody
believes that. I know that's what I'm talking about. But this is what everybody
teaches. I know that. That's what I'm
trying to tell you. God's salvation is not an offer, Bobby, it's
an operation. It's called the operation of
God, Colossians 2.12. It's the operation of God's grace
in you. It's the operation of the Holy Spirit giving you a
new heart, a new nature, a new life, a new will, everything
new. Made new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Today's gospel substitutes human reason for divine revelation. Preachers, Have the idea that
you can educate people into the kingdom of God. You can talk
them into it. One of the first courses we had my first year
in Bible college on Springfield, Missouri was evangelism. And
man, they knew how to teach evangelism early. They'd teach you how to,
how to witness door to door and get folks down on their knees
and get them to repeat after you and say, say your prayers
and say, now I believe in Jesus. And they'd teach young fellas
how to preach. Now you preach and you work up
to a crescendo and when the iron's hot, you strike! And you're always
in just right time so that folks are kind of massaged and prepped
and pushed into making a profession. And then you sing your songs
and you give your invitation and you get them to come down
front and you get them to say, I believe in Jesus and go on
to hell. That's all. That's going to make
them two-fold more child of hell than they were before. You mean
you don't do that preaching? No. No. No. The gospel comes by divine revelation. When it pleased God, Cody Henson,
he revealed his son in you. I've been preaching to you all
your life. All your life. Well, why didn't you believe
before? I wasn't smart. I didn't go about it the right
way. I didn't twist his arm enough. I didn't give the right invitation.
I didn't give a chance to be safe. I didn't offer anything
to him. No. When it pleased God, Paul
said, he revealed his son in me. And the only way you'll ever
know his son as if God reveals his son He does it by the preaching of
the word, by the power of the spirit, but I can't accomplish
it. Today's gospel substitutes a decision for regeneration. Make your decision for Jesus.
When did you make your decision for Jesus? What's stupid? What's stupidity? Make your decision. What's a dead man going to decide
to do? Tell me. Try to talk a dead man into deciding
something. Brother Dunn, you don't mean
to suggest that people are dead. Oh, I wouldn't suggest that.
God said that. Read the book. You have to be
quick and do work dead in trespasses and in sin. Salvation, regeneration
is it's not a decision you make. It's the giving of life by God,
the Holy Spirit. Today's gospel identifies the
Christian by what he doesn't do. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't cuss.
I don't chill. Whoopee. Whoopee. Well, oh, see what a good Christian
I am. The Pharisees didn't either.
I don't commit adultery. I don't commit fornication. You
won't find me down there with those sodomites. No, sir. No,
sir, you won't find me in that porno shop. No, sir. Now, I highly
recommend that you not go in those places. Something bad wrong
if you do, but not going doesn't make you a Christian and doesn't
make you holy. Paul's Christianity is not identified
by what you do and don't do. It's identified by who you know,
trust, and worship. I know whom I have believed. Today's gospel utterly ignores
God's holy law. Now, people talk a lot about
the law. They talk a great deal about the law and how we ought
to live by the law and how the law ought to rule over us, but
the religion of the age utterly ignores it. Tell me, when was
the last time, when was the last time you heard a preacher outside
of this pulpit When was the last time you heard a preacher on
radio or television, in the newspaper, when was the last time you heard
a preacher declare the necessity that the law of God be honored,
that righteousness be established, and justice be satisfied? The
gospel of God declares that Christ, by his obedience unto death and
the sacrifice of himself, has magnified the law and made it
honorable. Today's gospel makes the triune
God a beggar before men. God is begging you to let him
have his way. Bob, you were raised in that
nonsense all your life. Is that right? The religion in which
you were raised presents God as a beggar at the door of men.
The omnipotent God. These fellows, they'll say, God's
omnipotent, but his hands are tied behind his back by your
will. What kind of omnipotence is that? What kind of God is
that? That's a rabbit foot God. That's
a dung God. That's a God that's more worthless
than a barn full of manure. It's a useless God. And that's
the language of Scripture. It's a useless God. A God that
waits on you before He executes His will? That's no God at all. Today's gospel, today's religion
is based entirely upon what men and women
think and want and feel. All that's done in religion,
all the nonsense done in religion is based entirely on what men
and women think and want and feel. That's all. Why do they have the stupid things
they have in churches? The nonsense that goes on in
religion. I went to visit our mutual friend this week and he
told me the same thing he told you when men in town watches
our messages on the cable regularly. He said, all these other churches
are just full of BS. And I said, that's exactly right.
That's exactly right. That's all you can say for them. That's all you can say for them.
How can you say that? They give men and women what
they want. They do what they think is right. God's people and God's gospel reveals to us God's way and God's
people walk in his way. Throw away the creeds and the
confessions of faith and the catechisms and the writings of
men, throw them away. Oh, we got to have those things
that'll tell people what we believe. Try preaching the word of God
and see. Try preaching the Word of God. Go down the street and
ask somebody what we believe here. You go ask them. All you
got to do is preach the Word of God and the Word will get
out on you. It'll get out on you. Turn over to Nehemiah for
a minute. Nehemiah chapter 4. I'll wrap
this up. If we would restore the worship
of God, what we've got to do is take a trip to the garbage
dump. Look at verse 10. Judah said
the strength of the bearers, Nehemiah 14, the strength of
the bearers of burdens is decayed. And there is much rubbish. So that we're not able to build
the wall. The church of this day is full
of rubbish. All their specialized ministries
and programs and skits and plays. You can't imagine how many people
I've had to either come here or call me on the phone or write
to me, church shopping. Church shopping. They're getting
upset what's going on down the road and they want to go to another
church and they're church shopping. Once in a while, once in a blue
moon, I'll have somebody to ask me something about what we believe
and preach and what goes on. You want to ask me, what do y'all
have for children? What kind of programs do y'all
have for children? And most people are shocked when I say none.
We ought to explain that. I did, none. You see, specialized
ministries are always compromised ministries. Your children need
to hear the gospel of God's grace. Oh, but they don't like that.
Well, you didn't need it until God saved you. Well, the children
need to have a good time at church. That's not the reason for the
church. They have a good time on the playground. That's not
the reason. We bring our children to the
house of God to hear the word of God, to be taught the things
of God. Well, you won't get anywhere in this world that way. Well,
I'm almost aware of that. I'm just almost convinced you're
right. Won't get anywhere. You specialize in ministry. We're
going to have a special ministry for teenagers. You're going to
compromise the Word is what you're going to do. We're going to have
a special ministry for seniors. Seniors need special attention.
They're just rocking chair rebels. They're just rebels just like
you are. You're going to compromise the Word if you do. We declare
the gospel of God's grace to all men. There's nothing about the religion
of this age that even remotely resembles the worship of God.
Nothing. You may recall, some of you men,
my first visit here with you, and you were talking to me about
the possibility of pastoring. And this is what I said to you. If there's any place in this
town where you can worship God, any place in this town where
you can worship God, or close enough where you can drive and
worship God, where you can Gather and hear God's gospel preached. Don't call me as pastor. Go join. Go join. If you call me as pastor,
you understand there's nowhere else to go. There's nowhere else
to go. You mean you're the only church
in town? No, my soul. There have been scads of them
started since I came here. No, that church is everywhere.
One right across the street over yonder. One down the road that way, several
down the road that way, several down the road that way. You can
pick them out. Lots of them. But there's only one where God's
gospel is preached. There's only one where God's
name is honored. Only one from which the glory
hasn't departed. Oh, I just can't take that. That's too much. Well, go to one of the others.
It'll be all right. It'll be all right. Go and take
your wife and your daughter and your son and your grandchildren
and see to it that they have a good time on the way to hell. In this place, we're going to
worship God as he enables us. In this place, we're going to
preach the gospel of God's grace as he enables us. And the message
is not going to change. It's not going to vary. It's
not going to alter. We proclaim the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ, the sinner's crucified,
risen, exalted substitute. Oh God, make us effectual in
our labors to the good of many for the glory of his name.