Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Isaiah chapter 45. While you're turning, I want
to make some comments. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and earth. God. The gospel does not begin with
man, but with God. It begins with God. He is looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. And the book of God, His one
revelation of Himself, of His will, of His purpose, of man's
origin, man's fall, The consequences of that fall and the way and
means to recover him from that fall are all revealed in this
book whose author and revealer is God. You see what I'm saying? In the beginning, God. If there's going to be a change,
if there's going to be a reconciliation, if there's going to be an intervention
in anyone's life, it must begin with God. It's not going to begin
in him. It's going to begin with God. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, he
said, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. This is God's Word. His Word
is not to be debated about. His Word is not to be argued
over. We don't We don't hire a lawyer
or somebody to stand up and argue these different points as the
old Jews did. They had specialists who were
learned in the law and stood up and gave argument about these
laws and what they meant. But all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable. What's it profitable for? For
doctrine. If I have a doctrine in which
I believe, in which I stand, it better be based on this book
because the only thing profitable for doctrine is the Word of God. It's profitable for doctrine
and for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God, not the worldly man who argues about
things, not filthy dreamers, not those who walk in the vanity
of their mind, but the man of God. It's written that the man
of God, that he may be perfect and truly furnished unto all
good works. Man's origins not to be taken
from the bones of some ancient ancestor and then his existence
speculated and theorized by worldly wisdom and science, falsely so
called. I watched the thing on TV the
other night and they had this humped over looking thing. I
don't know what it was that they claimed to be a man and then
they found its nearest relative in the same spot and then the
relative to it and they're the missing link. And they go on
and on and on. That's not how we understand
man's origin. God made man in his own image.
He just tells us in a few words. It's to be taken from the testimony
of God's written Word alone. And it's through faith, he said,
that we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God
so that the things which are seen were not made of those things
which do appear. It's vanity to go pick up droppings
from meteors and try to explain the existence of the universe. But isn't that what men are doing?
Huh? They won't take this. He said,
by faith we understand these things weren't even made from
the things which appear. So you're looking in the wrong
spot. That's what he said. And in that same token, we want
to look within and try to discern and try to understand what salvation
is and what all these things are. And they don't begin with
us. They weren't made by things which do appear. We don't walk,
Paul said, looking at things. These things which are seen are
temporal. They're all going away. But faith
looks at those things which are eternal. And so we're forced
then to take God's testimony to these things. because we don't
have any other information on them. No other information. Through faith, we understand
these things. And what I think, and what you think, and what
some denomination gets some counsels together and pens out explanations
of, or the traditions passed down by your parents, they've
got no bearing whatsoever on the things of God. If you want
to know who God is, and what God's doing, and what God says
about these things, The thing to do is get in this book. Get
in this book. Barnard said the Bible shed a
lot of light on those commentaries, and it does. It does. This book gives us the only infallible
record of God, of God's creating the world, of His eternal purpose
and will, and of our beginning and fall, and how His purpose
and will relate to us and that fall. And it begins with God. Now listen to this here in Isaiah
chapter 45 verse 5. He said, I am the Lord and there
is none else. Can you get a hold of that? I am the Lord and there is none
else. Now, he's talking about Christ
here. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me. What's he talking about? He caused you to have being. In Him, Paul said, we live and
move and have our being. He girded you when you was nothing
What a seed! He girded you. He girded you
when you were nothing but His purpose in eternity. And He did this that they may
know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there
is none beside Me. I am the Lord. There is none
else. I form light and create darkness. You wake up in the morning, it's
dark. And you sit out there on the
porch a little while and pretty soon you see a little light coming
up and pretty soon it rises up and you got the full light of
day. You go back down and you go back into darkness again.
That's created. Did you know that? That's created. He said, I form the light and
create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together. I, the Lord, the same Lord that
created all things, the same Lord that creates light and darkness,
the same Lord, John, the same Lord, He commands for righteousness
to spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.
By Him who is God alone comes creation and the fall. And by
this one true and living God, the way of salvation comes down
from heaven and springs up together with men in the earth. Because
that's what God designed it to do. That's what He's saying here. brings up in the earth at His
command and by His design and by the Word of His power. Now,
verse 9, Woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say unto him that
fashioned it, What makest thou? Or thy work he hath no hands. Do you know what a potsherd is?
I don't like to pass over words. I do it a lot when I read. I
pass over words and don't even give them a thought. And I looked
at that word and I was pretty sure I knew what it meant, but
I didn't know what it meant. So I looked it up. Do you know
what a potsherd is? That's a broken piece of a pot. That's what that is. A broken
pot. A potsherd is just a piece of
broken pottery. rejected, flawed, and cast aside. That's what he's saying. You
that have been cast aside and you that are just broken into
pieces, you that have been broken through the fall, you go over
there and you strive with the other piece of pot. But don't
you strive with me. Don't you strive with me. I'm
God. And beside me, he said, there
is none other. I made the earth and created
man upon it, verse 12. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. And this
same God, who is the beginning of all things, and beside whom
there is none other, whose purpose and decree is to save a people
for His glory, He speaks of Him into whose hands this salvation
has been put." Now watch this. Verse 13, I raised him up in
righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build
my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor
reward, saith the Lord of hosts. They shall be ashamed and also
confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that make that are makers of idols. What's he talking about? He's talking about idols of wood
and idols of man's imagination and idols on canvas and idols
in doctrine. Idols that set dumb on the shelf
and idols that set dumb in men. He's talking about idols, those
who put on their robes and call themselves vicars. I don't want any part of that
name vicarious. as it applies to me. I don't
want any part of that. That all belongs to Christ. All
these things are idols. All raise the goodness and glory
of man above the character and glory of God. And man makes and
worships idols so he can dictate to his God what he will and will
not allow Him to do. Now, if you have a will that
can override the will of God, you've got an idol. what you
got. You don't have the living God.
He worships idols, the work of His hands, to bring His God down
to His level and into His view. I went down to Yucatan, Mexico. This has been 30 years ago. And went out there and saw their
great feathered serpent they call Kukulkan. And he's on the
He's on the banister. There's four sets of steps that
go up on those big pyramids. And there's 99 steps that go
up. And each step is about like that.
It's about 13 or 14 inches. It's a good step. And they're
straight up. And at a certain time of the
year, the sun shines on that thing and makes it look like
that serpent's moving. So they know when to plant and
they know when to harvest their plants. All these things sit
on the study of astronomy and so on. False gods. Idols. Idols. The men who created that
god knew exactly what they were doing. They set that building
in exactly the right place so that they could control all that
he did and his actions and what he did and what he didn't do.
And they gave him power to do what they allowed him to do and
so on. Just the same as religion does today. Put god in a box. We'll let Him save us, maybe,
when we get time. He said, in God's own time shall
all be ashamed and confounded and go to confusion together. All of them. All of them. He
just wraps all these idols up in one big bundle. And He said,
you that are makers of idols, He said, here's your end. You're
all going to stand before me in that day ashamed because you're
going to stand there naked. Naked before me. Nothing hidden. Nothing hidden. Every secret
thought, every imagination, every false motive exposed. You're going to be ashamed and
you're going to be confounded. Confounded. You're not going
to be able to answer and justify your actions. And you're all
going to be ashamed and confused. You're just going to stand there
confused. What's going on? We cast out
demons in thy name. We preached in thy name. He said,
I never knew you. Why? We did many wonderful works
in thy name. You was a worker of iniquity.
Isn't that what he says? That's his exact words. But,
verse 17, Israel shall be saved in the Lord. That's how they're
saved and that's why they're saved. There it is. Israel shall
be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall
not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end, no matter
what comes along. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it, he hath established it, he created it, not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord, he said, and there is none else. I have not spoken
in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the
seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. Do I tell folks to seek
me in vain? I'm the Lord. Beside me there
is none other. I spoke this world into existence. What do you think keeps this
world from flying off into space? Me. Beside me there is none other. You think I tell men to seek
me in vain? You think God speaks in vain?
You think when He speaks things don't happen? They happen exactly,
exactly according to God's predestinated purpose. All things. Even when
you throw a fit. Sure it is. I've not spoken in
secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not under the seat
of Jacob. Seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord,
speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Believers are men and women that
by the grace of God have escaped from the nations. What is he
talking about? Escaping from the world. You
see how he pictures this in Israel? He comes in and He calls them
out in Abraham and He separates them and He lays that foundation.
Then He leads them out of that bondage of Egypt. He's picturing
His church. You've escaped from the nation. Escaped from their concepts and
idols. Escaped from their confusion
and ignorance. Escaped from the curse of their
darkness. He called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. And their doctrine and their
faith and their houses of worship are filled with idols, material
and spiritual. Statues of Mary and Joseph and
other saints and idols and crosses and all these things. Now, I
know this pulpit has a cross on there, but I didn't put it
on there. And if I had my way, I'd just chisel it off. They're
idols. That's all they are, idols. Man's
ideas of free will and self-righteousness that idolize man. That's what
that is. He idolizes man. He raises man's
glory up above the glory of God. Just idols. Man's covetousness
for the things of this world. He said covetousness which is
idolatry. Ain't that what the Scripture
said? Preacher, these things are just
visual aids. They're just images to assist
us in worship. Let me tell you something. God's
people don't need any assistance in worship. They have the Spirit
of the Living God in them. What do they need with a picture?
God's drawn these pictures in our heart. He's given us the
heart to worship. He's given us a heart that desires
to be here. He's given us an appetite for
Christ. That's exactly right. The Spirit of God, that's what
it is. That's what this earnest is. He comes down and this Spirit
of promise opens to you. We're going to get into that
in Ephesians. Paul said, I pray for you that the eyes of your
understanding be open that you see these things. And the more
of these things that you see, the less pictures hang on the
wall. All you're going to see in the end is just nails. I remember
years ago down in that little church down in Ball, Louisiana,
Brother Tim James come down and he turned around and he pointed,
I don't even remember now what was hanging up there, but I took
it down and he said, I love to see empty nails. Yeah, I do too. I do too. Visual aids. That's what a man
needs who don't know God. He needs an aid. You need somebody
to stand up there. He's got nothing to rejoice in,
so he needs one of these spiritual cheerleaders to stand up there
and get him going, get him going, get him revved up like one of
them little wind-up cars. You used to do this and then
watch it go until it run out of steam. And then you had to
get it again. That's what they do. These are idols, idols. We don't need visual aids. I
don't need candles. I don't need the soft light. I don't need the pipe organ.
I don't need the 15-story cathedrals. I don't need a man dressed in
a robe. I need somebody to come and preach to my heart in the
power of God's Spirit and raise Christ up and let me worship
Him as God sets Him forth, the one mediator, the one hope, my
righteousness, my justification, all in Him. And I look at Him,
and He's everything. He starts out over here in the
book of Isaiah. You need to read chapter 1. He
said, who told you to come into my court waving your hands and
doing all this? Who told you to do that? God
didn't tell you. This thing of worship begins
with God. This thing of salvation begins
with God. This testimony begins and ends
with God. escape from the nations. I tell
you this, any man, any woman, any boy, any girl who needs a
choir, a cathedral, stained glass windows, or images to worship
God, don't know God. They don't know God. God is not
worshipped, Paul said, with men's hands as though he needed anything. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. I wouldn't tell you. The nations,
talking about anybody, anywhere who's not a true Jew, chosen
in Christ and called out of this world, the nations have no knowledge
that set up these wooden images. These nations have no knowledge
who pray to a God who cannot save. Huh? Oh, you just let Him come into
your heart. If the God of glory desires to
come in your heart, he'll kick it down Boat Barn Jam. He'll
come in. He won't have a bit of problem.
Only reason he's not there right now. Men think, well, I just
ain't going to let him in. You won't let him in. That's
what the preacher was crying. You won't let him in. He'll come in when he gets ready.
He'll come in. And you'll willingly open the
door. You'll fling it wide open. All the great distinction between
the gods of religion and the true and living God is that they
pray, that is they worship, they hope in, they call on and promote
a God that cannot save. This is what God says, I can
save. I can save. Religion can save
you for about 20 minutes. Might save you for as much as
two or three years. And then you do what they call
backsliding. Oh, he said, listen to this,
verse 21. Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel
together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? Have I changed my message? Have
I changed my word? Have I changed this gospel? I
told you in the beginning, and I've told you, and I've told
you, and I've told you what I'm telling you. I, the Lord, and there is no
God else beside me. I'm a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. There's
no need of argument. There's no need of speculation.
No need to talk about what you and I think about it or what
Catholics or Protestants think about it, Paul tells us, from
the mind of a man seeking God. He said, let God be true and
every man a liar. Ain't that what he says? That's
what God's saying right here in this book of Isaiah. I'm God. Where do you come up with all
this mess? Who told you these things? Ask
yourself. That's what God in time sent
a man. He didn't even look religious.
He had a pair of cut off jeans and he had a big long neck bottle
of blue ribbon beer in his hand and he was sitting there with
his feet all cocked up in the air and he said, you don't know
the gospel. I said, what are you talking
about? He said, well if you know the
gospel, why don't you tell me what it is? Isn't that what God's asking
here? Where'd you come up with this mess? Why don't you ask
yourself, do I know the gospel? Do I know Christ? Do I know God? Am I just playing religion? I'm
just playing church? I'm just playing dress up? Is
that what it is? Or do I know Him? I'm God, He said. Ain't no one
else. Ain't no one else. This is the only place you're
going to learn this. He's in Christ. Oh, God forbid, yea, let God
be true in every man a liar. Let me tell you something. In
this thing of faith, there's no room for anything except the
testimony of God. That's it. God said it, I believe it, and
that settles it. No, God said it, and that settles
it whether you believe it or not. That's right. having preached the gospel in
Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum and God approving him and his
message by miracles and wonders and signs, which he did right
in their midst, right before this council that they snuck
out there and put on plain clothes and come out there so they wouldn't
be detected and watched him and tried to find something, tried
to find him doing something wrong, trying to find some evidence
to convict him. or some evidence to testify to
them that he was Christ and God was doing miracles through him
right in their midst and they saw it. It didn't do them any
good. Their insistence to hold their
traditional understanding and worship, their insistence to
hold to those things which only profited them in the outward
form and show, And the Lord began to pronounce a woe on them. And
he told them that their crime, that the crimes of Sodom and
Gomorrah were better than the crimes they were committing. And if they'd been granted, if
those folks back in Sodom and Gomorrah had been granted the
privileges that was bestowed on them, he said Sodom and Gomorrah
would still be here. That's right. He said, I say unto you, Matthew
11, 24, I say unto you that it will be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. That's a serious
charge, ain't it? At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank the old Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babe. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
Me of My Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son." Now listen, "...and He to whomsoever the Son will
reveal Him." Now ain't that what He's saying back here in Isaiah
45? I'm God. I'm all you're ever going to
know of God. I'm God. Beside Me there is none
other. And I'm telling you on authority
of this book that the living God cannot be known, understood,
or believed on apart from His manifesting Himself in the person
and work of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ,
confirmed of God, preached of those set apart to preach Him.
In Him, God reveals the glory both of His holiness and His
mercy, of His righteousness and His grace. He said, I'm a just
God and a Savior. I will by no means clear the
guilty. By no means. But I'm a Savior. There's no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Verse
22, Isaiah 45, Therefore, look unto me, Look unto Me and be ye saved. All ye ends of the earth, all
ye nations, for I am God and there is none else. I have sworn
by Myself and the words gone out of My mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto Me, this Christ of God, this
One who reveals God is just and justifier. Unto Me every knee
shall bow, every tongue Shall swear. That is, swear only. Vowing and swearing only to Him
as God has manifested Himself in him. Surely shall one say
in the Lord, have I righteousness and strength? Even to him shall men come, and all
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. There is but one way for
any man to escape the confusion and ultimate shame of this world,
and that is to look unto the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as God has set him forth in His Word, in His appearance on this
earth, in His resurrection from the dead, and in His gospel as
He's preached unto you. Now, God tells us five things.
I'm just going to basically state these things and then wrap this
thing up. He tells us five things in these
verses to encourage His people and warn those who have put themselves,
who are incensed against Him. First of all, back in Isaiah
45, 18, He tells us that creation is not in vain. Oh, I tell you, we think it is
sometime, don't we? We just think this place is going
to fold up. Oh, I do. Global warming is going to blow
it up. It ain't going to blow up. It ain't going nowhere until
God gets finished with it. And then He's going to burn it
up. He ain't going to flood it. He's going to burn it up. Plunged into corruption. Not left in danger. Surrendering
God's purpose of no avail. It was subjected of Him in hope. Where's that hope based? I taught
it to you in Ephesians one while ago. It's all trusted in His
hands. He subjected it to all these
things. Not willingly, but by reason
of Him who subjected the same in hope. Because, he tells us
in Romans 8, 21, because the creation itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Be new heavens and a new earth.
And then secondly, in Isaiah 45, 19, his words of salvation
and promises to his elect, he says, are not in vain. I don't
tell people to seek me in vain. Any man who truly with all his
heart seeks the Lord, seeks the Lord because the Lord first sought
him. That's right. I'll tell you when you'll hear
when he speaks. You'll hear. You won't have a better problem.
You won't have a better problem. Until then, you'll be the biggest
rebel who ever lived. I don't care how much truth.
I don't care what kind of attitude the preacher has. I don't care
if he raises his voice or whispers. I don't care if he teaches it
to you in pictures or mechanically in the doctrine. It ain't going
to matter how it's done. It ain't going to touch you until
God speaks. And when God speaks, you'll melt.
That's what Daniel said. He melted. All his comeliness
melted into corruption. Isaiah grabbed his mouth. He
said, I'm a man of unclean lips. Well, he was a righteous man
five chapters before, woe and everything, coming and going,
until he saw God and God spoke. Job said he'd never speak again. God's promises of blessing to
Jacob were sure to all his seed. That's what it said. Sure. And
then thirdly, in Isaiah 45, 20, God tells us how His purpose
of grace is communicated to men. It begins with the saints assembling
themselves together. Ain't that what He says? Assemble
yourselves together. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. But forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together. Isn't that what he says? Assemble
yourselves. And listen to this, what he says
after that. Come. Don't stay home. Come. Come. Oh. My, my, my. Assemble yourselves. and come
and draw near together in a group. That's what church is. Did you
know that? That's what that church, the word church is assembly. That's what that means. His church
is known because they assemble. They come together. They're all
in agreement. They all see the same thing, all worship the same
God, all love the same Christ. I'm all the way out in San Diego.
I don't know them folks from man and the moon. I preach the
same thing to them I'm preaching to you and they're jumping up
and down and loving it. Drinking it, drain me. It's like
ringing out a phone. They love that gospel. Oh, assemble
yourselves together. His desire to be there because
this is where God's pleased to be present. in the work of the
ministry. When he says in the scriptures,
where two or more are gathered together, there will I be in
the midst, he's not limiting or confining himself to a building. Now, I want you to listen to
me. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere, all at once.
You can't even conceive of that, can you? He's everywhere. David
said, where am I going to flee from His presence? If I take
the wings of the morning and fly unto the uttermost parts
of the sea, behold, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell,
behold, thou art there." He's omnipresent. He's everywhere,
all at once. That's not what he's talking
about here. What he's saying is that he'll be present to assist
us in worship. He's going to be present to make
His Word known. He's going to be present to enable
His Gospel to be preached in the power of His Spirit. That's
what He's talking about. And where two or more gather
together in His Name, His presence is there to accomplish those
things. And they always accomplish what He sends them to accomplish.
This business of finding God and being saved somewhere other
than where God is present to do it is a pipe dream. That's
all that is. God's not desperate to save.
God's not frustrated in His purpose. And God's not anxious about the
outcome. Oh, this whole religious generation
has God just wringing His hands and pacing and looking. Boy,
I hope somebody will accept Jesus as a personal Savior so this
whole thing ain't in vain. That's an idol. That ain't God. God's not upset. God's not in a hurry. He's not
in a hurry. He's not anxious about the outcome. Salvation is the work of the
eternal God. Its objects were chosen before
the world began. All of the circumstances and
advents and events, all of these things are arranged to accomplish
these things. They're not of you. They begin
with God. It's God that worketh in you.
If there's a willingness, both the will and to do of His good
pleasure. All the ways, the means, the
opportunities, all predestinated of God. God commands His people
to assemble themselves together and forsake it not. I worry about folks who try to
work in worship. Don't do that. Range everything
else around that. Put that in the middle and then
just range everything else around that. Don't try to fit worship
in. If you're doing that, just stop.
Just stop it. Think about what you're doing.
Now, let's set worship here. This is the sure thing. Now,
I'm going to try to fit this in and fit that in. Let's fit
it in around that. You see what I'm saying? draw
near to gather ye that are escaped of the nations. Do you know how
few have escaped the nations? Do you know what a privilege
it is? I sat out there on a mountain. They've got a mountain that goes
up way above San Diego. And we went up there on this
big lookout. And from there, you could, it was overcast that
day. We couldn't see the ocean, but
it was just right there. And if we look out over that
city, It goes as far as the eye can see in all directions. And
I went over that night and preached to 20 people, and that might
be an exaggeration. You know how few, how few have
escaped the nation? You know how privileged we are
to have this knowledge? Oh, my soul. Huh? Well, I'm just too tired. Is that what you're going to tell
God? I'm just too tired. Why don't we just assemble ourselves
together? Maybe God will meet with us.
Maybe he'll take some more treasure and put it in these old clay
pots. How shall we escape? Now, listen. You that are escaped
from the nations. Here's what he says in Hebrews.
Paul's touching on this very scripture. He said, how shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? How are we going to
escape? There's one God, one mediator
between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus. And he's promised
to make his saving presence known where his people gather and his
gospels preach. And then, fourthly, down here
in verse 21, Isaiah 45. He tells us the heart of the
gospel. I'm a just God and a Savior. And then, fifthly, I hurry. In
Isaiah 45, 24, he gives us a solemn warning. All that are incensed
against him. All that have trodden underfoot
the person and work of Christ, all that have gone to spite under
the Spirit of grace, all that counted the blood of the everlasting
covenant an unclean thing, all that are taken up with the comforts
and pleasure of this world, all who cling to worldly religion
and glorify the flesh, all that are incensed against him, he
said, shall be ashamed. I want to read you one thing
and then I will close. Over here in Deuteronomy chapter
7. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, God has
led Israel out of Egypt. And He has taken them in now
into Canaan among the nations. And He tells them that they are
to make no covenants with these people. Don't go in business
with them. Don't marry them. Don't make
covenants with them. They were not to give their sons
and daughters to them in marriage. They were to treat their religious
ways with utter contempt and disgust. They were to destroy
their altars and break down their images and cut down their beautiful
groves. Burn their graven images, he
said, with fire. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. For thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people
that are upon the face of the earth. Not because they were
many, they were the fewest. Verse 8. But because the Lord
loved him, because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto
your fathers, that the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand. Know
you therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful
God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him,
and keepeth His commandments to a thousand generations. Now
here's what I want you to hear. He repayeth them that hate Him,
listen to this, to their face. Do you see it there? to their
face. That means God ain't going to
be at a distance anymore. You're going to come right up
before Him. And He's going to look you right in the eye. And He's going to repay you.
He's going to repay you. He will not be slack to him that
hateth Him. He will repay them, He says it
again, to their face. I tell you, I had a fellow that
did me wrong with my business one time. I got mad. I went to
his house. I knocked on the door. And his
wife come to the door, and she said, well, if you just leave
a message. I said, I ain't leaving a message. I want to see him.
I wanted to look him in the eye. That's what God's saying here.
That's what he's saying. He said, I'll repay you to your
face. It would be a lot better to bow,
wouldn't it? He doesn't say these things to
bring you harm. He says these things to you in
love, to reconcile you. He said, I didn't come to
condemn you. You're already in condemnation.
I come to save. I come to save. Isn't that what
I read to you there a few minutes ago? Look unto me, all ye ends
of the earth, and be ye saved! Be ye saved! If you won't, if
you won't, you want to cling to those old idols, you want
to cling to the traditions of those nations, you want to cling
to that curse of darkness, you prefer that over me, I'll repay
you to your face. Now you know that and live out
your days with that warning. Let's just look to Him. Why don't
we do that? Look unto me and be you saved.
For I am God. And there is none. There's nowhere
else to look. There's nowhere else.