Open your Bibles, please, to
Habakkuk, Chapter 2. I'll give you a few seconds to
find that. I want you to just hold your
place there for a few minutes. Habakkuk, Chapter 2. Now listen very carefully. to
what I've got to say by way of introduction to this message.
When we read the word of God, when we read about the many historic
events recorded in the Old Testament, we miss the intent of inspiration
altogether if we only read those things as literal historic events. We miss the intent of Scripture
altogether if we fail to see the allegorical purpose for which
those events came to pass and for which they're recorded in
Scripture. Are we to interpret the Scriptures allegorically,
just making it mean whatever we want it to mean? Of course
not. That's horrible. That's a horrible misuse of Scripture. But we must interpret the Scripture
allegorically. That doesn't mean that the literal
historic interpretation is not true. It most certainly is. The
literal historic interpretation is exactly true. This is not
a book about history, but when it speaks about history, it's
exactly true. It has no mistakes. This is not
a book about science, but when it speaks about scientific matters,
those matters are spoken of with absolute authority and are true. But if all you understand in
the scripture is the literal meaning of the letter of scripture,
you have missed the intent of inspiration altogether. The scripture
tells us plainly that the events recorded in Old Testament history
were brought to pass by divine providence according to God's
purpose to be allegories, that is, spiritual pictures of spiritual
things, allegories of redemption and grace and salvation by Christ
Jesus. One in specific is named. In
Galatians, Paul tells us that the historic record of Sarah
and Hagar and of their sons Isaac and Ishmael are an allegory. He tells us plainly, they are
an allegory. God, the Holy Spirit, who inspired
Moses to write Genesis, inspired Paul to explain the Genesis record,
saying these things are an allegory. They are a spiritual picture. An allegory is essentially just
another word for type or parable or picture. It is a similitude. so that the scriptures give us
these Old Testament pictures and examples to illustrate gospel
truths plainly set before us in the New Testament. Everything
in the book of God is about Christ the Lord. Remember that. Don't
forget when you read the book Seek to understand how it speaks
of the Lord Jesus of God's accomplishment of grace in him of God's salvation
of his people by his obedience and his death as our substitute
The book is all about Christ Speaks of his obedience his blood
his grace and his salvation It's about him and him alone you read
prophetic things in the Old Testament and The prophecies are all about
Christ. Now understand that the prophecies
are not about the nations of the world. They're about the
Redeemer and redemption. The prophecies are not merely. Marks by which you can sit down
and figure out chronological order of orders of events They
are prophecies of the coming of Christ our Redeemer either
in his first advent or in his second in the glorious accomplishment
of redemption and grace by his obedience every ceremony of the
law every single one of them The Sabbath day, the year of
Jubilee, the feast that they kept three times a year, the
Passover, the morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, the table
of showbread, the bread on it, the candlestick, the light in
the candlestick. Everything was typical of the
Lord Jesus. Everything in the law foreshadowed
him and foreshadowed redemption by him. All the commandments
of the law. The commandments of the law were
not written in this book to be a code of conduct for the nation,
though it's a good code of conduct. That's not the reason it was
written. The commandments given in the book were not written
to be a rule of life for the believer. Rather, they were written
to show us our need of a substitute and to shut us up to faith in
Jesus Christ the Lord. The law is our schoolmaster unto
Christ. And every event in the Old Testament
Every event in the history of the Old Testament was brought
to pass by God on purpose to show us something about the doing
and dying of our Savior. Listen to the book. For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning
that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope. That means whatever God wrote
in Genesis 30, or in Exodus 20, or in Habakkuk 2, he wrote that
we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have
hope. Everything in the book. Now all these things happened
unto them for in samples, examples. And they are written for our
admonition. upon whom the ends of the world
are called. Well, Brother Don, if that's
the case, then everything in the Old Testament has a direct
intended meaning for me today. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Most people
never get that. When you read the book of God,
beginning in Genesis 1-1, wherever you read the book of God, it
has a specific intended meaning for you as you walk on this earth,
believing the Son of God today. Everything in the book. Now tonight,
I want us to open our Bibles here to Habakkuk chapter 2, and
you hold your hands open here. The title of my message is Five
Woes. or if you want the longer version,
false prophets exposed and condemned. Five woes are given here in chapter
2, verses 4 through 20, by which God Almighty identifies, exposes,
and condemns all false prophets and false religion. Here's a
prophecy, a historical event, It speaks of Israel's Babylonian
captivity, of the Babylonians coming to take the children of
Israel into captivity where they would be for 70 years, of God
using these bitter enemies of Israel, these cruel, wicked Babylonians,
these idolatrous, pagan, filthy, vile, immoral people, using them
to chastise, judge, and correct his people Israel, and to correct
his elect remnant among the children of Israel. Now remember, the
Babylon in the book, refers specifically not just to that literal city
over in Iraq, but rather it refers to a spiritual city contrasted
with another spiritual city called Jerusalem, which is above the
mother of us all. Jerusalem, which is above, speaks
of all the church and kingdom of God. Babylon of everything
opposed to the church and kingdom of God. Babylon speaks of all
false religion. And there are just two religions
in the world. Just two. When you were in school,
you were taught that there were three great religions. That was
before the days when you considered others. And you were taught that
there was Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. These days, they
don't have enough sense to distinguish between them, so they teach that
they're all sort of similar or alike. There's one real religion
with different names. But the fact is, there are just
two religions in the world. The religion revealed in this
book, the religion of God, the religion of grace, the religion
of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and salvation by Him, and the
religion of the world. The religion of the world is
free will works religion. I want to be crystal clear. I
want you to understand who I'm speaking of when I talk about
false religion. I'm not just talking about the
Buddhist and the Muslims and the papist. I'm not just talking
about Hindu folks and Campbellites and Mormons. I'm not just talking
about Moonies and other wild groups that you have all over
the world. I'm talking about every form of religion that makes
salvation in any way dependent on you. It's false religion and
it's damning. If you embrace it, you have embraced
the intoxicating wine of Babylon and you will go to hell with
it. Therefore, the Lord God calls us constantly in his word to
come out of Babylon to make a clean break with all false religion. Habakkuk's prophecy begins by
speaking to us about the coming of Christ, giving a prophecy
of the Lord's coming. Look in chapter one, verse five.
Behold ye among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously
For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe
though it be told you Lord who hath believed our report to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? We preach free grace brother
Larry was just mentioning back there after Darren read Psalm
38 how the psalm Speaks so clearly of our Lord Jesus Christ who
had made sin for us and we come and declare it folks. Don't believe
it No one will believe it until the arm of the Lord is revealed.
This prophecy here in Habakkuk 1.5, we're told plainly in Acts
chapter 13, speaks of the coming of Christ and this great wondrous
work that God accomplished in Christ Jesus at the appointed
time when he sent his son in due time to die for the ungodly. And then the Lord tells his prophet
about the coming of the wicked idolatrous Chaldeans in chapter
1, verses 6 through 17. He says, for lo, I will raise
up the Chaldeans. Did you see that? The Chaldeans
are coming. I've done what I could to prevent
it, and I wouldn't let them come because I'm a good God. No. He says, lo, I will raise up
the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans came because God
raised them up. The Chaldeans came because God
sent them. The Chaldeans came as instruments
in the hands of God to accomplish God's purpose in the chastening
of his people and ultimately in the salvation of his people.
Then in chapter 2, verse 3, the Lord assures us and assures his
prophet that Christ will surely come. He will come and perform
the wondrous salvation he promised back there in chapter 1, verse
5. He will do so at exactly the time appointed. 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. It will not tarry. Read the 10th
chapter of Hebrews, and you'll see clearly this is talking about
our Lord's coming. His coming to accomplish redemption. What's he telling us? What was
he telling Habakkuk? Habakkuk? You're going to see
Nebuchadnezzar come down here and turn Jerusalem upside down.
You're going to see him destroy the temple and you're going to
see him carry all the instruments of worship in the Lord's house
back to Babylon. And it's going to look like everything
is over and God's lost control of his universe. But at God's
appointed time, the vision shall come. Christ will come and Christ
will redeem his people and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians will prove
to have been but instruments of God's salvation, chariots
and horses upon which God rides through the universe in the accomplishment
of salvation. And Habakkuk understood that.
In chapter three, he said, he said, these idolatrous pagans
are your chariots of salvation. Lord God, thou winnest forth
for the salvation of thy people. I want so much to convey to you
that which Habakkuk was convinced of, as I endeavor to show you
what it says here in the second chapter. In his wise, adorable
and good providence, Our God, the God of all grace, uses everything by divine intent, not accidentally. It's not he just finds this is
what I use this for my people. No, no. We we go out and we find
things and use them. God makes the things that he
will use. He said, I will raise up the
Chaldeans. In his wise, adorable, and good
providence, God Almighty uses all things in history. All things. Everything, every event, every
experience in the lives of his people. Everything, every event,
every experience in all the world. he uses for the saving of his
people. Oh my God, teach me that soul
and let me rest easy on the arms of your omnipotent mercy. God
my father rules the world for our good. That means that Satan
and the demons of hell are as much the servants of God as the
angels of heaven, though unwillingly they serve him absolutely. I mean by that that Satan doesn't
wiggle without God's decree. He can't roar without God's decree. He does nothing without God's
decree. And the Lord God says he performs
all things, that is, God performs all things for you. Even the fall, even the temptation
of our parents in the garden and their fall, even our countless
falls, God performs all things for you. Brother Don, that takes
away all responsibility for men. Make whatever conclusion you
want to. I'm telling you what the book says. Telling you what
the book says. God either rules everything,
Merle Hart, or he doesn't rule anything. You see, you don't rule anything.
You don't rule anything. You can't rule your own mind
for 30 seconds. You don't rule anything. Oh,
I'm mighty. I'm a man. I can do what I will. Give it a shot. You rule nothing. And the reason you can't rule
everything is because you don't rule anything. God Almighty rules
everything. And if he didn't rule everything,
he couldn't rule anything. Thou wentest forth, the prophet
said, for the salvation of thine anointed, for the salvation of
thy people. Even heresies also must come
that they who are approved may be made manifest. Difficulties,
trials, temptations, false religion, blasphemous notions arise throughout
history And, uh, folks get all excited and they get all concerned,
worked up in a lather. By these things, Larry Chris,
God makes manifest who are his and who are not. He makes manifest
who are his and who are not. Now let's read these verses in
Habakkuk chapter two together and see what God tells us. I'll
show you five things. First, he gives us four anatomies. Four curses. Four words of condemnation. Four woes against false prophets
and false religion. Here's the first one. First,
the Lord God condemns all Highland prophets, all preachers of free
will, works, religion as intoxicated idolaters. Look at verse four.
Behold, his soul, which is lifted up is not upright in him. The false prophet, he's proud. Like a peacock, he spreads his
feathers and struts before men. He's lifted up like a bubble
ready to burst. The just shall live by faith,
but not the false prophet. Verse five. Yea, also because
he transgresseth by wine. He is 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 You know who the remnant is, don't you? God has an elect
remnant in all nations. All the remnant of the people
shall spoil thee because of men's blood and for the violence of
the land and the city and of all that dwell therein. This
anathema, this condemnation is given. to all hireling prophets
who heap gold to themselves, who cause men to be drunk with
the wine of Babylon's fornication, because they are filled with
pride. They're not upright. The pride
of legalism and self-righteous works religion. The pride of
the notion that somehow man is himself God and man has the mastery
of his own destiny and man is somehow in control of salvation.
All are condemned because they're intoxicated with this wine of
Babylon's fornication. It's described twice in Revelation.
Revelation 14 and Revelation 8 as the wine of Babylon. The
wine of Babylon. Not just any wine. The wine of
Babylon, the wine with which all the world is intoxicated. The wine with which your mom
and daddy are intoxicated. The wine with which your sons
and daughters are intoxicated. The wine with which your neighbors
are intoxicated. Did you ever try to reason with
a drunk man? They've got a reason with a drunk
man. I won't repeat all the words, but several years ago, Shelby
and I got stuck in Cincinnati and in the airport, then bad
weather. And there was a fella, they gave
us some coupons to go out and have some supper or dinner, lunch,
whatever. I forgot what it was. But we went to this place, the
sports bar there, and I got looking at a fella who got looking at
her. And I knew he had had three or four too many. And so I tried
my best to make sure he didn't catch my eye and hoped he wouldn't
catch hers. But after a while, he staggered
over and started talking to Shelby. And the longer he talked, the
louder he got. And the more she tried to reason
with him, the more foolish the conversation got. And I kept
kind of whispering under my mouth, don't talk. Don't answer. I'd tap her on the, you know
how you ladies kick your husbands under the table, tell them shut
up. I was trying to kick her under the table. Don't talk to it.
And it got downright embarrassing. You know why? The fool was drunk. He was drunk as a skunk. It didn't
matter what you said to it. There's no reasoning with it.
That's the reason you can't reason folks into the kingdom of God.
They're drunk on Babylon's religion. They're drunk on real worship,
drunk on the worship of themselves. Like all drunks, false prophets
are faithless, treacherous, deceitful, perfidious, dishonest, disloyal,
traitorous, and they cannot be satisfied. They encompass land
and sea to make one disciple, and when they made him, they
made him twofold more the child of hell than he was before. They visit,
knock on doors, and twist folks' arms to get them to make professions
of faith. And they do everything they can to get you to come to
church, and keep you in church, and entertain you, and play with
you, and play games with you. They have every kind of program
under the shining sun except preaching program. Everything
else, just nonsense. I just read about what goes on
in churches. I'm flabbergasted. I'm flabbergasted. In my wildest
dreams, I can't imagine folks doing things they do in churches
in the name of religion to entertain folks on their way to hell. And
that's all it is. It's just entertaining people
on the way to hell. Like all drunks, false prophets
never are satisfied. They can't get enough, enough
of their religion and enough of the promotion of it. Tobacco
condemns the false prophet. for his covetousness too. Woe
unto him, he says in verse six, that increaseth that which is
not his, and ladeth himself with thick clay. Probably the prophet has a direct
reference to the common practice of pagans. They go out in the
woods and find them an oak or an ash, or a pine, or a willow,
or a stump of some kind. A piece of wood, they burn part
of it in the firewood and cook some pancakes on the grill. And
the rest of it, they overlay with silver and gold and make
them a god. Isn't that amazing? The wood
that they use for a fire to fix some bread this morning, they
overlay with gold and silver and bow down and worship in the
afternoon. Brother Don, that's talking about
folks in New Guinea and Africa who are ignorant and unlearned.
No. That's talking about smartest people in the world. That's talking
about the Babylonians. That's talking about your mama
and daddy. That's talking about your neighbor and friend. They
worship what they have carved out of their own minds and made
to be God, and call it God in the stead of Christ our Redeemer,
in the stead of God revealed in this book. And they enrich
themselves with the thick clay. They always want more. Let me tell you something about
a politician who gets rich in political activity. They called themselves public
servants. That's a whole lot of hooey,
public servants. Man who gets rich in public service
is not serving the public, he's abusing the public and robbing
the public. I don't care whether he's conservative
or liberal. I don't care whether Democrat
or Republican. He's a thief. He's a thief. He ought to go
to jail for it. Worse yet, a preacher who enriches himself in what's
called the service of Christ. He's a thief. You know, God's
servant is covetous. He lines himself and his pockets
with riches. And that's what he serves. Men. Who serve themselves in covetousness,
God will deal with injustice. Yet, just as Egypt and Babylon
were spoiled by Israel. Just as Babylon and Egypt lost
their riches to Israel when Israel was delivered by God's hand.
So spiritual Babylon. All the religion of this world
shall be spoiled by the remnant of God's elect in this world.
Turn to the book of Revelation. I had Alan to read Revelation
12 and that portion of Revelation 18 because of its connection
with this passage. Look at Revelation 18. I want
you to see this. In chapter 17, John saw this
great whore, Babylon, and he marveled. I remember Brother
Larry Criss calling my attention to this two or three, four years
ago. He said, he said, John, John just stood back and saw
that beautiful city just, oh, oh, how beautiful. And the angel
said, wherefore didst thou marvel? She's just a whore. Why are you
why are you so excited about it? Why would you envy her riches,
her power, her influence? Why? Why would any woman envy
a prostitute? Well, that's that's nuts. And
so it is here. Children of God. God almighty
will see to it that all that is of value in time. All that is of any benefit to
your soul in time in your life and in the lives of all people
in history shall be yours to eternity. You didn't have to get that,
did you? Everything in God's creation
that is of any benefit is yours forever and nobody else will
have it. Look here, Revelation 18. After these things, I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and
the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily
with a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the great is fallen,
is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils. Suits her
well. And the hold of every foul spirit,
every unclean thing, the cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. Verse 20. Rejoice over her. What? Rejoice over her, thou
heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged
you on her. Chapter 22. And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven.
adorned as a bride, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Verse 26. And they shall bring the glory
and honor of the nations into this heavenly city. All the glory, all the honor,
all the riches of the universe. shall be brought into the New
Jerusalem, and God's city shall spoil Babylon. Second, back in
Habakkuk 2, verses 9, 10, and 11. The Lord God anathematizes
and condemns false prophets, all preachers of freewill works
religion, because they're destroyers of the souls of men. They destroy
their own souls, by their religious covetousness, and they destroy
all who follow them. Woe unto him that coveteth an
evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high. Seems like I've read that before.
Back in Genesis chapter 11, there was a place called the Bible. where they built a tower by which
they hoped to ascend up on high to heaven itself. Talking about
the same thing, Larry. He's talking about this free
will works religion. Religion that you do. Salvation
that you perform. Salvation that depends on you.
You know, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Oh, let's
get to work and we can save ourselves. 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 timbers shall answer it. Like the original Babylonians,
all will worshipers set themselves up in the place of God vainly
demanding that he who is man be worshipped as God. How can
that be? How can that be? Read it in 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. Men everywhere ascribe to man
power that belongs to God only. Samuel, if God's merciful to
you, saved by his grace, God did it. You didn't have anything
to do with it. But the whole world argues that
your will did, and your works do, and your continued and good
works does. And that's nothing but the worship
of man. That's ascribing to man the power
that belongs to God only. We're told that men must be saved
by grace, of course, but don't think that your works don't count
for anything. Yes, we know that men are saved by God's will,
but your will has something to do with it. Yes, we know the
blood of Christ is our redemption alone, but don't imagine that
Christ would redeem folks who don't choose to be redeemed.
What nonsense. People imagine that they are
set up on high in heaven at last and delivered from evil by the
work of their own hands. by keeping the commandments and
doing good, and by religious activity and religious rituals
and ceremonies, by baptism in the Lord's table, and by keeping
the sacraments, they say, by moral reformation and religious
reformation, by taking a stroll down the Romans road and coming
to the preacher saying, I believe in Jesus, whoopee, I'm saved,
everything's all right. This whole religious world, is
engulfed in such darkness, in such arrogant spiritual stupidity
that there's no reasoning with them because of their intoxication. They devote themselves to themselves
and call it worshiping God. Now hear me well, hear me well.
Here's the third word of condemnation. Verse 12. Every false prophet
is denounced, condemned, and anathematized by the Lord God
because every prophet has on his hands, every false prophet
has on his hands, every false prophet has on his hands the
blood of the multitudes who are everlastingly damned by his religious
trickery. Woe to him that buildeth a town
with blood, and establisheth a 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? Still, God's purpose stands firm. As Janes in Jambres withstood
Moses to the face, but could proceed no further. So Satan
and the demons of hell may roar against God's people and all
the earth oppose God's people. But all the while, the earth
opens up to help the woman. The Church of God always opens
up to help. Read again that 12th chapter
of Revelation. Satan, the dragon, roars and
spits fire and a flood of water at the woman determined to destroy
Christ and his church. But as he does and she flees
in terror from the dragon of hell, the earth opens up and
swallows up the flood. And so it is today and so it
shall be tomorrow. For the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. Now here's the fourth thing.
Verse 50. These next verses describe the
intoxicated religionist of this world. Those who are intoxicated
with free will, works, religion. Intoxicated with thoughts of
their own goodness. And that's the real crux of the
matter. Men are intoxicated with the thoughts of their own goodness. Isn't everybody? Isn't everybody? You try to talk to men about
their sin and listen to them defend their goodness. Some are
smart enough and crafty enough they wouldn't say, well, now,
don't talk to me that way. I'm a good person. But they'll
say, now, don't you say that about my daddy and my mama, because
they're good people. And if they convince themselves
mama and daddy are good, they convince themselves they're good.
And they're intoxicated with the notion of their own goodness.
And here the prophet pronounces God's fourth anathema. His fourth
irrevocable curse upon false prophets of Babylon. The false
prophet is identified and condemned because he makes people drunk
with another spirit and brings them to shame. Woe unto him that
giveth his neighbor drink, that puteth thy bottle to him, and
makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. 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 beast 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. Now, the wine. You find folks who like to close
down all the liquor shops, and I'm in favor of it. Don't misunderstand
me. It'd suit me if this county stayed dry till the county is
no more. I'd be real happy. I prefer it
be that way. These teetotalers who just cuss and damn everybody
who drinks a beer has a glass of wine. That is not what this
is talking about. It's not talking about literal
wine. It's not condemning somebody who serves up a nice steak dinner
and gives you a glass of wine with it. That's all right if
you want to do that. That's perfectly all right. Never
heard a Baptist preacher talk like that. Well, it's time you
did. That's perfectly all right. The Lord Jesus you will remember. provided six large kegs of good
wine for a marriage feast in Canaan of Galilee. Is that what
he did? Well, I reckon it'd be all right
for you to have a glass if you want to. I reckon it would. That's not what this
is talking about. Well, what's this talking about? This is talking
about Babylon's wine. This is talking about false religion.
And here is what false religion does. Look at the chapter. You
can go home and work on this yourself. Here are four things
false religion always does. Any brand, any brand, doesn't
matter whether it's papacy, or Baptist, or Methodist, or Mohammedan,
any brand of false religion. Doesn't matter whether you're
talking about folks who worship totem poles in the ancient American
West, or whether you're talking about folks who worship totem
poles at the local Catholic church or the local Baptist church.
It doesn't matter. Any form of false religion always does these
four things. It exposes and looks upon your
nakedness. Verse 15, your sin. Do you remember what Ham did
with Noah? He uncovered his father's nakedness.
He said, look here boys, I told you daddy was always a deceiver.
Well, I always knew daddy was a hypocrite, now let me show
you. And Shem and Japheth, God's elect, went in backwards and
covered their father. False religion loves to expose
your nakedness, not to you, but to the world. Everybody, everybody,
false religion capitalizes on exposing your nakedness. You come up here now, you confess
your sin. And I've actually been in church
service. And I was a boy where folks turned around and started
talking about on Sunday morning what they did on Saturday night. Wow! I don't need to hear it. I don't
need to hear it. That's not confessing your sin.
False religion using the guise of church discipline exposes
people's sin. Loves to talk about their sin.
You know what grace does? It covers your sin. Gracious
people cover not their sins, but their brother's sins. True
religion refuses to look upon another's evil. False religion
in the very practice of it is an exposure of sin. Exodus 20,
you build you some steps to go up to God's altar. And as you
climb the steps, you expose your nakedness. You take your hammer. and start to hew out an altar
of stone for yourself. And as soon as you lift your
tool on it, you polluted it, God said. What you talking about? Religion that sets steps for
you to climb to heaven. This is your first step toward
salvation. This is your first step toward
heaven. These are the first steps of grace. It's just an exposure
of man's nakedness. That which men ought to be ashamed
of. All false religion causes poor
ignorant men to glory in their shame. Verse 16, thou art filled
with shame for thy glory. I recall. Many years ago, 40. Years ago, more than that. Sheb
and I were in a service. Pastor called on the fellow to
pray. And honestly, I was just a kid. I was shocked. He prayed so much
like that publican, God, I thank you that I'm not this. And I
thank you that you've given me grace to raise my children. And
I thank you that you've taught me to follow you. And I thank
you that I've learned to read my Bible. And I thank you that
I pray so much. And this is a fella, that was
the first time I'd ever seen him in church. And I've been
attending there for a year. But he was mighty proud of himself,
acting very humble but very proud of his righteousness. Aren't you proud of your righteousness?
Aren't you? That's kind of like a woman being
proud of a dirty mistress cloth and walking out and waving it
before folks in public. That's the language of this book.
Read it for yourself in Isaiah 64.6. Brother Don, that's shocking. Not near as shocking as it ought
to be. Not near as shocking as it ought
to be. False religion exposes and confirms
that those who embrace it are reprobate and not covenant children
because it uncovers their foreskin. Right there it is. Uncovers their
foreskin. exposes them to be uncircumcised.
We are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. False religion
always, always provokes God's unmitigated wrath. The cup of the Lord's right hand
shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on
thy glory. The day will come when God will
publicly spit on all the religion of this world. But I think perhaps There's something
else implied by Habakkuk's words. The prophet is talking about
one who is drunk. And the drunk one, after staggering
a while, gets sick. And all that with
which he's intoxicated comes out of his mouth in a flood of
filth. In the last day, God will take
every will-worshipping Arminian, every man, every woman who has
presumed that he's holy and good and glorious in his shame. God
will cause that man before the bar of God in judgment to vomit
out his own glorious shame from within all over himself to his
shame forever and his everlasting contempt. And then the prophet
closes this second chapter with a call for silent adoration. But. But. All this comes to pass by God's
will. All this by God's decree. In
all these things, God's performing his work. God's saving his people
and confusing as it seems. Confusing as it seems. You go
home tonight, turn the television on, watch a little bit of news. What on earth's going on? What
on earth's going on? Pick up paper in the morning.
What's going on? What's going on? Get Saturday
night's paper, Sunday morning's paper, whenever it comes out
and read about the church advertisements. That's worse than the news. What's
going on? I think you told me, Merle, coming
up here, was it Easter Sunday last year? Folks hanging on crosses
out there in Harrodsburg, pretending to represent the crucifixion. And you had enough sense to say,
I'd be right there if God hadn't stopped me. But what's going on? What makes people behave as they
do in the church and outside the church? I don't know, but I can sit easy
on this ground. The Lord is in His holy temple. And all the earth keeps silence
before him. I've told you this before in
bare repetition. 1969, Brother Henry Mahan's son,
Robbie, volunteered his army, went to Vietnam, and as he was
going ashore, before he ever got to camp, was killed. One of the real worshipping Armenians
in Ashland called Brother Mahan the next morning and said, where
is your God now? And Brother Henry didn't hesitate
a second. He said, my God's right where
he was the day my boy was born. He's sitting on his throne. Now,
will you hear me? Our God is on his throne. And He's saving His people, performing
His will for the glory of His name. Amen.