Men love to make gods. Men love to make gods because
all men by nature are base idolaters. You and me, your mama and daddy,
my mama and daddy, your sons and daughters, my sons and daughters.
All men by nature are base idolaters and love to make gods. We, in our society, in our brilliant
intellectual superiority, we laugh at folks who worship at
stumps and stones and We go down to visit the ruins in Mexico
and see the base idolatry of those ancient Mayans and you
wonder how men who could build those pyramids and figure out
the things with the sun and so forth could worship such base,
gross idolatry. But the fact is we all love to
make gods because we are all base idolaters. We who are taught
of God, thank God, taught of him. We who are born of God's
spirit, worship the true and living God, the creator, the
sustainer of all things, the triune Jehovah, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, the God of redemption, grace, and salvation, the only
true and living God who is revealed and known only in the person
and work of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All others
who are called gods by men, all others who are called gods by
men are but idols, useless, helpless, debasing idols. If you try to
write down the names of all the idols that men worship and have
worshiped, I don't imagine you could find paper and ink enough
to write down the names. Men love to make gods. The papists make gods out of
Mary and the saints and the rosary beads and crucifixes. The Jews
make gods out of their laws and ceremonies and traditions. Protestants
make gods out of creeds and confessions. Oh, we wouldn't do that. Oh,
yes, you do. Oh, yes, you do. I was in church
one time. A fellow had to have a business
meeting. I was just attending because
I had a friend who was involved. And I decided to just give a
little moral support. Fellas stood up in the back and
he had a copy of their church creed and he said it doesn't
matter what the Bible says This is what we believe. Oh Yeah, but God's out of your
creeds and confessions and I promise you if you write one you will
I Promise you you write it down You'll bend the Word of God to
fit your creed. You won't be in your creed to
fit the Word of God. It'll never happen It'll never happen Baptists
make gods out of water and history. Mohammedans make gods, the Ishmaelites. They used to worship hundreds
of gods since the days of Mohammed. I'm going to stress this a little
bit so you'll understand. Since the days of Mohammed, they
worship all those hundreds of gods they used to worship under
the name of one god called Allah. You will hear the news media.
They'll talk about Mohammedans, and they'll be saying, translating
something out of Arabic into English. And the clever news
media will translate Allah, God. Ever notice that? Oh, he's talking
to God. He's talking about God. No, he's
talking about Allah. There's a difference. There's
a name for God in Arabic language. He says, Allah is talking about
Allah. Who is that? What's the difference? Allah
is the name of the Mohammedan's ancient moon god. All men make
gods of their will. That's why idolaters, all idolaters
in Colossians chapter 2 verse 23 are named by God the Holy
Ghost as being will worshipers. They make a show of religion
in will-worship. In will-worship, the practice
of religion according to your whims. The practice of religion
according to your notions of how it ought to be done. No matter
what you call it, the practice of religion according to your
thoughts is will-worship. All idolaters are will-worshippers. Of all the imaginary gods men
have concocted, None is less godlike than the god of modern
day Christianity. I want you to get that. Of all
the gods men have concocted throughout history, none is less godlike
than the god of modern day Christianity. The God of this age no more resembles
the God of this book than a gnat resembles an angel. The God of
this age is no God at all. I mock the God of this age. I
do so deliberately, and I do intend to harp on it. I've been
harping on it since God saved me, and I'm going to keep on
harping on it. The God of this age is nothing but a mockery
of God. The God of this age is impotent
before the mighty will of man. You stop and think about how
men talk about God. God wants to, but you won't let
him. God tries, but you won't give him permission. God's working,
but you won't cooperate. I mock such a God. The Jesus
of this age tries to save everyone, but he has no ability to save
anyone without the assistance of man. You've got to give him
permission. The Lord's done all he can. Now,
the rest is up to you. Wipe that stuff off my feet. You're not serious. I'm serious
as a heart attack. I have nothing but contempt for
the religion and the God of this age. The Holy Spirit of this
age is nothing but an influence for good. He's all the Holy Spirit's
trying to get you to come to Jesus. If he were, you'd come.
Just that simple. Like Aaron's golden calf, you
remember Aaron, Moses is in the mountain receiving God's law,
receiving the testimony of God for the children of Israel. And
they said, we don't know what's that Moses, Aaron make us some
gods. And Aaron said, pull off your earrings and let me have
your gold. And he put them in the fire and he brought out this
golden calf. And they proclaimed the feast
to Jehovah. They're dancing naked around
a golden calf and call it worshiping God. And Aaron was guilty. And now they're dancing naked
around a golden calf, calling it a feast of the Lord. I say that the religion of this
age, the God of this age, call him Jehovah if you wish, call
him Jesus if you wish, call him God the Father, God the Holy
Spirit, God the Son if you wish, but if you attribute to him character
that is not God-like, he's no God at all. A name matters nothing
unless by that name you intend what that name means. The God
of the Bible is holy, sovereign, just, and
true. He has his way everywhere all
the time. Brother Russell just asked me
about our granddaughter. Let her grandpa boast a little
bit. I got an email not before last. She had written a current
events paper about this mine disaster over in Chile. And the
news media recognizing folks were talking about God and why
this happened. And she said, she said, God not
only caused the disaster, but God tended to the men while they
were there. And God brought them up safely. And folks have suggested that
the way the president of Chile has handled this, Chile has risen
in the world view of other nations. And my granddaughter, she's 12,
she said, she said, God may have caused this disaster and saved
those miners so that Chile would rise in the eyes of the nations
of the world. Or he may have done it. just
to remind folks he's in charge and he's God. You see, God's in charge. God's
in charge of everybody and everything all the time. Now listen to me. Listen to me. I challenge you.
Open this book. Read it. Read it and show me. Show me anywhere. where God Almighty
ever wished, desired, willed, tried anything that He didn't
perform. Anywhere. Show me anywhere, anything
that are God's control. Anywhere that's not from God,
of Him, through Him, and to Him. Show me, show me. And I will
make a public apology for everything I've ever preached in my life.
But if what I'm saying so, Darwin folks better start worshiping
God as he reveals himself in this book. The God of this age
no more resembles the God of the Bible than the pagan gods
of the ancient Babylonians are the phallic symbols that men
all around the world have worshiped. In this message, I want to show
you five stark contrasts between the God of the Bible and the
gods of men. Let's turn back together to the
book of Habakkuk again. I encourage you, if you want
to understand this little book of Habakkuk, sit down and read
all three chapters at one setting. Then go through and read these
three chapters and mark the cross-referencing given to you to give you understanding
as to how reference is made back into this book in the New Testament. Habakkuk is describing the overthrow
of Jerusalem and the destruction of God's temple and the destruction
of the public visible worship of God in the earth. Wow. That's what happened. Nebuchadnezzar
came in, destroyed the temple. destroyed Jerusalem, the worship
of God was completely destroyed as far as the visible worship
of God in this earth. Never again will you find the
Holy of Holies with an Ark of the Covenant in it and a mercy
seat. It's gone forever. It's gone. It wasn't in the rebuilt temple.
It's gone forever. The worship of God visibly was
destroyed by this man Nebuchadnezzar. He took the children of Israel
and of Judah into captivity in Babylon for 40 years. I'm sorry, for 70 years. And
God's prophet here told Israel that the Lord God would use a
base, ungodly, barbarian, idolatrous people, the Babylonians, to chastise
his chosen, to correct his chosen. But it's
a grave, serious mistake to imagine that the book of Habakkuk is
only about Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity. When
you read the book, when you open this book and you read about
things that took place, if all you read and all you get from
it is an accurate recording of historic events or even an accurate
recording of miraculous events, you've missed what this book's
written for. You can memorize Bible history and know it frontwards
and backwards and never understand what this book contains. This
Babylonian captivity, this Nebuchadnezzar and all things involved in it
certainly refer to something else. Habakkuk's language that
he was inspired of God to use when he gives the prophecy makes
it clear that he's talking about something different than just
the historic event. Well, Brother Don, are you saying
that didn't really happen? No, it really did happen. And it
really did happen by God's decree and God's design to teach us
about something far more serious, to teach us something spiritual.
It's an allegory. Allegory now folks say will you
you just you can't just take an allegory. No, you can't. No,
you can't You gotta have some evidence for it when Sarah Had
Abraham to go into her handmaiden Hagar and Hagar and Abraham and
Sarah by their concocted scheme to fulfill God's designs Got
an ishmaelite the first one That's what you always get when you
put your works with God's. You get something damnable, an
ishmaelite. And then the Lord fulfilled his
promise to Abraham and Sarah and gave them Isaac. And the
Holy Spirit tells us in Galatians chapter four that the whole thing's
an allegory. The whole thing's an allegory.
It really happened, but it happened to teach us something spiritual.
What we read here about the Babylonians coming and destroying worship
in Israel and taking Israel into captivity really happened. But
clearly, it is intended by God that we understand this spiritually.
Look in chapter 1. Look at chapter 1, verse 8. Here
the prophet speaks of the Babylonians' horses as being swifter than
leopards. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
In central Kentucky, we got some fast horses, but I ain't never
seen one run like a leopard. Well, we got to interpret the
word of God literally, literally. All right, find me a horse that
runs faster than a leopard. Find me one. This is talking
about something else. The language is given in hyperbole
to teach you something spiritual. Interpret the word literally
in that you interpret it as it is literally intended. These
horses are more fierce than evening wolves. Now, I've been around
some horses I really didn't want to be in the stall with, but
I'd choose it over a wolf any day. Any day. The horseman flew as
the eagle that hasteth to the prey. I've never seen a horseman
fly. Have you? Let's talk about something
spiritual. Let's talk about something that's
to be understood spiritual. I rather doubt that the spirit
of God intended for us to interpret this language in a literal sense
just in the reading of the letter of the word. This is a picture,
an allegory. It is about another Babylon. She's called the great whore
in the book of Revelation. She's described throughout scripture
under the terms Babel and Babylon. She's described for us in the
book of Revelation as this great whore who makes the earth drunk
with the wine of her fornications, with the intoxicating mixture
of free will works, righteousness, by which men and women around
the world make their shame their glory. Expose their nakedness
and uncover their foreskins. How can you use such language?
The book uses that language. And it's talking about religion.
It's talking about religion. Religion being the exposure of
nakedness. That's what happened when Ham
went in and exposed his father's sin. Religion only shows man to be
the sinner. He is religion without God. It's
the uncovering of your nakedness and making your shame to be your
glory. That which you boast of, your
filthy rag righteousness, you glory in. And that will be your
shame. And uncover your foreskins. Show
that you really are not of the circumcision at all. Now let's
see if the book says so. Let's start in Habakkuk chapter
1. We're going to have a rather lengthy text this evening, or
this morning. We're going to go from chapter
1, verse 11, down through chapter 3, verse 6. And then I'm going
to make some statements, some observations. All right. Chapter 1, verse 11. Here are
five stark contrasts. Five stark contrasts. That's
my subject. I'll get to them in just a minute.
Then shall his mind change. And he shall pass over and offend,
watch this now, this pagan, this heathen, this Nebuchadnezzar,
this king that comes in to take Babylon captive. He shall offend,
imputing this his power unto his God. Look at me. I've taken Jerusalem,
and I've taken Israel. Look at this great kingdom that
I, Nebuchadnezzar, have built. My God gave me the power. And he suddenly turns into a
lunatic. And you find him out chewing
grass in the open field like a beast. Until he learned what
Daniel said, Nebuchadnezzar, everybody's got to learn sooner
or later, the heavens do rule. And the most high reigneth in
heaven and in earth. And in the sea and in all deep
places, he does whatsoever he will. Look at verse 12. Habakkuk reasons, aren't thou
not from everlasting? O Lord, my God, mine Holy One,
Since you're God, since you're God, no matter what this blustering
man does, since you're God, no matter what Nebuchadnezzar, the
Babylonians, Obama, the Democrats, or the Republicans do, since
you're God, everlasting, we shall not die. Everything's all right. Your covenant people are all
safe. Your purpose is sure. Oh, Lord, thou hast ordained
them. What? You mean God ordained that
Nebuchadnezzar come in and do this? You mean God purposed that? I
thought God just took care of good things. He takes care of
everything. And what appears to us to be
evil, Brother Rahim makes it good for us. That's exactly right,
isn't it? That's exactly right. He said,
thou hast ordained them for judgment. You've ordained these Babylonians
to chastise, to judge your us. Judgment must begin at the house
of God, and here God does it. And almighty God, thou hast established
them for correction. God ordained them. God raised
them up, God established them, God used them, God destroyed
them. That's what it does with all the race of mankind and all
nations for the saving of his people. Now, if you have a marginal
translation in the margin of your Bible, if you don't have
one, be sure you write this down. Those words, almighty God, might
better be translated almighty rock. Oh, what a name for our God.
Hold your hands here and turn over to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy
32. Brother Richard Clay called me
a few weeks ago, and he was asking me about a reference, and we
couldn't quite figure it out. It's Deuteronomy 32, verse 31.
Deuteronomy 32, 31. Moses is giving his final words
and instruction to Israel. And he says, for their rock,
little r, is not as our rock, big R. Even our enemies themselves
being judges. What a statement. What a statement. You folks try to witness to folks.
You've been around a little while, Winston, haven't you? Try to
tell folks who God is. How many times have you had folks
say to you, well, I wouldn't worship a God like that? Is that what
you hear? Is that what you hear? I wouldn't have that kind of
God. Our enemies declare. Our enemies declare. By our enemies,
I mean God's enemies. I mean will-worshipping, free-will
idolaters. Our enemies declare. Their God
is not like our God. Why should we be bashful about
it? Why should we compromise the
gospel, bend over and kiss folks' foot, try to get along with them
when they're blaspheming God? Moses says their little peanut
worthless God doesn't even resemble our God Not like him at all Our
rock is the foundation rock laid for our souls from eternity.
Our rock is the rock of refuge in which we hide and are safe.
Our rock is the rock that follows us through this world, pursuing
us with goodness and mercy, smitten on our behalf, out of whom flows
the water of life by justice being satisfied. Our rock is
God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the rock that is higher than
I. Read on, verse 15. Habakkuk chapter what? They take
up all of them with the angle, these Babylonians. Now that you understand, we're
talking about Iraq and now we're talking about these Babylonians.
They take up all of them with the angle. They catch them in
their nets. They gather them in their drag. Therefore, they rejoice and are
glad. That's all right. That's just
fine until you get to verse 16. Therefore, they sacrifice unto
their debt, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them
their portion is thatch, and their meat is piteous." Here
they are. They take in a net. And with the net, they gather
all of Israel into captivity and carry them away into Babylon.
And when they get back into Babylon, burn incense to their net. Isn't that brilliant? Fishermen
go out and catch a big mess of fish in a net. Oh, let's wash
this thing off and get all the smell and the water off of it
and dead fish out of it and we'll make a god out of that net, hang
it up in the chapel and we'll worship the net. Because the
net gave us the fish. Did you ever notice our forefathers? You like to trace your family
tree. Go back a little bit further
than the first, second, third, or 20th generation. And go back
to the ancient Greeks and Gentiles around the world and their mythology
and the gods your daddy worshipped and mine. Now, our forefathers,
they made gods of everything. But did you notice about all
have a spear in their hand? They've all got some kind of
weapon of war because the weapon was the thing that gave the God
power. And so they attribute power to
their gods. These Babylonians attributed
this power to their nets. Habakkuk tells us that these
poor, deluded Babylonians made gods out of their fish hooks
and nets, imputing power to them as though their hooks and nets
were gods. Chapter 2. I will stand upon my watch. That's
a good place for a prophet to be. Let nothing interfere. I will set me upon the tower
and will watch to see what God will say unto me. Oh, God, give me grace to spend
my life right here on my tower watching to see what God will
say to me that I may give you his word and what I will answer
when I am reproved. God set his watchman upon his
walls of Zion, and that's the place for the watchman to be.
And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make
it plain upon tables. What I'm telling you, Habakkuk,
now, you write this out and make it so plain that when folks read
it, they'll know where to go, so that he may run that readeth
it. I was shocked when I was 18 years
old by a preacher. I was shocked. A preacher that
I respected. He said to me, Don, son, you
know, you can preach these things in such a way that people don't
know what you're talking about. You can't preach the election
so you can go down to Armenian Free Will Church and preach it
and folks say, whoopee, bless God. You can say, Christ redeemed
all his people. And folks go, God, isn't that
good? Isn't that good? You can say,
God's sovereign. Woo! Bless the Lord, God's sovereign. And they'll say it at Pentecostal
church. Long as you don't make it clear. Long as you speak with the forked
tongue of a serpent. As long as you deceive intentionally. not God's prophets. God's prophets speak the Word
with such plainness of speech that you can't possibly misunderstand
their intention. How many times you hear somebody
say or maybe you say, you go to somebody and preach, well,
my old brother David, I really believe he's coming along. I
believe he believes in doctrines of grace. I believe he does.
You listen carefully. You can get it. If you've got
to listen carefully, you ain't getting nothing. It's our job to preach it plainly,
so plainly that those who read may be warned and run. Verse
3, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, a set fixed
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. Behold, his
soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just
shall live by his faith. Speaking of the vision both of
God's judgment and of God's salvation brought by judgment, telling
us that God's people live by faith, trusting him. Now, look
here at verse 5. Yea, also because he. This one
whose soul was lifted up in him, transgresseth by wine. Now, let
me stop and stick my neck out and get in trouble. Folks who are teetotalers, and
I know some of you are, that's all right. That's fine. If you
don't want to drink any alcoholic beverage, that's wonderful. But
don't you suggest that's godly. Don't you suggest that's being
real Christian. No, sir. This is not talking
about drinking a glass of wine. If it were, our Lord would be
a transgressor. He drank wine at Passover, didn't
he? Did he or didn't he? Does anybody have a notion that
he was drinking Kool-Aid? He drank wine at Passover. But
this is not talking about the wine that you get by putting
some grapes in some water. Let's talk about the intoxicating
wine of Babylon, the wine of free will works religion. Yea,
also because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither
keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell. Hell encompassed
land and sea to make one disciple, make him twofold more the child
of hell than he was before, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied. but gathereth unto him all nations
and heapeth unto him all people." Oh, that's a picture, a plain description
of the whole activity of the whole religious world in which
we live. Still, God's purpose stands firm. Remember, Babylon and her horsemen
are God's chariots of salvation. In chapter 3, verse 6, thou didst
ride upon thine horses thy chariots of salvation. What's God doing? What is providence? What are the demons of hell and
the devils and the wicked men on the earth and war and famine
and pestilence? What is all this? God's chariots
in which God rides. to save his people all the time. You read in Zechariah 6 about
these two mountains of brass, and you see the Lord God pulling
his chariots through the mountains of brass, accomplishing his will
for the saving of his people. Verse 14, for the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea. Why did God raise up Israel and
then overthrow them? Why is blindness sent to Israel? That the gospel might go to all
the world. God sent blindness to them, Walter, so he'd send
the gospel down here to Texarkana. Down here in Taylor, Arkansas.
Down in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Call that his elect
from the four corners of the earth. And now, the earth is
filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. God's worshipped
everywhere. God's worshipped everywhere.
There's not a spot on this earth where there's not me worshipping
God. I can show it to you on my computer. on this Free Grace
Radio. He passed his sermon, Brother
David's sermon, my own, aired all the time. We have folks every
month from more than 87 countries listening to the gospel. In four
years, we've had more than a half million sermons downloaded around
the world. Don't tell me God's not worshiped
everywhere. Little folks gathered in this place are gathered in
that whom God calls out by His grace. And when He gets done,
there's not going to be anybody on top side of the earth when
He's made all things new who doesn't worship Him in spirit
and in truth. Verse 15. Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him. Remember,
this is talking about the why and the faults religion. Woe
to the man who talks somebody into religion. Woe to him that puts the bottle
to his neighbor's lips. These girls here, these little
ones here, I wouldn't manipulate them and try to get them to make
a profession of faith for anything under the sun. No, sir. No, sir. We preach the gospel,
tell you the truth about God, and beg God to have mercy on
your soul. And if God saves you, you'll
know it. You won't need me to tell you. You won't need me to tell you.
Woe to him that takes the Roman's road of salvation and says, no,
you follow down this step and that step and that step. Now
say the sinner's prayer and whoopie, amen, you're good for heaven.
Woe to him! That's the wine of Babylon's
fornications. And maketh him drunk. Now what does that pastor? Makes him drunk, senseless, intoxicated
so you can't reason with him. Drunk so you can't talk to him. That thou mayest look on there. What does it say? Nakedness. Don't tell me I'm not righteous.
Don't you tell me I've done bad. Don't you tell me God won't accept
my works. Look on their nakedness. Thou art filled with shame for
glory. Drink thou also, and let thy
foreskin be uncovered. Show yourself to be an uncircumcised
Philistine, not one of God's covenant people circumcised in
heart. The cup of the Lord's right hand
shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on
thy glory. God's going to spit on your righteousness. For the violence of Lebanon shall
cover thee, and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid
because of men's blood and for the violence of the land, of
the city, and of all that dwell therein. Verse 18. What profiteth
the graven image? That the maker thereof hath graven
it. The molten image and the teacher
of lies that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make
dumb idols. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood. This is the same fellow that
put swine to his neighbor's lips. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood, Awake to the dumb stone, arise, it shall teach. What kind of man would do that?
What kind of man would? Awake! Arise! Teach me! Well, let's lock him up in the
loony bin. That's right. Oh, well, we wouldn't do that,
no. We'll take a worthless, imaginary
God who tries and can't, who wants to and can't, a God who
attempts and fails, and we'll say, awake! Well, bless God he
got religion. Arise and teach! What can he
teach? He can't do anything. He can't
say anything. He's got no power. You've already
said he can't, unless you let him. Read on. There's no breath at all in the
midst of it. But, oh, bless God, there is
one true God. The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before Him. Chapter 3, verse 2. O Lord, I've
heard Thy speech and was afraid. I was afraid when I heard about
these Babylonians. I was afraid when I heard about Nebuchadnezzar
and the horsemen. I was afraid what they were going
to do, but now I've heard Your speech. O Lord, revive Thy work. The word is preserve, sustain,
keep alive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of
the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. Chapter three,
verse three. God came from Timon. That's talking
about the Lord coming down on the mount to give his law at
Sinai. The holy one from Mount Palin,
Selah. Selah. Really shouldn't read
that word Selah when you read the scripture. You should read
it out loud. That's like having a big, big, big, big period. The word is a punctuation mark.
It means stop now and roll this over. God came down. God came down. Don't let that
slip by you casually. God came down. His glory covered
the heavens and the earth was full of his praise and His brightness
was as the light and he had horns power coming out of his hand
and there was The hiding of his power the giving of the law,
the shaking of the earth, so that the children of Israel trembled,
and they said, Moses, you go talk to God, and come back and
tell us what God said. We can't talk to God, and we
can't let God talk to us. This was the hiding of his power. Not the revelation of his power,
the hiding of his power. The revelation of his power is
in the gospel of God's free grace, the power of God unto salvation. The revelation of his power is
Jesus Christ crucified as our Redeemer. All right, now let
me give you these contrasts. Five stark contrasts. I won't be but just a few minutes,
I promise. I encourage you to write them down. They're worth
remembering. I'll tell you where I got them. 41 years ago, Shelby
and I had been married very long. Friend of mine passed over in
Asheboro, North Carolina, Harry Graham. He's with the Lord now.
I went over to hear a fellow preach, and I wrote down the
outline. About two years ago, when I knew
I was going to be preaching from the book of Habakkuk shortly,
when I began studying to begin the series of messages I just
began a couple of weeks ago, well, a couple of months ago,
I ran across that line. I wrote it down 41 years ago,
and I said, that's going to be useful. Well, here it is. Number
one, the Lord our God, the true God,
he who is really God, makes his worshipers. Whereas the worshipers of idols,
make their gods. All idolaters make God to be
what they want him to be. Our God makes his worshipers.
He made us and made us worship him. He made us and made us his. He made us and makes us his servants. He made us and it pleased the
Lord to make you his people. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. The true and living God makes
his worshipers. He makes us his worshipers by
marvelous creation of grace, by sovereign election, If you're
one of God's people, you got to be one of God's because God
chose you. Just that simple. Well, what
if God didn't choose me? You're not one of his. I'm not
going to back off because you don't like it. What if God didn't? What if I'm not in the elect?
You're not in the elect. Just that simple. It's just that
simple. Well, you can't say that. Well,
let's say it again. If you're not chosen of God,
you're not God's. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. You read it in Romans chapter 11, or John chapter 10,
rather. You'd believe not because you're
not in my sheep. If you're my sheep, you'd hear
my voice. How do you know you're one of God's elect? I hear his
voice. Do you? I follow him. Do you? Number
two, the true God is known only by the revelation of himself,
whereas all idols depend on human teachers of lies to make them
known. You see, he who is God doesn't
need you. His church doesn't need you.
I recall years ago, Brother Jack Shanks down in Ducati, One time
we had several visitors, and Brother Jack said, well, it's
so good to see all of you folks here today. You're mighty privileged
to be here. These good folks have bought
this property, put up this building, provided you a nice comfortable
place with heat and air conditioning, and you're welcome to be here.
Be sure to thank them before you leave. Well, that's no way to do things.
Maybe that's just the way to do things. And that's just the
way to do things. God doesn't need you. His church
doesn't need you. God doesn't need me. His church
doesn't need me. Oh, no. Oh, what do you think
you are that God needs you? This is a church where everybody's
somebody. Then this is nothing. Find me
a place where everybody is nobody. They'll get along with each other.
Nobody get along pretty good. They got nothing to fight about.
There's nobody. They got nothing to fight about. They got nothing.
They got nothing to fight about. They can't do anything. The true
God is known only by self-revelation. It pleased God, for the David
preached to us last night, to separate me from my mother's
womb and reveal His Son in me. How does a sinner come to know
God? The Lord God reveals himself in you, in you. Number three,
he who truly is God prompts the work of all his servants, whereas
all idols must be prompted by their worshipers. God inspires
worship. God inspires worship. He doesn't need me to beat folks
in line to get them to come worship Him. And I'm not going to do
it. He doesn't need me to threaten or promise to get folks to come
worship Him. And I'm not going to do it. If God doesn't inspire
you to worship Him, stay home and watch guns smoke. I'm as serious as I can be. But
how you get folks to give, you don't teach them to tithe. God
inspires worship. I'm not going to beat folks with
the law to get them to do something they don't want to do. Are you? No. No. If I have to do that, I'll
quit this and go shine in shoes. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
not going to dishonor God just to please men and make you think
good of yourself. It's not going to happen. God
sends forth laborers in his vineyard. Lester Richard's father, you
all know, Walter Groover, packed up his family, moved to Mexico, Preach the gospel of God's grace.
How you gonna live? I don't know. How you gonna provide
for your family? I don't know. Where's your support
coming from? God? Well, that doesn't make
good sense. Go ask him now, 45 years later.
Go ask him. How else can I say this? God Almighty prompts his serpents
and his worshipers. All idols have to be prompted
by their worshipers. All idols, you'll see them in
various parts of this country now since we allow such nonsense.
Down in Mexico, down in Brazil, where Rome pulls off its mask
and acts like the heathen they are, you'll see them carrying
their gods to the streets, big parades. Got to carry them along. Matter of fact, you'll see Baptists
carrying their gods on their lapel pins sometimes. around
their neck, got their crucifix just like the papers did. Folks
carry their God. We are worshipers, carry their
God around and prompt Him up and support Him. God Almighty
doesn't need prompting by anyone. He does the prompting. Number
four, the true God commands His position by the might of His
own power. and the sovereignty of his great
grace. Whereas breathless idols are
manipulated by the hands of men. Turn to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel. Woe
unto him that saith to the wood awake. Over in 1 Samuel, I read
a sermon by Mr. Spurgeon when I was just 18,
19 years old. It was called Dagen's Ups and
Downs. I encourage you, if you can find a copy of it, read it,
called Dagon's Ups and Downs. Well, here we go to the house
of Dagon, 1 Samuel chapter 5. The Philistines took the ark
of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines
took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon. and
set it right up there next to Dagon. Oh, boy, what an honor. We've given God Almighty a place
beside this dumb idol. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, uh-oh. Uh-oh. Behold, Dagon was fallen
upon the face, his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Harry Lakes,
bowing down, that dumb idol, before the Ark of the Lord. And
Dagon's worshipers. Sit back up again. Brilliant folks. These are the
Philistines, world rulers. Read on, read on. They took Dagon
and set him in his place again. And when they rose early on the
morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the
ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon,
oh my, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the
threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left
to him. Oh boys, what have we done? What
have we done? We've been worshiping a dumb
idol. Look at him. Busted all the pieces. Right
here on the threshold of his temple. No. No. No. Isn't that what you think? Man, let's find out who Jehovah
is. Let's find out who it is that's
represented in this mercy seat. No. No. No. Look what it did. Look what it
did. Therefore, verse 5, neither the priest of Dagon nor any that
come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in
Ashdod unto this day. This is a holy place now. This
is consecrated. When you come into Dagon's house,
you step over the threshold because that's holy ground. That's where
Dagon fell down before the Archangels. That's where Dagon lost his head.
That's where Dagon lost both the palms of both his hands and
he's just standing there as a stump. But Dagon's our God and we'll
fight for him to the death. Number five, the true God performs his own
mighty deeds and commands his worshipers to be still. Whereas
the idols of men are still, while their worshipers busy themselves
with their religious commotion. Their rock is not as our rock. Modern day religion makes the
triune God a pathetic failure. Their rock is not as our rock. The true God said, be still and
know that I'm God. What do you do? Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still, this battle's not
yours, it's God's. Stand still. Watch me work. Worship me for my work. Be silent. The Lord's in his temple. Everything's
all right. Be at ease. Let nothing ruffle
your calmness. The Lord's in his temple. Everything's
all right. God's still on his throne. This
stuff doesn't bother him. It shouldn't bother you. God's
sitting at ease in his temple. You sit at ease before his throne.
That's our God. But modern religion says, do
something. Oh, we got to do something. We got to do something. Let's
have prayer meet and get God in a hammer lock. Let's get this
gang up on God, twist his heart and see if we can't force God
to do what he didn't plan to do. That's the way religion works.
Whose God has broken hands and a broken head before God almighty. God's people sit still and worship
him. Worship him. Elijah is on Mount Carmel with
prophets of Baal, 400 of them. And man, they were having a whoopee
good time. They had prayer meeting. They were screaming and dancing
and leaping like a bunch of modern Pentecostals, cutting themselves.
And Elijah said, scream a little louder, maybe he's asleep. Holler
a little louder, maybe he's going to relieve himself. After all, Maybe he can hear
you. Scream a little louder! And then
it lies, your praise. Lord, let the earth know your
God. 42 years ago, the year before she
and I were married, I went to Springfield, Missouri to school.
My first theology professor, my first theology professor,
Noel Smith, These men who wrote these words describing God. Now remember, Moses said, their
rock is not as our rock. Our enemies themselves being
the judges. This is what he said. What is hell? It is an infinite
negation. And it is more than that. Hell
is a ghastly monument to the failures of the triune God to
save the multitudes who were there. Sinners go to hell because God
Almighty could not save them. He did all He could. He failed. Glenn, if that's God, I don't
know Him. Their rock is not as our rock. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 4 describes
our rock. And this is what the prophet
says about our rock. He shall not fail. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. I wouldn't have it any
other way, would you? This is our rock, almighty rock
of Israel.