Men and women love to make idols. If you go to a religious bookstore,
it would better be called an idol shop than a bookstore. You'll
find a whole lot more idols there than you will Bibles for certain.
Crosses and necklaces with images of angels and supposed to be
of Jesus I shouldn't say supposed to be of angels, all kinds of
religious trinkets and doodads. Men love to make idols. We are all idolaters by nature. We want a God we can see and
touch, and more than anything else, a God we can control. Men love to make idols. We worship
He who alone is God. Brother Don, when you say that,
it seems like you're saying that all other gods are no gods. Isn't it amazing how it sounds
like you're saying just exactly what you're saying? We worship
God in the triune persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. the God of creation, redemption,
grace, and salvation, revealed and known only in the person
and work of Jesus Christ our Lord, he whom we worship is God
alone. All other imaginary gods are
idols, worthless idols, dumb-heeled gods, It's how they're described
in the scriptures. Don't heal God. Well, we ought
to be more tolerant than that. We ought to be as tolerant as
this book is. And no more tolerant than this
book is. I don't mean by that in any way
that we should persecute or be mean to or in any way injure
folks who aren't blessed of God with the knowledge of his dear
son. We must seek the salvation of God's elect everywhere, but
that does not involve condoning, accepting, or even being nice
about idolatry. The plague of man is idolatry,
and from idolatry arises the moral perversity and decadence
that prevails in all societies where idolatry prevails. The papists make gods of Mary,
of saints, of rosary beads and crucifixions. Jews make gods
of their laws and their ceremonies and their traditions. Protestants
make gods of their creeds and their traditions and their customs. Baptists make gods of water and
history. Mohammedans, the sons of Ishmael,
used to worship hundreds of gods. I think I counted up, sometime
there were 360 of them. Hundreds of gods worshipped by
the sons of Ishmael. Since the days of Muhammad, they
worshipped them all as one god they call Allah. Allah is the
name of their ancient moon god. When you hear on the newscast,
the newscast talk about Allah and God synonymously, and religious
folks, Allah and God synonymously. Only if the moon god of ancient
Babylonians is Jehovah, can you say so. Folks who translate for
Arabic language folks, you hear somebody say Allah and they'll
translate it God. That's not a translation, that's an interpretation
and the interpretation is wrong. Allah is the name of the ancient
moon god of the Ishmaelites. But they're not the only ones,
the Mohammedans and the Baptists and the Protestants, all folks
make gods of their will. That's why all idolaters are
described plainly by God the Holy Spirit in Colossians chapter
2 and verse 23 as will-worshippers. All idolaters are will-worshippers. And Bill Raleigh, the reverse
of that is true as well. All will-worshippers are idolaters. All who make their will to be
in control. All who make their will to govern
God. All who make their will to be
in control of eternal things, or indeed of anything, are idolaters. All of the imaginary godsmen
are concocted. None is less godlike than the
God of modern Christianity. The God of this age no more resembles
the God of the Bible than a gnat resembles an angel. The God of
this age is no God at all. He's impotent before man's omnipotent
will. The Jesus of this age tries to
save everyone, but has no ability to save anyone without the assistance
of those he tries to save. The Holy Spirit who's cried up
in this age. Everybody talks about the age
of the Holy Spirit. Folks talk about the charismatic
blessings of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit and the anointing
of the Spirit. And all, all deny that God the Holy Spirit has
irresistible power and omnipotent grace to save whom he will. Like
Aaron's golden calf, men call their God Jehovah. But the God
of this day, free will, works, religion, the God that men claim
to worship as Jehovah, no more resembles the God of the Bible
than the ancient moon God worshiped at Mecca, or the various phallic
symbols worshiped by heathens and our forefathers throughout
the world. Tonight, I want to show you five
stark contrasts. Five stark contrast between God,
as he's described in this book, and God as men describe him. Five stark contrast between the
God of the Bible and the God of modern religion. Turn with
me to the book of Habakkuk. We're going to read a rather
lengthy passage of scripture for our text, beginning at verse
one, or verse 11 of chapter one, And I want us to go down into
verse 6 of chapter 3. Habakkuk is describing the overthrow
of Jerusalem. He's describing the overthrow
of the temple of divine worship by Nebuchadnezzar. This being
done by the order and decree of God is describing the time
when Nebuchadnezzar would bring the Chaldeans and they would
take Israel into 70 years of Babylonian captivity. And these
men who took them into captivity are described as instruments
of God's rod, the rod of God by which he exercised judgment,
chastisement, and correction for his people. Now, as you read
through these three chapters, always seek, when you read the
scriptures, to do two things. See how they speak of Christ.
See how they clearly represent Christ and the gospel of his
grace. And apply them to yourself and to the day in which we live.
How does this speak of our Redeemer? How does this apply to us in
this day? The things that are described
here concerning Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar are given to be a picture of
another Babylon. She's described in Revelation
chapter 17 and 18. And another great deceiver is
called Antichrist in the book of God. It's given to describe
a picture of false religion, which takes in the nations of
the world and makes the nations of the world, men and women everywhere,
drunk with the wine of Babylon's fornications. Drunk with the
wine of fornications that will cause them, like Ham uncovered
his father's nakedness to uncover their nakedness. Indeed, the
book speaks of men uncovering their foreskins. How plain and
blatant can it be, speaking of men's shame. And that which is
a man's shame, false religion makes to be his glory. That which
is his shame, false religion makes to be his glory. And the
title of my message tonight is Five Stark Contrasts. Let's begin in verse 11 of chapter
1. Then shall his mind change. Nebuchadnezzar he's talking about.
And he shall pass over and offend. Watch this. Watch this. Their
horses are mighty and swift. And the language is figurative. Obviously they're talking about
horses being stronger than leopards, more fierce than wolves, and
flying like eagles. It's figurative language. But
Nebuchadnezzar now changes his mind and he passes over and makes
this offense. imputing his power to his God. My God did this for me. My God
did this for me. Look at this great Babylon that
I had made. My God did this for me. Nebuchadnezzar,
God's going to teach you that the heavens do rule. And as soon
as Nebuchadnezzar attributes this power of his as the king
of Babylon, ruler over the nations of the world, to his gods, the
Lord God caused him to go insane, turned him into a raving lunatic,
caused him to graze in the open field like a wild animal, until
he learned to praise and extol and honor the king of heaven,
all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment. Look at verse
12. Art thou not from everlasting?
O Lord my God, mine Holy One, we shall not die. O Lord, thou
hast ordained them for judgment. And O mighty God. If you have a marginal translation,
O mighty rock. O mighty rock. Thou hast established
them for correction. Hold your hands here and turn
back to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32 verse 31, Moses
is giving his benediction to the children of Israel, describing
his doctrine. And throughout this chapter,
he refers to the Lord God as our rock. Here in verse 31, he
says, for their rock, their rock, their rock of refuge, their rock
on which they build, their rock in whom they trust, their rock
is not as our rock. even our enemies themselves being
judges. That is, even our enemies will
tell you, their rock is not like our rock. We're talking about two different
gods. We're not talking about the same God. Now people get
all bent out of shape. They get upset when they hear
me talk about the God of this religious age and tell you that
he's not God. But they'll tell you in a heartbeat,
the God we worship, they wouldn't worship him as God. That's not
the same God. And they're telling the truth.
They're telling the truth. Not at all, not even similar
to one another. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses shows
us numerous differences between the rock of refuges the heathen
flee to and Christ our rock, our mighty rock of salvation.
Christ is the foundation laid in Zion. the foundation rock
upon which God builds his house, his church, which shall not be
shaken through the winds and storms that come upon it. Christ
is our smitten rock, smitten of God for us, so that from him
flows out the water of life, the water of life that follows
his Israel through all the ages of time, giving life to whom
he will. He is a rock of refuge, the rock
that is higher than we are. Look in verse 15, back in Habakkuk
what? Habakkuk what? Verse 15. They take up all of them with
an angle, that is their foes, their enemies, folks that have
been seeking after your people. They catch them in their net
and gather them in their drag. Therefore, they rejoice and are
glad. Now watch this. Therefore, therefore,
they sacrifice under their net and burn incense under their
drag. Because by them, their portion
is fat and their meat plenteous. Don't miss the picture. They've
gone fishing. They've gone fishing and they
catch a bunch of fish. They catch a bunch of fish. And
once they get the fish in the boats, they take the stinking
nets and burn incense to them. And so are gone. I can't help but to think of
you go hunting and you bag a few rabbits, a few squirrels, and
you fry them up, and then that night you bow down at your 12-gauge
or 20-gauge shotgun and you start to pray. Look what my God did
for me. Now, Brother Don, you're being
facetious. Oh, no. Oh, no. Read history. You don't have to read, just
look at the pictures. Do you know what is typical of the ancient
gods of our forefathers? All right, our great-great-great-grandparents. Trace your family tree, get your
roots out, and look at the pictures. Look at the pictures of their
gods. They've all got spears. Do you know why? Because that
was a weapon by which men conquered, and they worshiped their spears.
They burned incense to their nets, and they dragged, because
these are the things that give us what we have. Chapter two,
verse one. I will stand upon my watch. I
won't be moved by them and I won't be shaken by what you told me
is about to happen. I will set me upon my tower and
I will watch to see what God will say to me and what I shall
answer when I'm reproved. And the Lord answered me and
said, write the vision Make it plain upon tables that he may
run that readeth it. Write this out so that folks
understand what you're telling them. Give clear instruction
so they can run who read it. Don't speak in ambiguous terms.
Speak so men understand what's going on. For the vision is yet
for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and shall
not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Clearly this
is talking about the coming of our Lord Jesus in his first advent
as he comes the Messiah at the appointed time in due time to
die for the ungodly. It certainly speaks of the coming
of our Savior in his marvelous grace for the saving of his people
when he comes to each one of his chosen at the appointed time
of love. And it speaks of his coming in
his glorious second advent. Verse four, behold, his soul,
which is lifted up is not upright in him. But the just shall live
by his faith. The proud, the arrogant, the
haughty, the self-righteous, his soul's not right in him.
The just, the just live by the faith of Christ. They live by
faith in Christ and they live by their faith. They live continually
by faith in Christ the Lord. 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 keepeth
unto him all people. Now, when you first read that,
it looks like he's talking about just a salt. That's just talking
about a drunk. A drunk won't stay at home. If
he is, everybody wishes he'd go away. He won't stay at home,
but he's transgressed by his wife, and he runs about here
and there, and he desires everything, but here it talks about him gathering
unto himself nations. Nations. Where did you ever see
a drunk gather anything? They waste everything. A drunk
scatters everything. He doesn't gather anything. This
is talking about another kind of drunk. Let's talk about a
man who's drunk with religion. Read Proverbs chapter seven.
Here in Proverbs chapter seven, this same drunk is described
as a harlot who entices and gathers. He's talking about false religion.
He heapeth unto him all people. And the prophet goes on to describe
the work of this intoxicating religion, verse 14. In spite of all that, in spite
of all the idolatry, in spite of all the devices of Satan,
in spite of all the wine of Babylon, in spite of all the fornication
by which Babylon makes men drunk in this world, the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters
cover the sea. In fact, The Lord God will use
the very deeds of Babylon and of Antichrist to fill the earth
with the knowledge of Christ our Savior. Verse 15. Woe unto
him that giveth his neighbor a drink, that putteth thy bottle
to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look On
hit there, nakedness. Whoa to him. Carries a pocket
full of tracts. He's been to a soul winner's
class and he goes all up and down the streets and puts the
bottle to his neighbor's lips and gets him to make his decision
for his Jesus and exposes his nakedness. What is that? That's his uncleanness. That's his self-righteousness.
That's the thing by which he is now convinced that he has
acceptance with God, his own works, his own goodness. Thou
art filled with shame for glory. Like the Cretans, one of their
own Paul said, their God is their belly. Their shame is their glory. Thou art filled with shame for
thy glory. Drink thou also and let thy foreskin
be uncovered. Let it be shown that you are
the uncircumcised heathen you are. The cup of the Lord's right
hand shall be turned unto thee. and shameful spewing shall be
on thy glory. God will spit on your glory. God will spit on your righteousness
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. Verse
18. What profiteth the graven image
that the maker thereof hath graven it? Do you see the connection? Do you see? Do you understand
now that what I've been saying to you about this whole thing,
it's talking about something spiritual, not just something carnal. 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. dumb idols. Woe unto him that
saith to the wood, Awake! Awake! Beg the wood to awake! Help me! Awake! To the dumb stone, arise! It shall teach Behold, it is laid over with
gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst
of it. But here's the contrast. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. Chapter three, verse two, O Lord,
I have heard thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. God came from Timon and the Holy
One from Mount Palin. God stepped out in time and revealed
himself at Mount Sinai and gave his holy law. Stop now and consider
this. His glory covered the heavens. He wasn't covered with silver
or with gold. His glory covered the heavens.
And the earth was full of praise. And His brightness was as the
light. He had horns, power coming out
of His hand. And there was the hiding of His
power. There was the hiding of His power.
What's that? The creation? The lightning? The thunders? The pillar of cloud
and smoke? The shaking of the earth? There
was the hiding of his power. The hiding of his power. You
see, the revealing of his power is in the sacrifice of his son
and in the accomplishment of redemption. The hiding of his
power is everywhere else. Before him went the pestilence
and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured
the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the
nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered. The perpetual
hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. Now let me show you these five
stark contrasts. between the Lord our God and
the gods of men. And I'll wrap this up. I won't
be long doing it. I told somebody back here a couple
of weeks ago, I pulled this out, I guess, two years ago, stuck
it back in my Bible. I knew it was coming to Habakkuk. 41 years ago, I drove over to
Asheboro, North Carolina to hear a fellow preach. And he preached
from Habakkuk chapter two and made these five statements of
contrast. Not original with me. So you
just listen. Number one, the Lord, our God,
the true God, makes his worshipers. God makes his worshipers. Whereas
the worshipers of idols make their gods. What a difference. What a difference. Make Jesus
your Lord. Why don't you let the Lord save
you? Won't you let the Lord come into your heart? God makes his
worshippers, but the idols of men are gods that men have made. He made us. and he made us his. Our God made us and he makes
us his worshipers. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are his people. The sheep
of his pasture, the work of his hands, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. The Lord God, the true and living
God, makes his worshipers. He makes them by a new creation
of grace, giving life and faith to whom he will according to
his will for the glory of his name. Number two, the true God
is known by self-revelation. Only by self-revelation. The revelation of truth and grace
in Christ. whereas all isles are dependent
upon human teachers of lies. Paul said, when it pleased God,
he revealed his son in me. Salvation comes only by revelation,
only by God who commands light to shine out of darkness, shines
in your heart and gives light of the knowledge of the face
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that you,
like those apostles of old, behold in him all fullness of grace
and glory. And you worship the son of God
with confidence because God reveals his son in you. but all idols. They depend upon the teachers
of lies to make them known, because after all, they have lips, but
they can't speak. They have hands, but they can't
work. They have feet, but they can't
move. They're just idols. They're just idols. What did
you expect? What did you expect from them?
They can't do anything except men do something for them. So
men have to invent things like the Roman road to salvation. I guess there'd be more copies
of that piece of trash printed and distributed around the world
than any other pieces of toilet paper to be found in the world.
I didn't choose my words by accident. Just trash. Just trash. By which
men are deceived into thinking that somehow they got God in
their box. And now God will do what they
tell him to do. What foolishness. What foolishness. No. The true God is known by
self-revelation. He makes himself known to whom
he will. All idols depend on men to make
them known to other men. Number three, he who truly is
God prompts the work of all his servants, whereas all idols have
to be prompted by their worshipers. I can't help but to think about
those fellas Those prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, they're doing
their dead little best to prompt their God. They're trying their
best to get their God to show himself to arise, to speak, to
do something. And they work themselves in a
frenzy trying to get her to do so. Not God. God isn't moved by you. God isn't coerced by you. God isn't controlled by you. God moves you. God coerces you. God controls you. Now if you
can't see the difference, it's because you're blind. Just that
simple. God inspires his worshipers and
prompts their service. He inspires worship. He sends
forth laborers into his vineyard. He gives pastors according to
his own heart. He sends out missionaries. He
causes men to worship him. Number four, the true God commands
his position by the might of his own power and his grace. whereas breathless idols are
manipulated by the hands of men. Woe unto him that saith to wood
awake and to the dumb stone arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is
laid over with gold and silver and there is no breath in the
midst of it, but the Lord is in his holy temple. But all the
earth keeps silence before him. Turn to first Samuel. Hold your
hands here in the back. Turn to first Samuel for a minute.
Give you a picture. The true God commands his position
by the might of his power and grace, by his own dignity. Whereas the breathless idols
of men are manipulated by the hands of men. First Samuel chapter
five. The Philistines took the Ark
of God. Now remember, the Ark of God
was only the covenant symbol of God's salvation and redemption
by Christ. And they brought it from Ebenezer
unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the
Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it
by Dagon. Oh, isn't that wonderful? We're
going to honor the God of Israel. We're going to set his ark right
up here beside Dacon. We're not suggesting by any means
at all that there's nothing to Israel's gods. After all, we
know that there are many gods and the Jews have their God and
we have our God. And so we're going to set the
ark of God right up here beside our great Dacon. All right, watch
Dacon. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on tomorrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the
earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him
up in his place. They set their God back on his
top. And when they arose early on tomorrow morning, behold,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark
of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both
his palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only
the stump of Dagon was left to him." Anyways, Mr. Spurgeon, years ago, I read a
sermon he preached. I was still in college when I
read it. I can't remember what he said,
but he had a sermon entitled, Dagon's Ups and Downs. All was
left was just a stump. That's it. Now watch this. These are smart
men. These are well-educated men.
These are the doctors and lawyers and rulers of the Philistines.
They're not dummies. Therefore, since Dagon lost both
his hands and his head on the threshold of his temple, therefore,
neither the priest of Dagon nor any that come to Dagon's house
tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod unto this day. That's holy ground. That's where
God died. Don't step on the threshold.
That's where Dagon lost his head. Don't step on the threshold.
That's where Dagon lost his power. And they continued to worship
Dagon and to worship the stupid threshold of his temple, little
enough understanding that they sent the Ark of God back to Israel
and sent it back with treasures of gold for the Israelites. Number five, Bacchanalbacchic. 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 religious commotion. You want to see what he's talking
about? Click on almost any church webpage anywhere in the world
and see their commotion. Something going on every night
of the week. Some activity. Oh, we've got
this activity and that to take folks to hell. What do y'all
have? None. None. Well, we have our young
people involved in ball games and plays and skits. What do
y'all have? We try to preach the gospel to
them. Anybody interested in that? Yeah,
God's people are. God's people are. Well, you've
got to keep up with the times. God keep us from that. God keep
us from that. The commotion of idols. Religion
today is lots of commotion and activity. People prefer everything
to the worship of God. People come together, they have
their prayer meetings, and everybody gets together and yaks and screams
and cries and bawls, and as if they really think that's how
folks prayed in the scriptures. All of our meetings there are
prayer meetings. This is what we're doing now. We're involved
in a prayer meeting. It's called worship, the worship of God. Folks wave hands and talk in
stupid gibberish they call speaking in tongues and they have their
bands and their dances and activity, commotion, because
their God sits like a stump and can do nothing. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is worshiped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
life and breath and all things. Truly, their God is not, or their
rock, is not as our rock. Because when the Most High divided
to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of
Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel. You can read that Deuteronomy
32. God set the bounds of the nations. All nations. All the tribes in New Guinea
and Africa. All the nations of the world
throughout history. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow. He set their bounds. The place
where they are. The space in which they exist. He set their bounds according
to the number of the children of Israel for the saving of his
elect. That's how God rules the world.
And he kept them as the apple of his eye. And he makes them
to ride on the high places of the earth, causes them to suck
honey out of Christ the rock and oil out of the smitten rock.
I'm trying to show you their rock is not as our rock. even our enemies themselves being
judges. Modern religion makes God a pathetic
failure, a miserable failure. Those five contrasts I gave you,
those were 41 years ago, 42 years ago. I walked into a theology
class, my first theology professor and one of the largest fundamentalist
Bible colleges in the world. Baptist Bible College, Springfield,
Missouri, made this statement. 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 are
there. Can you imagine that, Mark? Can you imagine a man making
such a statement, holding a Bible in his hand? Not a young rash man. This is
an old man. Hell is a ghastly monument to
the failures of the triune God to save the multitudes who are
there. Sinners go to hell. because God Almighty himself
could not save them. He did all he could. He failed. That's the first theology professor
I read. That's what he said. But I'll tell you what our book
here says about our rock. You heard him say it. Their rock
is not as our rock. It's not the same rock. This
thing he calls a rock of salvation failed. Of our rock, the Lord
God says, he shall not fail. You can safely trust in him.
Run to this rock and find refuge for your soul. in every time
of trouble, and in every time of need. Build on this rock,
and the winds of adversity, and the waves of difficulty, and
the storms of persecution, though they beat on your house, will
not even raise a shingle. Because you're built on the rock. The rock, Christ Jesus. Amen.