I want to begin my message tonight
by telling you three things about preachers. Three things that
are true of all true gospel preachers. Now there are preachers all over
the world today. Plenty of them. Way too many
of them. I wish they'd all, for the most
part, go get jobs digging ditches or shoveling manure or something
other than preaching. We've got too many of them. There
are, I suspect, in the United States alone more preachers today
than they've ever been in the whole world in any other day.
We've got tons of preachers, tons of preachers. But amongst
all the preachers there are in this world, the charlatans and
the con men and the self-serving men who call themselves preachers,
yet there are here and there some men who serve God. who are
gospel preachers, faithful gospel preachers. And I'll tell you
three things about every man in this world, in every generation. It doesn't matter whether he
lived in the first century or whether he lives in the 21st
century. Every man who is called and sent forth and gifted of
God to preach the gospel, these three things are true of that
man. Faithful men, number one, men
called and sent of God. Men who are the servants of God
are concerned for the souls of their hearers. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. God's servants are not interested
in your money. None of them. None of them. They're interested in your soul. God's servants seek nothing from
you. They seek no advantage by you.
But they seek the grace of God for you. They don't wish to be
served by you. They hope by God's grace to serve
you. I'm not interested in your social
status. I'm interested in your spiritual
well-being. That's my concern for you. 2
Corinthians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul speaks of himself
as God's servant and speaking for himself speaks for all. Therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, this ministry, have you ever
noticed whenever you see on the news something about one of the
Countries where England has been dominant rather than having a
secretary of state and secretary this sector that they have ministers
of this and ministers of that The word ministry means service
We have this service Hmm that puts the ministry in
a little different light, doesn't it? We have this service Oh,
I won't stand up folks. See me. I'm the leader. We have
this service. This ministry. As we have received
mercy, we have this privilege of serving you because God's
been merciful to us. As we have received mercy, we
faint not. That's what keeps us going. But
have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. Not God's servants. They're not
crafty, cunning, deceitful men. They're not working underhanded. Not God's servants. If that shuts
me out, it shuts me out. If it shuts your brother out,
it shuts your brother out. Not God's servants. But by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. What's that mean? I'm not the
least little bit concerned for you to search the scriptures
And find out whether or not I'm telling you the truth. I want
you to. By manifestation of the truth,
we commend ourselves to men. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, not because we've concealed it. In
whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them, which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God should shine unto them. Now watch this.
For we preach not our sales We're not standing here to talk about
our sales to promote our sales or for our own gain But Christ
Jesus the Lord and our sales your servants for Christ's sake
Faithful men are faithful to God Faithful to his word and
faithful to your souls. I Prepare my messages And I preach
all the time with fear and trembling. If I get over that, I pray that
God will give me enough sense to quit preaching. I am absolutely
terrified at the thought of saying something contrary to the gospel
of God. Something dishonoring to God
and his glory something that would lead you away from the
Word of God I won't desperately and earnestly to be true to the
gospel True to your souls true to our Savior All right. Here's the second thing Turn
to 2nd Corinthians no turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 The
man God has called and gifted and sent forth to preach the
gospel. Knows that he must preach the
gospel. Brother Lidge is going to be
standing here Tuesday night. I'd say to you. You preach to
whoever God gathers here Tuesday night, just like you're preaching
to your own children for the last time, expecting them to
meet God in eternity before they draw breath. You mean, Brother Don, you ought
to preach like folks are going to hell? Right now. Right now. Don't dare presume anybody knows
God. God's servants must preach the
gospel and they know it. The gospel preacher understands
that the gospel is the power of God and the salvation, that
God has chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. Therefore, when they preach,
they preach the gospel ruined by the fall, redemption by the
blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Look here, 1 Corinthians
9, 6, 10. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. There's nothing for me to glory
in because I preach the gospel. That's nothing for me to brag
about. If I preach the gospel, I do so because God has taught
me the gospel. Because God has called me to
preach the gospel. He's given me the gifts by which
to proclaim the gospel. And he's given me somebody who's
interested in hearing what I've got to say. I have nothing of
which to boast or to glory, but necessity is laid upon me. I
must preach the gospel. Woe is unto me, Paul says, if
I preach not the gospel. Not woe is unto me if I preach
not. Preachers everywhere. Preachers
everywhere. All over this town tonight. All
over this community. All over this country. All over
the world. Open this book and stand in front
of the Eternity Bound Centers and talk to them about such nonsense
as whether or not they ought to go to the picture show. And talk for hours about it.
Talk to them about such nonsense as to what they ought to wear,
what they ought not wear. What they ought to eat, what
they ought not to eat. Oh, you don't dare eat any of that stuff. You
got to do this, got to do... Worthless! Worthless preaching. Focus on the family. Talk about
husbands and wives and sons and daughters. And that's all they
do. And they entertain people on their road to hell. And make
them feel good about being Pharisees. It's useless, worthless, damning
preaching. useless, worthless, damning to
the souls of men. The gospel teach you how to live.
If God teaches you the gospel, the gospel will teach you how
to honor God in this world. Gospel teach you live in honesty
and integrity and uprightness. If ever you learn the gospel,
but if you don't learn the gospel, I don't care what you learn.
You're going to hell. Woe is unto me if when I speak
in God's name, I preach not the gospel. What's he talking about? Do you remember what the Lord
said to his prophets in Ezekiel? He used the example twice that
I've set you as watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem. He said,
if you warn the wicked and the wicked do not hear, then you're
free from their blood. But if If you don't want them and they perish, you're going
to hell with them. Their blood will I require at
your hand. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. No wonder
Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. He said, I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and in much trembling. That's not talking about him
being scared of them. Oh, no. I stood and spoke to
you as a weak man speaking for the omnipotent God and in fear. in fear for your souls and in
fear lest I somehow misrepresent God and in trembling as a man
responsible to speak to eternity bound men and women with regard
to their souls, things that matter. And my speech and my preaching
was not like the talking of a lawyer or of a doctor or a politician. How many of you have ever bothered
to try to read a contract that you would have to sign when you
get a loan for a car? Have you ever tried? Now, I'm not the brightest bulb in
the room, but I ain't the dullest either. And I just can't make
it out. I've come to the conclusion the
contract was deliberately written so that I couldn't understand
it. I'm convinced it's deliberately written to keep you from knowing
what it says. We have a lawyer in the midst.
Is that how they write contracts? Deliberately. So that you can
always have a little wiggle room. And always have a little edge
when folks don't really know exactly what the intent was. If you listen to a man preach,
this one or any other, and you come and say, I wonder what he
was saying. I wonder if he was, boy, was he talking about election
or not? I wonder what that, oh, that was profound, that was deep.
What was he talking about? Well, I'm not sure, but it was
deep. No, that was muddy. There's a difference. There's
a difference. I didn't come to you with enticing
words of man's wisdom. No. but in demonstration of the
spirit and the power for this reason, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Merle
Hart, I've been preaching the gospel of God's grace to you
for 29 years. Every time you've heard this
man stand in this place to speak for 29 years. And my reason for
preaching as I do with simplicity and with clarity and with dogmatism
is so that you will know exactly what you believe and why. And
believe because God the Spirit has sealed it to your heart.
If you've been conned in to believe something, If you've been tricked
into believing something, if you've been just kind of secretly
led by the nose, you don't really know where you're going or what
you're doing. So I believe what the preacher believes and the
preacher believes what I believe and we believe what the church
believes. And it's written down somewhere. We all know what it
is. If that's the case, somebody will come along and have a slicker
pitch and they'll have a little bit more clever way of selling
their product and they'll convince you to follow them. I'm concerned
that you follow God's Spirit as it's given in this book. First,
God called men a concern for your souls. And second, gospel
preachers are gospel preachers. Now, here's the third thing. Faithful, faithful men, faithful
men preach the gospel above all else. for God's glory, for the
glory of God. Lord God, make that my undying, constantly
increasing motive, or shut my mouth now, I pray, for the glory
of God. first and foremost. And a man
who's concerned for God's glory, you can't manipulate him, you
can't control him, you can't tell him what to do, what to
say, when to do it or when to say it. He's not concerned for
your opinion, he's concerned for God's glory. You can't hire
him off, you can't bribe him off, you can't pay him off, he's
concerned for God's glory. Malachi with such a man. Turn over to Malachi chapter
1. God's servants are not interested
in popularity. They're interested in God's glory.
They're not seeking possessions. They're seeking God's glory.
They're not interested in a religious promotion. They're interested
in promoting God's glory. Amidst all the hordes of self-seeking,
self-promoting, self-serving, worthless preachers, there are
in this world some true preachers concerned for God's glory. Malachi
chapter 1, we'll begin at verse 1. Our text verses, or verse
6 rather, verses 6 through 11. The title of my message is A
Lead Pipe Cinch. Now you'll see why I've chosen
that title in just a little bit. You know what lead pipes inch
is, don't you? That's a dead sure thing. That's an absolute
certain thing. Number one in verse six, Malachi
speaks for God to his people and tells us to honor God as
our father and fear him as our master. A son honoreth his father,
and a servant his master. If I then be a father, where
is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is
my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priest that despised
my name? And you say, wherein have we
despised thy name? The prophet tells us, the Lord
hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. If God has made all things, even
the reprobate for the glory of his own name, how much more ought
you and I to honor him and reverence him who are his own, chosen and
redeemed and called by his grace. If I be a father, where is my
honor, God says. If I am a master, where is my
fear, saith the Lord of hosts. Oh, ye priest that despise my
name. God here appeals to the most
common, ordinary laws of nature. A son is to honor his father. A servant is to reverence his
master. That just makes good sense. At
least it used to before we got in this age where honor is supposed
to be given from the father to the son and from the master to
the servant. A son ought to honor his father. A servant ought to honor his
master. And God says, if I'm your father,
where's my honor? If I'm your master, where's my
fear? The Lord God ask pointed questions. That ought to pierce our hearts. Is he a father? Of course he
is. He's the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the father of light. He's
the father of all men by creation. He's the father of all things
as the creator of all things. He's the father of all mercies.
But the Lord God, who was a father to Israel as a nation, as he
was to no other nation, was a father to that nation in a symbolic,
typical way to shatter forth a relationship between God and
our souls. He is a father to us as he's
a father to none other. He chose you. He adopted you. He's made us his sons and daughters. Oh, what honor he deserves. As
I prepared this message, I kept praying, God, give me grace to
honor you. Forgive my shameful dishonor
and give me grace to honor you with a heart of love, a life
of devotion, a confident faith, a spirit of meekness and implicit
obedience. implicit obedience. There is
a wonderful relationship that fathers have with their children
when they're not that high. Now, when they start to school
and learn to read and write, it kind of fades away. It gets
worse the older they get, because the older they get, the more
they realize that is not quite as big as I thought he was. And
he's not quite as strong as I thought he was, and he can't really do
everything I thought he could do. But when they're just little
shavers, you can say to them, do this. And you can get them
to do about anything. You can get them to do about
anything. How come? Because they know Dad's not going
to tell them to do anything wrong. Dad's not going to tell them
to do anything to hurt them. Dad's not going to tell me to do anything
to cause me difficulty. Dad will take care of me. If
he tells me to do it, he'll take care of me. And they give implicit
obedience. Oh God, make me such a son. Implicit
obedience. I had an email from a friend
of mine a few weeks ago, sent out the Bible class lessons in
Luke 2 with regard to those shepherds and I raised the question, with
whom did those shepherds leave their sheep when they went off
to Bethlehem to see the incarnate savior? And the question is answered,
they left the sheep with him who said go to the savior. And this dear friend wrote to
me, gave the quote. He said, God, give me grace to
do that. Leave everything to him, to his care, to his rule,
to his control. You can obey him. You can obey
him. Read on. If I be a master, where's
my fear? The word master is really a plural
word. The triune Jehovah is asking
if I, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and
your masters, if I am your masters, where is my fear? My reverence. Oh, he's the master of everything. We understand that. We understand
that. But he is personally and distinctly, uniquely our master. Our master, that one under whose
service we gladly put ourselves. That one whose yoke we take on
ourselves, not forced to take it on, whose yoke we gladly bow
and take on ourselves and find his yoke easy. If I'm your master,
where's my fear? Where is my reverence? Oh, the
question's full of pointed reproof because he doesn't ask just anyone.
He said, oh, ye priest who despise my name. Certainly, it's a reproof
to the priest of the Old Testament who were to lead the children
of Israel in the worship of God and led them rather to despise
the worship of God by their behavior, as did the sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas. But he's speaking here in his
word by his spirit to you and me, his priest, his priest, the
priest of Israel, You remember were those who were taken for
the firstborn. God set aside the tribe of Levi
and said, these are my firstborn. And he he took care of them as
a father takes care of the firstborn son, a special portion given
to them, given leadership, given preeminence everywhere. The priests
are spoken of in a special way. And you are a royal priesthood. We are in Christ. Jesus made
priest under God. But he says, you've despised
my name. What a word. Is that true? If it is, our crime
in doing so is more aggravating than any other crime committed
against him. We're his priest. We're his priest. We're not to despise his name,
but to honor it. To despise his name means to
treat his name with contempt. To treat his name without reverence. To fail to reverence him as God. I've said this so many times,
and I'm going to keep saying it and hope folks pay attention.
Don't take God's name in vain. Don't do that. Don't. That's
just a light thing. You say, well, oh gosh, oh Lord,
oh God, golly, lordy. Take my name in vain, not God's.
Not God's. Don't treat it lightly. And more
importantly, even in what you say, don't treat God with contempt. Not his worship, not his name,
not his word, not his work. Instead of honoring our God as
our father and reverencing him as our master, we, his chosen
people, his chosen priest, have terribly despised his name. Now
I know you immediately flinch at that, me too. And you say, where then have
we despised thy name? And the prophet tells us, and
this is the second thing, instead of honoring God with that which
was without spot and blemish, the best we have. These priests
offered him that which was worthless. Verse 7, ye offer polluted bread
upon mine altar, and ye say wherein have we polluted thee? In that
ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible. Contemptible? What's that mean? It's just not something that
you look at and say, boy, I hate that. It's something that you
just don't care. You don't care. Sitting in front of my easy chair,
I have a footstool. And you know what I do with my
footstool? Almost every time I sit down, I throw my feet on
it. I have had a table sitting in
front of my easy chair. And you know what I do with that
table? I'd throw my feet on it. It's sitting there for that purpose.
For me to use as I will for my pleasure. And so it is thus contemptible. God's worship is not there for
you to use as you will for your pleasure. God's altar is not
there for you to use as you will for your pleasure. And if he
offered the blind for sacrifice, oh, let's go get a lamb. Well, I've had this one over
here for a while, and I've been putting salve in her eyes, but
she's blind. She's as blind as pitch dark
itself, and if I take her to market, I ain't gonna get anything
for her. Let's give her to God. He'll take it. Let's give her
to God. She's worthless, so let's give
her to God. And if you offer the lame and
the sick, you say that's not evil? Offer it now unto your
governor. These folks had a Persian governor. You think they're tough these
days? That fellow over in Iran, you
think he's brutal? Nothing compared to these governors.
I'll tell you what to do, you take your lame lamb with broken
legs and the mange and blind and offer it to him. Go ahead. See what he thinks of it. Will
he be pleased with thee? Will he accept that person? Sayeth
the Lord of Host. These priests. We're offering
such things. To God. Making the worship and
service of God, economical and easy on themselves. The people
coming would bring their sacrifices to the priest and they'd bring
the best they had. They'd set aside the lamb, inspect
it, find no blemish in it, find it in good health. Lamb of the
first year, they'd bring it to the priest and the priest would
take that lamb and they'd go get one of their own and worthless
and bring it in place of it. and offer it to God. And after
all, just make good sense, we're just going to kill it. We're
just going to kill it. Why kill the good when it's worth
something when you can kill the worthless ones that's worth nothing?
That just makes good economic sense. And you know God wants
us to serve Him with good sense. They had been so habitual in
the practice of this evil that they said, that's not evil. And
so Malachi thrust in God's Word, hoping to rouse and awaken their
seared consciences. He says, take the diseased creature
to your governor and see if he'll have it. Now, the long and short
of that is this. We must never offer God that
which cost us nothing. I suppose all of us do this pretty
regularly, and it's proper that we set aside regular gifts in
the cause of Christ. But sometimes we do things with
such regularity that we forget about worshiping God with our
gifts. Don't offer God that which costs
you nothing, not in your weekly giving, not in your service to
his church and kingdom, Not in your worship of him. Don't offer
God that which cost you nothing. A lot of times you come in here
on Sunday mornings, tired, can't stay awake, and you're wore out
because you stayed up all night Saturday night doing nothing
except frivolity. Don't offer God what cost you
nothing. Well, I'd have to give up my
party time. Well, either keep it and go to
hell with it or give it up and worship God. Take your choice.
Take your choice. Don't offer God what cost you
nothing. I'm keenly aware of this as a preacher. I dare not,
dare not come to this place unprepared. Come rushing in here off the
golf course or out of the woods or off the job to come rush in
here and throw something together and say, well, let's be good
enough. My son-in-law, you know, is in construction business. And he said, if there's anything
on this earth that galls me, it just galls me. Be walking
on a job here, somebody say, good enough. He said, good enough
ain't good enough. Good enough ain't good enough.
And in the worship of God, good enough is never good enough.
Don't offer God what costs you nothing. But the prophet's words
are more piercing yet. It seems obvious to me that his
eye reaches beyond the material to that which is spiritual. And
he's not speaking just about sacrifices that are polluted,
offered on a material altar, but rather he's talking about
polluted sacrifices that men attempt to offer God, polluted
sacrifices that are covered with the mange and worthless sacrifices,
filthy rags of self-righteousness. filthy rags of our own obedience,
the filthy rags of our own doings to supplant, to set aside the
righteousness of Christ, our Redeemer. Don't do so. For if
you offer God that which is your own. Then you overturn for the
benefit of your soul, the righteousness of Christ. Whosoever among you
is circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now, look
at verse 9. Here's the third thing. Though
man is so vile, though we pollute God's altar, God is gracious
still. Look at this gracious call the
Lord's prophet gives to his arid people. And now I pray you, beseech
God. Beg of God. that he will be gracious
unto us. This hath been by your means. This evil has been by your means. This corrupting of the sacrifice
has been by your means. This offering God that which
is worthless has been by your means. This contempt of the Lord's
table has been by your means. This despising of God's name
has been by your means. So beg God to be merciful. Will he regard your persons,
saith the Lord of Hosts? Do you think God's going to be
impressed with you? Beg God that he will be merciful. He may be gracious, though we're
guilty. He may receive us, though we've
sinned horribly. Turn to Psalm 130. The Lord is
long-suffering and very great mercy. forgiving iniquity and
transgression. The Lord is gracious, full of
compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Look here in
Psalm 30, Psalm 130. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou,
Lord, should mark iniquities. Oh, God, if you Machiniquities. Oh, Lord, who shall stand? Not
me. I've despised your name. I've
made your word and your table and your worship contemptible. But. Oh, that's one of the best words
in all this book, isn't it? But. Though I am what I am, though
I've done what I've done, there is forgiveness with thee that
thou mayest be feared. And then Malachi helps us to
reverence our master, to honor our father by declaring to us
his greatness. He begins the chapter, begins
this portion in verse six by showing us that God's our father
and our master. And then in verses 7 through
11, he shows us that God's majestic, gloriously great in his being
as God, gloriously great in his works as God. Five times in these
verses, he tells us that he is the Lord of hosts. Five times,
he is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts,
the Lord of hosts. What's he telling us? host is
a great multitude. He's the Lord of all the armies
of heaven. He's the Lord of all the host
of the heavenly stars. He's the Lord of all the planets
of the universe. He's the Lord of all the host
of the earth. He's the Lord of everything. Everything's in His hands. Everything
belongs to Him. He whom we worship is the master
of the universe. And you're going to come and
bring a blind, lame lamb with a mange and put it on his altar? You're going to offer God the
theses of your own righteousness? Oh, Brother Don, you shouldn't
talk about people's good works that way. Well, if you make them
good, I won't. And then Malachi shows us in
verse 10, that God, our father, the almighty creator and master
of the universe, needs nothing. Brother Frank read it a little
bit ago in Psalm 50. He said, I won't take anything from your
hands. Who is there even among you that
would shut the doors for naught? Neither do you kindle fire on
mine altar for naught. That is, you don't serve me for
nothing. You serve me because you think you get gained by it.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I won't
accept anything you give me. Neither will I accept an offering
at your hand. But really, that translation
is not anywhere near strong enough to express what Malachi is saying.
The passage might be read like this, if I paraphrase it a little. Why don't one of you just shut
the temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and
play religion with a silly, empty-headed worship. No, I'm not pleased
with you, says the Lord of Hosts. I don't want anything from you,
and I won't take anything. Close the temple. Don't even
pretend to worship me. Quit faking it. He who owns all
things needs nothing. That includes you. And that includes
me. He needs nothing. What are you
going to contribute to God's well-being? What are you going
to give God that he needs? He is not worshipped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. He gives life and breath to all. Our father owns every square
foot of this world. He has creator rights to everything. This land is his land. From California to the New York
Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters. This
land was made for God and His name. And He's going to use it
for that purpose. And that includes you and me
and yours and mine. On the altar of this majestic
God, men offer lambs blind with mange and broken legs. and men
bring the feces of their own righteousness. Now, in verse
11, Malachi helps us to get a sense of the majesty of God, our father,
the triune God, our master, showing us that someday his authority,
his ownership, his dominion, his lordship, will be honored
among all people and in every place. Now that's a lead pipe
cinch. You know what a cinch is? You're from Texas, aren't you?
You know what a cinch is. A cinch is what they use to tighten down
a saddle. They pull it under the horse's
belly and tighten it down to keep the saddle and the rider
on the top side of the horse. A cinch is what those bull riders
use. I like to watch bull riding.
I don't want to do it. I just like to watch it. And those fellows
will get on that bull and they'll, you'll see them pull that cinch
and pull that cinch and wrap it around their hand and wrap
it around their hand so they can hold on for the ride. Is
that right? That's what a cinch is. This is what Malachi is telling
us. He says here in verse 11, tighten
down the saddle and hang on. The ride may be long and rough, But God Almighty is going to
be honored everywhere. God Almighty will be honored
by everybody. God Almighty will get his honor
from his creatures. For from the rising of the sun,
even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great
among the Gentiles. Wonder why he just includes the
East and the West, not North and the South. I got to thinking
about that. Mr. Hawker gave me the answer.
He said the extremities of the North and South are uninhabitable.
What he's saying here is wherever human beings are found living,
my name going to be great. Wherever human beings exist,
my name should be great among the Gentiles. He's talking about
this gospel age. He's talking about here now in
this age in which we live, God sends out his word to gather
his people to himself and he will be magnified. He will be
honored as our father and as our master. And in every place,
in every place, incense shall be offered unto my name and the
pure offering. Everywhere where men are found
breathing God's air, incense, the worship, the prayers of the
saints will be found burning to God and a pure offering, a
pure offering. We've come tonight and come to
worship God. Our brother prayed just like
that, both back in the office and out here. We've come to seek
Him. We've come to bring Him our praise.
We've come to bring Him our devotion. We've come to seek a word of
direction from Him. Oh, so mingled with corruption
and evil and sin and every evil thing we can put to
it. But God Almighty accepts it. as incense burned at his
altar rod, and a pure offering, a pure offering, a pure, one
pure offering. I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
one pure offering, Holy, acceptable unto God by that one pure offering,
Jesus Christ the Lord. Throw away the feces of your
good works and your self-righteousness and come to God by this one pure
offering. Read on. For my name shall be
great among the heathen, among the nations, saith the Lord of
hosts. Turn to Isaiah 45. And I'll wrap
this up. I'll just give you the scripture
and leave it alone. Verse 23. I have sworn by myself. The word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. In every
place, God's going to be honored. Not only that, when God gets
done, when God gets done, everybody who has ever existed is going
to honor Him. It's what I swore, my mouth spoken
in righteousness, it'll not return. Unto me, every knee shall bow. and every tongue shall swear.
Every tongue, soon, soon. Everybody in heaven, earth, and
hell is going to bite the dust before the Son of God and confess
He's the Lord. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. There are some who who confess Him. Chosen, redeemed
sinners everywhere, being called by His grace before time is done,
shall be made to confess Christ the Lord our righteousness. Even
to Him shall men come. They're going to come to Him. Now watch this. And all that
are incensed against Him shall be ashamed. That means, Alan,
he's either going make you bow before him in shame and confess
your sin now or in judgment but you're going to bow to him. You're
going to be ashamed before him. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel
be justified and glory and thus our father shall have his honor
and our master shall have his reverence. His proper due for
the glory of His name. Amen.