I read a story just this week of a poor uneducated man who was often ridiculed and taunted because of his faith in Christ. And he was once tauntingly asked by a scoffer, someone who just ridiculed religion and ridiculed the gospel. This scoffer said to this poor uneducated man, tell me about your God. Is he a great God or is he a little and the man answered, My God is so great that the heavens cannot contain him, and he condescends to be so little that he dwells in every broken and contrite heart." That's a pretty good answer, and that's a pretty good summary of what I want to preach to you this evening from Isaiah chapter 66, verses 1 through 4.

Read along with Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye were built unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb as if he cut off a dog's even offereth an oblation as if he offered swine's blood, even burneth incense as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, every false way, every way of self-righteousness, every way of freewill works religion, every way of idolatry, every way away from God to eternal ruin.

men willfully choose. They have chosen their own ways, and they're so delighted in their abominations. Now understand, he's not talking about drunkenness. He's not talking about murder. He's not talking about the various profligate forms of vice and immodality. Those are certainly abominations. He's talking about acts of religion, devotion, worship, and sacrifice. They have chosen, and they delight in, their abominations. I also will choose their delusions. I will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer. When I spake, they did not but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not."

Now I want you this evening to hold your Bibles open right here to Isaiah 66, and listen carefully as I try to preach to you. Pray for me, and pray for yourself. I have four awesome, powerful statements to make in this message. They come directly from the text we have just These four statements desperately need to be heard. They need to be heard by you, and they need to be heard by this religious generation in which we live.

First, I want to assert, with all emphatic dogmatism that I possibly can, I want to assert it in such a way that it cannot possibly be misunderstood, that God Almighty will not dwell in the houses and temples that men and women erect in his name." Now, that's the first thing that needs to be understood. God does not and he will not dwell in those material temples and houses that men and women erect in his name. This is exactly what the Lord tells us in verses one and two. Look at it. Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, Where is the house, where is the house that you will build unto me? Where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord." Now, in these verses, we have a declaration from the lips of God himself that he has forever rejected all material temples. all carnal rituals, all those things that are considered the rudiments of the world by the Apostle Paul, he has rejected all forms of material, carnal, outward worship that men look upon with great admiration and great reverence. God rejects it all. He just blanketly rejects it all.

Now, I readily grant There was a time when it could be said there was a place in this world over in Jerusalem where the city was called the Holy City, because God's temple was there, and God's house was there, and God's name was there. There was a temple there that was called the house of the Lord. But even then, during those Old Testament days of typical religion, even then, the temple was only the house of God symbolically, not literally. The Jerusalem, the holy city, was only the holy city symbolically, not literally.

In those days of the church's infancy, when the people of God were learning the ABCs of the gospel, and that's how Paul describes it in Galatians chapter He talks about our time of infancy as children under the law, under tutors and governors. But now we're grown up, we've been brought to the full revelation of the gospel, and we're no longer under the types and symbols and shadows of the law. And so the Apostle tells us that the Old Testament, those pictures, those outward ceremonies, those outward rituals, those outward services, That physical tabernacle, that physical temple, the physical altars and the physical priesthood, all of those things were just symbolical pictures of spiritual truth that we no longer need. That is, we no longer need the pictures, for we have the full revelation of truth in Jesus Christ the Lord.

But even in those days, even back when Solomon himself dedicated the temple, And he offered his prayer of dedication to the Lord God. He recognized, and all of God's people who knew and worshipped him recognized, that the temple was only a symbolic representation of God's house. The fiery and cloudy pillar were only a symbolic representation of God's presence. The Shekinah glory was only a symbolic representation of that who God is in Jesus Christ our Lord, revealed to us in the Gospel.

This is what Solomon said in his prayer of dedication. You can read it at your leisure in 1 Kings 8. He said, Will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him, how much less this house that I had built. Solomon had built the temple. That grand, grand, rich, which they honored me to death, that marvelous, marvelous piece of architecture, built according to God's decree, according to God's Word. Solomon built this temple, and he said, Now, Lord, I want you to come here and show yourself. I want you to come here and make yourself known. I want you to demonstrate that you honor this place, and that you hallow this place, and you accept this people, but I recognize that you're And this house isn't a house for you. This house that I have built, why, it can't contain you. This is no house for you.

All of those things that were contained and represented in the material temple, as I keep stressing, were merely symbolic. Now, I mean to be understood. It is nothing short of base pagan idolatry in this gospel age to speak of buildings as the house of God. or to speak of altars, or priests, or holy places, and holy days in this day. There are no such things. Will you hear me? We have no material altar, we have no temples, we have no sanctuaries, we have no priesthood, except the priesthood of believers themselves, we have no holy places in this world, no holy lands, no holy buildings, no holy things. to speak of things that are material and physical, that you can see and touch, as speaking of those things as being holy, is to speak as pagan idolaters in this gospel age.

Now, I want you to see that clearly in the Scriptures. Turn over to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. In this gospel age, all carnal ordinances of legal worship are expressly forbidden right down to the keeping of a Sabbath day.

Now, I recognize that there are men who say, well, keeping the Sabbath day is kind of the optional. Or said, if a man observes a day unto the Lord, let him observe it. If he doesn't, he observes it not unto the Lord, let him not observe it. But during that, that was true with regard to that transitional period, during the early days of the Church, And during that time when Gentiles were being brought to faith in Christ, Jews were coming in and saying, you keep our days, and the Gentiles were saying, what for? And Paul said, now don't compare the Gentiles to do that. After all, Judaism itself has been set aside.

Now the Apostle writes with a clear word of instruction, here in Colossians chapter 2, and tells us with expressed words, not to allow ourselves under any circumstance or any condition to be brought back into material, physical, legal worship. Begin with me in verse 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How did you receive him, by the way? A sinner with nothing, just sin, that's all. Nothing but his blood and his righteousness. Walk with him all the way to glory, just like that. Don't ever get any bigger. Don't ever grow above that. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.

Read on. Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware. You'd better beware. You'd better beware, because there are legalists and workmongers on every corner, popping up everywhere under every name, under every disguise. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world.

Now, when Paul talks about the rudiments of the world, he's talking about the Old Testament ceremonial, carnal, ritualistic religion. He calls it the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him, that is, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All that God is resides in the body of that man, Jesus Christ the Lord. He's God Almighty. He is the temple of God. He is that one represented in the tabernacle. He is that one represented in the priesthood, represented in the altar, represented in the veil. Everything spoke of him. In him resides all the fullness of God.

Read on. And you, you who believe, you who are just sinners saved by grace, You who are washed in his blood and roped in his righteousness, you see what it says? You are complete. Complete. Complete. You know what something complete is? It's finished. Complete means nothing to add to it. Complete means there's nothing lacking. Complete means it's full. You are complete in him. In him. Don't let him tell you you need something else. If you've got him, you've got enough. You're complete in him. Look at it now. Which is the head of all principality and power, in whom you also are circumcised, not with carnal hands, And the circumcision here is not talking about baptism either. He's talking about the new birth. He's talking about regeneration.

In whom you are circumcised with a circumcision made with our hands, made by the finger of God, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism. And we confess in baptism what Christ has done for us by his grace.

Wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. God gave you faith, God raised you up, God gave you life in Him, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened, hath He regenerated, made alive, together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses."

How many? How many? or past, present, future. And it doesn't say, who will forgive you all your trespasses. It says, having forgiven you all your trespasses.

How? He says in verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. When our Lord Jesus stretched out himself upon the cursed tree, and allowed himself by the hands of wicked men to be nailed to the cross, he took the word of God, which said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy being, and thy neighbor as thyself, and he nailed it to the tree.

Because that word said, You're a dead man. It said, You're a dead man, because you can't do it. You can't do it. He fulfilled it, and then he ended the curse of it. He nailed it to his cross.

Read it now. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. That is, he made a show of triumphing over Satan, over death, hell, and the grave.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink. Man, we've been redeemed. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the law for us. He put away all I see and He satisfied all of God's justice.

Let no man therefore squabble with you about what you eat and drink. Men think that holiness has got something to do with whether you eat sausage made out of beef or whether you eat it made out of pork. That's utter nonsense. Take holiness has got something to do with whether you eat fat with your food or don't eat fat with your food. Whether you have a glass of wine or don't have a glass of wine. God's not the least smidgen interested in that nonsense. Not the least smidgen interested.

Let no man judge you with regard to meat or drink, or in respect of unholy day, or of the new moon, or of Sabbath days. Do you reckon he could get clearer? Are there any other days that men set aside and said, these are our holy days? Other than their holy days, the new moons, and their Sabbath days.

Now Paul says, don't let anything bring you into judgment with regard to these days, which are a shadow, just a shadow, just a shadow of things to come. But the body, the substance, is Christ.

Let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility, in worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly perked up by his fleshly mind, not holding the head from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment, ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God. Therefore, if you be dead with Christ, crucified with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, from the law and the ceremonies of it and the curses of it, why, as though living in the world, are you yet subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not.

Men and women have the strangest ideas what godliness and righteousness is. They think that They think that godliness, down south, they think godliness has something to do with whether you go mixed bathing or not, whether you used to. I don't have things anymore. Oh, that's taboo. You don't go mixed bathing. That's not talking about taking a bath together. That's talking about swimming, boys and girls together. Up north, don't think anything about that. But boys, there's death on tobacco. I mean there's death on tobacco. You cross the Mason-Dixon line, you don't smoke and you don't chew, and you don't get around anybody who does. It's horrible to do something like that. Down south they live on it. And so it's all right down there.

What I'm telling you is that godliness is not outward. It is not what you eat, it is not what you drink, it is not what you wear, it is not the way you comb your hair. Godliness has nothing to do with touch not, taste not, handle not. Nothing at all. Godliness is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Do you understand that?

And so Paul says, don't let a man bring you into bondage regarding this, which you are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which having indeed, look at it now, All this outward commotion of religion has indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, a show of humility and neglecting of the body, and not in honor, in any honor, to the satisfying of the flesh. That's all it is. I lay that charge at the door of all legalistic ceremonial, carnal religion. It is nothing but the satisfying, the gratifying of the flesh. That's all it is. And Paul said, don't let any man bring you in bondage to it.

Now will come, as our Lord said, and now is when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit, that is spiritually, in their spirits, not with crosses, and not with ornaments, and not with altars, and not with stained glass, but spiritually, and in truth, in the truth of the gospel, and in true hearts with true spirits. We are the circumcision. That is, we are truly the people of God, which worship God in spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Now the reasons for these things are obvious. The Lord our God is an infinite, infinite God. Infinite in all his being. God is spirit. Now try to, try to fathom what I'm telling you. God is the infinite, unlimited, independent, self-existent, self-sufficient spirit. He's omnipresent. That means he is everywhere present, at all times, in all places, in all the fullness of his being. Now don't say that he's got more to explain. God is everywhere present, at all times, in all the fullness of his infinite being. He's right here, but we're in him. He's the infinite spirit. He's infinitely immense. That means that God is not in any way, he is not in any way limited by time or space. He does not need to build himself a house. He just doesn't need one. Heaven's his throne. Now, notice the language he uses. He doesn't say, Heaven is my house. He says, Heaven is my throne. He stands infinitely exalted above all blessing and praise upon Heaven as his throne. His throne is a throne of absolute sovereignty, of universal dominion, a throne of righteousness, justice, and truth, a throne of judgment. The Lord, blessed be his name, it is a throne of grace, for he delighteth in mercy.

And the earth, why, the earth is good stew. This earth, this great, great thing that we call the earth, why, it's like a little God sits on his throne, and he lays, as it were, his feet upon the earth. It's just his footstool. Just his footstool.

Now, don't try to get a carnal picture, because it's giving you a spiritual picture. He is not literally sitting upon heaven with his feet on the earth. He doesn't have any feet. doesn't have a body to send him. He's spirit. You understand what I'm saying? The picture is that God Almighty is the infinite, immense God who sits upon the throne of dominion and rules everywhere according to his absolute will.

God Almighty doesn't need to dwell in shrines, temples, and holy places. The great king of the universe lays his feet upon the earth and rules the affairs of the earth with indescribable ease. This earth, indeed our universe, is just a speck, just a speck before the immense, infinite God. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool.

See, he said, now boy, where are you going to build me a house? Where is the place of my rest? As if he needed a place to rest. He's neither weary, and he tires not, nor slumbers. He doesn't need to rest. He's got all better. Nothing wearies him. He never tires.

So where's the place of my rest? This is what Stephen was preaching in Acts chapter 7, when the Jews who loved their temple who thought of their temple just as they do today. You see those fellows standing out with blinded eyes. How many intelligent men in material things, intelligent men in earthly things, they stand before that blooming, wailing wall, just the sun of the temple standing over there. And they stand before that name and cherish it, and there they say their prayers like blind, blind Jesus who's been standing before a wall, hoping by some magical power to find holiness and power with God there.

And these Jews to this day look at the temple in just this manner. When Stephen said, God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, they said, kill it. Kill it. And men today respond just exactly the same way. Men love their religion, and they love their religious games. They're so blinded in the judgment of God, it appears, that they simply cannot see that God, through His Spirit, doesn't care for material things.

Our great, infinite God is the creator of all these things. If He needed a house or a place of rest, He wouldn't need our puny, empty heads to build it for Him. He says, all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord, this universe.

Now, you and I realize, when we talk about the world, the universe in which we live, our limited thoughts think that this universe is simply the earth the sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxy in which we reside, and these planets that we can name and we have on our little charts, you know, we do our little scales of. And the scientists in their great minds know exactly how it all got started. They just kind of had an explosion with gases in the atmosphere and evolved like it is. Why, those pygmies haven't even measured it yet. Haven't even measured it yet! But this universe God's spoken into being, and He could just as well speak ten thousand into being. He said, all these things at my hand made, all these things are and have been because I sustain them. God's the creator of all, the sustainer of all, the ruler of all, and the disposer of all.

All right, second, I want you to see that this great infinite, immense, sovereign, almighty Lord God dwells in the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners, born of his Spirit and saved by his grace. For, verse 2 says, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Now, I hope I don't need to tell any of you that when God talks about looking to one who is poor, he is not suggesting that physical poverty somehow automatically implies spirituality. It does not. Nor does he simply mean that he will look to one who is spiritually poor. If that were the case, he looks to everybody, because we're all baked up spiritually. What he's talking about is one who is poor in spirit. One who sees himself and knows himself to be utterly bankrupt before God. He says, to this man will I look, to that one who is poor in spirit, of a broken and contrite heart.

Bob read it for us back in the office. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Turn back to Isaiah 57 and verse 15. for thus saith the High and Lofty One." Oh, I love the way God describes Himself, don't you? Thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhebiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Now, only chosen redeems sinners. Regenerated, born again, called and saved by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, are poor and contrite in heart. Only such sinners who are chosen, redeemed, and born again by God's grace tremble at His word. God has chosen for His holy temple the hearts of saved sinners. That's what He's saying. He has chosen to take up His residence in such things as we are.

The Lord Jesus said in John 14, 23, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. That means, Ron, God Almighty has taken up permanent residence in you. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price, therefore glorified by God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We are His temple. His church is His temple.

All those things that we think of as important All those traits and characteristics which distinguish and attract men in our eyes are utterly contemptible before God. Utterly contemptible. I don't usually enjoy much news, but I thought it was interesting watching the evening news a couple of nights last week, the week before I'd forgotten the Olympic Games coming up. Any of y'all see it? I think it was ABC. the strongest man in the world lifting his weight, and then showed how much stronger cockroach he is. They showed how fast a man runs than how much faster some bug is. They showed how fast a man runs than how much faster some bug is. Oh, my soul, how come they starch out of you? Those things that men look at as most distinctively God looks at with utter contempt, utter contempt. The text does not say, nor does it anywhere in the Bible say, that God dwells with men of rank, wealth, intelligence, education, power, fame. Nowhere, nowhere does it say he dwells with men of a specific religious order, of a specific denomination. but rather God says that he dwells with men who are poor and of a contrite spirit and tremble at his words. Those points of character most specifically despised and ridiculed by the world are the very traits of character for which God looks and which the grace of God creates wherever it comes.

Now I'm telling I'm telling you, if God does a work of grace in your heart, this is what the result will be. Those who are poor in spirit are sinners who know themselves to be utterly without merit before God. I preach to a lot of people from every race. I suppose I preach to every race of men under the sun. I preach to people with translators who speak various tongues. I preach to folks from countries literally around the world. But I have met very few people in my life poor in spirit.

Now, buddy, I'll tell you what it is to be poor before God. It's to be a man or a woman who knows himself to be totally without merit in God's sight. They admit it. They admit it. The publican was, he said, God, be merciful. Be propitious to me. The Syro-Phoenician woman, she's poor in spirit. The Lord said, it's not fit for me to take, not meet for me to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. And she said, Lord, I acknowledge I'm a dog, but I'm yours. I'm your dog. Oh, that's faith. That's faith.

Those who know themselves to be guilty, doomed, damned, lost sinners, utterly incapable of doing good, totally dependent upon God's sovereign mercy and Christ's all-sufficient merit. I'll tell you what God Almighty does with folks who are poor in spirit. He takes up his residence in them and blesses them. In fact, if you have discovered yourself to be poor in spirit, it's because God has already taken up his residence in you and blessed you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Those who are in their spirits contrite before God are the objects of his saving mercy and grace in whom he resides. Now, contrition, again, let me stress, is not the cause of grace, but the result. The person who has seen Christ in his redemptive fullness, grace, and glory is broken and contrite before him. Remember, I read it to you in Isaiah 6. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled the temple. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne on the mercy seat, the cherubim bowing before Him and crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord's host.

I'll tell you who it was. John chapter 12, our Lord said, Isaiah saw me. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ in His redemptive glory and said, Oh, woe is me. Oh, woe is me. Daniel, when he saw the Lord in His glory, bowed before Him and withered before Him, acknowledging and confessing His sin. David, when he saw his sin and God's goodness, went in before the Lord and penned those penitential psalms in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, describing the greatness of God's grace and the utter, utter sinfulness and depravity and corruption of his own heart.

Those who are the objects of God's saving operations of grace are poor and contrite people who tremble at his word. Let me spend a moment here. Believers are people who truly reverence the word of God. We tremble at it, Larry, because we believe every word of it. Tremble at his word? Yeah. Not like Felix. Felix trembled at the preaching of the word, but soon found, as soon as the sermon was over, he found something to get rid of his trouble. And he wasn't interested anymore.

Believers have an internal, unceasing awe of God's majesty, holiness, grace and glory. And we tremble at his word. Not with a slavish fear and trembling. The law once caused our hearts to fear with tremble and terror, but that's no longer the case. The gospel of God's grace causes us to tremble with amazed gratitude.

I recall, I told you this morning, I reminisce a little. I recall a time when Shelby and I went to Australia and were gone for nearly three weeks. Longest time we were ever separated from faith. I remember, I've got a picture. when she grabbed Shelby's neck at the airport. She was so happy she was just shaking and crying. Just shaking and crying. That's what I'm talking about.

Oh, I stand before God, who loves me with everlasting love, in my heart astonished at his goodness, astonished at his grace. And God's precepts of worship cause our hearts to tremble because we understand what the ordinances of worship represent.

You remember when David brought the ark of God up and he didn't consult with the Lord, he had a good aim, he had a good intention, he was going to bring the ark of God up where it belonged in Jerusalem. But he went down and did it his way, the way the people wanted it done, and God killed Uzzah. And David said in 1 Chronicles 15, the Lord hath brought a breach upon us because we sought him not after the due order. That ark represented the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. And God said, don't you put your hand on it. Don't you put your hand on it. But it's going to fall in the mud. Don't you put your hand on it. I'll take care of that. This is not something you have anything to do with. And when Uzzah touched it, God killed him. because that ark represented something significant.

We're about to observe the Lord's table. We observe baptism. We do this as we do because we recognize it represents something. It represents Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace, and we don't dare, we don't dare alter that which is revealed in the scriptures concerning him.

The preaching of the word causes us to tremble. I come here tonight to preach to you. And I ask God to do something, I tremble at asking. I mean, I tremble at asking. I beg him, God, don't let me stand here and speak in my own power, in my own wisdom, in the flesh. Oh, God, speak through these lips of clay. But I tremble when I ask because I know I know, Steve, if God Almighty speaks to your heart by these lips, through his word, it's going to have an effect on you. It's either going to save you or damn you, one of the two. I tremble at that.

You're not going to hear God speak like that. Oh, no. It'll either melt your heart gradually or suddenly, but it'll melt and break your heart in repentance, or it'll harden your heart so that you'll never believe the gospel. The apostle Paul said we are a saver of life unto life unto some, and a saver of death unto death unto others. You won't hear God's word without effect.

We know that God's love, mercy, and grace toward us in Christ is immutable. So we don't have a slavish fear of him. We know that the Almighty will not cast us off. Eternal love will never reject those it has chosen, but we tremble. Oh, I hope you do. We tremble lest we should abuse that grace, mar its beauty, or dishonor our God. We tremble lest we should sin against our great and gracious God and Savior. We rejoice with trembling. and tremble with rejoicing. The psalmist said, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Now, this reverence for the word of God and the worship of God ought to be reflected when we gather in his name to worship him. I travel around the country, as you know, and I see a lot of tendencies that disturb me. When we come to the house of God, we ought to come with an attitude of prayer, sobriety, submission, humility, God speak, God speak, and give me a heart to obey you.

And this reverence ought to be demonstrated in our actions so that when we come together in the house of God, let's, now please don't misunderstand me, I'm not I'm not about to lay down rules and regulations. I recall several years ago going into a place where there was such a pretentious atmosphere. Everybody came in, sat down, reading the Bible and praying. You know, you couldn't lift up your head and look at somebody and say, good evening. That's the farthest thing from my mind. I don't want that. But let's do endeavor when we come into the house of God to promote the hearing of the word and just push everything else away. There's nothing else worth thinking about, nothing else worth talking about.

Before the Word is preached, speak concerning the last message. And when this one's over, speak of this one to one another so that the Word is rooted in our hearts, so that you don't forget what you've heard. And this reverence ought to be reflected in our attire. This is the reason that I I stress, let's not get too casual. You ladies wear your dresses. You young people don't wear shorts and don't dress like you're going to a ball game. We've come to worship God.

I go places and preach and I know as you get more casual about all things in the world, you get more casual about these things. I go places and preach where folks come in hot pants and sit down in church, and they come in sweatpants, and they come in every kind of get-up imaginable. It's utter nonsense. You wouldn't go to McPresident that way. When you come to the house of God, you come here to this place where God meets with his people, and as we gather, we, his people, not the building, but his people, are the temple in the house of God.

As you do, dress like you come with some desire. to show reverence and respect for him, not to be seen of each other, but to show reverence and respect for him. And if you bow to the Lord God Almighty, if I bow to him, this infinite sovereign creator and ruler of the universe looks upon poor sinners, broken and contrite, trembling at his those who acknowledge their sin and trust His Son as our only, all-sufficient Savior, trusting His blood, His righteousness, His intercession, and His faithfulness, this is what God says, "'To such men will I walk.'"

Oh, my! If God Almighty looks my way, Everything's all right. I looked to him. Our Lord did. You remember when Peter cussed and denied him? The Lord looked to him, Peter. The Lord says to this man, well, I look with approval, with acceptance, with delight. That means I'll care for him and I'll protect him forever. I have looked at him from eternity and I'll look to him for the goals in this world and I'll look on him forever and smile. To this man will I look because he's in my son and in him in my son I accept it and I approve of it. The Lord solemnly declares that every form of self-righteous works religion is an abomination in the sight of God. Look at verse three. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrificeth a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck. Now, God couldn't have used more contemptible words. Even an ass could be redeemed, but a dog, you don't place a dog into the temple, according to the law. But he that sacrifices a lamb, he's as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways. and their soul delighted in their abominations.

No wonder Solomon said, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees of his day and of ours, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God.

Now, this is what he's telling us. those who trust in themselves and yet pretend to worship God. In effect, set aside Christ's sacrifice, tread underfoot His precious blood, and make themselves guilty of the body and blood of the Lord by setting up in His place their own works. That person who attempts to establish righteousness for himself who attempts to make atonement for himself, who will not submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, is as though he cut off a dog's neck, as though he slew a man, as though he offered swine's blood, as though he blessed an idol.

Turn to Romans, chapter 9. Let me show you. Romans, the ninth chapter. This is exactly what the Jews were doing in Paul's day, in our Lord's day, and this is exactly what men and women do in our day. They will not submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, but they go about to establish their own righteousness. Look at what it says, verse 30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, that's you and me, which followed not after righteousness, that is, they didn't follow the path of the law, have attained to righteousness. They've been made righteous. Even the righteousness, get it now, which is our faith. How did you get righteousness, Rex? Only by faith. That's the only way you can get it. You can't do it. You've got to believe it. You can't do it. You've got to rest in it.

But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, Israel, which walked after the commandments, which stayed with the law, which worshiped at the temple, which offered their sacrifices, which kept the Sabbath day, and hath not obtained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Why? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works of the law. For they stumbled at the stumbling stone. They stumbled at the rock. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. And whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Who is it? Look in verse 4, chapter 10, or verse 3. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness. Now, any man, any woman who goes about to establish a righteousness of his own is totally, totally, totally ignorant of God's righteousness. All right? They have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law. What does it say? For righteousness to everyone that believes. What is your righteousness? Christ the Lord. I mean your personal righteousness ain't got any. I mean your practical righteousness, I got less of that. I mean your daily righteousness don't have any. What are you talking about? Christ is my only righteousness. The only one I have. He is my righteousness before God's law. He is a righteous principle of life infused and imparted in me by his grace, but in my flesh, in myself, I have none.

One last thing. I want everyone here, especially you who yet refuse to obey the gospel, to hear and seriously consider this fact. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will write it on your heart. When men and women will not obey the gospel, When men and women will not obey the gospel, God fixes it so that they cannot obey the gospel by sending them delusions to destroy their souls.

I also will choose their delusions. I'll bring their fears upon them. You've heard the gospel. You folks sitting here today have heard the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ twice. God's been more merciful to you today than most people walking on this earth ever experienced in a lifetime. You've heard the gospel. But you sit there and you say, nah, not interested.

not interested. But there is within you a fear, such fear as wrath. And God said, I'll give you what you fear. Because when I called, none did answer. When I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted If you turn a deaf ear to God when he speaks, I warn you, you're courting eternal damnation.

Having heard the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, if you still hope to stand before God on your own merit, on the footing of your own works, if you still thumb your nose at the Lord Jesus Christ, his darling son, God will fix it so that you cannot come to him.

So I just don't believe that. Well, you better read your Bible again. Esau thumbed his nose at Christ. Not interested in you. Give me a mess of beans. And later, he sought a place of repentance and wept bitterly, but found none. You thumb your nose at Christ, God will thumb his nose at you. You can bake on it.

God has many delusions by which to destroy, reprobate men. And I'll tell you this, that man That woman that God deludes is deluded forever. If you had any idea what God says in this text, it'd make you tremble to think of it. I also will choose their delusions. I will choose their delusions. and will bring their fears upon them.

Because, now underscore that word in your mind, here's the reason. When I called, none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear. But they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Now maybe you think, well Pastor, this is the Old Testament, this is talking about the This is exactly what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians. For this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof, God says. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you, because I have called and you refused. I have stretched out my hand in no man regarded, but you have said it in all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.

I also will last at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes. And it will come. It will come. You won't always sit and say, I should wish that preacher would shut up so I could go about my business and do something else. No, when your fear comes, God says, I'll mock you. When fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge, and did choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. They shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from the fear of evil.

Now, I ask you one thing. Will you or will you not believe in the Son of God? Will you or will you not trust the Lord Jesus Christ? If God has given you faith in Christ, rejoice and give thanks to Him. Your faith is His gift. a gift of grace bestowed on you in Christ because of his sovereign, electing, everlasting love.

We're bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.