I want you to listen very carefully
to my opening comments this morning. Sometimes we kindly look at the
first few words of introductory statement as being less important
than the rest. In my opening statement, the
most important thing I've got to say, and I want you to hear
it carefully. There is no middle ground. between honoring God
and despising Him. You got that? There is no middle
ground between honoring God and despising Him. If God is not
honored, something else is honored above Him and God is despised. Either we honor God or we despise
There's no middle ground. Now, the title of my message
this morning is The Most Certain of All Laws, and you'll find
it in 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 30. 1 Samuel chapter 2
and verse 30. I want you to look at it. You
know the context. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas,
and stand against the Lord and taught the people to despise
and abhor the offering of the Lord. These men who were supposed
to be the priest of God, these men to whom God had given this
sacred office, abused the priesthood, used it for their own comfort,
satisfaction, and delight, and even took the daughters of the
children of Israel, the wives of those who came to worship
God, and committed adultery with them at the door of the tabernacle. And God told Eli, because he
did not restrain them, because he did not use the authority
God had given him to correct his sons, he was going to kill
them and take the priesthood from his family. Now that will
give you the background for our text. Look at what it says. The Lord God is speaking. Wherefore
the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house
and the house of thy father should walk before me forever." Way
back in the days of Aaron, God had made Aaron to be the high
priest, but because Aaron sinned against him and his sons followed
their father's pattern, God took the priesthood from the house
of Aaron and gave it to the fathers of Eli and said, you walk before
me and be my priest forever. But now Eli, and his family have
turned against God. And God says, I'll take it from
you too. He says, I said it, but now the Lord said, be it
far from me. I cannot allow you to continue
to represent me. I cannot allow you to continue
to bear my name before the people. I cannot allow you to continue
to speak for me to the people of this world. He says, far be
it from me, for them that honor me, I will honor. Them that honor me, I will honor,
and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. We're told in verse 29 that Eli
honored his sons above God. his sons, Hophni and Phinehas,
who had caused the children of Israel to abhor the sacrifice
of the Lord. And that sacrifice was more than
just a ceremonial offering. That sacrifice was in type and
picture according to God's commandment, Jesus Christ himself. And Hophni
and Phinehas had taught the people to abhor the sacrifice of atonement. And when Eli heard the report
of his son's wickedness, He restrained them not. Over in chapter 3 and
verse 13. His sons made themselves vile
and he restrained them not. That's the cause of God's judgment
upon them. Now read, if you will, in chapter
2, beginning at verse 22. Now Eli was very old and heard
all that his sons did unto all Israel. He couldn't help but
hear it. He didn't live with his head
in the sand. And how they lay with the women that assembled
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said
unto his sons, Why do ye such things? Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings
by all the people. Nay, my sons, For it is no good
report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to
transgress." And then he raises a question, a question man be
smart to raise. If one man stand against another,
the judge will judge him. But if a man stand against the
Lord, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they hearken
not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay Now
that's the way Eli rebuked his sons. You might think, well,
the old man had learned to be gentle and tender. But God saw
it differently. God saw it differently. God calls
his gentleness despising him. You see, there are other virtues
in true manhood besides gentleness. Sometimes a firm word of rebuke
is needed. Sometimes severity is required. When the honor of God's at stake,
gentleness is treason. And here, God's honor was at
stake. And Eli looked upon his sons
and spoke to them with gentleness, lest he should offend his sons
who had greatly offended God. And his gentleness was treason.
Men today call it bigotry and sectarianism, to speak with plainness. The world praises the preacher,
the prophet, the priest who never offends anyone. Oh, he's so nice,
so nice. He's always, always has a pleasant
disposition. He's always got a good thing
to say, but God blames him. The days come for God's servants
to do what Eli should have done to speak plainly in God's name. Did you notice how Eli's sons
responded to their father's gentle persuasion? The scripture says,
notwithstanding, they hearkened not to the voice of their father.
He spoke so kindly and so gently. He said, now boys, you ought
not to have done that. You know, this is not a good
thing. You know, now boys, you ought not to take another man's
wife and commit adultery, much less in the church. You know
that you, you ought not to have led the people to despise the
Lord's offering. You know that. But Eli's sons
did what they had been doing all their lives. They laughed
in their daddy's face. They laughed at him because the
Lord was determined to kill them. Do you see that in verse 25?
Because the Lord would slay them. That simply means that they had gone so far in
their sin that God permitted them to go on further steal because
he was determined to have no mercy upon them. They had gone
in rebellion and Eli restrained them not and God said, all right,
go on and have your way. I'll give you the fruit of your
way in the end. Eli's actions were considered
by God to be a direct and absolute content for him. The same thing
is true of every act of disobedience and every neglect of known duty.
All disobedience, all neglect of duty, implies a preference
to our will, to our interest, to our pleasures, above the will
and the honor of God. To neglect God's salvation is
to despise His Son. That's the reason Paul says,
how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? To neglect
salvation in Jesus Christ is to despise Christ. It's not just
to, just to kind of be passive or indifferent. You who will
not look to Christ, who will not trust Christ, the problem
is you despise Jesus Christ and God will not look lightly at
it. He won't do it. To resist God's will is to despise
his dominion. I'm not interested in God's will.
I'm interested in my will. I'm not interested in what God
declares. I'm interested in what I want.
I'm not interested in what God requires. I'm interested in my
way. To neglect his will and resist is to despise his dominion. To disregard his word is to despise
it. Just despise it. God's given us his word, he's
given it to us in our language, and he's preserved it for us.
Do you realize that some of God's saints died to translate this
book into your language and give it to you? Do you realize that?
Do you realize folks were put to death because folks didn't
want you to have this book in your hand? But we take it, pick
it up, When we decide to go to church, carry it with us. Be
sure we get one that's real nice, Morocco leather. Don't want just
hard covers. Let's get a nice one. So it looks
pretty, but never read it and refuse to keep it. To despise
God's word, to neglect God's words, to despise it. Oh, what's
that? Oh, word of God. So what? So what? You see, Eli's sons, stood before
him here, and God stood before him here. And Eli had a choice
to make. He had a choice to make, and
he made it. Eli preferred his sons to his
God. That was his problem, wasn't
it? That was his problem. He preferred
their harmony. I don't want to do anything,
that's it, my son, they might not ever speak to me again. He
preferred their harmony to God's honor. He preferred their smile
to God's sacrifice. He preferred their pleasure to
God's praise. Therefore, God killed his son and took the priesthood from
him forever. Forever. I mean, God said, Eli,
Eli, I'm not just going to kill these two boys, but I'm done
with your household forever. Forever, forever, forever. My friends, God demands that
we honor him. He says a son honoreth his father
and to serve in 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 that despise my name? And you say, well, where then
have we despised thy name? How did we do that? How did we
do that? Don, you've been talking in riddles.
Get to the point. How have we despised God's name?
Well, I repeat, there is no middle ground between honoring God and
despising him. And if God will speak through
me to your hearts before you leave here today, you're going
to hear that. There's no middle ground between
honoring God and despising him. No middle ground. Without question, Eli was a true
believer. I'm certain of that. He judged
Israel for 40 years and his heart trembled for the ark of God.
He was a believer. When God told him, said, Eli,
I'm going to kill your sons. He sent Samuel, the young prophet.
He said, go tell Eli I'm going to kill his sons. It's his fault
because he didn't restrain them. Eli said, it's the Lord. Let
him do what he will. That's a true believer talks like that. When
his sons were away and the battle was raging, Eli was an old man
now, 90 years old I think he was, he was blind and he sat
by the wayside and somebody came and he said, how's the battle
going? Cause his heart trembled for the ark of God. And they
said, the battle's not going so good. Your sons are dead. And Eli just sat there and then
they said, the ark of God is taken. And Eli fell over with
a heart attack, broke his neck and died. He was a true believer. He trembled for the ark of God.
And yet, this man, a true believer, failed to honor God in the matter
of his two sons, and therefore God took both his sons and his
priesthood from him. Now, I want you to see that what
we have before us in our text this morning is the most certain
of all laws. There's no changing it, no escaping
it. God says, them that honor me, I will honor. And they that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Sooner or later, sooner or later,
God will reward all men according to this rule of infallible justice. And you can bank on it. You can
bank on it. In the light of that fact, I
pray that we will each judge ourselves that we be not judged. Many a man whose life and family
have been plagued with sorrow and grief can trace the bitter
stream of their woe to this cause. He has not honored God. I had a fellow tell me a while
back He was finding an excuse to justify
himself for the neglect of God, his worship, his gospel. And
he said, Don, I tell you, it seems like my family and I are
always in a crisis situation. Don't understand. Don't understand.
I'm afraid I do. I'm afraid I do. Mr. Spurgeon put it this way. He
said, if we had seen the sin that was hidden from human eyes,
we should have understood the sorrow that was evident to all.
That is, if we saw things like God saw them, we would understand
why God does what he does in the lives of men. Now, this is
a law that will never be broken. Them that honor me, I will honor. and they that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed." If we honor God, God will honor us. And if we despise him, God will
treat us lightly, that is, esteem us lightly. Let me give you some
examples. Lot was a righteous man, wasn't
he? Wasn't he? God said he was. failed to honor God and he suffered the consequences
in his family immediately and forever. I mean his family never
knew God. His daughters never knew God. His wife perished under the wrath
of God. His grandsons never knew God. Lot and his family suffered the
consequences of Lot's neglect. David was a righteous man, but
he failed to honor God in the matter of Uriah the Hittite,
and he suffered the consequences in his family. The sword never
departed from his house. Eli was a righteous man, but
he failed to honor God. and he suffered the consequences
of it. Listen to what God says. He says, I will visit the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and fourth generation. Merle, if we had good sense,
they'd make us stand up and pay attention. I mean, if we just had half good
sense, they'd make us stand up and pay attention. God says,
I'll visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children and
their children's children for four generations. That's what
it says. All right. Here then is our duty
in all things. Honor God. Honor God. Every Sunday school child who
has been taught anything at all understands that the chief duty
of man is to glorify God. The one thing that God will have
from every creature is honor. Now he's going to have it one
way or the other. You will either honor him as you seek to live
for him or honor him in his judgment upon you, but honor him you will. Every creature is going to honor
God. And this is where Eli failed miserably. He did not reprove
his sons for their wickedness, but neglected the authority that
God had given him to correct his sons. He manifested more
regard for the feelings of his sons than for the honor of God.
Children of God, if you never hear my voice again,
you hear this. Will you? Hear this. If God never
lets me speak to you again, you hear this. Make the honor of
God the chief concern of your life. Did you hear that? Make the honor of God the chief
concern of your life. I know we can add nothing to
God's honor. and we sure can't diminish it. God's glorious with
us or without us. However, we do greatly affect
the regards of others toward him. Lindsay, you and I are the occasion
of men either honoring God or blessing God. That's right. In our household,
we're the occasion of our wives and children either honoring
God or blessing God. Because we're God's representatives
in this world. Now, what we do in our own attitude
toward the honor of God is reflected in all who are around us and
all who are under our influence. Oh, how careful we ought to be.
Our God deserves to be honored by us. He's done exceedingly abundantly
for us, above what we could ever ask or think. He chose us to
be His sons and daughters in everlasting love, and never turned
from His choice. He sent His Son, who shed His
blood on our behalf, and put away our sins, redeeming us to
Himself, that we might be His sons and daughters forever. He
preserved us in all the days of our rebellion, in all our
transgression, in all our ungodliness, in all our unbelief. His hand
of mercy was upon us. His hand of grace was directing
us until the time that he sent his spirit to call us. He revealed
Christ in us. He gave us life when we were
dead. He gave us faith when we had nothing but unbelief. He
reconciled us to God when we were his enemies. And he's kept
us. God has made Himself known to
us in a way that the world has never seen. The world sees the
glory of God in His creation. They see His wisdom and His power. Oh, but God's made you to see
His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, brother. I mean, He's
shown Himself to you like He hasn't shown Himself to anybody
else around you. He's made us to see His glory in the face
of His dear Son. The glory of His grace. in the
redemption and salvation of his people. Let me speak plainly. Because we declare the believer's
absolute freedom from the law and refuse to break God's children
under any yoke of bondage, because we don't set up rules and regulations
that say do this and don't do that, folks say we are ambiguous.
Let me take away all ambiguity. Let me give you some perfectly
clear ways by which to honor God. Follow me in the scriptures. Turn over to John chapter 5.
John chapter 5. Some of you sitting out there
who don't know God, and maybe, oh maybe, just maybe, just maybe, God's dealing with your soul,
and you want to know, Pastor, how can I honor God? How can
I? It begins right here. Honor God
by believing. Honor God by believing. Believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5, verse 22, the Lord
Jesus is speaking, and he says, The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should
honor the Son. Even as they honor the Father,
he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. That's what it is to honor
God. It's to believe on Christ. To honor God is to look on Jesus
Christ, his dear son, as the all-sufficient salvation, all-sufficient
redemption, all-sufficient righteousness for all who trust him. To honor
God is to believe Christ. Will you believe him? Will you
believe him? Will you now test your helpless
soul on the merits of Jesus Christ? That's what it is to honor God. Honor God by confessing your
sin to him. Oh, confessing your sin. What on earth does that mean? It means to open your heart honestly
before God and acknowledge your guilt, your depravity, your corruption,
and God's justice in punishing sin. And what is to confess sin? Some people think that confessing
sin, we get the idea from watching folks go in and out of a confessional
booth on television. And they go in and say, forgive
me, Father, for I have sinned, or what have you done? I had
some dirty thoughts, or I stole a $100 bill, or I didn't show
up on time for work, clocked in anyway, or I committed adultery.
That's not what it is to confess sin. No, no, no, no. You're dealing with little branches
out here. You're cutting off the branches. to confess sins,
get to your heart. The Bible says get to your heart
and acknowledge what you are in your heart. This is what it
is. Have mercy on me, O God. According to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, O God, flood
out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgression.
my sins ever before me. Against thee, and thee only,
have I sinned, and done this great evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and clear when
thou judgest." But it wasn't David that was doing this. He
said, God, whatever you do in the punishment of my sin, it's
right. It's right. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother Your punishment of sin is right, because
God, I've nothing else but sin. Honor God thirdly by submitting
to the rule of Jesus Christ as your Lord. That's not a once for all thing. James, we keep, Christ keeps
pressing us every hour to submit, and we keep struggling with it
because our flesh doesn't like it. But this is what conversion
is. It's the believer bowing to the
rule of Christ. It's losing your life to Jesus
Christ. That's what it is. You folks
sitting here today who don't know God, never been born of
God's Spirit, you haven't yet come to Christ, you haven't yet
closed with Christ. I know the reason, and you do
too. You do too. It's not that you
just made up your mind you're going to hell. That's not the
problem. It's not that you don't believe there's a heaven. I'd
rather doubt there's anybody here of a skeptical mind. It's
not that you don't believe this book is the word of God or even
that you don't believe the doctrines of grace. I doubt there's an
Arminian in the household. Well, Pastor, what's the problem?
You don't want to submit to Christ. That's what the problem is. That's
all. I know because I've been there.
I've been there. My problem when God began to
deal with me was not that I didn't want to be saved. I wanted to
be saved in the worst sort of way, but I did not want Jesus
Christ to be the boss of my life. That's it. I had things under
pretty good control. I wanted to keep them that way.
I want to tell you, if you're ever saved, you're going to submit
to Christ's rule. If you honor God, you're going
to submit to it completely. To honor God is to trust his
unerring providence. What on earth are you talking
about? Old Brother Job lost his sons and his daughters
and his wealth and his reputation and finally even lost his wife,
she didn't die, but she got bad enough he wished she had died,
and his friends. And Job said, though he slayed
me, yet will I trust him. That's what I mean by trusting
God's providence. It is vowing to God's disposal of all things
with gladness of heart. Bill, he's too wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. And
he's too powerful to fail. No reason not to trust him, is
there? He's our father. He's our father. Trust him. To honor God is to extol his
greatness. David said three times over in
the Psalms, I will extol my God! all extol him in your doctrine
so that every doctrine you hold to extols the name and majesty
and greatness of God and extol him in your prayer and extol
him in your songs of praise. We have hymns in our hymn book
we never sing because God's not extolled and what we sing we
sing because God's extolled. We want to honor his name. Like
Nebuchadnezzar, I will extol the king of heaven, all whose
ways are truth. And I know that he is worthy
of it. For he's God. He's God. Honor
God by rejoicing in the Lord. God's elect ought to be the happiest
people beneath the sky. Sometimes I cannot imagine, I
cannot imagine a man having experienced what I experienced in God's hands.
With Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in me to comfort
and guide me, to sustain and keep me. Why should I not rejoice? Oh, but pastor, you don't know
what we've been through. No, I don't. I don't. But I know what Christ has been
through. And I know He's been through it for us. And I know
He bore our sorrows in His body. I know He bore the pain that
we deserve. And we ought to rejoice in Him.
When I can't rejoice in my family, and I can't rejoice in myself,
and I can't rejoice in the world, I can rejoice in God my Savior. Honor God by consecrating yourself
to Him. And to him alone. What do you
mean, Don? I mean obey his word. Obey his
word. Whatever you find written in
this book, do it. Do it. Obey it. Not in piecemeal. Well, I like this part. I don't
like that part so good. Obey it all. Obey it all. all the doctrines of the word,
all the ordinances of the word, all the teachings of the word,
obey the word. Consecrate yourself to him as
to seek his will. Turn over to Proverbs chapter
three. Proverbs chapter three. Some of you've heard this before,
some of you haven't. Shortly after Shelby and I started
dating, She didn't really know what she wanted, but I knew full
well what I wanted. I planned on marrying the girl.
And we began to look at things rather seriously. And here's a text of scripture
that we've read together a lot of times over the years. Proverbs 3, verse 5, trust in
the Lord with all your heart. There's not a better word of
exhortation to any of you. Trust Him with all your heart. And lean not unto thine own understanding. I don't know which is harder,
to trust Him or not trust yourself. I don't know which is harder. But as long as you trust yourself,
you won't trust Him. Whenever your understanding of
things leads you away from trust, Don't pay any attention to yourself.
That's what he's saying. Don't do it. Don't do it. Lean
not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him.
He'll direct your paths. He'll do it. I promise you he
will. Be not wise in thine own eyes.
Fear the Lord and depart from evil. and it shall be health
to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. It will be life to your
soul. Honor the Lord with thy substance
and with the firstfruits of thine increase. If you speak to it, you honor God
with what God puts in your hands. You do it. Do it. Pastor, I've
got bills to pay. Honor God with your substance.
Pastor, I've got to, I've got to meet obligations with my family.
Honor God with your substance. Honor God with your substance.
But the first fruits of the acres. That is, bring the first things
to God. You see, giving throughout the scriptures, even under the
law when tithing was demanded, giving is an act of faith. It's an act of faith. I had a fellow tell me one time
years ago, young couple, they were trying to scratch out a
living, get by. The fellow said, well, you know,
we always pay our bills first and get our groceries, and then
we try to give God what we can. And I said, give God what you
want to give him first. And then if you can, you can
buy some groceries and pay your bills. That's not reasonable. Oh, yes, it is. Most reasonable
thing on this earth. I'm telling you it is. How can
you say that? To give God what I need is to
trust God to supply my needs. That's what it is. To give God
what I have use for is to trust God to make a way for the things
I need. Honor God by loving each other.
We had that lesson this morning. All children of God love each
other. And this is God's promise to all his saints. Them that
honor me, I will honor. Now, I can tell you something
here. I'm not as old as some, but I'm
older than many, and I've been in this blessed Kingdom of Grace,
longer than a good many of you. For 25 years, I've been walking
in this way. And God says, them that honor
me, I will honor. He's never failed to do it. Never. I mean never. This is God's promise
to his servants. I was talking to our friend from
Scotland who was here this past week. He's talking about preachers
having to do this, having to do that. Wait a minute. Wait
a minute. No, no, no, no. No, I'm God's
servant. I am God's servant. That means
I don't have to compromise anything ever with anybody. That's right. And if I compromise to keep your
favor, Bob, I'm your servant, not God's servant. If I compromise
to keep you smiling at me, I'm your servant, not God's servant.
If I compromise to keep your security that you give me, I'm
the servant of your money, not God's servant. God's servant
doesn't have to compromise. God will honor him. It's God's promise to every household. Every household. You honor God in your house,
God will honor you in your house. He'll do it. He'll do it. It's God's promise to his church. Our business is to honor God.
That's all. That's all. It doesn't matter,
it doesn't make one bit of difference in this world, what the world
thinks. What the political world, the
ecclesiastical world, the secular world, it doesn't matter what
anybody out there thinks. Our business is to honor God. It means we got no other business.
We have no other business in this world. God will honor us if we honor
him. And this is God's promise to
every believer. Them that honor me, I will honor.
Let me show you. Turn over to Mark, chapter 10.
Mark, chapter 10. I'm going to wrap this up, but
I want you to see this. Mark, the 10th chapter. God promises us that if we honor
him, he'll honor us even in this present life. In Mark, chapter
10, verse 30, our Lord Jesus says, He shall
receive, or verse 29 rather, Jesus answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands
for my sake, and the Gospels. But he shall receive a hundredfold
now in this present time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and
mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and the world
to come. What on earth is he talking about?
You listen to that nut out there tilting. He reads that text. Oh, God promised you to give
up your house and give you a hundred houses. That's not what it's
talking about. That's not what it's talking about. Let me tell
you what it's talking about. I have no house of my own, but
I have a house everywhere in the world. Everywhere in the
world, literally. I'm going to have to spend the
night at your house a couple of days. That's my house. My
house. And if I was up your way, buddy,
I'd go spend time at your house. My house. I've got brethren everywhere. And I've had to give up some.
I've got ten folk. My soul is pained to be around
them. Around them just because of ten folk. And after an hour
or two, let's go somewhere else. It's getting a little heavy.
Because we've got nothing in common. Absolutely. But brethren? Shoot, I've got them scattered
all over the world. I mean, all over the world. Family, all over
the world. Our Lord Jesus asked his disciples,
he said, you complain about what you've given up? Do you ever
lack anything? Lack ye anything? Anything? You who serve God,
answer me. I've been young and now I'm old,
David said, I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging
bread. Have you? Have you? Have you ever lacked
anything as you sought to serve God? Anything? Anything? Back here in our text, back in
1 Samuel, Hannah asked God to give her a son. She was barren. Her womb was dead. She said,
God, give me a son. God gave her a son. You know
what she did with it? She got him weaned, and she brought him
to the temple of God and said, God, here he is. He's yours.
He's yours. You know what God did? Look in
chapter 2 of 1 Samuel and verse 20. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his
wife, Hannah, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman
for the load which is lent to the Lord. And they went to their
own home. She brought Samuel, said, here
he is. I've given him to God. Eli said, the Lord blessed you
for it. Listen to what happened. And the Lord visited Hannah so
that she conceived and bear three sons and two daughters. You know
what Mr. Spurgeon said about that? He
said, God always pays good interest on his loans. And he always does. He always does. You will never
impoverish yourself by serving God's honor in this world. Our
Lord Jesus said, you follow me and my father will serve you. You can't mean it. No, he does,
though. He said, you follow me, John
12, 26, and my father will serve you. God Almighty will serve
you. He'll serve you. Years ago, Queen Elizabeth, I
presume the first, said to a businessman in London, I want you to go to
Hamburg to attend to some business for me. And that man responded
this way, he said, but your majesty, my own business will suffer in
my absence. And she said, no, it will not. If you attend to my business,
I'll attend to your business. And I'm telling you, God says,
you attend to my honor, I'll attend to your honor. Well, how will God honor us?
He may not give you fame in the world. I'll tell you what he'll
give you. He'll give you respect even among
your enemies. Herod killed John the Baptist,
but he referenced him. He feared him as a prophet of
God. And God will give you influence
in the world for good. Those martyrs who gave their
lives for the cause of Christ, whose
names we do not know, they were persecuted by the Pope, put to
death by the Duke of Saxony, murdered by the Queen of England.
We don't know the date. But I'd heapsite rather be them
and have their influence in the world than be the folks who had
the power, the authority, and the riches, and the strength
to persecute them and put them to death. Wouldn't you? Oh, I
sure would like to have a throne. I've got a throne. I sure would
like to have power! I'm nippled to God, my father. Power? I sure would like to be
able to live without having to want for anything. God says cattle
and a thousand hills belong to me. You know what that means?
If I need one, they're mine. That's just what that means.
That means if I can hold it with God and kill a cow, God can kill
a cow and send it to me. He can even fly it to me by a
razor. Oh, you're talking silly now.
Talk silly to anybody who doesn't believe God. God will give you peace. Oh, peace in your conscience. I can think of nothing more tormenting to a believer than to willfully neglect God's
honor. I can think of nothing more tormenting. None of us knows how much God's
honoring him at any time. We look at fame as spoken by
the breath of men." Shoot. Fame coming from the breath of
a man. Boy, that's just so much air. It's gone. Oh, there is a fame
that comes from the throne of God. Among the angels of heaven
and the saints in glory, even the demons of hell that shall
endure unto everlasting. And God will give you honor in
the end. He says, you'll be my jewels in that day when I make
up my jewels. And he will say to wandering
worlds, come, you, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you before the foundation of the world, while the world
stand back in astonishment. I mean, while the demons of hell
and the nations of the world stand back in astonishment as
God says to you, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I'll tell you what, you give
me that and you can have everything else there. But there is a warning in our
text. They that despise me shall be
lightly esteemed. In this life, you have no hope. In death, you
have no consolation. In eternity, you have no mercy. This is the most certain of all
laws. Them that honor me, I will honor. They that despise me shall be
like me. Which will it be for you? Either
honor God or despise Him. Which will it be? Amen.