I hope you'll listen with a special care this morning
and again tonight. I'm going to be dealing with
practically the same subject this morning and again this evening.
The title of this message is, All That Walk in Pride. He will
abase. He is able to abase. All that
walk in pride, he will abase. Now, Paul wrote to young Timothy
in 2 Timothy 4 verse 5, he said this, be alert, be alert, calm
and steady, steady as you go. in all things. Accept and endure all hardships. Do the work of an evangelist. And fully perform, fully perform
all the duties of your ministry. Fully perform all the duties
of your ministry. Now, I know the duties of the
ministry are not what men today think they are. And yet I know that the duties
of the ministry are vast. And while we're not sufficient
for these great things, this ministry of the Word, nevertheless,
our sufficiency is Christ. But two things, two things are
especially on my mind in these days. Two things are with me
continually. The first thing is this. I want to preach the gospel of
Christ. I don't want to preach another
gospel, another Jesus and another spirit. I want to declare the
true gospel, the saving gospel, the gospel of his free grace,
the gospel which Paul called the gospel of his glory. I want
to preach that. I want to preach the free grace
of God in Christ Jesus in such a way that that sincere men and
women, not those who are playing games, not those who are looking
for personal glory and recognition, not those who are craving social
contacts alone, but I want to preach it in such a way that
sincere men and women who long to know God, the living God,
and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, that they will be encouraged
to look to Christ. to look to Christ, that they
will be encouraged to believe on Christ, to lay hold of Christ,
to find a saving interest in Christ, a real sweet assurance
of a union with him. That's what he came to do. He
said, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save the lost,
the lost, not the religious, not the righteous. I didn't come,
he said, to call the righteous, but sinners to repent." This is a true saying, Paul said,
a faithful saying. It's worthy of acceptation by
all that Christ Jesus came into this world. He came into this
world. The Father sent him, and he came
into this world to save sinners like you and me. like you and
me. Paul said, of whom I'm chief.
And Isaiah said, come now, come now, let's reason together. I told my Sunday school class
this morning, this religion of emotionalism and showmanship
and entertainment and whoop-de-doo, carnival atmosphere, Somehow
it's contrary to the scriptures, to the character of God. It's
a put-on. Isaiah said, come now and let
us reason together. Let's do some thinking. Though
your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. And the second thing that's on
my mind continually is this, and it gets, this situation I
think gets worse every day. I am troubled by the low opinion,
the low opinion that men today have of God. I'm so troubled
about this that I'm going to dedicate both messages today
to this subject, the character and greatness of our God. I tell
you, men today have a low opinion of God. The trash and trite and
foolishness that's going on in the name of God is appalling
to anybody who has any sense at all. These men are conmen, they're
jokers, they're carnival barkers, they're fools, and those who
are following them are fools. I don't care how many follow
them. But there's no fear of God before their eyes. There's
no solemnity and sobriety and seriousness when it comes to
God. They so flippantly use His name. They talk of God in one breath
and the devil in the next breath, as if they were competitors. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such a one as thyself? Such familiarity, such small
thoughts of God. One preacher says, God said to
me, Jimmy, Such loose talk, such lies about
conversations with God. God never said anything to him
and that fool knows it. And anybody that knows anything
about God listening to him knows it. No man has seen him or heard
his voice at any time. The only begotten Son hath revealed
him. No man knows the Father but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Why do we listen
to these people? Why do we put up with them? Why
do we keep silent where they're concerned? We must declare the majesty of
God. Paul said over here in 1 Timothy,
listen to this, 1 Timothy 1, verse 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise, God be honor and glory forever and
ever, amen. That's not the language of today. You say, that's old time language,
that's godly language. Time's got nothing to do with
it, nothing to do with it. Let me just read you this over
here in Ecclesiastes 5. Keep your foot when you go to
the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. They consider not they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth. Let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God's
in the heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words
be few." We're the worthiest blabbermouth in the world when
it comes to God. Nobody's paying any attention.
Well, hallelujah, praise the Lord, whoop-de-doo, glory to
God. Just somehow these preachers feel like they've got to keep
that jargon going all the time. People waving their hands and
cutting up, and they've got to have that musical background
to keep that atmosphere going. And it's counterfeit. Counterfeit. Old Job said this. Job said,
I know that thou canst do everything, that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hieth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not. things too wonderful for me.
I've been popping off about things too wonderful for me, which I
knew not. I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor
myself. I repent and dust and ashes."
I want you to turn to the book of Daniel with me, the book of
Daniel, chapter 4. And I'll tell you, this is a
serious subject that I have today. I wish I had the ear of the world. I may be assassinated when I
got through, but I'd love to have it one time. One time. Daniel 4, 28. All this came upon
the king, Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 29, at the end of 12 months,
he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king
spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built, for
the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, for the
honor of my majesty? And while the word was in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from
thee, they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be
with the beast of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass
as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat
grass as oxen. And his body was wet with the
dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers,
and his nails like birdclaws. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding, my mind,
returned to me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, his kingdom is from generation to
generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
all of them. And he doeth according to his
will, his will, in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What
doest thou? Now, no one ever accused old
Nebuchadnezzar of being a prophet, but God taught him. God taught
him some things that my generation needs to learn. God taught him,
like Jonah, some powerful truth in an unusual way. And I'll give
you several things that God taught Nebuchadnezzar. First of all,
he taught him the majesty and greatness and sovereignty of
the Lord God. He said, look at verse 34, he
said the last line, I bless the Most High, the Most High, the
Most High. I praise him that liveth forever. I wish we could adopt this language
today. But out of the heart, the mouth
speaketh. And a man's idea of God is usually what comes out
of his mouth. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. We've got a limited peanut God
today who wants to do things and folks won't let him. His
kingdom is from generation to generation. Thy throne eternal
ages stood ere seas and stars were made. Thou art the ever-living
God where all the nations Eternity, with all its years, stands present
in thy view. To thee nothing old appears,
and, great God, there's nothing new. Let idols topple to the
ground, and all their worshipers confound. But Judah, shout, and
Zion sing, and each confess her sovereign king. Our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased,
whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, in earth,
in the seas, and all deep places. Moses walked into the presence
of Pharaoh and said, The Lord said, Let my people go. And Pharaoh
answered and said, Who is the Lord? Who is the Lord that I
should obey his voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord,
neither will I let Israel go. I wonder how many here really
know the Lord, the living God. Well, I'll tell you this, if
you know him, it's because he's revealed himself to you. Because as we studied in our
Bible class lesson this morning, no man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at
the last day, as it's written in the prophets, they shall all
be taught of God. And every man that hath heard
and learned of the Father cometh to me." Well, God taught Moses
that he was the eternal God. Moses stood before the burning
bush And God gave him instructions to lead Israel out of Egypt.
And Moses said, well, when they asked me who sent me, whom shall
I say has sent me? And God said, the Lord God spoke
and said, I am. I am that I am. I am, not was,
not will be. I am. That's what that hymn writer
said. here when he says, Eternity with
all its years stands present in thy view. To thee nothing
old appears, great God, there's nothing new. I am. I am, not I was or I shall be. He's eternally the same. There
was a time when man was not. There was a time when the world
was not. There was a time when the angels were not. There was
a time when the heavens were not. There was a time when time
was not. But God is. See what I'm saying? God is.
God is. And somewhere in here, or here,
or somewhere, somebody in this day in the pulpit of the pew
or somewhere, got the light of spark, and get some folks interested
in finding out who God is. Because most people don't know.
The preachers don't know. I can tell by the way they're
talking, he doesn't know God. There's no awe or fear. There's
no solemnity. There's no respect, there's no
reverence in the man's approach The man's a fool. The man's a
ringmaster in a circus. The man's a cheerleader. He doesn't
know God. He doesn't know God. I don't
care where he talks to him, he doesn't know God. I don't care
where he refers to him. God revealed himself to Isaiah,
the holy God. Isaiah said, when King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. I lifted up. and his train filled
the temple, and even those creatures in heaven covered their faces
and covered their feet, and with two wings flew about the throne,
crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. And the whole earth
was moved, and I fell at his feet, and I cried, I'm undone,
I'm cut off. I'm cut off. But we're a cocky, confident
bunch. Our spokesmen, our preachers,
our leaders are good men, righteous men, men of God, they'll tell
you. They wish you were like them. There's none of this, I'm cut
off. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. I'm less than
the least of all the saints. I'm the chief of setters. Who's
sufficient for these things? We're sufficient. We've got the
answers. Call in and ask us. Without any notes or anything,
we'll answer any question you might want. Call our counselors.
They're all authorities. We've got a whole half a stage full of counselors, busy on the phone. You got any problems about God
or spirituality or Christ or heaven or hell, just ask our
counselors. We're not afraid to tackle anything,
because fools rush in where angels don't dare to go. That's why
I'm telling you the truth. You need to call a different
phone than those. You need to get in touch with
him. Isaiah saw him as the Holy One. He revealed himself to Job
as the creating, sustaining God of the universe. Where were you,
he said, when I made the sea and put a swaddling band around
it and said, You've come so far and no further. Have you entered
into the treasures of the snow? Does the wind go and come at
your voice? Will a lightning obey your voice?
Did you make the horse who will dash into battle fearlessly against
spears and arrows and swords, and yet will be afraid of a grasshopper? Have you entered into death?
Do you know anything about life, death? I'm the creating God who teaches
the bird to lay her eggs and build her nest and feed her young,
who teaches her the direction to go in the winter and come
back in the summer, who teaches the lion to give birth to her
young and defend them, who provides food for all of these billions
of creatures on the earth. Not that peanut God this generation
worshiped. Right, Charlie. It's sad. It's
sad. He revealed himself to Jeremiah
as the sovereign God. He said, You be still, know that
I'm God. And you come down here to the
potter's house, and you watch the potter. And Jeremiah said,
I went down and I watched him. And he took a lump of clay and
put it on the wheel. and spun the wheel, kept it going
with his foot, and he designed that vessel just like it pleased
him. And God said, Jeremiah, as the
clay is in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hands to do
with what I will. Don't you believe any preacher
stands before you, no matter how vast the throng No matter
how many dignitaries are sitting on the platform, I don't care
if Cliff Hagen, Jerry Claiborne, both are sitting up there. And
the governor. Don't you believe any preacher
tells you Christ is in your hands? Or God's in your hands, do with
as you please. God has permitted himself to
fall into the hands of sinful men one time. One time. And they nailed him to a cross.
And that's the only time. Now, you're in his hands. And
he's the potter. You're not the potter. He's the
potter. And you're the clay. And Paul
repeated it in Romans. And you can nurse your teeth,
and grit your teeth, and quench your thirst, and fight that till
your dying day. But I'll tell you, that's what
the Word of God said. But I don't want any other kind
of God. I want an almighty God, one who
holds tomorrow, not just who knows, but who holds tomorrow. He revealed himself to Ezekiel
as love and mercy. He said, You were like a child
born to heathen parents and cast out into the field the day you
were born. You weren't washed and swaddled
at all, but lay polluted in your own blood. helpless and hopeless
and a prey to the beast. And I passed by you and saw you
polluted in your blood, and it was a time of love, not your
love for me. You didn't know me. You weren't
capable of knowing me. There was such an infinite distance
between you and me that I loved you, and I said to you, Love!
I said to you, when you're in your blood, Live! And I reached
down and picked you up and washed you from your pollution, and
I put a robe on you and rings on your fingers, and I decked
you out with scarlet and fine linen and satin and all these
things. And I made you mine, and your
beauty is my beauty, my beauty." He revealed himself to Solomon
as the righteous judge. He said, I've called, and you've
refused. I stretched out my hand, and
no man regarded. Therefore I'll laugh when your
fear cometh. When your desolation comes like
a whirlwind, I'll laugh. Then you shall call on me, and
I will not answer. You'll say, Lord, Lord, open
to us! And I'll say, depart from me,
I never knew you. To the only wise God, our Savior
and our King, Let all the nations below the skies bow humbly their
praises bring. To our Redeemer, God, wisdom
and power belong, immortal crowns of majesty and everlasting songs."
What did God teach old Nebuchadnezzar? Look at the second thing in verse
35. Now listen to me. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. Nothing. This is not what's being preached
today. It's to be honest with you, the man in the glass church,
whatever his name is, he says you're something. You're something. You've got to find out you're
something. You're somebody. The dignity of the flesh But
God taught Nebuchadnezzar and put him out there like a donkey
eating grass. And his understanding returned
to him, and he said, I found out that God is something, and
I am nothing. That God reigns and rules, and
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, nothing,
nothing. I want you to turn to Psalm 40.
I mean, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 40. Please turn over there. I want
you to see these three or four statements in Isaiah 40. Isaiah
40, verse 15. Now listen to it. Isaiah 40,
verse 15. Now listen with me. Behold, the
nations are as a drop of a bucket. The I'm not talking about the poor,
insignificant, famine-infested, inferior, third world nation.
I'm talking about all the nations of the earth, made up of all
the people, are as a drop of a bucket. My friends, you know
what a drop of a bucket is? A drop of a bucket. You who raised
on the farm do. It's that last drop that remains
in the bucket after you empty the whole contents, pour it out,
and a drop remains in the bottom. too insignificant to pay attention
to. Or when you drop the bucket into
the well to draw the water, what's the drop of the bucket? It's
that water that drops off the bottom of the bucket when you
pull up your bucket. You don't reach out and catch
it. Hey, don't lose a drop! Let her drop, there's plenty.
Let her drop. Pay attention to that old drop
of a bucket. That's what we are. Unworthy
of notice. Look at this, here's so shocking,
same verse, Isaiah 40, 15. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. You know what that is? This is
the dust. You've got a scale, a balance,
where they weigh things. There's the dust that settles
on the scale, but it's not sufficient to affect the weight of the matter
at all. The man in the store doesn't, every time he weighs
something, get a damp cloth and scrub all the dust off the scale,
because the small dust that settles on the scale is not significant
to affect one bit in the world, just a thin layer of dust. That's
what we are. We're not going to affect the
outcome of God's world one hour. All the nations are like a drop
that fell off the bucket. Boy, that does something to old
human pride, doesn't it? We'll get our signs and marks.
We'll start a this, that, and the other. You know, we'll picket
heaven. We'll demand of God. Go ahead. Dust of the balance. Dropping the bucket. But he's
not through. He's not through. Behold, he
taketh up the aisles. The United States is an island.
Canada, the United States, Central America, South America is surrounded
by just an island. Australia is an island. Take
it up the aisles, there's a very little thing. And Lebanon, the
forest of Lebanon, all the trees in the world not sufficient to
light a fire at his altar. And all the beasts, think how
many beasts there are, the deer, the lions, the elephants, the
tigers, all these beasts are not sufficient for one burnt
offering. All nations before him, not some
of them, all together, the kings, the emperors, the rich, the learned,
the talented, the wise, all of these mighty nations together
are before him as nothing, nothing, nothing. They are counted to
him less than nothing. I tell you, Brother Mahan, that's
not the kind of preaching that is going to get your following
and Get people to give, and get people to support you, and get
people to promote you, and get people... Folks aren't going
to listen to that. I know it. They never did. God sent Isaiah
and said, go to them. They're not going to hear you,
but you go preach to them. And you tell them what I said. I'm
telling you what he said. That is in the Bible that you've
got in your hand, isn't it? All the nations are less than
nothing. Where are the Caesars and where
are the Alexanders, where are the Lincolns, men with mire? All that remains of them is a
hole in the ground. Not even any bones left now,
just specks of dust. They are no more. They're nothing. We're nothing. We're less than
nothing. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. If a man thinks of himself to
be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. We brought
nothing into the world. We'll take nothing out. Without
me, you can do nothing. I challenge Dr. Graham to preach
on this. I challenge him. I know I'm a
peanut, one grape on the big vine. But they know what not
to preach on. This generation doesn't want
to hear it. The day will come when they'll heap to themselves,
having itching ears, teachers with itching ears, who will turn
away their ears from the truth. Nebuchadnezzar, God taught him
some things. He said, My understanding came
back to me, and I said, The Most High rules. His dominion is from
everlasting to everlasting. His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of this
earth are reputed as nothing less than nothing. And then what's this in the 4th
chapter again, verse 35? And he said, And he doeth according
to his will. He doeth according to his will. You call me a fatalist, a hard
shell, a hypercalist, I don't care what you call me. That's
totally insignificant. God calls me his son, and I believe
him. And I call him father. And what
other people think doesn't matter. But it says here, he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth, and nobody can stay his hand. Now, you can stay
my hand. I'm a weak person. Just grab
it. But you can't stay his hand. And you can't question what he
does. You can't say, well, what are
you doing? You can come to me tomorrow and I'll be out there
trying to work my yard. I say, what are you doing? Don't
do it that way. God does it his way. And you
can't stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou. And you
can talk about the will of man and man's will and free will
and the violation of the will and all of this will stuff, whosoever
will. But I'm telling you now, in this
universe there's one will. There's one will, and it says,
he doeth according to his will. Now, every other will is in subjection
to his will, because he's going to do his will. And he taught
us to pray, I will be done. And David said, our God's in
the heaven, whatsoever he will, that's what he did. Paul wrote
in Ephesians 1, he worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Peter said in Acts 4, he said,
you did what you wanted to do, but you did what he willed to
do. And that's it. I've learned it,
I believe, I can say without boasting. I hope that the bragging
and boasting and the starch is taken out of us, but I have some
understanding at least a little, enough to frighten me, enough
to subdue me, enough to whittle me down, strip me of the greatness
of God. I know in part, prophesy in part,
but God is God. Let God be God. And I found out
we're nothing. Really, folks, we're nothing.
We put our name, we chisel our names on stones and put them
on schools and memorials and buildings, and that's folly.
That's trying to hold on to something that doesn't even exist, and
that's human fame and dignity. You brought nothing into this
world, you take nothing out. You know what he said? Reclamor
to build huge ranches and monuments to ourselves, and the only thing
that's necessary is to know him. Belief to know him. And then
the last thing he taught Nebuchadnezzar, verse 37, I'll just read it and
let it sink into my heart and yours, I hope. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuchadnezzar, I praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth. I
like that, don't you? Truth. And his ways, judgment. They're right. the judge of the
earth, shall he not do right? Amen! Amen. And those that walk in pride,
even that much, he is able to abase. He'll get
you. Go on. He's able. He is alive.