SGFC Worship Service, Oct 18, 2020

Good morning, Sovereign Grace family.

So once again, we're without our pastor.

However, we have some worship lined up.

And we just ask that you stand and join with us.

Our first song is Awesome God.

It's an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above within.

God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above within.

He's got power and love.

Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

So our scripture reading is by Jack.

And he's going to come up and read.

Before I read the scripture, let's go to God in prayer to ask him to bless his words that we're about to read.

Father, God has come to you again this morning to give you praise for all that you do for us.

As we open up your word, the beautiful word that you've given to us on the Bible, which we appreciate, that we can learn more about you and our Savior Jesus.

We ask you to bless these words we're about to read.

And we ask you to watch over each of us and open our minds and our hearts.

And we give you praise.

We ask in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

Amen.

We're reading 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.

Excuse me while I get my tablet.

Finally, brothers, pray for us.

Excuse me, I'm sorry, I forgot to put my glasses on.

My print's so small.

That's better.

Finally, brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happy among you, and that we may be delivered from the wicked and evil men.

For not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful.

He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we commanded.

May the Lord direct your hearts to the Lord, to the love of God, to the steadfastness of Christ.

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you receive from us.

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it.

But with toil and labor, we work night and day, that we might not be burdened to any of you.

It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you and ourselves an example to imitate.

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command.

If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, but busy at work, but busy bodies, not work, but busy bodies.

Now, such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to learn their own living.

As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed.

Do not regard him as an enemy, but warm him in your brother.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you wisdom, peace through all times and every way.

The Lord will be with you.

I, Paul, write this greeting with you in my own hand.

This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine.

It is the way I write.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you forever.

Thank you.

♪ Some glad morning when this life is over ♪ ♪ I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore ♪ ♪ I'll fly away, I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away ♪ ♪ And I die, hallelujah, by and by ♪ ♪ When the shadows of this life have grown ♪ ♪ I'll like a bird from the prison bars that swung ♪ ♪ I'll fly away, I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away ♪ ♪ And I die, hallelujah, by and by ♪ ♪ Just a few more weary days and then I'll fly away ♪ ♪ Where joy should never end, I'll fly away, I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away ♪ Next we have the offering.

We can get Gary to come up and pray for the offering.

The scripture says each one of us must give as he has decided in his heart and not reductantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.

Let us pray.

Dear Lord God, we have so much, so much, so much stuff that we are so thankful for.

We thank you for this time that we're able to meet and worship you, Lord God.

We thank you for the provisions that you've given us, Lord.

We thank you for the life and the breath that comes out that you allow us to do each morning, Lord God.

We thank you for the homes that you let us live in.

We thank you for the clothes.

We just thank you, we're thankful, Lord God.

Let us be a content people.

But most of all, Lord God, during this time of offering, let us give, Lord God, with a good heart, Lord God, and a happy heart and a joyful heart.

And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

♪ When sorrows like sea billows roll ♪ ♪ Whenever my lot thou hast taught me to say ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ Though Satan should bow, though trial should come ♪ ♪ Let this blessed assurance control ♪ ♪ That Christ has regarded my helpless estate ♪ ♪ And has shed his own blood for my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, my soul, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul ♪ ♪ Of this glorious thought, my sin not in part ♪ ♪ But the whole is nailed to the cross ♪ ♪ And I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is the day when the fates shall decide ♪ ♪ The path be rolled back as a scroll ♪ ♪ The strong shall resound and the Lord shall descend ♪ ♪ Even so, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ Let's join our hearts together in prayer.

God, there is none like you.

You have declared the end from the beginning, whatsoever comes to pass, and for your good pleasure.

Father God, thank you that you are a God that hears, a God that speaks.

You're not a God of wood or stone where men carve it out and then they sweep up the refuse and throw it in a trash can and then bow down and talk to it.

But God, you are a God that hears the voices of your people.

God, you long to hear the supplications and praises of your people.

Father, thank you that we as a corporate body can come together in worship to sing psalms and hymns and worship you, Father, in spirit and in truth.

God, thank you for the word that sticks into be preached.

Father God, I pray you would be with Andy.

I pray that you would strengthen his mind, strengthen his voice, empower him with your spirit, that he would speak with clarity and with boldness and with passion, and that, Father God, your word would be proclaimed.

Father, that men and women would be transformed more into the conformity of the image of your son.

Father, we would be made more like your son, that our sanctification would be more today than when we leave than when we came in.

And, Father God, I lift up Keith as he preaches to another congregation today that you would be with him, that you would help him to preach with boldness and with passion and with clarity as well, that you would keep him safe from error.

Father, you would be with the hearers, both here and to the ones that Keith will preach to, that, Father, they would hear, and that, Father, their hearts would be opened, and that the word of God would penetrate the heart and change lives.

Father God, I pray for the person in here that does not know you, young or old, that, God, today would be the day of salvation, that, Father, you would take out that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that causes them to walk in your ways and obey your statutes, that, Father, they would call upon the name of the Lord, for you say in your word, Father, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

And, God, we pray that today would be the day of salvation for the lost.

God, once again, be with us through this time, may we be honored and glorified, in all that's said and done, in Christ's name, amen.

As I get wired up, I'll ask you to turn to 2 Kings.

2 Kings chapter 17.

2 Kings can be found right after 1 Kings.

Might not be a book that you're normally familiar with, but it's the great thing about God's word, right? It's God's word.

It's God's word from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between.

So, today I want to look at some thoughts out of this chapter, 2 Kings chapter 17.

So, before we go to the word, as we ought to, not something we just do, but what we ought to do is pray for God's blessing.

We cannot ask God enough to bless us as we open his word.

So, let's just ask God's blessing again.

Our Father and our God, again, now we come to your word, the word of truth, the word that stands forever, the infallible word, the unchangeable word, the word that is a revelation from you, that bears witness to your truth and your being, that bears witness to the coming of the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God, help us this morning that your word would penetrate, even as been prayed into our hearts, in whatever place we're in, Lord, whether we be those who are in Christ, those that are without Christ, for there is none other, Lord.

We are either in the Savior or we are without the Savior.

And may your word find its work in both of us, and may we be pleasing to you in what we look at today for the glory of Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

Well, I have chosen this text for a number of reasons.

Again, as I say, it might not be something that you're familiar with, but there are some reasons, and I wanted to just take a minute, and maybe it would be helpful for some to think about it.

Why? Because I would think, I would imagine that all of us, at one point or another, we must think, why does someone get up and speak about a particular subject or use a particular text? Why didn't they just speak about that? So I'm sure if you haven't asked someone who stood up to preach, you probably have thought, why did they choose that text or this text? And I want you to just think about a couple things, a few things I want to say about that.

And one of the reasons for going to 2 Kings this morning is that in my own personal reading, as of late, I have been reading through 2 Kings.

And as I read through this chapter in particular, and the verse in particular, which is the heart of the message, which is verse 33, I found myself coming back to it over and over again.

In other words, I found myself being captured by the text.

And I take that to be the leading of the Spirit of God, that when something is impressed upon us by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, we ought to pay attention to it.

So that's one reason why I've asked us to turn to 2 Kings chapter 17, and one of the reasons why we will look at verse 33, because again, it's been my friend, my provoker, and a couple other things to me for the last couple of months.

And also I want to say this.

As you think about the exposition of the Word of God, it's not always easy to answer, again, why someone will go through this text or that text, but if I were to be preaching every Sunday, as Brother Keith is, then I would recommend, I would encourage that we would go through, as Brother Keith is doing, go through a book, or go through a theme, go through a book or a theme, and in an expository way, seek to open up the meaning in the text, and make applications, and to give, if you will, a longer narrative of a particular subject or a particular book.

Well, since I am filling in, if you want to use that term, I kind of hold back from that term, but probably some of you are already thinking, well, as Brother Andy, he's filling in for Brother Keith.

Can't wait for Brother Keith to get back, because then we'll have the real preacher here.

This is just a fill-in.

But if you are filling in, or if you're preaching in a certain environment, as Brother Keith is going down to Ocala to preach, that I think it is better to steer away from trying to do a whole lot of expository preaching, because you really only have a certain setting to work with.

That doesn't mean you don't seek to expose the text, but at the same time, from time to time, it's better to speak about a specific subject, and if you will, to make it sufficient for one sitting.

In other words, it would be really wrong for me to try to open up a book, or a theme, or a subject, and just give you the outline, and then say, okay, have a great day.

I think when you do it in that way, you leave people without a full meal, and I think that preaching should always provide a full meal.

That we use the right ingredients, the same ingredients, we just lose less ingredients.

So that's another reason why from time to time, when someone will be preaching, and they're not the ones that are continually in that spot, they will go to this text or that text.

It's similar to what we're doing in Sunday school.

If you think about it, we've been going through the Book of Judges in Sunday school, we're going through verse by verse, we've been in it, I don't even know how long, probably close to eight months, and we've finished seven chapters.

There's where we slow down, we try to open it up verse by verse, and do it in a more expository way.

I thought that that would be helpful this morning, as we come to the text, because I do think that these things sometimes are in our minds about this, that, and the other thing.

So having said that, I want us to look now at this chapter, and again, I want us to think about a number of things.

The heart of it is really, my friends, from verse 33, so let us read it together.

I'm going to go back and read portions of the chapter as we go through this, but I want us to see the text that has really provoked me.

In verse 33, it says, They feared the Lord, yet served other gods, according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

They feared the Lord, yet they served other gods.

As we look at this chapter, and as we seek to approach this text, approach this verse, there are a number of things that I would ask you to keep in mind.

One is that we will see as we go through it that God has an issue.

That God has, if you will, a holy complaint against both the nation of Israel and those who come in, as you will see in short time, those that come in and take over the land of Israel, that there's an issue or a complaint, and then there is a consequence based on God's issue and God's complaint against the people to whom he's speaking, and then as we close, I hope to be able to provide at least a few thoughts concerning remedies, whether they be right remedies or wrong remedies.

So we'll be thinking about issues, consequences, and then remedies, and in this chapter, as I said, God has a complaint against his people, the Jews, and they are continually walking away from God as his redeemed people, as he has brought them out of the land of Egypt.

They are, as God has said in many places, they are a stiff necked people.

So let me ask you to read with me the first 12 verses to start to see the context, the setting, and this issue that God has.

And by the way, as we do this, my friends, it's not that God has an issue, but it's just another issue.

Listen, when God has an issue, we better listen.

God is not like us.

We have issues, and we have complaints, and then something else comes along our way, and we forget about our first complaint and go to our second complaint.

We forget about this issue and jump to that issue.

Not so with God.

When the living God, when the true God has an issue, we better listen.

So let us read the first 12 verses to get the setting a little clearer in our minds.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.

And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

Inshallah Manasseh, king of Assyria, came up against him, and Hosea became his vassal and paid him tribute money.

And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hosea, for he had sent messengers to sow king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year, and therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.

Now, the king of Assyria went through all the land and went up against Samaria and besieged it for three years.

And in the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried them away to Assyria, and placed there in Halah, and by the Hebor, the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hands of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared of the gods.

And had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made.

And the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right.

And they built for themselves high places in all the cities, from watchtower to fortified city, and they set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill, and under every green tree.

And they burn incense on all the high places as the nations had done, whom the Lord had carried away before them, and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger.

For they served idols, for whom of which the Lord had said unto them, You shall not do this thing.

So we begin to see the context, or the narrative for which that verse that I mentioned to you, that they feared the Lord and served other gods, is found.

That God has an issue with his covenant people, the Jews, and if you remember just briefly that there was a southern kingdom after the division of Solomon and Rehoboam and German, so there's a southern kingdom and a northern kingdom, and this is, Hosea is the king in the northern kingdom, and he doesn't listen.

He follows Jeroboam, who was the first king in the northern kingdom, does evil in the sight of the Lord.

God warns his covenant people.

God sends his covenant people prophets and teachers, and for all that they won't listen until finally God's going to take them into captivity through Assyria.

And then ultimately if you read further you'll find out that God takes the southern kingdom, Judah, into captivity through Babylon after they see the northern kingdom go into captivity, and they still don't learn, they still do the things that the northern kingdom did, and for all of that God brings them into judgment, and takes them away captive through the hand of Babylon.

So we see that God reveals himself, this is the issue, and so read with me a little bit further from verse 13 through verse 24, and now let's see how God opens this up even further.

Again, make sure we have some understanding of what we're doing this morning, so let me pick it up in verse 13.

So they served idols in verse 12, which the Lord had said to them, you shall not do this thing.

And then in verse 13, yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all his prophets, namely every seer saying, turn you from the evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Nevertheless, they would not hear, but stiffened their necks like the necks of their fathers who did not believe in the law of their God.

And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he had testified against them.

They followed idols and became idolaters and went after the nations who were all around concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them.

So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and they made for themselves molten image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire and they practiced witchcraft and soothsaying and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke them to anger.

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight and there was none left but the tribe of Judah.

And also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but they walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of the plunderers until he had cast them out from his sight.

And he had tore Israel from the house of David and they had made Jeroboam the son of Neboth, king then Jeroboam, drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin.

But the children of Israel walked in the sins, in all the sins which Jeroboam did and they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight as he has said by all his servants and prophets.

So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria as it is to this day.

God has a complaint.

God has an issue with his covenant people and because his covenant people because the ones who proclaim that they fear him and because they are serving other gods that when this complaint is brought to pass and opened up by God, there are definitely consequences attached to it.

That we would just believe that.

If we would just believe that this morning.

That when God has an issue, it's truly an issue that needs to be solved.

If we could come away with nothing else that would be enough.

To believe when God says something, God means it.

That when God proclaims impeding judgment or impeding blessing, he means it.

And yet as we read it and as I tried to give you a quick snapshot, for all of this the children of Israel having been redeemed from Egypt and coming to the wilderness and being so privy to the dividing of the Red Sea and the manor in the wilderness and all the great miracles and manifestations of God's glory, for all that they enter into the promised land, a land that they never prepared.

God prepared the land.

God told them you're going to go into a land that I prepared for you.

You're going to eat of the fruit that the other nations have prepared for you.

For all that they served other gods.

My friends, it is so important for us to realize this.

That the God of the Bible, that the true God, that God doesn't take things lightly.

That you and I ought to be continually aware of that.

And so what does God do? He removes the Jews from the land and he brings them into captivity, as I said, under the terror of Assyria.

And then we'll see what happens next as God deals with people of Assyria.

But let me just ask you to think about this also.

Sin will always result in judgment.

Again, I'm not saying anything spectacular this morning.

No need to.

Sin will ultimately lead to judgment.

Again, why? Because God has a holy issue with sin.

And that God is not mocked.

Do you and I realize that this morning, friends? God is not mocked.

We may mock men.

We probably do.

We might mock men and dismiss things in this world and we might not ever feel the sting of it.

But my friends, you cannot mock God and be free from the consequences at some point.

And that's part of the problem, right? Israel had years and years and decades to turn and stop from being stiff-necked and serving other gods.

And God would send them prophets and they refused to turn.

And God would send them prophets and they would refuse to turn.

And in a sense, they mocked God until ultimately God said, as he says to the ocean, thus far and no further.

They are taken away captive through the hands of Assyria and now they begin to understand what it means to say they fear God, they fear the Lord and to serve other gods.

But I want to move a little bit further and I want us to read from verse 24 through verse 34 to get the next, if you will, understanding that God has moved the children of Israel out of the land, the promised land, the land he prepared for them.

And the Assyrians having taken over and besieged Samaria and taking over the land, now they're going to move in and you know what we're going to find? They do the same thing that Israel did.

Look what it says, verse 24.

Then the king of Syria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah and Avah and Hamath and from Seraphim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

And it was so at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them.

So they spoke to the king of Assyria saying the nations whom he removed from this place in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land, therefore he sent lions among them and indeed they are killing them because they don't know the rituals of the God of the land.

And the king of Syria commanded saying send one of the priests whom you brought from there and let him go and dwell there and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.

Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

However, every nation continued to make gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt.

The men of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal and the men of Hamath made Ashima and the Abites made Tipaz and Tartak and the Seraphites burned their children in the fire to a Dremelech and a Nemelech, the gods of the Seraphim.

And so they feared the Lord from every class and from every class appointed for themselves priests of the high places and sacrificed to them in the shrines of the high places they feared the Lord yet they served other gods according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

To this day they continue practicing the former rituals.

They do not fear the Lord nor do they follow the statutes of the ordinances of the law of commandments which the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, the children of Jacob whom he had named Israel.

So what do we have here? Now the children of Israel have been taken out from Assyria, taken out from the land, been carried away captive.

The king of Assyria says well I'm going to resettle the land, I'll bring people in and he sends people from all the different cities over which he has control, they come into the land and now they are going to do the same thing.

And as I say to you, there's a consequence.

Remember this too.

The land at that time was a holy land.

God had set apart that land.

God had great concern for the land of Israel.

So much so if you remember that when it came to removing the dung out of the land of Israel it had to be done by a priest and he had to take it out of the camp.

This land was sacred to God.

Why? Because God was there.

Because God was pleased at that time to have his presence dwell there in the tabernacle ultimately in the temple as his glory would shine forth.

So this foreign nation now having captured Israel, they come and they take over the land.

They're desecrating God's land.

They are following false worship.

They are creating false worship.

And as I say to you again and again and again, friends, God is jealous about his holiness.

God is jealous about his majesty.

God's not like us.

And he says that.

He says, you really thought I was like you? God has a holy jealousy for his glory.

He's not going to put up with this.

And they come in and they're desecrating the land.

What does God do? Does God say, well, it's no big deal.

There's plenty of other land I can have for myself.

My friends, he says no such thing.

Does God say, well, listen, they don't know how this works here, so if I give them some time they'll come around? He doesn't say that either.

Or does God say, well, you know what, at least they're worshiping something.

That can't be all that bad.

At least they're worshiping something.

God doesn't say that.

And we might not like what God says here.

But my friends, God is not subject to us.

We might not like it, but that doesn't mean that God is obligated to do what either we like or don't like.

And what does God do? We read it.

He sends lions in the land and they start killing the people.

See, God doesn't take counsel from anyone that we would understand.

And I really honestly believe that we need more of the truth, of the holiness of God, and the glory of God, and we need more of the truth of fearing God in a right way, not a wrong way, but in fearing God.

Because you see, my friends, as I say to you, God is serious about his glory and his honor.

God is serious about sin and judgment.

God is serious about sending his son into this world to die in the place for sinners.

And God is serious about what he will do to those that reject his provision.

And so he sends lions and he begins to kill them.

And the reason for it really is they've turned the land of Israel into a place of mere religion.

We've read that, right? I'm not going to do what Brother Keith does.

You ever notice Brother Keith, he does this, and he'll be walking around and he'll be speaking.

Then he does this.

So, excuse me.

I love you, Brother Keith.

The land has become nothing more than a place of religion, and they begin to, all these different cities that have been brought there, and the people of the cities, they begin to set up their own gods.

They begin to establish their own form of worship, and that is the reason why God has sent the lions.

And let me say this to you this morning, my friends.

Mere religion is a most damnable thing.

If you're here this morning and you just have religion and it's not, if you want to use that term religion, biblical.

You're in a terrible condition.

Mere religion is damnable.

Mere religion is a deceiving thing, and as we get closer to this verse, I hope you will agree with me that we need to move, and some people use religion in the right way, and I understand that, but most people, many people use religion in the wrong way.

If we're doing nothing in our lives but moving in a religious way, then we better look over our shoulders to see if there's a lion coming.

And so God begins to deal with them because of their mere outward religion, and that really drives the text, which says they feared the Lord and they served other gods.

So what does the king of Assyria do? So they send word back to the king of Assyria, and they say, listen, you sent us into the land, and there's lions there, and we don't know the rituals of the god of the land.

What are we going to do? And the king of Assyria says, I got it.

Take one of them that we brought here, one of their priests, send them back to there, and have them teach them how to fear the Lord.

And that's exactly what happens.

He goes back and he begins to teach them about the festivals, I assume, and the sacrifices, and how God is to be worshiped, and how God is to be honored, and the heart of it really still remains is that they fear the Lord, but I really think they feared the lions, but yet they still served other gods.

And everything that they do is nothing more than outward religion.

And so the priest goes back and he teaches them, and you know what? It's an empty shell.

It's empty.

There's no reality to it.

Listen, if my Christianity and your Christianity this morning is mere religion, it's worth nothing.

Nothing.

If your religion doesn't cost you anything, it isn't worth anything.

How's that? If your worship of God doesn't grab your life, then perhaps you're just serving other gods, and yet you say, I fear the Lord.

That's the great tragedy, right? How many people will say exactly what is said here? They fear the Lord, but they serve other gods.

And I pray that none of us are guilty of that this morning.

That none of us are guilty of really outward appearance.

And we're nothing more than the Pharisees.

They were outwardly beautiful and inwardly full of dead men's bones.

And so they both publicly and privately after the priest comes and he shows them the way to teach, what does it say? They fear the Lord, yet they still serve their gods.

And then it goes on and it talks about this group of people and that group of people and how they set up images and different things.

And I try to understand some that look into this.

What they did was, they were in God's land, and some of them set up a god like a rooster.

Others set up a god like a chicken.

Others set up a god like a donkey.

So I said, well, can you get the picture? This is God's land.

This is where God's people would dwell.

And these people are raising up gods made of chickens and roosters and donkeys and whatever else.

Now, we might be all a little bit too sophisticated for all that, right? And I want to address that just for a moment.

We in our country, and I'm going to say it to us as a country, we're probably much too sophisticated to set up gods made out of chickens and roosters and donkeys and any other.

They even had a god that was made like a cockroach.

But we're a little too sophisticated for that.

We wouldn't do that in our country, would we? No, it's only those people that live, you know, in the middle of nowhere that raise up those kinds of things.

We're much more sophisticated for that, but yet I ask us to think about, are we a nation that fears God and serves all the gods? Are we a nation that professes that we fear the Lord yet we serve all the gods? The gods of pleasure? The gods of power? The gods of uncleanness? The gods of entitlement? The gods of inclusiveness? The gods of self-satisfaction? Are we any different? I would ask you to consider this, and you might not agree with me, but at least I will ask you to think about this.

We live in a land where in our day right now there are so many people who are not afraid of anything.

Not afraid of authority? Not afraid of the police? Not afraid of those that have rule over them? Let me ask you a question.

In one way, it almost seems logical to me.

If you don't truly fear the Lord, and if you're serving all the gods, why would you be fearful of other men? It kind of follows, doesn't it? If you're not going to fear the Almighty, why would you fear the man? I think there's a correlation, friends.

I think there's a correlation in our country, amongst our nation, and I also believe there's a correlation in the churches.

Again, everyone has to be fully persuaded in their own mind, and I'm not saying I've figured it all out because I haven't, but I will say this.

I believe there's a correlation in the churches, that in the churches, many churches today, we're more concerned about inclusiveness.

We're more concerned about making people happy.

We're more concerned about them having a good experience, that that's the God that we've set up.

We don't really fear the Lord, and then we want to know why we're so impotent in causing people to join us and to repent and to look to Christ.

Maybe we're too busy playing foolish games and setting up gods, false gods, to be honored and worshipped.

Maybe we're as hypocritical as those that we claim are outside the church.

The true fear of God, my friends, the true fear of God will lead to not only true, but true obedience and true worship.

I don't know a whole lot.

I might be very simple.

I know that's true, that the fear of God will lead someone to worship God in spirit and in truth, that there will be a change of life.

There will be a desire to see God's name exalted.

There will be a desire to see other gods, which are false gods, taken down.

These people of the land were in a lot of ways just like, let me give you a couple examples.

Do you remember Aaron's sons? Aaron's sons, Hophni and Phineas? Do you remember that they were set up as priests? And you remember what they did? They said they feared the Lord.

They were set up as the priests.

And you know what? They didn't fear the Lord.

You know what they did? They set up, they burned strange fire.

They took advantage of the people of God and God killed them.

Do you remember what took place in the days of Noah? Noah moved with fear in building the ark to the saving of his house.

What did God do to the rest of them? Oh no, that didn't really happen.

That's just a story, right? That's just a fable.

That's not reality.

Yes it is! As soon as that ark was sealed by God, every other thing, God take his glory and his honor and his glory.

Do you remember in the days of Egypt? In this one I've always, sometimes I can't even think it through.

When God sent Moses to Pharaoh through the working of the miracles and the things that took place that God said to him, Pharaoh to let his people go and they wouldn't and they refused and he hardened his heart and caused the children of Israel to suffer further.

Remember what God ultimately said? He said, let my people go or I'll take your firstborn.

Pharaoh was busy serving other gods.

It was the children of Israel who at that time believed in the Lord their God and they put the blood across the doorposts.

When the angel of death passed by, only those under the doorpost with the blood were spared.

The rest perished.

Imagine that morning in Egypt! It's a damnable thing to fear God and serve other gods or to say you fear God and serve other gods.

God doesn't forget.

God can't forget.

Are we here this morning just to play religion? Are we here this morning just to do some outward things and check a box? Are we here this morning because we desire to worship? We desire to exalt him.

We desire to lift him up.

Someone asked a question.

And kids, you kids, wake up! Kids.

I know some of you are awake.

Because this guy keeps yelling up here and you can't fall asleep too easily.

But this to you kids too.

Listen to me.

And here's why I say this.

And this is why I stop and I say it to you kids.

You're responsible to God.

You have a responsibility to your creator, your maker.

So I want to ask you this question.

Do you fear the holiness of God? I'm not asking you right now if you fear the judgment of God.

I'm asking you if you fear the holiness of God.

Do you have a right perception of his purity? Of his majesty? Of his holiness? Of his brightness? To all of us this morning, do we have a true, right fear, respect, awe, reverence for the brightness of God's being? You may ask us to think about this.

And even to young people again.

Do you serve the God that you have created in your own mind this morning or the God who made you? I ask that to us all.

Do you and I serve the God we created in our own minds? And it might not be a chicken, it might not be a rooster, it might not be a donkey, but we created this own God.

And I got to confess, I remember before I was a Christian, I thought I was right with God.

And I don't even want to begin to tell you how I tried to work that out.

I thought me and God were okay and God understood me and I understood him and I could manage him and he couldn't manage me because it was the God I made up.

So ask us to think about that this morning.

That's what they do.

They're making up their own gods and they're worshipping them and again this is not going to go well with them.

Because here's the thing too, when you and I take our last breath and you know what? There isn't a person in here that's not going to take their last breath.

I don't know when, I don't know how, but every one of us is going to take our last breath.

When we take our last breath and we open our eyes, is it going to be the God that we made up or the God who made us? And I know I'm like an old record and I'm going to quote it again from Thomas Watson.

He said that death will change a man's opinion of God.

You can hold on to that one.

Is it mere religion? Are we like them that we fear the Lord and serve other gods? Remember what Isaiah said? He said the Lord of hosts, him shall you hollow, him shall you fear, let him be your fear, let him be your dread.

Saying you fear the God, saying you fear the Lord and serving other gods, my friends, is simply a death sentence.

The prophet Malachi said this.

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud and all who do wickedly shall be stubble in the day of the Lord is coming, which will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, and they will leave them neither root nor branch.

Then he says this.

But unto you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves, and you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts.

Now I want to ask us all this morning this question.

Do you think God forgot that he said this? He sure didn't.

He said the day is coming.

He said that day is coming, and in that day, my friends, there is nothing that will not be revealed.

There is nothing that will not be exposed.

There is nothing that will shield us other than the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

The text is the most revealing text, isn't it, friends? It demonstrates their hypocrisy.

They feared the Lord and served other gods.

Let me just finish the chapter in the reading in verse 34.

So they feared the Lord.

They served other gods according to the rituals of the nations among whom they were carried away.

Then it says, to this day they continue practicing the former rituals.

They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow nor do they follow the statutes nor the ordinances or the law or the commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob whom he named Israel with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them saying you shall not fear other gods nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them but the Lord but the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched hand him shall you fear him shall you worship and to him you shall offer sacrifice and the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandments which he wrote for you you shall be careful to observe forever you shall not fear other gods and the covenant that I have made with you you shall not forget nor shall you fear other gods but the Lord your God you shall fear and he will deliver you from the hand of your enemies however they did not obey but they followed their former rituals and so these nations fear the Lord yet serve their carved images also the children and their children's children have continued doing this as their fathers did even to this day see the true worship of God is marked it's marked by true worship it's more than just saying I fear the Lord it's not just an outward sign of religion they feared the Lord and yet they served other gods you know I thought about that that's pretty much like so many people in our land today or they'll say like this they'll say well you know I only love one person but I'm having an affair with another really? I only love one but I'm having an affair with another they feared the Lord and they served other gods it was all religion it was all outward so as I draw to a close this morning I want to ask us a question again do you love the Savior? I don't know what else to say do you love the Savior? do you love Jesus? I'm not asking you if you know about Jesus, I'm sure you know something, everybody here from the oldest to the youngest and back up you know something about Jesus you might even know a lot about Jesus and that's great but here's what I'm asking you do you love him? do you love him for who he is? do you love him for what he did for you? man I was dead weren't you dead brother Mike? weren't you dead brothers and sisters? weren't you dead in sin? weren't you lost? and now you're found you were blind but now you see man if that don't make something stand up then you better check the antennas do you love him? is it a reality? does the death, the burial, the resurrection the ascension, the promises the mercy, the grace does it grab your life and transform your life? do you want to see him lifted up in worship? do you love Jesus this morning? I just want to make a remark as we close and to me it's interesting and the Bible is and I say it a lot but I mean it a lot the Bible is such a cool book because there's so much in it and it's so compact and it's so infinite at the same time and I thought about how God sent lions and other times God sends little worms and does the same thing and God sent all kinds of things but here it says that God sent the lions and in my own mind I thought about the lions and I thought about how Satan goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and I thought isn't that something that they served other gods and that the lions were sent and you know what my friends if you serve another god you're serving the evil one and ultimately the evil one will destroy you he will the only true lion is the lion from the tribe of Judah right God sent lions and killed some of them the only way to save yourself from the lions killing you is to be in a right relationship with the true lion with Jesus you see there's none greater there's none like him there is none more glorious there is none more sufficient God so loved the world we don't say that enough we don't say it to ourselves we say it to other people listen say it to yourself this morning God so loved you that he sent his only begotten son into the world that you might not perish that you might have everlasting life make it personal because it is personal so this narrative will continue we don't have time to continue it but I wanted to bring that out to you and let me just ask you to think about this finally if you know him then I say to you run to him more and more every day if you're a child of God this morning you can never get enough of who he is he only grows more and more glorious so if you're a Christian today run to him don't walk and if you're not a Christian this morning I say to you the same thing run to him run to him for life run to him for forgiveness run to him for repentance run to him that he might give you life for that is what life is life is to know God I have no doubt this morning that someone is here this morning that doesn't know God they know about God but they don't know God God can only be known there's that great hymn right there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sin is plunged beneath that flood some of you are already saying it lose all their guilt and shame good stuff I close with this the revelation chapter one it says to him who loved us washed us from our sins in his own blood made us kings and priests to his God and father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen behold he is coming with clouds in every eye shall see him even they who pierced him all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him even so amen I am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end says the Lord who is who was and who is to come the almighty let's pray our father God we thank you this morning for who you are you are the alpha and omega you are the one who created us you are the one who receives us again through personal work of Christ everlasting life that you are Lord ultimately the judge of all the earth that one day someday every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord may we be those who in that day when we see him face to face we will fall down as thankful children for what he did for us Lord again may there not be any among us this morning who shall see him when he returns and shall be cast out into the eye of the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth bless us this morning may we enjoy even now the communion table in the light of truth we pray in his name so as we come to the table this morning brother Mike's going to come and lead us and again the exhortation is the same it's never changed the exhortation is that if we are the children of God we ought to come and if we are not the children of God we ought to first become the children of God and then we ought to come so as brother Mike comes and leads us let us examine ourselves and it's not a matter of whether we had a good week or a bad week we might have had a very bad week but if we were in Christ we ought to come so let us consider that as brother Mike comes come on brother body rock on which we build in every line the truth is found and every page is glory filled with the lonely we have known that your promises are true we we in Jesus name glory glory glory glory to God the Lord glory glory glory to God the Lord His righteousness is done, all our demands are satisfied, His perfect Word has set us free.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

By grace alone we have been saved, all that we are has come from You.

Hearts that were once like sin and slave, now by Your power has been made new.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

Gloria, Gloria, Glory to God alone.

Praise God from whom blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.