Ol' Man River

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:7 - All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they come again.

On December 27, 1927 the Broadway musical Show Boat premiered. The story was about a theatre boat called the Cotton Blossom, going down the Mississippi River from St Louis to New Orleans. Based on the novell by Edna Ferber, the music was written by Jerome Kern, and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyrics. It became the second most performed show on Broadway in the 1920s, with 572 performances.

There is one song in Show Boat that I think is one of the greatest commentaries on human nature and its despair I have ever read. The song is Ol' Man River. It is sung by Joe, one of the black stevedores who keeps the boat going down the river. When I hear the song I cannot help but think of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The despair of Joe, the poor, hard working, down trodden black man, was also the despair of Solomon, one of the richest and wisest men who ever lived.

Ol' Man River is the Mississsippi. It "just keeps rollin' along." The river never changes. In Ecclesiastes, the world never changes. Both the river and the world are equally stuck in routine. A look at Ecclesiastes 1:1-9 demonstrates this:

"The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,

vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

What profit hath a man of all his labor

which he hath taken under he sun?

One generation passeth away; and another generation cometh:

but the earth abideth for ever.

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,

and hasteth to his place where he arose.

The wind goeth toward the south,

and turneth about unto the north;it whirleth about continually,

and the wind returneth again acording to his circuits.

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full;

unto the place from whence the rivers come,

thither they return again.

All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it:

The eye is not satisfied with seeing

nor the ear filled with hearing.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;

and that which is done is that which shall be done:

and there is no new thing under the sun.

It has been suggested to me that when Hammerstein wrote Ol' Man River, he had Ecclesiastes on his mind. This could be true. Just as Joe's despair is evident in the song, so is Soloman's in the book.

In these verses, Solomon is saying that since the world runs in cycles with no variation, what good does it do for a man to work hard to achieve? As we shall see, without God, a man's achievements will ultimately mean little or nothing. As it says in verse 4, "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever." What happens to a man's achievements after he is gone? They are forgotten.

Joe sings of the river;

He don't plant 'taters, he don't plant cotton,

And them that plants them is soon forgotten,

But Ol' Man River, he just keeps rollin' along.

Verse 11 says, "There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after."

Note the despair. Joe will not be remembered long after he dies. Few people are remembered for very long. After funerals, people go on with their lives, and the dead are rarely thought of. And unless there is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the only thing God will remember about a man will be his sin, which is why he will be in hell. But the one who dies in Christ, Jesus' blood covers that man's sins, and God remembers remembers everything about him except his sin, which is why he will be in heaven.

Verse 3 says, "What profit hath a man of all his labors which he hath taken under the sun?" Without God, all the work a man does is ultimately useless. No matter what he achieves, when it's over, it's over. Without God, labor is meaningless.

Verses 8 and 9 tell us, "All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done shall be done: and there is nothing new under the sun." Methods of doing things may change, but in the end thhere is nothing new "under the sun." Life apart from God is just boring, meaningless routine.

Just as Joe sings,

You an me, we sweat and strain, body all achin' and racked with pain,

Tote that barge, lift that bale, git a little drunk and you lands in jail.

Poor Joe! He is a man without God. He is not saved. He feels as Solomon must have when he said in verse 2, "Vanity of vanities," saith the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." In other words, life apart from God is a lesson in futility from beginning to end, and on into eternity.


Joe sings,

Ah is weary, and sick of tryin', Ahm tired o' living, and sceered o' dyin',

But Ol' Man River, he just keeps rollin' along.

Without God, Joe's life has no genuine purpose, and neither does yours or mine. Of course, weariness is going to set in, if for no other reaason than because ther is no ultimate purpose for labor or living. As Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." But apart from God, there can be no purpose to life. Ol' Man River is just going to keep on rollin' along after we are all dead and buried.

Maybe you are weary and sick of trying. Maybe you are tired of living and afraid of dying. I have good news for you. You don't have to be weary or tired. You don't have to be sick of trying, because you don't have to try. For your salvation, you don't have to try, but to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." True Christianity is not religion, but having a trusting relationship with the One Who shed his blood for your sins on the cross. Christianity says everything needed has already been done. In fact, the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain."

I will be very frank with you: If you do not trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you should be, as Joe was, scared of dying. Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment." The only way to come out ahead in your appointment with death is to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. When all is said and done, the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes (12:13 and 14) is as true today as when it was written: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

The Lord said of people in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." You do not want to live Joe's life of despair, and you don't have to. You can have the better, fuller life Jessus offers, not only now but for ever. Trust Him now.

(Copyright, 2002, by Walter E. Ferguson III. All rights reserved.

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Let Him Alone

Hosea 4:17: "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."


The Bible tells us that God will abandon you to your sinful choices if you continue in them. If you choose not to accept His salvation, He will allow you to go on in your sin: but there is a catch: God gives you the freedom to choose to sin, and even engage in the filthiewst of immorality, but He will not let you choose the consequences of your choices. In Galatians 6:7 and 8, the Apostle Paul says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap coorruption; but he that soweth of the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. " When God abandons a man to his immoral lifestyle, that man is headed for disaster.

I. First, we see that when God leaves you alone, He is judging you. We see this from God's dealings with the nation of Israel. After Moses and Joshua, the nation was ruled by judges, of whom the last and greatest was Samuel. Then came the United Kingdom, ruled by kings Saul, David, and Solomon. Solomon made bad choices of wives, and became the first king to allow their idols to be worshipped. After him the nation divided into the Northern Kingdom, which was sometimes called Ephraim, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah. Ephraim had not even one good, godly king. Every one of their 19 kings worshipped idols, and the people followed their leaders. They were destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 B. C. Judah had five of their 19 kings that were godly. They followed the Lord, and while they ruled, idols were not worshipped as much, and God's prophets were listened to more. Judah lasted until Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B. C. - over 100 years longer.

The Prophet Hosea prophecied near the end of the Northern Kingdom. In his book, chapter 4, verse 17, he said, Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. They chose not to worship and obey the Lord, but to worship the gods of Canaan in addition to the Lord. So God let them go on in their own wickedness and degeneration right along with the Canaanites. In this verse, God was telling the Southern Kingdom, "Don't go there: Stay away from their influence."


Years later, Jesus spoke the parable of the Prodigal Son. It can be found in Luke 15. Look at verses 11-16: "And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father; Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto him his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country: and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him."


This boy took his inheritance while his father was still alive. Luke 15 tells us he wasted his money until a famine came and he had no more. Then he would up alone in a hog pen. In the Old Testament, working with unclean animals, especially pigs, was one of the worst things a Jew could do. But that is what the boy's sin had reduced him to.


Secondly, we see that when God leaves you alone, you are alone in your own sin. In Romans 1:21-28, Paul says, "Because that, when they knew God, thy glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing theselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an imaghe made like to corrupible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and to creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleannes through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themsellves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which is meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.


The heart of man is unchanged. This world is a cesspool of degeneration and violence.


In Hosea's time, sin was rampant. Idol worship predominated over the proper worship of the true God. Canaanite worhip involved ritual prostitution, so their places of worship were do different than whorehouses. Worship of false gods resulted in false living. Injustice, violence and ungodlinness prevailed.


The Lord's attitude is well-shown in Psalm 81:8-16: Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall be no strange god in thee: neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth and I will fill it. but my people would not hearken to my voice: and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat: with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them.


God left them alone. He wanted to bless Israel, but because of their sin and idolatry, He left them to their own devices. He left them to live in their own sinful lusts. Instead of having victory over their enemies, they had defeat. Instead of receiving the submission of the idolaters, they were forced to submit to them. Instead of having food, they wound up starving. This is what happened when God left them alone.


His father left the Prodigal Son alone, and he wasted his money on riotous, ungodly living. He probably got drunk every night, nad the Lord only knows what else he did when he had money. Instead of being at home witha wealthy father who cared for him, inm an uncaring world, he wound up feeding pigs for a living.



III. Finally, we see that when God leaves you alone, you have a choice to make. God made people, not robots. You may choose to sin or not to sin, and God will honor your choice. You may choose to live your life as a drunken, drug-abusing degenerate if that is what you will, and God will leave you alone to do so. But here is the problem you will have: God will not let you escape the consequenses of your bad choices. You will reap what you sow.


Ephraim fell to Assyria. They became slaves in that empire. A few hundred years later, by the time of Christ, all Israel had been under the domination of the Roman Empire for about 150 years. Because Israel sinned and would not follow God, they were left with the consequences of that choice, one of which was the loss of their inheritance fom God.


The Prodigal Son also lost his inheritance. He sinned away his wealth. But at least he did make one right choice: He went home. He returned to his father. Look at Luke 15:17-24: "And when he came to himself, he said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no longer worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.' And he arose, and came to his father. But when he wasyet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." But the Father said his servants, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him: and put ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to be merry.


Alone in the hog pen, says Luke 15:17, he came to himself. Arriving home, he confessed in verse 21, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight and am no longer worthy to be called thy son." His father rejioced and called for a celebration. The best robe. A ring for his hand. The fatted calf. Why rejoice? Verse 24: "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."


As the father waited patiently for the prodigal Son, so God patiently waits for the sinner to come home. He sent His Son to die to save you from your sins. He loved you that much. you might have the most degenerate lifestyle imaginable, but God wants you to came to yourself. He wants you to come to Him, even as unworthy as you are, and be made His son or daughter. You don't have to be alone in sin any more. There is an infinitely betterr choice. In Lukew 15:10, Jesus said, "There is joy in thhe presence of the angels over one sinner the repenteth." Sinner, make the angels rejoice! Come home.


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I Saw the Lord in His Holiness

Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 6:1-9. That is the text for this sermon.

There was an incident that occurred while I was living in Michigan. At one o'clock one morning, I did not know why I woke up, but I felt strongly compelled to pray. A persistent feeling of something evil permeated the air. I prayed for about an hour, not understanding why I was praying. Then, exhausted, I feel asleep.

A few hours later, I did the things I routinely did every morning. I fed my cats, took a bath, made a cup of coffee, and turned on the television. It was a day I doubt any American will ever forget - September 11, 2001. I turned the TV on just in time to to see the plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center.

I stayed very close to my TV that day. My heart went out to the people of New York, who were experiencing incomprehensible trauma. But when the plane hit the Pentagon, it became personal. My brother John sometimes works there. To say I was alarmed is putting it very mildly. Six anxious hours later, I learned that John called our father in Florida and told him he was a mile from them Pentagon when the plane hit. (Later John asked me to pray for the family of one of his best friends, who was killed at that time.) Relief that he was safe was tempered by sadness over the loss of life, and anger toward those who had murdered all those people.

There are those who would have the people of America, especially the Christians, cower in fear in the face of terrorism. this we must not do. Certain misguided people think they will be martyrs if thy kill themselves and others for their religion. They think murder is their ticket to paradise. That is not true. A martyr is by definition a witness for his faith, not a killer for it. What these people are doing is nothing but committing murder and suicide, and when they face God, they will be judged. But the religious leaders who mislead them into committing murder will face a far greater judgment, and a far worse punishment in hell.

Satan has been allowed to unleash terrorism in America, but Christians must have courage, and not give in to fear. As Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." If we truly trust the Lord, we will not need to fear any man. According to Proverbs 9:10, it is "the fear of the Lord" that "is the beginning of wisdom." If we reverence God and follow His ways, we will have no fear of what any man can do to us, as a nation or individually. If we believe God is in control, there is no reason to fear anyone.

We must not fear man, but we must reverence God in His holiness. As we look at Isaiah's vision in chapter 6:1-9, I want us to catch our own vision of God's holiness as it really is. First, we will see in verses 1-4 that Isaiah saw the Lord in His holiness, and not as people usually conceive it. Next, in verse 5, we will see that Isaiah saw himself as the sinner he really was before God, and learned he could not measure up to the standard of His holiness. Then in verses 6 and 7, we will see Isaiah's sin purged, and finally in 8 and 9, we will watch as the Lord calls him and sends him out as His Prophet.

I. The first and most important thing - Isaiah saw the holiness of God. He saw it as it really is, and not as men ordinarily conceive it. This can clearly be seen in verses 1-3: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Holiness is a concept that is hardly understood or even considered today. We live in an age of extremely lax morality in which almost anything goes. It is an age in which Christians and others who wish to live decent moral lives are condemned by their peers as holier-than-thou Legalists or Pharisees. Of course, it must be admitted that there is a lot of Legalism and Phariseeism in the church these days. The Bible, in no uncertain terms, condemns a holier-than-thou attitude.In the Gospel of Matthew 5:20, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, "That except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

As Isaiah saw, God is truly holy. He will deal with the self-righteous in His own time and in His own way. But this is beside the point: God will not accept as an excuse for your sin and immorality what others say and do. Others will not pay for your sin. Unless you accept by faith the payment of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for your sin, you must bear your own judgment before God and pay for your own sin in hell. Others must pay for their own sin.

I fear for this generation. We do not understand the holiness of God. Those who say, "You cannot legislate morality" are wrong. Every time a law is passed by a legislature, some kind of ethical principle is legislated, whether good or bad. But that is beside the point: God has already legislated all the morality needed to guide our lives on earth, to be found in His Word, the Bible.

Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated on a throne. The name for God here is Adonai, which in Hebrew means Master or Ruler. He is the Master and Lord of all. There is no one even close to being his equal in power, might or brilliance; because He created all and rules all. All sovereignty is His, and His alone.

His train filled the temple, and above it stood seraphim, "burning ones." These are referred to in Psalm 104:4, which is quoted in Hebrews 1:7. Referring to to God, the Psalm says, He maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flame of fire. The Hebrews passage tells us that the One Who made the seraphim is the Lord Jesus Christ.

These are angels of fire, burning in their love for God, and burning in their hatred for sin. They cried out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."

Holy is the Father.

Holy is the Son.

Holly is the Spirit.

God is holy, utterly separate from sin, and He will not share His glory with any of His created beings.

The scene in verse 4, "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke," is reminiscent of what happened when Jonathan Edwards, on July 9th, 1741, preached his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The pillars of the church shook, and people violently seized them or the pews, desperately trying to prevent themselves from falling into hell. This is a picture of what Isaiah was going through when he saw the Lord. Isaiah was not thrilled at seeing the holiness of God up close and personal: He was scared!


II. This brings me to my second point: In seeing the holiness of God, Isaiah saw himself as the sinner God sees. He saw himself as God saw him and as He sees the rest of us, and from seeing His holiness, he knew he could not measure up to God's standards. Unlike many people, Isaiah had the good sense to be afraid. In verse 5, he tells us, "Then said I, Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell with a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."


Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets the world has ever known. He was without question a true man of God, or he would not have been entrusted with this vision or the true prophetic ministry he had. Yet he knew better than anyone else that he was a filthy sinner, a man of unclean lips. I am no sure whether this was Isaiah's salvation experience. It may have been.


Isaiah compared his righteousness with the holiness of God and saw that he was sinful and unholy. This is the only right judgment to make. As he stated later, in 64:6, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." God's judgment is the only one that really matters. Comparing yourself with another sinner might make you feel good, but no real good ever comes
of it. That standard of comparison is totally useless. The Apostle Paul, in II Corinthians 10:12 demonstrates the absolute uselessness of all such comparisons when he says, "For we dare not make ourselves of that number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."


Sinners comparing themselves with other sinners will not make them righteous before God, because they are still sinners. Throughout the Bible, God's standard of holiness is Himself. He mean it when He says, "be ye holy, for I am holy."


The reason the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth was because we are sinners, born to rebel, and cannot possibly meet God's standard of holiness. God the Father sent God the Son, Who had come to meet the standard for us. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is God, but also human. He is the One Isaiah prophecies of in chapter 53: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."




III. Thirdly, we see from the text that Isaiah saw his sin was purged. Verses 6 and 7 of our text tell us, "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

Isaiah complained of being a man of unclean lips who dwelt with a people of unclean lips, and the times in which Isaiah lived were probably much like our own. Our language is covered with filthy speech. The world is full of cursing, taking the Lord's Name in vain, smutty jokes and innuendo. It permeates our culture. Hollywood movies are full of blasphemy and sex talk. What is needed today is a few live coals in our mouths to purge away our sins of speech. At the very least, I'd like to see a few bars of soap used to wash out the mouths of a few of those so-called "entertainers" whose filthy and offensive language defile the airwaves.

Are we really "one nation under God?" American language does not show it. By the way: "Jesus Christ" is not a cuss word! He is our Savior and Lord, and you will not be held guiltless if you take His Name in vain! Christian, you must clean up your act, and take a stand against filthy language and blasphemy.


Your sin must be purged by the cross of Calvary. Any other means of redemption is false. There is no other way. Every altar the Jews built at the direction of God was for sacrifices typical of the greatest one ever made; the sacrifice of Messiah on the cross. A hot coal from the altar was a picture of that redemption that was to come. Only the fire of God can purge sin.. Old Testament sacrifices were taken by fire. in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is often symbolized by fire. As the sacrifices symbolized the future atonement by the Lord Jesus, so in symbolism grace was shown to Isaiah when the burning coal touched his lips. From then on , he would be a Prophet of God, and His Spirit would direct his speech.


Isaiah would never be the same again. If God has truly purged your sin,you will never be the same again. If you say the Lord has saved you, and your life has not changed, you are a liar. If you can be like a pig and wallow in the filth of sin as you did before, something is very wrong with your "salvation." If there is no repentance, there is no salvation. As John the Baptist commanded in Matthew 3:8, the people must "bring forth fruits meet for (Appropriate to) repentance." In Matthew 7:20, Jesus said of false prophets, "By their fruits ye shall know them." One who claims to be saved, yet continues to habitually bear the rotten fruit of sin and the works of the flesh, is not saved, but is a liar.




IV. My final point is, Isaiah saw the Lord send him out as his prophet. Verses 8 and 9 read, Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I: send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not."


As I said before, I am not sure whether or not this was Isaiah's salvation experience (it is possible it was), but it was certainly a call. For Isaiah, it was is call to the prophetic ministry. For the nation of Israel, it was a wake-up call. Isaiah did his job as God's Prophet, warning the nation of the holiness of God and of sin and its consequences. His prophecies showed that people their Messiah, who would be the Savior of the world. Tragically, Israel stayed asleep.

Today America has many preachers great warning of the holiness of God and sin and its consequences. The story of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the gospel of His death, burial and resurrection, is told in pulpits, and on television and radio all across America and around the world. Yet the world is degenerating more and more into sin. American Christians are asleep, living like the rest of the world. They are in a stupor induced by entertainment, money, and luxury.

The church is sleeping and refuses to wake up. Beware for as Hebrews 23:29 tells us, "Our God is a consuming fire."


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The Fear of the Shepherds

Luke 2:8 and 9: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were sore afraid."


There is an unholy trend today in which God is disrespected. The ungodly think nothing of taking His Name in vain, bandying it about as though it is nothing. He is blasphemously called the "man upstairs" and many other foolish names. This nation's motto may be "In God we trust," but as a nation, we have done everything we can to keep our Creator at a distance.


We sing "God Bless America," but America does not bless God. In the public schools, Christmas carols are not to be sung. School valedictorians and salutatorians who are Christians and have earned the right to give the commencement address, are told they are not allowed to mention the Name of Jesus Christ. What about their First Amendment right to free speech? The judges who made these outrageous and foolish rulings will someday pay for their hypocrisy when they face the Supreme Judge, Who is Jesus Christ, not John Gordon Roberts!


For some, it is not all right to use the name "Jesus Christ" reverently (They get "offended" at that), but it is fine with them if His Name is used as a cuss word. This is extremely disrespectful to the Lord, and is probably the clearest violation of the Third Commandment there is. Exodus 20:7 says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." In fact Christians should take offense when they hear this kind of language spoken by the ungodly. "Jesus Christ" is not a cuss word, and those who use His name in vain should be taken to task for it. Jesus Christ is our Lord, whether you or anyone else likes it or not. His name is to be spoken with reverence, not carelessly used as though it were nothing. (By the way, this is the precise meaning of the Hebrew for "in vain.")


Jesus Christ is not a nothing. He is the Creator and Lord of the universe. He is God Who came in the flesh to redeem us from our sin. He is, according to the Nicene Creed, "one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was made in the likeness of men. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, and on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end."



Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Throughout the Scriptures, fear is the first thing experienced when there is an appearance of God or His glory.



I state this in no uncertain terms: Jesus Christ is no one to mess around with. Even as a new born baby, His birth inspired fear and respect. He was God Himself come in human flesh! Our text says that He was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds watching their sheep. Not only that, but the glory of the Lord shone all around them. When they saw this, they did not jump up and down and shout for joy or have a fit of "holy laughter," nor did they get "drunk in the Spirit." They were wiser than most people in this world are today: They had a healthy fear o God! Proverbs 9:10 bears repeating: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."



This fear is consistent with other appearances of the Lord and His glory in Scripture. We will show this by examining three important incidents recorded therein; the giving of the Ten Commandments, the call of Isaiah to his prophetic ministry, and the birth of the church at Pentecost.



I. We speak first of the giving of the Ten Commandments.God was speaking, according to Exodus 20:18-21, "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we shall hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the black cloud where God was."




When the Ten Commandments were given, the people who were there did not shout "Glory to God" or use pious language to spout out phony praise. They were scared to death! They saw how serious God was about them keeping His law. Their fear was so great, that even after Moses assured them they would not die, they still drew back when Moses drew near to where God was. Would to God this kind of fear of God would show itself in today's church. A fear of sinning against God would bring revival to the church, and great blessing to the world.


II. Isaiah the Prophet also had this same fear when God appeared to him and called him to be His Prophet. He tells us in Isaiah 6:1-5, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet; and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."


Isaiah saw angels, and he saw the Lord in all His glory on His throne. His mouth did not peal out in laughter, holy or otherwise. he was terrified, because he saw himself as a sinner, as a man of unclean lips. Perhaps before this vision, he had joked about God or laughed at some frivolity or dirty joke, thus approving the sins of others. Maybe he heard someone take the Name of the Lord in vain, and said nothing in protest, thus tacitly agreeing to it.


When he saw the Lord, that changed. He was terrified, not only for himself, but also for his nation. He became concerned for those he lived with, knowing they had also sinned and disrespected the Lord. Psalm 15:1 asks this question: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" Part of the answer to this question relates to what we are talking about now. In verse 4, David says, the person who dwells with the Lord is one "In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord." When Isaiah saw the Lord, he learned the fear of the Lord, and it made him the great Prophet of God that he was.


III. The final incident which shows the fear of men faced with manifestations of God is found in the book of Acts chapter 2. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, came Pentecost, the birthday of the church, one of the important events in the history of the world. One hundred twenty of His disciples met in an upper room in Jerusalem.


There was also a multitude there who were completely unaware they were about to see history in the making. The Holy Spirit came upon that group of disciples, and they spoke in other tongues. Sixteen groups are listed which heard the gospel spoken in their own languages. Jews and proselytes heard the gospel in their own speech. In themselves the language were not all that important. What is important is that the gospel was preached and 3000 souls were saved.


Certain verses in this chapter will reveal the gospel Peter preached. We will first go to 21-24: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Peter was telling them they were the very people that had taken Jesus, a man approved of God, and wickedly had Him crucified and killed. But God raised him from the dead.

Now we go to verses 32-37: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Therefore let all Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and unto the rest of them, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Fear prompted the question, "What shall we do?" Less than two months before this, they had crucified the Messiah. Now God had raised Him from the dead. Now He could come back and punish them. The natural question was, What could they do now to reconcile with God?



Peter's reply is in verses 38-40: "Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation."



Three thousand people believed the message, were baptized for the remission of sins, and were saved. Verse 43 is very important here, "and fear came upon every soul." The fear of God does not end with salvation. Reverence for God should keep the Christian from wanting to do anything that would offend Him. After all He is worthy of our respect.



In closing, let us return to the shepherds in Luke 2:8 and 9. Let us not leave them "sore afraid." Let us rather rejoice with them as we read verses 10-14, And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." Shepherds


After fear comes joy. The shepherds journeyed to the manger and saw the Prince of Peace wrapped in swaddling clothes, not in royal robes. They saw their Saviour in a cow stall by a rude inn, not in a stately bed in an earthly king's palace. Just the same, they believed in Him. This same Jesus, that the shepherds saw in the manger, is the same Christ Who died on the cross for our sins and three days later, rose from the dead. He is the same King of kings and Lord of Lords we must reverence, and not take His name in vain, for He is coming to earth again to judge the living and the dead.

He took your sins on the cross, and died, sacrificing Himself for you. Come and trust Him. As we saw in Acts 2:21: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."


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Fallow Ground

Hosea 10:12b: "Break up your fallow ground."

Jeremiah 4:3b: "Break up your fallow ground."

In the Scriptures, when God repeats a command, it is very important. In the instance of our texts, two prophets of God at two different times in Israel's history gave the command, "Break up your fallow ground." The first time was when Hosea was given the message before the Assyrians invaded Israel and took the Northern tribes captive in 722 B.C. The Prophet was telling the ten tribes to repent of their sin and return to God or He would send the Assyrians to invade their land. About 130 years later, He said he same thing to the Kingdom of Judah through the Prophet Jeremiah when the Southern kingdom turned away from God to worship idols. God warned them He would send Babylon to invade them. Neither would return to God, so in both cases, The Lord followed through with His threat.

Today we also have a responsibility to "break up our fallow ground." Maybe your heart is as hard as the ground during a Michigan winter, and you need God's springtime to soften it. Turning to Him in repentance and faith is the only way to achieve this. Fallow ground is simply ground so hard, nothing can grow in it. What we are talking about is breaking up the hard ground in your heart so God can save you, or if you are already saved, grow more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your heart and life. Now we will turn to Hosea 10: 9-15 and Jeremiah 4:1-4 and examine this matter of breaking up your fallow ground.


I. First, turn to Hosea 10:9-15.

A. The ground is fallow, so the Lord's kindness is abused by ungrateful people.

Verses 9-11a say, "O Israel, thou hast sinned since the day of Gibea: there they stood: the battle in Gibea against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two farrows. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn."

In Judges 19 and 20, the tribe of Benjamin sinned in tolerating the same sin the Sodomites committed. In 19:22, wicked men surrounded a man's house and demanded that the owner, "Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him." I don't believe I need to say in what sense these evil men wanted to "know" the house guest. It is of the nature of what the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 5: 11 and 12: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret."

In Judges 20: 11-13, we read how the other tribes reacted to the sin: "So the men of Israel were gathered against he city, knit together as one man. And the tribes sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibea, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel." In other words, the other tribes were not going to look the other way at this kind of gross sin. They wanted to "put away evil" from the nation.

In verse 14, we have Benjamin's response: "But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the unto Gibea, to go and do battle against the children of Israel."The tribe of Benjamin not only tolerated Gibea's sin, but defended it! They were willing to go to war to defend sinners against a righteous cause.

In Hosea's time, Israel was doing what Benjamin did in Gibea. Their tolerance of sin was in direct defiance of the Word of God. So His desire to chastise the nation was not because He hated them. He hated their sin. He wanted them to clean up their act. As Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people." He was going to chastise them to get them to give up their self-destructive ways.

They were still free. There was no yoke around Israel's neck. There was still time to turn things around. God was still acting in grace,sending Hosea the prophet to warn them. The nature of the warning was, "If you don't break up the fallow ground of your hearts, I will send the nation of Assyria to take you, and you will be their slaves."

B. The ground is fallow, so the people must reap what they sowed.

Verses 11b and 13-15 say, "But I passed over upon her fair neck...Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalmaan spoiled Betharbal in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off."

One question: How can a nation or an individual plow wickedness and expect to have decency as a crop? That would be like plowing wheat into the ground and expecting a harvest of corn! That is not going to happen. The more a nation's might is trusted instead of God, the more people will believe lies. It happened in Israel. It is happening in America today. Freedom to serve God is a good thing. Abuse of the freedom God gives to serve your own selfish agenda is not a good thing, but an evil. In God's economy, there is no freedom to sin, no matter what the United States Supreme court says. God's judgment is the ultimate authority in matters of morality. If you want the crop of decency, you must sow decency.

C. The ground is fallow, so the people must break it up and repent.

Verse 12 is the crux of the matter: Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. God says to Israel, "Break up your fallow ground." He says to you and me, "Break up your fallow ground." The might of nations could end in a day, and no one but God knows what will happen from one day to the next. America is not guaranteed survival even though it is the most powerful nation in the world, and unless it once again breaks up its fallow ground and returns to the godly principles on which it was founded, there is no Biblical reason to assume that God will continue to bless our nation. Once again, I repeat Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people."

As it is with nations, so it is with each of us individually. You and I are not guaranteed another day of life on earth, not even another minute. Therefore, repent! Turn away from your sinful ways and turn toward God. Reap goodness and kind deeds instead of violence. Truly put your faith and trust where it belongs- in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord and He will be found.


II. Now, turn to Jeremiah 4:1-4.

A. The ground is fallow, so the people must return to the Lord.

Verses 1 and 2 say, "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of thy sight, then thou shalt not remove."

The question to be asked is, "Why does Israel need to return to the Lord?" If we go back into chapters 2 and 3, we will see a whole catalogue of sins and wickedness the nation was involved in. In 2:7 and 8, we read that after God had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and placed the people in the land that flowed with milk and honey, they defiled the land and made God's heritage an abomination. They did not conquer the entire land, and after the death of Joshua worshipped the gods of the people they did defeat. In verses 12 and 13, Israel forsook God and went their own way. They wanted to live independently of the Lord, and instead of following Him, and do everything their own way. In chapter 3:1, they were committing spiritual adultery. There is no difference between someone cheating on his or her spouse and that same person worshipping an idol. Judah was, in effect, cheating on God Himself! In verses 6-10, Judah ignores the example of what happened to the other tribes that sinned and continued on their same wicked course. They refused to learn from history and continued to make the same mistakes they had been making for 700 years. In their treacherous and hypocritical way in verse 23, they sought deliverance from their idols. No wonder, in 2:26 and 27, the Lord told them to seek deliverance from the stocks and stones they were worshipping.


B. The ground is fallow, so the people must repent of their sin.

Verses 3-4a teach, "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumsise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem."

What this basically means is "Give your heart to God." This is clearly the teaching of Romans 2:28 and 29, "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." We see in the Jeremiah passage that the Jews of his day understood that God viewed the hearts of His people as far more important than their bloody foreskins! Sacrifice means nothing to God unless the heart is willing. "Break up your fallow ground" simply means repent of the hardness of your heart and turn to God for salvation or get back into fellowship with Him.

C. The ground is fallow, so the people must repent of their sin - OR ELSE!

In the last part of verse 4, Jeremiah tells the people of Judah and us what will happen if they don't repent of their sin. Here is God's ultimatum: "Lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

What this basically meant to the people of Judah was if they didn't repent and return to the God of their fathers, their land would be set on fire by the Babylonians and they would be enslaved. It had already happened to the ten-tribe kingdom off Israel in 722 B. C. because their ground remained fallow, and they were conquered ans enslaved by the Assyrians. In 586 B.C. Judah was burned and enslaved by the Babylonians, thus fulfilling this prophecy. Both nations reaped what they sowed. Israel and Judah saw their lands burn and their people enslaved because they did not seek the Lord and repent.


There is something else here. Unless sinners get their hearts right with God while they are alive on the earth, nothing but judgment and hell await them. The Lord Jesus said in Mark 9:43-48 that the punishment and torment of hell are so severe it would be better to lose a hand, a foot or an eye than to go there: "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to hell, into the fire that is never quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than to have two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched: where their worm dieth no, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."


When Jesus died on the cross, God met His responsibility for your salvation. He laid His life down so you might be saved. Maybe you think you have a heart that has been seared with a hot iron, and it is too hard. It remains your responsibility to repent and turn to God. Trust in Him. He has the power to soften your heart and make you clean. Break up your fallow ground. It does not matter how bad or good you think you are or have been. Unless you repent, you will perish eternally in hell.


Break up your fallow ground and you will be changed. Christian, break up your fallow ground and turn back your life to your Lord. Leave your backsliding behind. Make it thing of the past. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and serve your Lord Who loves you. Those here who do not yet trust in Christ: Listen to me! Repent and turn to God accept your responsibility for your sin and place your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Break up your fallow ground, and and you shall receive a new and eternal life. As Acts 16:31 says, Believe on the lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This is your responsibility.


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Treasures of Wickedness

Today we will go on a treasure hunt. I want you to see that there are treasures men seek after that may look valuable now, but in the long run will profit them nothing. These "treasures" are earthly possessions, pleasure and power. Of course, the acquisition of any or all of these can be perfectly legitimate and, rightly used, can be a blessing to the world. But sought without God, the Scripture calls them "treasures of wickedness." Today I will show you why you should be God's treasure of eternal life and his will for yours instead of earth's temporary trash.

Our text is Proverbs 1o:2,

"Treasures of wickedness profit nothing:
But righteousness delivereth from death."


Two more verses to keep in mind both say the same thing; Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34,

"For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also."


I. First, I want you to see three varieties of treasures of wickedness.

A. The first of the treasures of wickedness is possessions gained by wickedness. These are things gained through unethical activity, such as cheating and fraud, bribery, income tax fraud, in fact, any shenanigans of unfair gain.


B. The second of the treasures of wickedness is pleasure gained through evil companionship. These are gained through wrongful use of influence or power.

C. Power gained through deception, whether of self or others, or any other form of wickedness, such as mamipulation of other people.


II. Secondly, I want you to see are why treasures of wickedness are unprofitable.

A. Treasures of wickedness are temporary. They don't last. The Apostle James, in chapter 5, verses 1-3 tells us, 'Go to, now, ye rich men, and howl, for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver are cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days."


James was talking to wealthy Christians here. He is not saying the having wealth is necessarily unchristian or wrong. I believe that what he is talking about here is wealth-seeking motivated
by selfishness. I know of very wealthy Christians who give 90% and perhaps more of their money to the spread of the Gospel. Giving motivated by love for Jesus Christ will have a great reward in heaven no matter what the percentage. However, giving to show off, or to achieve one-upmanship, saying you are better than others, this is corrupt in motive, and God will not reward that kind of showboating in eternity. The use of fire in this passage reminds me of one in I Corinthians. In chapter 3:9-15, the Apostle Paul says, "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." Straying off the foundation of Jesus Christ for the sake of gaining wealth or anything else is not good for a Christian to do. In the end, your works will be put through the fires of judgment.


As a wise poet once wrote:

"Only one life, 'twill soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last."

It is only important that your needs, and not necessarily your wants, are met. Sometimes, you should be thankful God doesn't give you everything you want. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." In the context, "these things" are the basic needs of food and clothing. Seek God first, and your needs will be taken care of. Seek treasures of wickedness, and you might wind up in the hog pen like the prodigal son.

In several passages of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, one of the wisest people that ever lived, had these things to say about the treasures of wickedness:

Of possessions, he said in 5:10, "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity."

Of pleasure, he said in 2:1, "I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and behold, this also is vanity."

Of power he said in 2:9-11, "So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was the portion of my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

Solomon was the wisest of human beings, yet in the end, he found all these things of little or no value. Meditate on these passages and keep in mind that the Hebrew word translated "vanity" means nothing. The value of possessions, pleasure and power is infinitely exceeded by the value of a righteous life.

B. Treasures of wickedness take the heart away from that which is more permanently profitable, such this as eternal life. The Gospel of Mark 8:35-37 has this to say: For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" What good is it going to be in relation to eternity to have vast possessions that at death, you are not going to be able to take with you? Those things could never equal the value of your eternal soul.

To look at the same thing another way, turn to Romans 8:18 and II Corinthians 4: 17 and 18. First, Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Now to II Corinthians 4:17 and 18, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." If you are not a Christian, these verses do not apply to you. These are our hope that, no matter how much pain we must endure in our earthly lives, God has glories in store for us that will make it all worthwhile. You who are not saved, if you don't come to Christ by faith, and trust Him for your salvation, all you will have will be the treasures of wickedness, and hell to look forward to.

C. This brings me to the beginning of the Gospel: your sinfulness. Treasures of wickedness cause the sin in the heart to be revealed. Chasing after the treasures of wickedness; possessions, pleasure, and power, only puts delusions in the mind.

1. The lust for possessions gives one the delusion of Materialism. This philosophy can be summed up in the maxim, "He who dies with the most toys wins." The delusion is that apart form God, they can gain anything lasting. Many deceive themselves into believing they are helping others, but are doing it from selfish motives. Some of these motives might be to feel good about yourself, getting a tax deduction, bettering your reputation, or putting others under obligation to you.

But the reality is that he who dies with the biggest toys is as dead as he who dies with nothing. His "toys" profit him nothing at the end of his earthly life. Unless that man is saved, the only reward he can look forward to is an eternity in hell with Lazarus' rich man, as told in Luke 16. The real question is, as we have seen, found in Mark 8:37, " What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

2. Another delusion is the lust for pleasure, commonly called Hedonism. This is exemplified in the an old beer ad slogan: "Grab all the gusto you can." People who do this live apart from God, wanting little more out of life than wine, women and song. Pleasure is all the Hedonist lives for. They think they are not hurting other people, but by living for pleasure apart from God, they are depriving the world of their own contributions.

The Bible has much to say about deriving improper pleasure from wine, women and song: Of wine, Proverbs 20:1 says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise."

Men must be especially careful of pleasure with women. Proverbs 23: 27 and 28 says, "For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She lieth in wait as or a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men." A further warning about this woman is found in Proverbs 7:26 and 27, "For she hath cast down many wounded: many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chamber of death." In other words the consequences of adultery will be devastating.

As far as songs and music goes, there are far more Scriptural references to good music than bad. But in Ecclesiastes 7: 4 and 5, we have these words: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. Songs of fools might be pleasant to hear, but they do no real good.

Pleasure in proper doses is a good thing, but grabbing all the gusto or pleasure you can get is crazy! Misuse of wine, women and song produces drunkenness, disease, and deafness!

3. A final delusion is the lust for power, or pragmatism. This is exemplified in Machiavelli's maxim, "The end justifies the means." People under this delusion live to gain position and control of everything in their world, and don't care who gets hurt when they to manipulate God and others. There are many political leaders who are delusional enough to think they are doing good by following a particular agenda, and destroying anyone that gets in their way. The Apostle Paul, in I Timothy 1:8 says, "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." We see from this that there is a use of the law that is wrong. The law is perverted all the time by those who wish to manipulate in order to gain power.

The reality is that that end does not justify the means when there is manipulation of people or attempted manipulation of God. Power, pleasure and possessions must all be gained through morally legitimate avenues, or you might have some temporary gain, but in the long run, you will lose. Paul, in II Timothy 2:5, wrote, "And if a man also strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully."

The message should be abundantly clear: No one can manipulate God's moral universe to suit his own ends. The lord is bigger, stronger, and smarter than any man that has ever lived. This alone makes the pursuit of the treasures of wickedness a foolish endeavor.

II. Now we come to the second part of our text: "But righteousness delivereth from death."

A. As we have seen, there is no profit in chasing after treasures of wickedness. In I Timothy 6:10, Paul says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have erred form the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Back in verse 6 he says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

B. It is righteousness that delivers from death. If you wish to have a profitable life, you must turn from your own sin,, which leads to death, and accept God's gift of His own righteousness. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eternal life is a far greater treasure than anything gained through sin and wickedness. It is the gift of God: It cannot be earned.

This gift is of grace. It is the very righteousness of Christ Himself imputed to us. Paul also said in Romans 5:21, "That as sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Apart from God, we cannot help but sin. It is only through God's grace that righteousness will reign in us.

Jesus Christ was our substitute, giving His life on the cross for us, taking our sin upon Himself, and giving us His righteousness. Paul said in I Corinthians 5:21, "Fort he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Christ was our totally pure and sinless substitute for our sin. His sacrifice paid the price for our sin.

So, the conclusion is simple: Repent and trust in Christ to impute His righteousness to you. Give up chasing the treasures of wickedness. In the end, you will not be able to keep them anyway. In eternity, earthly possessions, pleasure and power will be absolutely meaningless. In hell, they will no longer be yours. There is something better: By trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the treasures of heaven will be yours forever.

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Are You Good Enough to Go to Hell?

Philippians 4:4-6-"Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness that is in the law, blameless."

A couple of years ago, I preached a sermon called, Are You Bad Enough to Get Saved? Today, I am going to ask the same question in a different way: "Are you good enough to go to Hell?" If you think you are good enough to go to heaven without being saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are good enough to go to hell. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." In Romans 6:23, the Apostle Paul wrote, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Are you good enough to go to hell? If you are relying on your own good works, or your practice of religion to get you to heaven, you are. You cannot see yourself as the sinner God sees. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus said, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

In our text, the Apostle Paul writes of the time before he was saved. He trusted in his own righteousness to get him to heaven. This is what he meant when he wrote about having "confidence in the flesh." But he was only good enough to go to hell, because he was putting his trust in his own righteousness, and not that of Jesus Christ. In the text, Paul gives five reasons he believed he was righteous before God before he was saved. All of these reasons are still used by Satan to cause people to believe they are going to heaven when in fact they are not. Actually, they are reasons people are only good enough to go to hell. The reasons are: i) he went through a ritual (circumcision), ii) he came from a good family, iii) he kept the law, iv) he was zealous for his faith, and v) he really believed he was a righteous man.

Of course, in the verses that follow this passage, Paul told the Philippians he regarded those reasons as "loss" and "dung" now that he was trusting Christ. He knew he was bad enough to be saved. But let us look at what he reveals about himself when he was good enough to go to hell. We will examine the five reasons Paul thought he was righteous before God, and show all of them are totally inadequate to get anyone to heaven.


I. The first reason from our text Paul was good enough to go to hell was that he went through a religious ritual. Our text says he was "circumcised the eighth day." A Jewish baby boy was circumcised eight says after he was born. He was part of the covenant between Abraham and God. If a baby boy was not circumcised, he was not under the covenant (Genesis 17:13-14). Paul was good enough to go to hell because he was circumcised and therefore believed he was part of the covenant. Some churches also have a ritual for babies that they say regenerates their souls and places them under a church covenant. They call it baptism. But this is not what the Bible calls baptism. If those churches think that sprinkling a little water on a baby, and then declaring he is now a "child of God" is going to get rid of original sin and save the baby, I would suggest that baby has a great start on becoming good enough to go to hell.

The word baptize in the Greek is baptizo, which means to immerse. It is not sprinkle. In a proper baptism, someone is put completely under water.

Neither circumcision nor baptism were intended to save the soul. Only a saved person should be baptized, because the reason someone is baptized is it is a testimony of his salvation. Baptismal water does not regenerate the soul, does not wash away sin, does not result in the new birth. It is symbolic that salvation has already occurred. Paul taught this in Romans6:3-5: "Know ye not, that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into his death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection."

Going under the water symbolizes Christ's death and burial as our death to sin. Coming out of the water is symbolic of Christ's resurrection as our resurrection to life. Baptism is symbolic of the new birth, and as Dr. Lee Roberson used to say when he baptized people, "Praise the Lord in the newness of life in Christ Jesus." If you want to make someone good enough to go to hell, make him believe he is righteous before God because he was baptized.


II. A second reason Paul was good enough to go to hell was he came from a good family. Or text said he was "Of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews" (verse 5b). It does not matter what family someone is born into: Unless he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will only be good enough to go to hell.

This is clearly stated by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7-9: "But when he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."

In the eyes of God, it does not matter what family someone is from. John 3:18 says of the Son of God, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already," and it does not matter whether he is from a good, bad or indifferent family. You are good enough to go to hell if you think you have "always been a Christian" because you were brought up in a Christian family.


III. A third reason Paul was good enough to go to hell before he was saved is he thought he was righteous because he kept the law. But the law can only condemn. It can never save. the purpose of the law is to show us our sin so we will accept the grace of Christ. Paul shows this in Romans 3:19-20, "Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

The law cannot save anyone because no one can keep the law perfectly. This is precisely why Jesus came. As John 1:12 says, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." In Galatians 2:21, Paul writes, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." In other words, if you believe you can get to heaven by keeping the law, you are only good enough to go to hell.


IV. A fourth reason Paul was good enough to go to hell was he was zealous for his faith. In verse 6 of our text, Paul wrote he was "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church." Paul had Christians put in prison before he was saved (Acts 8:3), and he was the ringleader at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1).

Today we have people who think they are going to get to heaven by killing others and themselves. Hardly a day goes by when suicide bombers don't kill and die. They are zealous for their religion. They are like the Jews Paul writes of in Romans 10:1-4: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." They are only good enough to go to hell because they are breaking God's law against murder, but believe they are doing right. Many are young children who need our prayers and compassion. A prayer for their salvation, a prayer that God will send workers into that harvest of souls, a prayer that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of these people, is more powerful than all the car bombs in the world, combined. As Paul said in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek. God wants to save the terrorist, just as he wants to save anyone else.


V. The final, and ultimate reason Paul was good enough to go to hell before he was saved was that he truly believed he was a righteous man. The rest of our text says he was "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." He was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong. Blamelessness is not the same as sinlessness. No one could point a finger of blame at Paul with regard to the law. To all appearances, he kept the law. Only God could see the sin in his heart.

At the end of his life Paul wrote these words about himself found in I Timothy 1:13-15: "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, f whom I am chief."

Friend, how about you? Are you like the old Paul, good enough to go to hell, or are you like the new, born-again Paul, knowing you are a sinner and trusting in Christ to save you? Do trust Him. His death was good enough to take away your sins, and His resurrection proves you can have a new and eternal life in Him.


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