That's a good hymn, isn't it? It certainly went well with that Scripture reading, didn't it? I don't recall us singing that before. 2 Chronicles chapter 13 now. Let's read verses 10 and 11 again. 2 Chronicles 13, verses 10 and 11. But as for us, The Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. And the priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron. And the Levites wait upon their business. And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense The showbread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof to burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but ye have forsaken him." Now I remind you once again how that Israel throughout the Scripture represents the professing people of God. That is, those who profess to believe God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob is Israel, the God of Jacob. But the Scripture says they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither is he a Jew, which is one outwardly." That's what the Romans said. And Israel represents, in a more clearer way, all people who profess to believe God. All professing believers in the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ. the Christ of Scripture. And as I quoted, all Israel is not of Israel and all of Israel is not Israel and neither is he a Jew which is one merely outwardly or professing or looks the part, neither is he a believer who just merely says so, professed to be so. But there is a remnant Scripture said, Romans said, a remnant, that is a percentage, a tenth if you will or something, a remnant according to the election of grace, that is the true people of God whom he chose, whom he made his people. Now the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah from which King David came, and as we said, the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, was one small tribe or remnant out of twelve tribes of Israel. And yet Judah represents, in this story, the true people of God. Judah was outnumbered two to one. You read with me, there were 800, now this was just men. You can imagine how many wives there were, and family. 800,000 to 400,000. And they gathered together to do battle. They fought one another, Israel and Judah. Two to one, Israel against Judah. And yet in the end, you read the end with me, half a million. where the vast majority of those Israelites were slaughtered. The Lord killed them. Now, both sides claimed to believe the same God, didn't they? Both sides. But only one side did. It's evident, isn't it? Only one side believed and worshipped the true God in the way in which God said to worship. Now I believe that this story is more relevant to our day than any other time because there are more people. There are more professing believers. There are literally millions if not billions the world over who profess to believe the God of this Bible. and so many, so very many, which profess the name of Jesus Christ. Yet I believe that it is the same now as it was then that there is but a remnant according to the election, that is, according to God's sovereign electing grace, a remnant who believe and worship the true God and His true Christ in the true way that he is to be worshipped. Now that's what we're going to get out of this story. If you hadn't already, if you read it with me, I... Come on now, we don't have any place to go, do we? Are you off tomorrow? Are you off work tomorrow? Most of you? Well then, this is it. This is the day. This is all there is, folks. There may not be a tomorrow. As I said, I believe today there is, as then, There is only a remnant, according to God's sovereign electing grace, that knows, believes, and worships the true God and his Christ. Now everyone says they do. They say, people all around us that say they do, worship God, worship Christ, we say it. How do you know? Doesn't it behoove us to know that? Huh? There's a sign out here on 220 South Business on a so-called church that says, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Meaning that anybody can come in here, we just receive anybody because really we all believe the same thing. Do we now? Do we? Do we? Well, I hope we're going to find out. I hope we're going to find out from this scripture. It behooves us to know. Who does? Who worships? Who knows? Who believes the true God and His Christ? Who does and who does not? How does one know? How does one know? Is this important? Is this important? Are we just, you know, splitting doctrinal hairs here? Is it just important so you have the right theology? Huh? Come on now. John 17.3, our Lord said, this is eternal life. This is salvation. This is the difference between being alive unto God or dead. That you might know Thee, the only true God. Why did Jesus Christ say that? Because there are false gods by the millions. And Jesus Christ whom God sent, there's but one. One. One Lord. One faith. One. And our Lord said it is life. It's not just a matter of doctrine. It proves if you're dead or alive. And if you're saved or not. This is salvation. Alright, Abijah. This man, Abijah, is king of Judah. Now he himself is an enigma. If you read his story, if you went up and looked it up, I did. I wanted to find out more about the man. I don't like to repeat any man, you know, say much about anybody in scriptures if I don't know something about them. He's an enigma. As so many were. Solomon was an enigma. Enigma meaning somebody that's hard to figure out. Nevertheless, this man's profession and his declaration to all of Israel is mine. It's ours. It's yours, I hope. Isn't it yours? Those of you who read it with me and understood what you read. All right, let's read verses 4 and 5. Now, Abijah stood up upon Mount Zimmerom, which is in Mount Ephraim, and said, he stood up on a mountain and he made this declaration to all of Israel. Now, there were over a million and a half people listening to this. I'd like to have that audience just one time. I believe I preached this message right here. But he preached or declared this to over a million and a half people, counting his own, maybe two or three million, if men, women, and children were there. And he said this, verse 4, Hear me, thou Jeroboam. He directed it at that imposter and all Israel. Hear me. Ought ye not to know? And I've been accused of, you know, hollering too much, and not by you, mind you, not by most of you anyway, and sounding mad. But how do you stand on a mountain and say this to two million people without shouting it? The fellas are going to blow some trumpets later on. Have you ever blown a trumpet? Have you ever blown a trumpet? Unless you really know what you're doing, you cannot make a sound out of it unless you blow that thing. And a trumpet of warning is only one way to sound it, and that's loud. Why? You're trying to wake people up. You're not playing taps to put them to sleep. And our generation needs to hear a loud trumpet. I'm not trying to put them to sleep. I'm not crying, peace, peace, because there is no peace. Our God said that. There's no peace to the wicked. Hear me! Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever. You ought to know them. That's what he said. He's saying you ought to know them. It's plainly revealed in Scripture. History tells us this. Everybody tells us this. Ought you not to know? And Paul said this later on. He says, have they not heard? Yea, barely. The sound has gone throughout the world. The world ought to know. And they do. They're without excuse. Romans says they're without excuse. That God Almighty hath given this whole ball of dirt to Jesus Christ. He's King of kings and Lord of lords. But one king, all the rest are impostors. You notice how he addressed this to old Jeroboam. Not afraid of that man. He's an impostor. Hear this, he said, don't you know? Ought you not to know? Have you not read? Our Lord kept saying that, didn't He? Have you not read? You do err not knowing the Scripture, nor the power that is the authority, the reign, the rule, the sovereignty of God. That's what Christ said. That sums up all error, all heresy today. Men don't know God's Word and don't know God's power. Hope they not to know why the heavens declare it, the firmament showeth it. Day unto day others speak, night unto night knowledge, though they are without excuse. The wrath of God is clearly revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. God has been saying it from the outset. I have given this whole thing into my son's hands. Now kiss the son. Psalm 2, the psalms start out that way. David, whose son is he? Whose son is Christ? Whose son is Jesus? David said, the Lord said unto my Lord. David said, the Lord said to my Lord, I will declare the decree, thou art my son. And he says he gave it in a covenant of salt, in a covenant before the world began. God said to Christ, ask of me, I'll give you the heathen for thine inheritance, the other most parts of the earth. And so in Psalm 24, it says the earth is the Lord's. Who? Jesus Christ. And the world and inhabitants thereof. The earth and the fullness thereof, and the world and inhabitants thereof. All souls are mine, Jesus Christ said. God has given me authority over all flesh, Christ said, that he should give heath. It's in His sovereign right, in His sovereign hand to give life to as many as God gave Him. Bow. And to this end, Romans 14 says, to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. He is every man and woman and boy and girl's Lord and King whether they know Him or not. And Abijah goes on and says, ought ye not to know? Yet this imposter, he says in verse 5, verse 6, this Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, he's no true son, he's risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. Again, in the words of Abijah's grandfather, great-grandfather David. In his words, years before, the kings of the earth have set themselves and the rulers taken counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And there have been many imposters in the name of the Lord, even. False Christ, our Lord himself, warned of it. We're going to look at that in Matthew 24 real soon. He says, many false Christs shall arise. And vain men, verse 7, he says, they are gathered unto him vain men. You know what vain, vanity is, don't you? Someone who is vain, that means they like the way they look, they like the way they sound. They want people to think they look good and sound good and they are vain men. Well, vain men who are in it for their name and their glory and their honor and their works and their posterity. Our Lord said that incredibly. Our Lord said, I am coming in my Father's name and you don't receive me. He said, let a man come in his own name and you'll just fall all over. Not you, not you. I'm talking about the world as he is. Vain men. And he said, Children of Belial, that is evil men, read on, verse 7, they have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, could not withstand them. As we've said before, that's why people love Christmastime, you know, baby. Isn't he sweet? Sweet little Jesus. Everybody gets emotional over sweet little Jesus. He says in verse 8, And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David? Man has been in rebellion against God for many years. That's where it started in the garden. It started with that imposter named Lucifer, son of the morning, right? Just like old Jeroboam. And he convinced Adam and Eve that they could be like God, too. They have a free will. And God's violating their free will. How dare God be God when you can be? That's how this whole thing started for them. Isn't it? You've read it. That's how it all started. And so the man and the woman believed the lie. And we can be like God. Oh no, you're never going to get low. You're going to be like a beast after this. If you raise your fist against God, you're going to be like an animal. Like old Nebuchadnezzar, remember? He said, I look what I've done. Look who I am. And God, in mercy, brought him down low. And he became like a beast. And his fingernails grew out. And his hair grew long. And he ate grass until he knew. Man is a beast until he comes to find out that the Lord God dwelleth, or reigneth, over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, that he does according to his will in the armies of heaven, but not just there, among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, because he's God, and say unto him, can't even talk back to him. He's not going to give an account of his matter. That's what makes him God, he said. Nebuchadnezzar said, I finally came to my senses. Bless God. Now I know. Now I know. God. A man is not in his right mind until he knows God. Isn't this a good way to begin the new year? We're going to begin with God. That's how this whole creation started. In the beginning, God! He began to declare, scriptures began to declare who God is. What? God! You mind me hollering that, huh? How do you say that? How do you declare such a one as this? How? Huh? Somebody tell me. They said of Christ, he spoke as one having authority. How's that? It ain't mailing him out, mincing words, and changing his voice into a ministerial voice, and turning to the fourth chapter of the first book of Corinthians, as you heard in your reading, and we shall read what the Lord... And he said, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Didn't he? If not, get out of here. Our generation, more than ever, needs a wake-up call, don't they? And as I said, I'm more determined than ever on this radio. We'll give them a few more, just a few more times on that radio. I'm going to shout it out, folks. I'm going to tell it like it is. Bless God. By God's grace. Barnard used to say, I'm not trying to entertain sinners on their road to hell. Trying to get people lost, he used to say. He said, I'm trying to kill their God. Trying to kill their God. First thing has to be done. Got to kill their God. Got to break down their idols. Got to tear out their foundations from under them. All their false refuges. Bring them down in the dust. The salvation of Saul of Tarsus was a violent thing, wasn't it? The Lord put his face in the dust, didn't he? until he realized that whoever brought him off his high horse is God. And God did the same for many of you who brought you off your religious high horse. And that's all religion does, is puff us up. It makes us self-righteous. Well, he said in verse 8, he said, You be a great multitude. You outnumber us two to one, he said. And you think there's strength in numbers, don't you? Looks like the whole world is with you and against us, doesn't it? And you've got these golden calves you've made, Jeremiah made for you. These gods that he made up. Do you know that story? Did anybody look that story up? You know, these sinner references are real good. That's why they're written. There were men of old who took Hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours searching the Scripture to see what it was speaking of, what account, what story. And they went back and searched these Scriptures and wrote them down so you can just, oh, there it is, and turn real quick. There have been times when I've spent as much as 45 minutes looking for one verse of Scripture I need. So you can turn to it in five seconds and look at it or quote it to you. Why? This is good. You're comparing spiritual things with spiritual things, Scripture with Scripture. That's why. Jeroboam, Jeroboam, this false king, God said there's one place to worship. God said there's one place to worship, and that's in Jerusalem. That's where the tabernacle was. That's where the high priest was. God said there's one way. One place I've put my name there. Now, everybody's got to go there to worship. And you know exactly what that's talking about. Who? All right. Gerald Boehm said that's not convenient. That's what he said. He said, besides, if everybody believes there's one way, they'll quit following me. So Jeroboam said, I'll make me some gods and I'll put them in this city, real close, real convenient for everybody. I'll put them in this city and that city, places that God did not sanction, that God did not bless. These golden calves. He made up gardens for the people for convenience sake. Now, he said, now, here folks, here, come. And he made feasts. He said, we'll have a big shindig. We'll have a 25-piece orchestra playing. We'll have a gospel quartet. Come one, come all. And they did. And they quit going to Jerusalem. And they quit worshipping God the true way. And they rejected the true King of Israel. and they start following an aposter. Has this ever been more relevant? Huh? Religion for convenience. Made-up gods. As I said to you before, that you can't believe. Brother Roy, I read that article you gave me out of the New York Times. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it just gets two times worse. That they're making scriptures fit anybody and everything. Just make it palatable to people. Change it. Do anything they can just so people will read it. Folks, this thing is winding down. This is a good message for this time. This might not be the beginning of a new year. It might be the end of it all. That's what we look forward to. We're not looking forward to the new year, per se. We're looking forward to His coming. Hasten the coming of the Lord. It means hurry, come quickly, Lord. This thing is getting worse and worse. They've made void your law. Isn't that what David said? Lord, it's time for you to work. They've made void your law. They're twisting it and corrupting it and perverting it, Lord. The prophets Jeremiah wept over them. Now, there are many, lots of them. They made up their gods. And he says in verse 9, he says, whoever wants to be a priest could. Whoever, Jeroboam made up some priests. He made priests. Now, do you understand what's wrong with that, folks? Who makes a priest? Who made the apostles, the prophets? Who said that the priests were to come from the tribe of Levi? Who said first, before Levi, said Aaron is the man? He's the only one. Who said that? God said that. Some fellas named Korah stood up and said, hey, we could be priests. No, you're not. Jeroboam, and you read the story again, it says he made the lowest of the people priests. Doesn't that pretty much describe these fellas today? Hollywood accurately depicts these fellas as a bunch of wimpy, worthless, no-nothing, no-good hirelings, because that's what they are. It says that Jeroboam raised up high places, that he had elaborate cathedrals with low men in the pulpit. and golden calves. And he said, he went on to say, and you've cast out, verse 9, you have cast out the priest of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, the Levites have made you priests. You've cast out the true prophets and priests. You won't have them. That's what Stephen's message was, wasn't it? That's all Stephen preached in Acts chapter 7. You know that? That's all he preached. You say you're too hard. That's all Stephen said. That's all he said. And they stoned him to death. Isn't it? That's all he said. Read it. He stood up and he said, you stiff-necked and hard-hearted people. He said, which of the prophets have not your fathers killed? And they took up rocks and banked his brains out. And if it were lawful today, they'd do it to us. Cast out the true prophets. Why? They come in God's name. That's all they're doing is telling the truth. And they become everyone's enemy. Incredible, isn't it? Incredible. And they worship and they serve and they talk about and they consecrate themselves and do all they do. to them that are no gods. They're believing, they're worshiping, they're talking about, they're serving somebody that's not God at all. They're praying unto a God who cannot say Isaiah said, but as for us. Let me see you smile here, okay? But as for us, but God, who is rich in mercy, and you, yes, us, who were dead the same way, worshiping the same false gods in the same darkness even as others, but now, but God, but now, as for us. The Lord is our God. If you want to give a CD to somebody, this is it. Alright? The Lord is our God. I'm talking about Jehovah. Anytime you see the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that means Jehovah. Every time. Jehovah. Who's Jehovah? He's the one true God, the living and true God, whom he made known himself to Moses. He said, nobody knows me but you now. The whole world has their gods and thinks they serve me if they don't know me. But God said, I'm revealing myself to you, Abraham. Abraham didn't know him. Abraham was an idolater, 75 years old, set in his ways. Thought he knew God. But God chose Abraham, called Abraham, revealed himself to Abraham. Opened his blind eyes, his deaf ears, his dark heart and enlightened it. Revealed himself to him and in him. I am Jehovah. You are no man. Jehovah means the Eternal One, the Self-existent One. We looked at that, didn't we, in Exodus. Remember that? Oh, I loved that. I remember that so well. Jehovah means the Eternal Self-existent One. Meaning, before there was anything, I am. And in need of no one. Answering to no one. Depending on no one. Nothing he says, does or is depends on anything. That's our God, Jehovah. Their God depends on them to let Him be God. No, no, no. Jehovah's our God. Right? Now this is our, I'm preaching for us. I said to one of you one day, I said, one of you who was saying something about the radio program, how much you enjoyed it and all. You know, we don't get much response. Most response I get is from you. You tell me how much you enjoy it, so it may just be for you. Or to add to the condemnation of those who hear it. Make them accountable for what they have heard and rejected. But it may be just mostly for you. Prepare your hearts for worship for Sunday morning and to further confirm it in your hearts and minds. And you tell me that, and I told this person, I said, you know, I'm just preaching across the airways, and I get up here and stand, and I'm preaching for you, not so much to you and at you, but for you. I'm saying what you want to say to your parents, to your fellow workmen, your family. Aren't I? I'm saying to them what you would love to be able to say. Aren't I? Aren't I, Teresa? And you tell them, listen, this is what I believe, don't you? This is what I believe. Turn it on, please, listen. As for us, you say, us, Rehoboam was preaching on behalf of Judah. He said, Jennifer, Judah, as for us, you and me, Jehovah is our God. And He is God. Doesn't just want to be. He is. Always has been. Always will be. Doesn't matter what anybody says about it. Doesn't matter what anybody does, ever. Doesn't matter what happens. He's the one who made it happen. That's our God. Jehovah. That's for us. And we have not forsaken Him. What does that mean? Well, meaning we have not forsaken the true worship of Him. We've not forsaken the true worship of Him. We still worship the same God in the same way as He told us in the beginning. We still hold fast the beginning of our confidence, steadfast to the end. Stay with me a few more minutes, okay? We still worship God the same way that He told us to worship from the beginning, that He told Abraham to worship from the beginning. The same God is worshipped the same way by his people in all generations. There is no cultural worship. There is no geographical worship. There is one way to worship because there is one God. And we are going to see it right here. All right? We are going to see it. All right? The Lord is our God, the God of Israel, the eternal I Am, the self-existent, unchangeable, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God. The Lord Jesus Christ is our God. Not just the Son of God, though He is, He's very God of very God. I don't understand it. I don't either. That's what I believe, don't we? That's what we believe. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord our God. We say with Thomas, He's the Lord our God. No, He's the Son of God. Yes? Yes, He is. But He's God. He's our Father, the Heavenly Father. How can this be? I don't know, but it is. But He is. he that cometh to God must believe that he is." Jesus Christ is the God, very God of very God, Lord indeed, not just in name only. He's not our