Good morning. Let's begin with a question. How do people explain man's existence? Perhaps one common view is that man is a product of chance and evolution. The universe is so vast and time so long that life was bound to start somewhere eventually. And once started, life evolved to where we are today. And since we are sort of a cosmic accident, the best worldview is to live and let live, mind your own business, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. I suspect that some with this viewpoint are hoping that we someday find alien life to validate the premise that given a big enough universe and enough time, life appears here and there. Scientism would conveniently eliminate the need for God, and that would conveniently eliminate accountability to God. But scientism cannot explain the origin of the universe, the fundamental laws of nature, human consciousness. Only theism can. Anyone waiting for aliens will wait in vain. Angels, however, you may encounter. But what about the theism that we need to get things started? So perhaps a second explanation of man's existence conceives of a benevolent God who plays a role here and there, such as initiating life, establishing the fundamental laws and the consciousness of man. And after having done that, he retreats from the scene and patiently tolerates man's inhumanity to man. But in the end, he'll step into the picture again and see to it that everybody goes to heaven and lives in peace with the possible exception of history's mass murderers, because that's what we might do if we were God. We would be tolerant and patient and kind and reserve our wrath for the worst of the worst only. And I suspect a lot of people explain man's existence and how things work in a manner that suits them, in a manner that appeals to their logic. Their self-conceived notions of God are their God. And there's a name for that. It's called idolatry. But perhaps the reason for man's existence is very different. What if we were created by superior alien beings that placed us on this planet like fish in a farming tank? And when a person dies, they've been harvested by the aliens to eat for dinner. That's a notion, just not an appealing one. But why should that be discarded? Does anyone really know what's going on? And to that seemingly rhetorical question, I answer an emphatic yes. There is one who knows exactly what's going on. He is the one that death could not restrain. He is the one person in history that was raised from the dead by his own power. Such a one is worthy of our undivided attention. And happily, such a one has seen to it that all we need to know has been written down and made into a book for us to read and learn. This book, the Bible, answers all of life's important questions. It tells you where you came from, why you are here, and two possibilities for where you are going. What a blessing to have answers to those fundamental questions. There's no need for us to be worried about being harvested and consumed by aliens. The Bible's teaching makes that impossible. Where do we come from? God made us. We are intelligently designed. Why are we here? To glorify and enjoy our creator. And where are we going? Either heaven or hell, based on whether we die in our sins or die in the Lord. These are simple answers to life's basic questions. But the dying in your sins and going to hell part is a little unnerving. Can we have an undo on that and choose a better second option? No. The word of God, both on paper and in his son, says he is holy. and he must punish sin. He must punish doing what he forbids and the failure to do what he commands. Now, on the one hand, that sounds very creator-like, does it not? If you have the power to create, then you have the power and the right to call the shots. On the other hand, we've never met anyone that is sinless, so how is it that anyone avoids hell? And so you may conclude, as you try to sort this out in your mind, that God must be grading on a curve. And that is a dangerous and deadly notion. Grading on a curve is when the teacher, the professor adjusts the performance measure so there's a pleasing distribution of grades. Students take an exam, they gather together afterwards and agree that exam was tough and the best students think they got about a 75, typically a C. And students who struggle more think they got a 50, typically an F. And so they reason, if a small portion of the class gets a C and most of us get a D or an F, well then the exam was too hard. And in today's vernacular, obvi, And if the teacher fails most of the class, they will look bad. And so clearly, they have to adjust the grades so that there's at least 20% A's, 30% B's, 40% C's, 10% D's, or F's. And the students hope that the teacher's going to grade on a curve. And that often happens in education. And you get used to that idea that in any graded endeavor, about 90% are going to pass and only about 10% will fail. And you may reason that if there really is a God and a heaven and a hell, then as long as 10% or so of the population behaves worse than you do, you'll be fine. And most of us in the United States probably imagine ourselves to be in the top 90% of the world with respect to virtue. And so there's no reason to be overly concerned about God's judgment if indeed there is a God at all. And so you boil it down and perhaps a lot of people carry two baskets. And in the one basket is there is no God. Science is the explanation. The other basket, if there is a God, he must pass 90%, otherwise he'd look bad. And having settled that in your mind, you live undisturbed by fear of God's judgment. Well, God does exist, so there is no God-basket's worthless. You can toss that aside. And he does say that eternity has two outcomes. It is binary, and in a way, it's kind of like a pass-fail course in school. But how valid is that 90% pass-rate theory? Does God grade on a curve? Not according to his word. You say, preacher, do you mean that if a majority of people do not satisfy God's standards, then a majority of people will fail and be cast into hell? Yes, that's what I mean. It sure looked that way in Noah's flood, didn't it? Now, God does have a gracious grading system, but the graciousness of it is not in a favorable outcome for at least 90%. The graciousness of it is that he freely offers to you the righteousness he requires of you. That's the graciousness in the grading system. He provides the righteousness he requires. The word of God teaches that salvation from the penalty and power of sin comes by a way of believing and knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. And the faith God requires for salvation he freely gives by his grace. And so I then ask, do you believe and know God? Do you know, and I wanna say this reverently, do you know what makes God tick? Do you know what is at the root of God's actions? Do you know what is God's highest priority? Do you know what motivates God to do what he does? Let's not rely on self-conceived notions. What saith the scriptures? And so I ask you, what verse do you regard to be the most foundational in describing God's worldview? A verse that explains why God does what he does. Did you pick John 3.16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's a wonderful truth, but not the one I had in mind. Did you pick Genesis 1.1? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Closer to what I had in mind, but not what I selected. I think there is a truth that underlies even these truths. God creating all things, and God loving the world. And my verse for describing that which makes God tick is Isaiah 42.8. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Let's seek God's help in unpacking this verse. Please pray with me. Our Father, we do pray that you would not leave us to ourselves, that you would bless us by the presence of your Holy Spirit, that you would work in great power that he would draw from the preaching truth from your word, and that the soils of the hearts of men would be prepared even now that the seed of your word might drink deep root and bear forth abundant fruit to your glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Please hear us for his sake. Amen. I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. I offer that the truths expressed in this verse are foundational to knowing God, which is foundational to eternal life. It is this verse that provides the lens through which God's activity may be more clearly understood. And so let's break it down. I am the Lord, and the Hebrew would be Ani Yahweh. But we really don't know how the Hebrew word for God was pronounced. It uses four letters, which in our alphabet would be Y-H-W-H. And we use vowels to get us from consonant to consonant. And so we have Yahweh, with an A and an E between the Y and the H and whatnot. And more familiarly, that was then turned into Jehovah. What's written in Isaiah 42.8 is the name that God uses of himself. Back in the episode of the burning bush in Exodus, when God is giving Moses instructions about delivering his people from Egypt, God says to Moses, if I come to the people of Israel, or Moses says to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel. The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Now, there are multiple grammatical tenses in play here. So when we read, I am who I am, I think that Moses would have heard, I was that I was, I am that I am, I will be whoever I will be, stay tuned. All of that is packed in here in the Hebrew. And God gives Moses a name, the I Am, to be used like a peg for hanging all the Israelites currently know about him and would yet learn about him in the passage of time. For now they know this, the self-existent one St. Moses, the God of the patriarchs. St. Moses, the God of the promises to the patriarchs. St. Moses. And they will learn much more about this God. By Exodus 6, they learn he is a faithful deliverer. By Exodus 33 and 34, they learn he is present. He is sovereign in his grace and in his mercy. He forgives sin, but he holds the unforgiven accountable for their sins. The meaning of Yahweh builds as God reveals himself to his people through deliverances, through judges, through kings and through prophets. And by Isaiah 42.8, all that has been revealed about the Lord, everything that has been collected on this Yahweh peg is brought to bear when he says, I am the Lord. The takeaway is this. When we read in Isaiah 42.8, I am the Lord, we have God using his most solemn and exalted and developed title. And then he proceeds to bend the nail over with the next phrase, I am the Lord, that is my name. No one but God dare take that name. He who usurps that name will answer to Jehovah, but there is one who laid claim to it. We're gonna go through the longest passage of our sermon today because there's so much in it. It's the encounter of Jesus with the religious leaders of his day who believed there would be a Messiah, who were looking Jesus over to try to decide if they thought it was him. And this encounter will start them to believe they don't want it to be him. So let's read beginning with verse 31. Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, they believe in a Messiah, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? And Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are the offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father.' They answered him, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the work your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. That's a dig regarding Jesus' birth. We have one father, even God. And Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." The Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, now we know you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say, he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Notice Jesus' climactic reply, the same words used by God in the burning bush. They scoffingly challenged his seeing Abraham, and they realized that his reply before Abraham was, I am, was nothing less than a claim. to full deity. He took for himself the sacred name of God. And the Jews, they misunderstood much of God's word, but they knew there'd only be one who could say I am. And they did not believe that one to be Jesus, so they sought to stone him for his blasphemy. How dare you say I am? I was that I was, I am that I am, I will be that I will be. Jesus is the only one who can say it and live. This is God's most comprehensive description of himself. This is the name above all names, as we sang in the hymn, at which we should bend the knee. There may be some who think they'll never bend the knee at the name of Jesus Christ. They'd sooner die than pay homage to him. And scripture gives us a glimpse of the power of Christ to get people to bend their knee. In John 18, on the night that he was betrayed after his high priestly prayer, when Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with the disciples across the bouquet drawn, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who had betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am he. And Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. And when Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. You got Roman soldiers, officers of the religious leaders. Matthew calls this group in his passage on this occasion, a great crowd, and they're armed. This band of soldiers was large enough to have a commanding officer with them, according to verse 12. And in the Roman army, a small detachment called the Maniple had 200 men. Jesus, the intended victim, took charge of the situation and demonstrated his divine power in a striking manner. All he had to do was speak his divine name, and a great armed crowd drew back and fell to the ground. He is the name above all names, and one day, All will bow the knee to him, I suspect, simultaneously. In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he exhorts the people of Philippi as follows, let each of you look, not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." We might not know how Yahweh was pronounced, and that name has fallen into disuse among the Jews, as it essentially became associated with judgment, and saying it became a fearful act. And so Adonai replaced using Jehovah. But according to John 17.6, the name God now uses to reveal himself is Jesus. Yahweh and Jehovah can be known through Jesus and Him alone, and I do think it likely there will be a moment in the Day of Judgment where Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11 take place. Soon after His second coming, the name of Jesus will ring out. A herald angel will sing, hear ye, hear ye, presenting the Lord of lords and the King of kings, Jesus the Christ, and every knee will bow. And every tongue will confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And those that died in the Lord, their knee will be bent and they'll be rejoicing. But those that died in their sins will have a bent knee and be terrified, wondering if there's a nearby cave for them to hide in. This is going to be a momentous event. And please forgive my amillennial eschatology, but if there's a discrete moment in time that marks the end of this age and the consummation of the age to come, I think it's at the conclusion of this event. I believe this age will end with every being created during it, both men and angels, bowing at the knee together and confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. The name of God represents all that he is. Jesus, God in the flesh, is now that name. And when his name is proclaimed in the day of judgment, all will bend the knee and confession as Lord to the glory of God. Those who will not be reconciled in the day of his grace will be subjugated in the day of his judgment. Back to Isaiah 42. I am the Lord, that is my name. That reality being communicated, we now have a consequence. Namely, the reality that God is to be the exclusive object of worship. I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other. The children's catechism that I'm familiar with starts with who made you? And the answer is God. And then what else did God make? And the answer is all things. And then why did God make you and all things? The answer is for his own glory. And we ask them to prove it and kind of have a verse in mind that defends that answer. And they think of Isaiah 43, where it says, I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Fear not, for I am with you, with everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. We didn't just appear out of a vast universe after a boundless amount of time. God made us in his image for his glory, and he will not share his glory with any other. The Ten Commandments makes that clear. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me in my presence. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. God made us to be the exclusive and he is to be the exclusive object of our worship. He's protective of and jealous of his glory. These are foundational truths that explain a great deal. They explain what makes God tick. Let me express these truths another way. God's glory is his highest priority. He yields his glory to no one ever. And maybe we'll help it sink in by way of this contrast. God's glory is his highest priority, not man's earthly comfort. Not your comfort. That's a jarring truth. but we would do well to meditate on it. We see others suffering, or we're personally suffering, and we assume God is not on the job. God's asleep at the wheel, or he doesn't exist at all. How can there be a God when there's such suffering in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? That logic assumes that God's highest priority is man's earthly comfort. It's not. You may say, well, I can see how Isaiah 42.8 makes it clear that God's glory is a priority to him, but even potentially at the expense of earthly comfort, even the comfort of his believers, is that what the Bible teaches? Look at Revelation. The letters are written to the churches, the angel of the church of Smyrna. We have these words, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich, and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. So put yourself in Smyrna in the first century. Imagine you've heard the gospel, and by God's grace, you repented of your sins, you believe in him, you're saved now from the penalty and power of sin, and you think, I have it made. I'm on team God. But lo and behold, you find yourself in prison. No problem. You heard how God freed Peter from prison, even though he was guarded by four squads of soldiers and slept chained between two soldiers. Bring it on, devil. I can't wait to see how God's going to deliver me. And then you hear there's a message from your Savior, a special letter. Wahoo, this is going to be great. Give me that message. For 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death. What? And hopefully someone nearby informs you to focus on the final statement. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. In the long run, that's the death that matters. It may be that God's glory involves your tribulation on earth. And I don't say that glibly. I have no idea what lays in store for me in this life. And if it's tribulation, I hope I remember this sermon. God's glory is his highest priority, not man's earthly comfort, not my earthly comfort. But if I trust in him, my eternal comfort is assured. May he give me the grace to serve him faithfully unto death. If we think that God exists to do our bidding, then we have it backwards. Now, please don't misquote me. I did not say that God is unconcerned about the comfort of those that put their trust in him. The very hairs on your head are numbered. It's more likely that a nursing mother abandoned her child than that God abandoned those who put their trust in him. The names of believers are etched upon the palms of his hands. They are in Christ, as we heard three weeks ago. But be not deceived. God's glory is his highest priority. Now, what if you are an unbeliever? From God's perspective, your salvation is desirable, but not a necessity. You will glorify him if you die in the Lord, and you'll glorify him if you die in your sins. Either way, you will bend the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. From his perspective, he desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, but it's not a necessity. But from your perspective, your salvation better be an imperative, something of vital importance to you that demands your immediate attention and action. While being reunited with your body and bent at the knee and confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, you want to be rejoicing, not terrified. But for God, his glory is his highest priority, and no created being will diminish it ever. And that reality explains a great deal. And if you would know God, this reality must be foundational in your mind. So I want to show you an example of one, how God responded when one attempted to usurp his glory. When it pleased him, God created all things for his glory. Early in the creation week, he created the angels. And sometime after the creation week, one third of the angels fell, including their leader, now known as Satan. Now, I'm not certain that Satan was known as Lucifer before he sinned, but I'm going to use that for convenience. The angels fell because Lucifer sought the glory due God only, and others foolishly followed. But God will not share his glory with another. Now our next passage has a dual application, which is often the case in God's word, and it blends the pride of Lucifer with the pride of one of his servants, the king of Tyre, a Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast that had an advantageous location and therefore had great wealth and idolatry and immorality thrived there. Now imagine yourself to be described in this passage and try to enhance your appreciation of the blessings you were given and what you may be sinning against. Ezekiel 28, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, so we can see already we've transferred to Satan. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle, and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God. In the midst of the stones of fire, you walked. You were blameless in your ways, from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst and it consumed you. And I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. And you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. Well, from the passage, it's quite clear Lucifer was abundantly blessed, and God gave him a particular place of service. But he became proud of his gifts, and he sinned against the giver, and sought to rob him of his glory. At that point, did God then say, hmm, what am I gonna do to salvage Lucifer? That's what we would do, right, if we invested ourselves into something and didn't quite turn out as we expected, and we say, how can I salvage this? Was Lucifer indispensable? No. When unrighteousness was found in him, he was cast aside as a profane thing. He sought to usurp glory from the great I am. God will not share his glory, not even with his grandest creatures. And those who attempt it will come to a dreadful end. Perhaps later today you can read Revelation 12, another chapter on the fall of Satan. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. We have looked at a striking historical example of this verse in action, and now we turn our attention to some modern applications. And here we especially need the help of God. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who served in the George W. Bush administration, once famously said, if history has taught anything, it's that weakness is provocative. It entices people into doing things that they otherwise would not do. Now he was speaking of military weakness. The same could be said of pulpit weakness. Pulpits that fail to biblically address sin and pussyfoot around the topic are falling short of being the watchmen and ambassadors God intends them to be. However, a pulpit that biblically denounces sin only is not a complete pulpit. You also need to hold out God's remedy for sin. You need to proclaim the gospel. Biblical preaching should not solely prompt the listener to knock their knees and soil their garments, but also should promote in them a new heart. Doing both in a way that honors God requires the help of a spirit. May he help us now. Satan's followers are not limited to his fellow fallen angels. The one third casts down with him. He has followers among the sons of Adam. When you yield to the temptation to covet the gender opposite the one God chose for you, you are rebelling against your creator's sovereignty. You are robbing God of his glory. You're following in the path of Lucifer's rebellion. God decides your gender. And he commands that you do not covet what he has not given you. Genesis 1, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. There is not a person alive that God did not create, and for each one, he chose the gender. Therefore, if you are expressing your true self, it will be the gender that God chose for you. God commands that you do not covet what he has not given you. Tenth commandment, Exodus 20, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. And included in the anything that is your neighbor's is your neighbor's gender. If God made you one gender and your neighbor he made the other, and there are only two, he expects you to be content with his choice for you, and declares it to be sin when you are not. A president's recent endorsement of transgender behavior is less than useless when God summons you to judgment. Now, in that proclamation, it's not very long and it's easy to find on the web, I wholeheartedly agree and condemn bullying, discrimination, and any injustice toward those that struggle with this sin. Such persecution is evil doing, it's horrible, and government should firmly stand against it. However, protecting sinners from sinners should not morph into endorsing sin. Endorsing sin is a sin itself. To endorse sin is to call evil good, which God forbids. And when government calls evil good, it is acting contrary to its God-ordained stewardship, which includes approving what is good according to God, not what is evil according to God. In Isaiah, we read, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. Is there a better description of those that endorse sin than wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight? If you read the president's proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, a more ornate carved idol you will not find. It oozes shrewdness and pride. It dares you to deny, dispute, or contradict it. It will brook no criticism. It thinks it has Christianity on the run. Let's see the Christians squirm out from under this one. But earth's rulers are so full of themselves, those that are following Satan, and they've been doing this from the beginning. The psalmist says, why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, and the Lord holds them in derision. then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, and this is the father, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. And now the son quotes the father. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now the narrator, or the psalmist, concludes by saying, now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him. If transgenderism is a sin that you struggle with, I urge you to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that transgenderism is among the sins that he bore on the cross, and that there is forgiveness for those who confess and forsake it. Bend your knee on this matter now and confess that Jesus is Lord now, and don't wait until you are compelled to do so on the Day of Judgment. For if you yield to the temptation to covet the gender opposite the one God chose for you, you're rebelling against your creator's sovereignty. You're robbing God of his glory. You're following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. Now just a footnote, girls who have tomboy leanings like Deborah and JL in the Old Testament, and boys who prefer dwelling in tents like Jacob to being a skillful hunter like Esau, these are not sinning. God creates a great variety within each gender for his glory. And secondly, and sadly, in a fallen world, there are times when the answer to the question, is it a boy or a girl, is unclear. An estimated one in 2,000 children born each year have a disorder of sex development in which biological sex is uncertain. Clearly, such ones are not rebelling against God and following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. Second application, when you yield to the temptation to violate God's parameters for sexual intimacy, you are rebelling against your creator's sovereignty. You're robbing God of his glory. You're following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. The creator decides the parameters of undefiled sexual intimacy, not the created, and violations are a sin against him and his glory. God's sexual intimacy parameters are two of age participants of God given an opposite gender and an exclusive commitment until the death of one participant. All else is a deviation from God's parameters and an assault on his glory. The United Methodist Church, one of the country's largest Protestant denominations, just repealed a few days ago its ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings. The delegate vote was 692 to 51. There was celebrating, cheering, and singing at this clearly unbiblical decision. There's a state where the governor proudly displays their carved idol, inviting others to move there where you have the freedom to love. In fact, all do have the freedom to love. God even commands it. What man does not have is permission to be sexually intimate with anyone they choose under any circumstances. Love is not a synonym for sexual intimacy. The governor should know better than to promote sin. He has been faithfully warned by one of God's ambassadors in his state. May that governor soon bend the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And John, we have a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. So you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, loving one another is commanded. That's a wonderful thing. Sexual intimacy, now that's a privilege for a God-ordained marriage. Hebrews 13, let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. If sexual immorality is a sin that you struggle with, I urge you to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that sexual immorality is among the sins that He bore on the cross, and there is forgiveness for those who confess and forsake it. Bend your knee on this matter now and confess that Jesus is Lord now. Don't wait until you're compelled to do so on the day of judgment. Because when you yield to the temptation to violate God's parameters for sexual intimacy, you're rebelling against your creator's sovereignty. You're robbing God of his glory, and you're following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. Third application. When you yield to the temptation to extinguish one not yet born, who would otherwise be born alive, you are rebelling against your creator's sovereignty and robbing God of his glory and following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. God decides whether conception takes place. God forms people in the womb and regards extinguishing one, not yet born, who would otherwise be born alive, to be murder and rebellion against his sovereign will to create life. A few verses, Isaiah, thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself. Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. And Jeremiah has a bad moment, like Job in verse chapter 20. He goes on to lament, cursed be the day on which I was born, the day when my mother bore me. Let it not be blessed. Cursed is the man who brought the news to my father. A son is born to you, making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb, so my mother would have been my grave. and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame? Had Jeremiah been terminated and extinguished, he would have been killed, according to his word, and his mother's womb would have been a grave. Preacher, you act as though plucking text out of an ancient book settles the matter. Yes, when the ancient book is the word of God and the plucking is faithful to his truth. God knits in the wombs of mothers, and any involved in terminating that process and killing in the womb is making a mother's womb a grave, and they'll answer to Him. If you've participated in such a murder, I urge you to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that murder is among the sins that He bore on the cross, and there is forgiveness for those that confess and forsake it. Bend your knee on this matter now and confess that Jesus is Lord now. And don't wait until you're compelled to do so on the day of judgment. When you yield to the temptation to extinguish one not yet born who would otherwise be born alive, you are rebelling against your creator's sovereignty. You are robbing God of his glory and you're following the path of Lucifer's rebellion. Now you may be thinking that meddling preachers just chomp at the bit to jump in people's bedrooms. Not me. And I suspect that's rarely the case. I selected these applications because of their contemporary relevance. The transgender proclamation just happened just this Easter. Many expect abortion to be a major election issue this November. And the United Methodist Church vote, that's just days old. And what if does abortion primarily scratch? but sexual immorality and the desire to engage in sexual promiscuity without reproductive consequences. Now, to be sure, the carved idol of abortion proponents prominently displays and features heartbreaking scenarios that require deep compassion, love, wisdom, and prayer. And in a society given over to sexual immorality, there are more such heartbreaking scenarios than there would be in a society that handled God's gifts of intimacy according to his rules. But the corpus of the abortion idol, its main body, is lust-inspired rebellion against God's morality. There are no carved idol features. There are no circumstances that man can craft that sets aside the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. There's none. Men set aside God's commandments as if he doesn't see, as if he doesn't exist, as if he doesn't hear, as if he doesn't have the power to hold sin accountable. But he does exist. He does see. He does hear. He has the power to hold sin accountable. We have a good example that we're going to look at next. Pastor Craig recently preached on God's requirements for transporting the Ark of the Covenant. It was to be carried using poles by Levites only, and if a layman touched it, he died. We go to 2 Samuel 6, and David has been king now for seven and a half years, ruling in Hebron, and now he's going, he captured Jerusalem, he evicted the Jebusites, he's gonna rule from there, and he's gonna bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. David, again, gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baali Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart. with the Ark of God, and Ohio went before the cart. And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nagan, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the Ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. That place is called Peres Uzzah to this day. David, the man after God's own heart, was of the opinion that if the ark was being transported and it was tottering and one innocently touched it to steady it, well, then his requirements for transporting the ark should be set aside. That's just being reasonable. God made his perspective clearly known. That ark was an embodiment of his presence among the people, and it was to be treated according to his rules. And to do so otherwise was to treat God as common and not holy. Flaunting God's rules was inviting punitive action. It was robbing him of his glory. And David eventually figured this out in 1 Chronicles 15, David summoned the priests, Zadok, and Abiathar, and the Levites, Uriel, Esaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Elial, and Amminadab. And he said to them, you are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule. So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of God. This is an important occasion. God would teach us by this occasion that a good intention, studying the Ark, will not justify a bad action, touching it when you were told not to. It will not suffice to say of that which is ill done that it was well meant. That will not suffice. When it comes to God's rules, he's not interested in our opinions. He's not interested in our desires. He's not interested in our carved idols. He's not interested in our contrivances. There are many areas that are not open for debate. You say, ah, that was the Old Testament God. He was fussier then. No, God does not change. The new covenant is a better covenant, but God has not changed. He is still jealous of his holiness, and if his response to breaking the rules for carrying the ark was severe, how much more exacting do you think he will be when it comes to trifling with one of his commandments, thou shalt not murder? Do you imagine that you're one day gonna stand before God and argue that certain abortions because of their heartbreaking circumstances were justifiable? Give up that pipe dream now. That dog won't hunt. My body, my choice, is gonna melt away like morning dew in the presence of the king of kings and lord of lords. On the contrary, the creator may reply, you have it backwards, rebellious one. I made you for my glory, your body, my choice. And so when Mary is told that she will conceive under atypical circumstances, how does she reply to the angel? Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. God is the sovereign creator. We are the created. Who are we to answer back to him? Can we say, I am me because I am me? That is my name, and I'll do as I please and answer to no one. You may have the freedom to say it, but you don't have the omnipotence to maintain your safety when you do so. You can mock God, but not safely. And taunting our creator and judge is expressing an eternal death wish. The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion. Whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life. Can you imagine a candidate for office that appeals for votes because they will fight for the right of terminating God's work in the womb? That's putting their best foot forward. In our binary world, who does that serve? Does that serve God or Satan? My fourth application would be on lying, The clock is ticking. Let me just say that it's very disappointing to so frequently have only liars as a choice for an elective office. Some politicians are such inveterate liars that I think they believe what they say is true, and that makes them even more dangerous. And as a voter, you're sometimes stuck trying to figure out whose lies are less pernicious, or whose staff will possess fewer liars. Satan is the father of lies, and his followers are not limited to his fellow fallen angels. He has followers among the sons of Adam. And their conscience confirms this within him, and this increases their rage. And they double down in declaring war against supremacy. And it's against God's supremacy that they're at war. It's the supremacy of Christianity that enrages the servants of Satan. For Christianity proclaims the truth without apology or compromise, and the reflex of evil is to malign and to pervert. And God may be patient with such ones, and they may misinterpret his patience as impotence, but the servants of Satan are destined for doom unless they repent and believe. Doom is the eternal end for all who die in their sins, who die in unbelief and despise God's glory. And if you get a chance to read Revelation 12 on Satan, you can also maybe pick up and read the book of Jude, one chapter, that describes the condemnation and woe and destruction of those who rebel against God. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. God's glory is his highest priority, not the comfort of his creatures, not your comfort. And if we think that God exists to do our bidding, then we have it backwards. You can mock God, but not safely. The wise man understands these things and builds his house upon the rock. Now I ask you, is there anyone here that sat down with God before being born and were handed a questionnaire, kind of like when you go to the doctor? And they say, this is a first-time patient. Fill out this 10-page questionnaire. And you got a questionnaire, and it said, what would you like your gender to be? What about your year of birth? What country would you like to be born in? How about your family? The height, the bone structure, the physical and mental gifts. I am confident that no one here had that opportunity. These matters were decided by God, and you appeared in His story. exactly when and how he decided you would. You had no control. And people like control. And they're sensitive to any encroachment upon their control. Once born, you were still without any control. You're under the control of your caregivers. Now, in time, you began to assume more and more control, first by you learned that if you wailed, you might have your needs met. And that's a method of control still exercised by many of adult age, sadly. Eventually, you have a great deal of control over your life, except for maybe employer expectations, governmental requirements, you gotta pay taxes, obey the law. But you kind of arrive at life's sweet spot, and many would do anything they could to stay there. But you age, and if you've observed the ages, you notice they start losing control again. And that's an unpleasant prospect for most. And ultimately, we all have a day where, once again, we have no control over how matters unfold. You draw your final breath, and that is the moment that God has summoned you to sit down with him for judgment. And those judgment proceedings will unfold entirely according to his terms, not according to yours, and you're powerless to prevent it. Now, you can prepare for that most sobering moment, but you can't prevent it. You will most certainly appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, if you want to be prepared and secure your eternal comfort, if you're wise, you will align your well-being with God's glory, because he's not giving up his glory for anybody. So how might you align your well-being with his glory? By repenting of your sins, by believing in his son that he bore your sins upon the cross. and that he paid the penalty that your sins accrued, he canceled out your certificate of debt. He set you free from sins punishment, and your eternal well-being is thus assured, because now God's glory depends on it. You think he's gonna let anyone go who put their trust in him? By the day of judgment, there might be 100 billion souls have been created in the history of time. Not one will slip through the cracks that put their trust in Jesus. But if you choose to ignore God and His remedy for your sins, then you remain aligned contrary to His glory, and you run the risk of eternal doom. Vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. There's nothing that keeps a wicked person at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of God. Men's hands cannot be strong, When God rises up, the strongest have no power to resist him, nor can they deliver themselves or anyone else out of his hands. Why die that way? Is the passing pleasure of sin that important? Now, you may think that I'm contemptible for saying such things, and I beg you to reconsider. Contemptible are those that lie to you. Intentable are those that tell you you're free to live as you please and you don't have to be concerned about any consequences. You're not free to do as you please unless you are the one who can say, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carbitis. I urge you to do what I do. Go to God and beg him for his grace, his mercy. I need the grace of God the same as you. You need the grace of God the same as me. Neither of us can stand before God in our own merit. Neither of us impress him. The Father is impressed by the Son alone. But through the Son, the Father saves sinners from the penalty and power of sin. That's the good news of the gospel. And if at this moment you're a servant of Satan, I suspect he's whispering to you that all I have told you is a lie. The gospel is not a lie. It may seem too good to be true, but it's true nonetheless. The first sin on the planet was a fallen angel telling a person that God's word is not true. That lie brought death to men, and it will bring eternal death to you if you swallow it and refuse to let it go. God is not a liar. The gospel is not a lie. How often have I recited Isaiah 42.8? Let's look at the seven verses that precede Isaiah 42.8. Isaiah 42, beginning with verse one. Behold, my servant whom I uphold. This is the father speaking of the son. my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. And Satan hears these words and he cries out, never over my dead body would Jesus Christ get glory. Those who serve me will see to it that he is denied his glory. To which God replies, verse eight, I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. God has made the way of salvation. He stamped his name and his glory upon it. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Why stiffen your neck in response to gospel warning? I get up in the middle of the night often, probably because I'm old. I have to go to the bathroom. I think often of that episode in Philippians where the people's knee will be bent and they'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And I think of those in my life who I don't want in that position, knowing that what comes next for them is doom. I would have you imagine the desperation those will feel who are compelled to bend the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Our last passage, our last slide, Revelation 6, gives you a picture of that desperation. the kings of the earth, the great ones, the generals, the rich, the powerful, everyone, slave and free, are going to hide themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling on the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the land. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Brethren, don't let the loved ones in your life go down without a fight. Don't let them go down without exerting yourself on behalf of their good. Don't let the day of judgment arrive and slap your palm of your hand to your forehead and say, it was true. It was all true. I kind of only half believed it. Why didn't I do more? Queen Mary said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than she feared all the armies of Scotland. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let the powers of darkness fear your prayers and plead with God for the deliverance of souls from the grip of hell. live like a Christian, and support biblical pulpits, because God does not grade on a curve, and weakness is provocative. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, for a sermon to have any success at all depends entirely on your grace and on the power of your spirit. We do pray your word would not return unto you void, We pray that you would be pleased to save those who are at this moment yet in their sins. May they repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from the penalty and power of sin. We pray you would sanctify those that are yours. And if they're backslidden or drifting, that they would refocus and energize themselves and give of their talents and time to the glory of your name and the works that you've arranged for them to do. We do pray that this pulpit would forever preach with boldness against sin and for the gospel. And we do pray that you would be brought much glory for Jesus Christ deserves to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Please hear and receive us for his sake. Amen.