All right, turn your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17, please. We'll get right into it. It will get you out on good behavior tonight early, I doubt it. I doubt we'll get you out early here. We'll give some of you some time to find 2 Kings chapter 17. Some of you probably cheated, you've got tabs. Some of you didn't know there was a 2nd Kings. You're still looking for the first one. Huh? That's right. You did. Is it? Is it about Him? I don't think it is. It's not. 2nd Kings chapter 17. This is the end of a lot of things that are going on here in the book of 2 Kings. And a lot of dangerous things happening and a lot of bad things happening to Israel here at this point. And God is done with them. He is finished with what they've been doing in Israel. And He deals with them in 2 Kings chapter 17 verse number 25. We're going to look at that. And the message is called, Fearing God, but serving your own gods. And I ask the question to you, are you guilty of that? Are you guilty of fearing God and serving your own gods, but serving your own gods at the same time? Verse number 25, And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew them. that slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the land. Therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land." Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. I want you to notice every word there because it matters. He taught them how they should fear the Lord. Got that? That's going to be important later. How be it every nation made gods of their own. and put them in the houses of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succoth-Benoth, and the men of Quth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashemah, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartac, and the Separites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech, and Anamelech, the gods of Sephiverim. So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. Now this last verse here, they feared the Lord and served their own gods. How is that? That doesn't make any sense, does it? How did they fear the Lord and serve their own gods? Well, they did it. And some people still do it today. Some Christians are guilty of this today. Some brethren are guilty of this. Some are still lost and guilty of this. they feared the Lord and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence." Father, Lord, we pray You'd be with us now. Help us understand this, Lord, and see this great truth here, and the danger of this in fearing You but serving our own gods. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. See, God had taken Israel out of the land. God was taking them. He had a nation come in and remove them out of the land of Israel. And they were leaving. And these others came in to settle in that land. And God had sent lions, the Bible says. He sent lions to come into the land and start killing these people. Because of all their idolatry and their wicked, their worshipping false gods and everything else. And God sent lions to start eating them. So they ate them. The lions were eating them up and destroying and devouring them. So they said, we better get a hold of the king of Assyria and tell him this isn't going to work. That he's got to get something and we've got to find out the God of the land. And we've got to find out what's going on and find out how we can better serve the God of the land. Otherwise, we're going to get all devoured. That God's going to kill everybody. So they had a priest come in and taught them something. See, I find this interesting, and I'm gonna explain this a little bit, what took place. But number one, I think it's important that we all understand that the God of the Bible is a jealous God. The God of the Bible is a jealous God. Exodus chapter 20 and verse number five, we are warned of this. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me." How about that? God's a jealous God. Exodus 34, verse number 14, "'For thou shalt worship no other god. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.'" Now, that'll throw those Hebrew Roots guys way off. Because if they had to call upon the God that is jealous, Whose name is Jealous? Oh my goodness, he wouldn't understand. He wouldn't be able to hear you, would he? Well, that's his name. The Bible says his name is Jealous. So he didn't have to say it a certain way. A certain name, just that sacred name, right, is the only name that God understands. Very foolish people. Limiting God. See, the God that they have that they've formed and they put in their pocket, like an old nasty sandwich that they've molded and made and they've stuck it in their pocket, that's the God they serve. Some nasty peanut butter gross sandwich that has like jelly sticking out of it and all this gross, that's the God that they serve. It's not the God of the Bible. Something gross you find in a kid's pocket after he's been at school all day, he's been running around all day, and mom goes to wash his clothes and clean out his clothes, or clean out his pockets and see what's in them, and he pulls that out and he's like, what is this, son? What do you have in here? See, that's the God that they serve. Not the jealous God. Not the God that is intelligent enough. Not the God that is all-knowing, that knows what His names are. That'll make me a lot of friends. Deuteronomy 4, verse number 24. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. He is a consuming fire. What does that mean? It means that He doesn't share His glory with anyone or anything. Amen. That means God's not going to share His glory with your pride. Amen. God won't share His glory with your pride. Deuteronomy 6.15, For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Then in Joshua chapter 24, verse number 19, we find the same thing. And Joshua said unto the people, you cannot serve the Lord. He says, you can't serve the Lord. For He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. For if you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt and consume you. After that, He hath done you good. Jehovah, the God of the Bible, the great I AM, does not share His glory with anyone. You can't serve your own gods and still fear Him. It doesn't work that way. He is not like the other gods. Other gods are created in man's minds, or they are Satan, or they are fallen angels, or they are devils, or spirits. They are created beings. But the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, has no creator. He has no beginning of days and no end. He has no rival, no exact opposite, no equal. He is a jealous God. He is a jealous God. He has no rival, no exact opposite, no equal. I want to give you an example of this. A man, or he should be at least, should be very jealous over his wife. A man should be very jealous over his wife, right? And his children. As you are a man, and if you have a family, you should be extremely jealous over your family. You should be extremely jealous over your wife. Right? And you don't want anyone else sharing, right? Anything that has to do with your wife that God has given her for you. You're not willing to share your headship, right? As a husband, you are not willing to share your headship over your wife and children with another man, with somebody else. And so it is, and even more so, with the God of the Bible. He is not willing to share His Godhood or His glory with anyone or anything. He will never do that. So you cannot fear God and serve your own gods. for very long. He's the King of Kings. No one has the right to tread on His sacred ground. He is a jealous God. Who else can claim the right to tread on the Creator's ground? or acclaim themselves equal to Him. Only the other of the Godhead, the Son and the Holy Ghost, that's why, because they are God, three in one. Amen? Who else could do that? Who else could do that? Jesus Christ, because He's God. Philippians 2, verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Think about that. Huh? That's why they killed Him. They killed Him. We don't want to stone you for any good work you've done. We want to stone you because you said you're the Son of God. You said you made yourself equal with God. So what are all these guys that deny the biblical Godhead or the Trinity? Who are these guys that do this when such plain teaching is there for them to see in the Scriptures? Why do they do that? They do it to their own destruction. Spurgeon had a good quote on a jealous God. He said this, we find the Apostle Paul declaring to the Corinthian church, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. He had an earnest, cautious, and anxious concern for their holiness, that the Lord Jesus might be honored in their lives. Let it be remembered then that jealousy, like anger, is not evil in itself, or it could never be ascribed to God. His jealousy is ever a pure and holy flame. The passion of jealousy possesses an intense force. It fires the vehement flame. It fires the whole nature, excuse me. Its coals are juniper, which have a most vehement flame. It resides in the lowest depths of the heart and takes so firm a hold that it remains most deeply rooted until the exciting cause is removed. It wells up from the inmost recesses of the nature and like a torrent, irresistibly sweeps all before it. It stops at nothing for it is cruel as the grave. It's cruel as the grave, stops at nothing. Think about that. It provokes wrath to the utmost, for it is the rage of a man. Therefore, he will not spare in the day of vengeance. There's a lot of men that will forgive a lot of things, but you touch something that's his that he's jealous over, he'll never forgive you. That rage will go to the grave. He will not spare in the day of vengeance, and it overthrows everything in the pursuit of its enemy. For wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before that jealousy? For all these reasons, jealousy is selected as some faint picture of that tender regard which God has for His own deity, for His own honor, for His own name, for His own book. Amen. It neither offends His Majesty or impeaches His character. It doesn't violate His laws. It is a righteous, holy indignation. Not that God is jealous so as to bring Him down to the likeness of men, but that this is the nearest idea we can form of what the Divine Being, what God Almighty feels. But if it be right to use even that word towards Him, then He beholds His throne occupied by false gods. When He sees that, and He sees His throne occupied, His dignity insulted and His glory usurped by others, So first of all, that's the first thing you must understand. As we look back at that, I want to read you that text verse one more time here. The last verse there, they feared the Lord and served their own gods. I want you to think about that again. Keep thinking about that. After the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. Number two, they only acknowledged God out of fear. All they did was acknowledge God. It says they feared the Lord. And yes, they had some fear. They had some fear of the Lord. But see, the people that came into Israel, into their land, they only feared Him because He had afflicted them. They only feared God's judgment, that's all they feared. They only feared God's wrath. That's the only thing that they feared. In 2 Kings 17, verse number 25, the Bible says this, And salt was at the beginning of their dwelling, that they feared not the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew them, slew some of them. And he sent the lions after him, because they didn't regard him at all. He says, okay, you're going to come into my land, and you're not going to recognize me, but you're going to have all these other gods up here? So he sent lions in there to devour them. I think it's interesting that he used lions, don't you? He's used them before, hasn't he? But it's interesting to see that the Bible says Satan's a roaring lion as well, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And so it is in the beginning, wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria. So they asked him, hey, what's going on, king? There's something wrong here. See, here's the problem. In their mind, the God of the Bible was like any other God. The God of the land was just like any other God. That's what they thought. In their mind, he was like any other God, that as long as you acknowledge him, you can serve your own gods. Isn't it like that today in America, though, among most Christians today in America? As long as you just acknowledge, oh yeah, we believe in Jesus, we believe in this, but you can serve your own gods. You can serve your own gods. As long as you just tip your hat a little bit. I'll get to that in a little while, I'm gonna read this. A second thing worthy of notice is in their conduct is this, the motive which led them to offer worship to the true God, you observe that the motive was pure and simple fear. That's all it amounted to. They worshiped God because they were afraid of Him. They worshiped Him because they thought He had done them much mischief already and because they thought that unless they did something to conciliate Him, He might do them more mischief yet. Good might have come in any measure, and they would never have seen God in that. But when evil befell them, such was their conception of the divine nature. They said, now, here is the finger of God. The lions came prowling about their fields and dwellings, and this neighbor and the other was devoured by them. And then at once, their thoughts ran up to God as the sender of mischief. Mischief. That was all they knew about God. and they determined to worship Him, not because He was good and kind and deserving of all worship, but because unless they affected some measure of regard and respect for Him, He might send them something worse than even the lions who had already come." Do you see what I mean? All they were doing it was to appease His wrath. That's all they wanted to do was appease His wrath. That's all they wanted from God. Leave me alone and don't hurt me. Sound familiar? leave me alone and don't throw me in hell if I gotta ask Jesus to save me fine I'll do it just get God that big dirty bully off of me Jesus just make him go away and leave him alone and I'll put a little money in the offering plate and I'll go on and serve my own gods sound familiar? Mm-hmm. Sounds like most of the people we go to when we walk on the streets, doesn't it? Sounds like when we talk to them on the streets, who's their God? Oh, Jesus is the one that saves them from that mean old dirty bully God up in heaven who wants to dropkick them into hell, and Jesus is going to come and just have a conversation with God and say, God, you don't really want to do that, do you? You don't really want to do that, do you? Let's have a talk about this. That's how they describe the God of the Bible, believe it or not. It is evident from the entire account of them that the worship which they paid the true God was not really so hearty and a real thing, as that they paid to their old idols. They feared the Lord, they stood in a vague terror of Him, which prompted them to offer Him a sacrifice now and then, to meet for His worship now and then, but they served their own gods. Do you understand the point of this? What they're saying? They're doing the same thing. We see the same thing today. It's so evident today. You have people in America, there's two days they go to church. Christmas and Easter. They don't come here because we don't celebrate either one of them. But Christmas and Easter, all right? They don't show up here. And if they do, they don't get their party. Because I was the pastor that stole Christmas already. If you think I did it bad last year, you wait until this year. I got some good stuff I found today. Woo! I'm excited. I'm telling you, man, I'm excited. It's their first time here. I'm scaring them half to death probably. That's right, man. It's over. Santa's going to be mad this year again. We're gonna look at the real spirit of Christmas this year, believe me. Anyway, that's just a hint, I'll save that for later, I gotta keep moving. But they feared the Lord, they stood in vague terror of Him, that's what they did. They served their own gods. They lived day by day in mind of their own gods. They were not merely the worshipers at long intervals of these false gods, they were the servants of these false gods. Obeying them working for them from hour to hour when the two things came together The worship of a being from whom they simply feared evil and the worship of beings from whom they expected good You can easily see which of the two would have the predominance See they serve their gods all week long. What's that like? Well, that's kind of like serving your own your God your own gods six days a week and then showing up on Sunday and And acting like life is different or something, kind of contributing, you know, kind of, kind of, you know, recognizing God on Sunday. Coming to church and, well, I'll recognize God on Sunday, but I'll live my same old, wicked, pagan, evil, rotten, sin-filled life every day of the week. Except on Sunday, I'll show up to church. Sound like the same thing? Pretty similar, isn't it? Not much has changed, has it? Listen, my friend, that'll never do. You'll never come and dine with the Master if all you do is fear His judgment. You never will. You'll never come and sit and learn from the meek and lowly one, Christ, if all you do is fear His judgment. If all your relationship with God amounts to is your fear of His judgment, then you do not have a proper understanding of who God is. You don't understand who He is. Because if you know the God that I know, The last thing your fear or your heart is full of is this fear that God is going to at any time crush you and drop you into the lowest depths of hell. Not that you don't deserve that, but you understand the difference in being an enemy of Christ and a son by adoption through the blood of Jesus Christ. We understand we don't look at, yes, our God is full of wrath and yes, yes, he is in anger, but God will chase in his own children, not crush them. He won't destroy them. He won't, excuse me, He won't damn them. He might destroy their life here because, well, they might destroy their life because of their sin, and He might just push them over and say, okay, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get. A lasting real faith is one that sees His judgment coming, but also sees that only Christ can fix you, because you're altogether undone and evil, and you need Him to cleanse you and make you righteous. If your inquiry into the Lord ends with a fear of God's judgment, you most likely will never exclusively worship the God of the Bible, but you will always be given over to idols. You'll always be given over to your own false gods. You'll always be given over to your own judgment, your own understanding. If that's all you have is that inquiry, if that's all that it amounts to is this great fear that comes over you, if that's all that it is, then you will never know the God of the Bible. And you will never really truly fear Him in godly reverence and love. You have to come to the conclusion that He is worthy. That Christ is worthy to alone be the only one that receives worship. Mere fear of judgment is not enough. And that is all they had. The Bible next says that they served, so they served their gods. So they served their gods. They feared the Lord and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. You think about that for one second. all they did was tip their hat to the God of the Bible. They feared the Lord and served their other gods after the man of the nations who they carried away from thence. There is many a man who has that degree of superstitious fear of what God may do to him, that he dare not cast off God's fear altogether, while yet the love of money, or the love of pleasure, or the love of eminence and honor really sits upon the throne of his heart. He fears the Lord, and at the same time, he thinks to serve his own gods. Well, what are those gods? Wealth, pleasure, or ambition. Right? That's really who he's serving. Oh, he might say, well, I'm a Christian. Well, how come your life doesn't show it? How come your life shows that all you really serve is mammon, or all you really serve is money, or all you really serve is your own will, your own desires, and your own understandings, or you really just serve this world? Why is that? He fears the Lord and at the same time he thinks to serve his own gods. Wealth, pleasure, and ambition. The fraudulent trader who adulterates his wares and yet is never out of a church on Sunday. The greedy farmer who will tell many lies to get a sound price for a lame horse. Yet who would not on any consideration be absent from the Lord's table. And as I say it with sorrow, brethren, I have known several such that are such men doing but what the Samaritans did, fearing the Lord and serving their own gods." You know, I've met these men before. I've seen them be in independent Baptist churches and rip people off. I mean, Hire them and pay them just a horrible wage and take advantage of them and treat them poorly I've watched them do it where they took advantage of people They took advantage of people just for their own gains and their own money Watched how they would lie to people and rip people off and take advantage of them and and not even blink not even think twice about it And then come in on Sunday and pray lead in prayer or drive a bus or run a bus route or something like that. All the while, six days a week, it's all about the world. That's what it's about. Nothing's different about them. They fear God and serve their own gods. Now, this is where our inquiry turns inward to ourselves, and we have to take a good look inside of us. Do you fear the Lord yet serve your own gods? Think about it. I don't know why that's going in and out, but it is. Sounds kind of weird, but anyway, I'll keep going. Do you fear the Lord, yet serve your own gods? I mean the fear of the Lord, yet serve and love money. How about that? Think about that. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse number 9. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse number 9. The Bible says, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. You know, there are some today that have a fear of God's judgment, but they love money. That's what they love. They really serve money. I've met people, you know, it's interesting to me, what I see on their, whether it's their Facebook page or something else like that, or something that describes who they are, and I never see things about the Lord, but I always see things about this world, and I always see things about getting money, or getting ahead, or doing this, or doing that. You can always see where somebody's heart is on the matter. You always get to understand where their heart is on the matter. So they attend church, they will call themselves Christians, all the while serving the God, or idol of money, trying to appease their wounded conscience with just a little bit of Jesus on Sunday, while living for money every day of the week. Hey, they'll even give some money on the offering plate only to get more money from God. So they fear God, yet they serve their own gods. Maybe they fear the Lord, but pleasure is their real God. Turn to 2 Timothy 3, verse 4. How about it, America? Are we not inundated with it? Are we not completely flooded with a sports and entertainment and pleasure mentality? Think about it. I had somebody tell me, oh, don't take my sports away now, don't take my sports away. Well, I'm not going to take nothing away from you, but I'll tell you what, if it's taking your heart away from God, you better get rid of it. By the way, there ain't much good on television anyway. If you can tell me there's nothing defiling on football, baseball, and all those other games, and the commercials that go with it, you're living in a different world, pal. You better wake up. I don't know who you think you're lying to, but it sure ain't working on me, and it definitely is not working on God at all, period. Can you all hear me back okay? Am I loud enough? Alright, can you hear me Brother Nate? Alright, I can get louder. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 4, the Bible says, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. How about that? You see that? In the end times what we'll see is what? Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. So what are they? They serve They fear God, but they serve their own gods. What are their own gods? Pleasures. Pleasures. Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Their money, their time, their energy goes into sports or entertainment or fun. That's what it goes into. I remember, last church I was at, I remember all these kids, man, that's all they had those kids doing constantly was sports and activities. Oh, it'll keep them out of trouble. It didn't keep them out of trouble. Their hearts were just as filthy and dirty and rotten as the next center down the road. Didn't do them any good at all. All that stuff didn't do them any good at all. Big old waste of time. You get him serving the Lord, you get him being faithful to God, living for God and learning this book, and raising them to be men and women of God. That's what you do. I had one guy say, oh man, you won't be able to pastor anybody if you're not able to relate to your men with sports. Well, I sure ain't going to wear them little tights guys wear. Thank God I'm not gonna I'm not gonna run. I'm not gonna run down with a football down there And I'm not gonna and I'm not gonna tell you a bunch of football stories We better be able to relate around this word and this better be important to us here And it better be important us to go preach to a lost and dying world that desperately needs it and really doesn't need you watching football all the time Wasting your money on that And having that be your God and following that But there are some, they fear the judgment of God. But they're sports idolaters. They're hooked on sports and spend a lot of money and time. They can tell you the names of all the players on the teams. They can tell you all the teams. They can tell you all that. But if you ask them to find a book of the Bible, they couldn't find it. They couldn't find it at all. Why couldn't they? Because they don't know the Bible. That's why. They don't read it. How would they know it? They don't read it. They don't study it and they don't learn it. See why? They fear God, but they serve their own gods. I can't tell you how many kids I've seen grow up in fundamentalism the same way. They have this tiny bit of fear of God. Just enough. That was something right there. Anyway, they have this tiny bit of fear of God. But what do they do? They serve their own gods. They're living for the world. They're fighting the world. That's what they're doing. That's all they care about is the world. I look at their Facebook pages, and now they're debating whether same-sex marriage is OK. And they're actually debating whether it's OK. Oh, I think you Baptists are just a little bit too hard. I'm glad I got out of that movement right there. I'm not a part of those guys anymore. Well, I'm glad you got out, too. And if there are any other you fakes out there, why don't you get out, too? Because we don't want you either. Amen. Now that doesn't make me a lot of friends when I say things like that. Because some people actually get upset about that. Because they think we should have this big open tent and let everybody in. But see, I'm different. I don't want you here if you don't want to serve God. I really don't want to. If you don't want to live for God and live holy, I don't want you to stay. Why stick around? Why stay? Why waste my time? Why waste the Lord's time? Why waste the Lord's church? We don't want to be connected to a harlot. Go! You don't want to be here? You don't want to live for God? Oh, you just want to fear God, but you want to serve your own gods. Yep. So they all go to church on Sunday. They fear God, but they'll serve their own gods. They tip their hat to church, but they serve their gods the rest of the week. They fear the Lord, but serve their own gods. They attend the house of God and hear with some degree of pleasure the preaching of His Word. They are, to a certain extent, religious, but they are far from serving God with their whole heart. Their religion amounts to a general commendation of what is excellent and a compliance with those precepts of God's Word, which costs them little trouble and self-denial. See, everybody wants a Christianity today that doesn't cost anything. Oh, we know salvation is a free gift. Jesus paid it all, we understand that. But you know what, if you're gonna be His disciple, you are gonna take up your cross and you're gonna follow Him. Amen? You're gonna take up your cross and you're gonna follow Him, and it's gonna cost you something to live for God. I don't know what some pansy little wimpy preacher told you that when you got saved, your life was gonna be perfect, you weren't gonna have any problems, everybody's gonna love you. You weren't going to have any challenges in life and everything's going to go smooth. Everything's going to go great. Hey, everybody's going to love you, man. You're going to be great. Everybody's going to love you. And they're going to hate your guts. Christianity 101, let's get this started right. Number one, the world's going to hate you. Your parents are probably going to hate you if they're not saved. Your family members are going to hate you. There you go. It's going to happen. That's weird, what are you, some kind of a cult? No, I'm just part of this group that was in here called the New Testament Church. Yeah, people of the way. And God said, under no uncertain circumstances, he said, marvel not when the world hate you. Hated me before it hated you. Well, I know, you thought that you were going to get the same treatment that Jesus got? Yeah, remember? They hated him. I don't know what Jesus these people are describing to you when they describe this Jesus that everybody loved. You need to be more like Jesus! They killed him. I mean, they killed him. There's a disconnect here. The Jesus we're talking about here, right? Because, I mean, the one I found out, he called them vipers. Synagogue of Satan. Told them they were wicked? Full of dead men's bones? Open sepulchers? Dogs? Right? God called them asses and a whole lot of other things. Right? I can't believe you said that. Why? It's in the Bible. What, do you want me to skip over it and say something different? Better believe what the Bible says. That's not an excuse to be unkind to people. I'm saying they're going to hate you. But, you know, we don't want that today, do we? We don't want that. But remember, the Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare. Too many people are scared of what men think. They're petrified of what men think. They're terrified of what men think. But they don't care what God said. So they feared the Lord, but served their own gods. What can be more wretched than to have a conscience disapproving your conduct and admonishing you to the duties for which you have no inclination? Instead of cheering you with the assurance that God, whom you serve, will always be your defense and comfort, it abrades you with your duplicity and indecision. It speaks so that you would rather stifle than hear its voice. You know what I was like when I was a false convert and I came to church? Man, I hated it. I had this like, it was like conflicting. I would feel good sometimes then I would feel like, man, if he preaches on something, I'm going to like lose it here. I'm going to get, I feel terrible. This is awful. And there was like, you, you were halted between two opinions. And I remember Ted Alexander preaching the hardest sermon I ever heard in my life. And I really think he popped a blood vessel in his head when he did it a few times. I mean, he preached a sermon called, How Long, Halchi? And that is the hardest and the loudest sermon I've ever heard in my life. And I hated him for it! I did. I hated him. He just screamed it out, man. He just screamed it out. Do you know what? I hated it because I was a false convert. Let me give you a good sign of somebody that's not saved. They hate hard preaching. They don't like hard preaching. Now, it can be that they're not used to it, and then after they think about it for a while, if the Lord deals with their heart, then they receive it. Like, okay, well that's good. Maybe they don't understand it right away, but it's an awful scary sign. You're either one backslidden person, or you're not saved, because you ought to love biblical preaching when it's hard and straight and true, especially on the holiness and righteousness of God and on living a wholly separated life. You ought to love that as a child of God. But think about that, how tormenting of a conscience would you have, how tormented of a conscience would you have to go to church and then not want to live for God, but you go there anyway and you're serving your own gods all week long, but you go in there, and people have to drag you into church on Sunday because you don't want to live for God. It speaks so that you would rather stifle than hear its voice, and rather run the dreadful risk of eternal misery than look into your real condition. and enter upon serious reflection concerning your final state. Nor is such a state less unfruitful than it is unpleasant. What advancement in religion do those make who are unfaithful to the light which has been communicated to them?" Think about that. You know, people that are disobedient to the light that's been given to them, they never progress. There's people out there, they want more and more and more and more from God, but they've not obeyed that light that God has given them already. If you don't obey what God has given you, why would you expect God to give you one thing more when you're living in disobedience? Some people are like, I'm trying to figure out the will of God for my life. Well, I can tell you number one, it's to live for Him. What are you doing? Yeah, but I'm just trying to figure out what God wants me to do. I'll tell you what He wants you to do. Quit living like the devil. That's what He wants you to do. That's pretty easy, isn't it? That ain't very hard. Quit living like the devil. Quit living in sin. Repent of your wickedness. Like Sam Jones used to say, quit your meanness. He used to say, did you hear that sermon? Quit your meanness. Yep. Right. I mean, it's pretty easy. Obey the light you have right now. Well, I'm going to keep living in sin and try to figure out what God wants from me. Yeah, well, you've already got what God wants from you. Sin is revealed will right here. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this, for it will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Amen? That's what God wants from you, that you may prove that it's perfect and acceptable of God. I know I didn't quote that exactly right at the end, but that's what God wants. That's what God wants for our lives. What progress have you made in your Christian life? Is it not true that even the light which you once had is darkened, the feelings which were excited are benumbed, and the religion of Christ, stripped of much of that glory in which it at first appeared to you, the gospel, where it is truly received, it purifies, but you remain the same. Think about that. It never ought to be said of a child of God that they remain the same after they were saved. They just never grow, they never have anything going on in their life, they never pine after holiness, any of that. Everything's the same, nothing's changed. Because remember, where the Gospel comes in, it purifies. It consoles, but you know nothing of its comfort and joy. Do you ask? What are you to do? If you would enjoy the pleasures of the world as others do, you must serve their gods entirely and cast off all fear of God and all thoughts of eternity. If you would be happy in the favor of God and the enjoyment of true faith, you must serve Him alone and put away your gods. For as He is worthy of the whole heart, He will not dwell in any heart that is divided with mammon. God is not going to, God doesn't, listen, I know there's this big debate today whether Jesus is Lord or something, I don't know what they call it. No, He is Lord, but you don't make Him Lord and all this other, you know, playing around with words and everything. Well, you make Him Lord. No, He is Lord. You receive Him as Lord. He is Lord. It's not making Him, He is Lord. If you didn't receive Him as Lord, you didn't get saved. Because if He's not Lord, He can't save you. It's plain and simple. There is no such thing as a divided Christ. Well, I'll receive part of God and then I'll receive the other part later. What is it? What is a deal? It's like, let's make a deal or something. Well, God will give me part of him now and I'll get part of him later. Well, it is true that we get the earnest of the spirit now, right? And someday we'll have the complete fulfillment. We'll have everything. We get the down payment. Now we get the rest then. Amen. That's a wonderful thing to think about, isn't it? But as far as Christ, no, you get Christ, you get Christ, amen, all of Him. I don't understand somebody that says they want to be saved, but they don't want Jesus to be their Lord. I don't even get that. And somebody thinks that's lordship salvation or whatever, they want to put a coin phrase on me. Well, there already is one, right? There's a video that says that. It's lordship repackaged or something. There's videos exposing me out there. Can you believe that? How about that? There's like five of them now. They're growing. There's like a little mini library that I'm in now or something. I don't know. Whatever. I hope to add Nate soon to that library so he can get picked on as much as me. That'll never happen. That's right. They just like me to entertain them, right, Nate? That's what they like. They ain't going anywhere. They hate me. That's all there is to it. We hate him, but we hate you a lot more. I'm sorry. We just do. Anyway. You know, there are a lot of gods that we can set up in our own life. There are a lot that we can set up. You say, I don't think so, not for Christians. Well, what did John say at the end of his epistle? He said, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. Why? Because it's so easy for us to rear up idols. It's so easy for us to do that, to commit idolatry. It's so easy. Oh, we would never be like Israel, though. We would never do that. Right, we would never, I mean, come on, we're not like Israel. We wouldn't rear up any idols at all. Oh yeah, there's tons of them. I mean, most professing Christians today, when they leave church, they go home and they sit in front of a television set, and six days a week, seven days a week, they're in front of that television set, and they're watching All Men of Wickedness and Evil, or on the internet, they're watching All Men of Wickedness and Evil, right there, and they're bowing down themselves before it, and watching everything. Let me help you, there's nothing good on television, nothing. Don't waste your time. Look, I just saved you money. Cut the cord and tell me you don't want it. Because there's nothing good there. But my kids can watch. Yeah, you don't want to watch that trash. It's terrible. No, there's nothing good there. I'll save you a lot of heartache. There's nothing good there. What will my children do? That's what I would say. What are they going to do? What am I supposed to do since you took all this? I've had so many emails when I first reached that Hollywood series. What are we supposed to do with our life now that we don't have television? I was like, live? I mean, go for a walk? I don't know. Go do something. I don't know. Lots of things. Go out street preaching with us. You'll have a lot of fun. You'll make your own movies and put them on YouTube like we do. Hey, man, since I ditched TV and went street preaching, I see more things than you'll ever imagine in your life, man. It is insane. You just can't make it up. There's horror movies. Right? Brother Paul? You see tons of drunks, drug addicts, and you preach the gospel to all of them on TV. All you do is just watch it for entertainment. What's that? What did you say? Comedy? Oh, there's plenty of comedy out there in the street too, yeah. It's everything, I mean everything, it's great. Think about this, you go to church, to the church house week after week after week, but if it's out of nothing but the fear of God, but no love, no desire to serve Him, no surrender to Him, what kind of a relationship is that anyway? You who fear God yet serve your own gods, How many is this true about in fundamental churches in America today? They fear their own, they follow the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and that's what pushes them and motivates them, and that's all they have. Don't you ever wonder about some people that they claim to be saved, but they have no desire to serve God? What kind of salvation is that anyway? To claim salvation, to claim that God is your Father, but not even want anything to do with Him. I don't know, I've never met any children yet that didn't want anything to do with their father on a natural thing, okay? Not gonna say if he hurt them or something like that, but even those people, that if their father's hurt, then they still have a desire to know their father. Why is it that so many people that claim to know God the Father, and claim He is their Father, want nothing to do with Him? I'll tell you why. Because they don't want to go to hell, but they don't want God. That's why. Because salvation today has been whittled down, the gospel's been whittled down to what? To being saved from hell, not saved from the presence of sin, the power of sin, and the pleasure of sin. Now finally, we'll be saved from the presence of sin one day when we're in heaven. But the penalty of sin, that's all they want. Just save me from the penalty of sin. But I don't really care about you, God. I don't wanna know. So I'll, whatever I gotta do to follow along with your program, okay, I'll do your little program, God. What is it, this one, two, three, pray after me thing? Okay, I'll do your little one, two, three, pray after me, but let me have my own life and serve my own gods. And then you'll just take me to heaven one day and it'll be fine. That sums it up, doesn't it? I got tons of family members like that. They grew up in fundamentalism. Well, they did the same thing. Oh, I'm saved. I got saved when I was five. Really? Well, what'd you get saved from? Yeah, well, I got saved from hell. That's it, huh? That's it? You just got saved from hell? Well, you got ripped off. And I don't think you got saved from hell either. Because you saved from the penalty. What a cruel God it would be to be saved from the penalty of sin, but not the pleasure of sin and not the power of sin. How would that be? How would you like to go through your life saying, well, I got saved from the penalty of sin, but I still love my sin, and I still have pleasure in my sin, and the sin has power over me. and it controls me and I'm driven by it. Well, that wouldn't be a very good salvation, would it? To go through your whole life knowing that, well, I can't help but break God's law. That's all I can do. I don't have any power over sin. I don't have any power to be free. I'm just, live this failed life and he's just going to take me to heaven. He saved me from hell so I could live like hell now. Well, that doesn't make very much sense, does it? Of course it doesn't, because it's not biblical. It's a bunch of garbage. It's a satanic gospel is what it is. It's not the gospel of the Bible. And I'll tell you what, friend, I don't care what any slick car salesman tells you out there, any preacher, any slick preacher out there that tells you, any soul winner out there, Steven Anderson or any of those other dogs tell you out there, that you can just go ahead and live your own life all the way you want to, and you just say a little one, two, three, repeat after me, and life is the usual, nothing ever changes, and Jesus doesn't make you a new creature or anything else, they can tell you that, but I'm gonna tell you something right now, the best thing I can tell you, you're gonna die and go to hell with that, because if it can't save you from sin, it can't save you at all. That's the truth, friend. If you can't be saved from the power of sin, you're in a lot of trouble. Think about it. They feared God, but they served their own gods. They loved the world. What does the Bible say about the love of the world? It says the love of the Father is not in you. Oh, well, let me explain that away a little bit. I can't explain it away. It's what it says. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. How would you like me to explain that away? You want me to go to the Greek and see if it says the same thing there? I don't know where I can find the Greek, because there isn't one the Greek. But if I could find the Greek, I'm fairly sure it'll probably say the same thing. But the English is much clearer. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. And don't think just because you have some fear of God, but serve your own gods, that you're going to be fine. Because Hindus do that too, by the way. One preacher said one time, I heard him say one time, well, I don't even know if he's a preacher. I think he was a philosopher, and I really don't like philosophers that much. But he said something that was kind of interesting to me. He said, there really is only two faiths. He said that there's, one guy said, he said, there's either Christianity or there's Hinduism, or there's paganism. Because in Hinduism and paganism, you can add whatever god you want to. You can just add them. Adam, so you can fear that God if you want to. Hey, listen, guess what? The devil will leave you alone. He doesn't care if you have some fear of God. He doesn't want you to solely worship the God of the Bible. He doesn't care if you tip your hat to Him, though. Why not? You're still going to go to hell. Right? It doesn't matter to Him. Listen, if you love the world and only fear God for His judgment, that is going to come upon you, then you're no better than the Samaritans. They did the same thing. And you're hellbound and have never been forgiven of your sins. I like the way this one preacher put it. He said, The negative aspect of the same truth is exhibited by Job when he winds up his sublime inquiry after wisdom with the solemn declaration, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. Here then is the touchstone of a genuine and spurious fear of God. There's a difference there. The one disposes us to do His will from a sincere complacency in it. The other prompts us rather to resist it, except so far as our compliance may seem necessary to escape His wrath. which is the only real object of this slavish dread. The one is a fear of punishment as the consequence of sin, the other a fear of sin itself as intrinsically evil, or which amounts to the same thing as opposed to the will of God and to His very nature, which is thus assumed as the ultimate criteria of right and wrong, of good and evil. Only a phileo fear disposes men to serve God. Selfish and slavish fear disposes them to flee from Him. This distinction, however obvious as it is in the Scriptures and familiar in experience, is not practically recognized by all men." You understand that? Most men don't even recognize that's true. They say, well, I don't want to go to hell. Listen, that's a good reason to come to God. There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, not wanting to go to hell is a good thing, amen? But you better understand you deserve it. You better understand you're guilty before God, and you better understand the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, and God is just and righteous and holy to throw you into hell. But the mercy of Jesus Christ, whoever liveth to make intercession for us is there. Or rather, which is really the same thing in another form, they do fear Him, but it is not with a fear which honors or pleases Him as they imagine. And here, just here is their delusion. Listen to this, they are sincere enough in thinking that they fear God, but they are terribly mistaken in supposing that they fear Him as they ought to. This is a painful truth to those of us whom it concerns, but it is one which sooner or later must be told. And it requires not many words to tell it. It may be summed up in this short sentence. If you do not serve the Lord, you do not fear him. Oh, that's terrible. How could you say that? Well, it's true. That's how you can say it. How do you fear? Do you really fear somebody you don't serve? If you had a true fear of God, you would serve him, right? Oh no, I get it. You mean a true fear of God is where I just claim grace and I live like hell. Really? No, the grace of God is a teacher, right? It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, righteously, godly. Why, to earn salvation? Absolutely not, because we have it. You can't earn it. There's no good works we can do to earn anything. Of course not. We serve Him because He loved us and gave Himself for us. Not because we're trying to earn something from Him. If you do not serve the Lord, you do not fear Him. You may attend upon His worship. You may respect religion. You may believe the Bible to be true. You may hope to be saved through Christ. You may expect to die the death of the righteous." Because, you know, some people, they just fear Him. I don't want to... I don't want to go to hell, so I'll do whatever I have to to please God or appease God. Well, first of all, you can't do anything to please Him. Only Jesus can. Amen? And after He does that work in you, for it is God who worketh in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. And after He does that, you'll live for Him and you'll serve Him. Yeah, you might get out of line and God will deal with you. But you can't go about your life fearing God and serving your own gods. How many today attend church services but they will not have this man Christ to rule over them? They will not. That is, they had a certain – listen to this – these men, they had a certain knowledge of God and feared Him because of the punishment, but they continued to be idolaters, as do the Papists, right? Who worship both God and idols. But this is not to fear God, as it appears in 2 Kings 17.34. What do they do? The Pope does the same thing, right? They do the same thing. Catholics, Roman Catholics do the same thing. They fear God but serve their idols. You have nothing more than a religious fear of punishment. There is a fear which is right and noble, that is a reverence, humble adoration at the sight or thought of God's great perfections. Angels veil their faces with their wings. Such awe has no thought of personal consequences, is inseparable from all true knowledge of God, for all greatness of character is perfected by love. Of such fear we are now not speaking. The terror of God is deep in men's hearts. Fear is the apprehension of personal evil from some person or thing. Now, I believe that the terror has its place in the human economy and in religion as in the sense of pain has. There is something in man's relations to God to cause it. The Bible sets forth the terror of the Lord that many may tremble before Him. Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. You should. Amen? We should. But that terror is only right when it proceeds from a sense of God's holiness and consciousness of my own sinfulness. So His holiness, my sinfulness. It is not right when it is a mere dread of a hard tyrant. That terror is only right when it leads to a joyful acceptance of God's revelation of His love in Christ. Don't you understand that? It's only profitable in that. Fear was never meant to be permanent. It is only the alarm bell which rings to wake up the soul that sleeps on when it is in mortal peril. And it should pass into repentance, faith, joy in Jesus. We have access with confidence by faith in Christ. The brightness is great and awful, but go nearer as you can in Jesus. And lo, there is love in the brightness. You see it all, tender and sweet. A heart and a hand are there. And from the midst of the Father's voice speaks and says, My son, give me thine heart. The religion of fear is worthless. It produces no holiness. It does nothing for a man. It does not bind him to God. He is none the stronger for it. It is paralysis so far as it does anything. It is spasmatic and intermittent. It is impossible to keep it up, so it comes in fits and starts. When the morning comes, men laugh at their terrors. It leads to wild endeavors to forget God. Atheism, to insensibility. He who begins by fearing when there was no need, ends by not fearing when he ought to. This type of fear that doesn't lead to holiness, it's the religion of form. You see, the Samaritans' whole worship was outward worship. That's what it was. Bring us a priest that will teach us what this God wants. We'll do all the little ceremonies and all the little things that this God wants to make Him happy. They did the things which the Bethel priests taught them to do and that was all. And this again is a type very common in our day. Religion must have forms. The forms often help to bring us the Spirit, but we are always in danger of trusting them too much. Right? Trusting a form too much. Trusting a ceremony too much. How many of us have our Christianity only an outward seeming? The only thing that unites men to God is love, so your external connection with God's worship is of no use at all unless you have that. Churchgoers are alike exposed to the danger of erecting the forms of worship to a place in which they cannot be but without marring the spirit of worship. Whether our worship be more or less symbolic, whether we have a more or less elaborate ritual, Whether we think more or less of sacraments, whether we put hearing a sermon as more or less prominent, or even if we follow the formless forms of the Friends, which are the Quakers, by the way, we are all tempted to substitute our forms for the Spirit, which alone is worship. By the way, we don't have sacraments, we're Baptists, but anyway. We have ordinances, not sacraments. We're not Roman Catholic, amen? That's right. What's that? or Protestant, that's right. The religion of compromise or worldliness. That's what they had. We're almost done here. They had God and they had gods. They liked the latter best. They gave God formal worship, but they gave others more active service. Such a kind of religion is a type of much that we see around us. The attempt to be Christians and worldlings, the indecision under which many men labor all their lives, being drawn one way by their consciences, another by their inclinations. You cannot unite the two. God requires all. He fills the heart and claims supreme control over all the nature. There cannot be two supreme in the soul. It cannot be God and self. It must be God or self. You may look now one way and now another, but the way the heart goes is the thing. Mr. Facing Both Ways does not really face both ways. He only turns quickly around from one to another. Such divided religion is impossible in the nature of God and of the soul of religion. To attempt it then is really to decide against God. It is weak and unmanly to be thus vague and decided by circumstances. Listen to this, and I thought this quote excellent. You would have been a Mohammedan if you had been born in Turkey. There are some people today that claim to be Christians and the only reason why is because they are born here in the home of Christians or around the churches. And if that is you, you are lost and dying in your sins. God has no grandchildren, only children. You were either born again by the Spirit of Almighty God because Jesus Christ saved your soul and forgave your sins and changed you and made you a new creature in Christ by His precious blood that He shed on the cross, by His death, burial, and resurrection. You don't get there through your parents' religion or anything else. Some would just, they'd be Muslim if they were around Muslims. They'd be whatever they were around. But that's not what the God of the Bible says. They would serve the God of the Bible, or they would fear the God of the Bible, but serve their own gods. You ought to decide for God. He claims, He deserves, and He will reward and bless your whole soul. Choose you this day whom you will serve. If the Lord be God, then follow Him. If Baal be God, then follow Him. You cannot serve God and mammon. He that is not for us is against us. but be one thing or the other. You serve God, you fear God and you serve Him, you don't fear God and serve other gods, serve the flesh and serve everything else, but you serve the God of the Bible, that's what you do, that's what the Bible says. Foolishness, this religion of the day that says you fear God but you serve this world and follow everything in this world, that is anti-Christ is what it is. No, if God be your God. Lord, thank you for your words. Thank you for the truth in them, Lord. I pray, Lord, we would not be guilty of fearing you, but serving our own gods. Help us, dear Lord, to be true and faithful to you. In Jesus' great name we pray, amen.