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Truths From A Heathen - Part 2 of 2

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• I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to Isaiah 37 and verse 10. This is still the second part of the message, "Truths from a Heathen." May I just remind you before I read the scripture, last week I brought a message from this same passage and I pointed out the fact how that God oftentimes uses even the heathen to speak truth, and they may not know the truth. They may not believe the truth. They may not understand the significance of their words. And yet sometimes they speak truth, or at least something with great spiritual impact. Even Balaam the false prophet was used by God to give a wonderful prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course we understand that Caiaphas the high priest also prophesied concerning Christ.

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• He had no idea what he was saying, but he did so. And even Rabshakeh, who was a heathen along with Sennacherib his king, gave some very strenuous and godly advice in one sense of the word, although they were heathen. Because last week they asked Hezekiah, "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" And so when you look today in Isaiah 37, let's look just at verse 10. That's mainly our text today. "Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given unto the hand of the king of Assyria."

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• Now you have to remember this. A different passage? Yeah, something just jumped out and I've never seen it before. Okay. Well, that's how you get to studying. That's exactly what happened to me when I found this passage. It just jumped out at me. So you have to remember exactly where Hezekiah was. The defense cities all around Judah, and Judah had already been captured by Sennacherib. Hezekiah does not have a military sufficient to fight against Sennacherib. In fact, Rabshakeh, you remember, offered him 2,000 horses if he was able on his part to set riders on them.

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• And so he is obviously incapable of defending himself and Jerusalem, and help from Egypt is not coming. And so they ask, "What in the world is the confidence wherein you trust?" And then they said, "Let not the God in whom you trust deceive you."

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• Now the word "deceive" literally means to deceive or to beguile. So here are the implications of these words to Hezekiah. Rabshakeh is implying that God could not and would not protect either Hezekiah or Jerusalem. So they're saying, if you are convincing yourself by any stretch of the imagination that you are going to escape and that Jerusalem is not going to be captured, then the only God in whom you are trusting is deceiving you, because that is your only hope at this particular time. So they're saying, "There is no help for you. You are going to fall into our hands. Jerusalem is going to be captured and so are you." So when Rabshakeh then spoke these words to Hezekiah, "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee,"

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• it was not just simply psychological warfare. It was not just simply a psyops as we would call it. Surely they did wish to make Hezekiah doubt his God, that is true. And the reason they wish to make him doubt his God is because they wanted to leave him absolutely hopeless and absolutely helpless. But you have to remember this: Rabshakeh and Sennacherib were absolutely sure, they were absolutely positive that Jerusalem was going to fall into their hands.

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• They had conquered all the other cities, conquered all the other towns and villages nearby. So you see the pride and the arrogance on the part of Rabshakeh and on the part of Sennacherib as well. So here is the big problem: they did not know the God in whom Hezekiah trusted. A major dividing line between the child of God and the heathen is simply this: the children of God know their heavenly Father, while the heathen and the pagans do not know Him. Now, let me explain something. They may have heard about Him. They may have read about Him. But they do not know Him personally and they do not know Him intimately. They are totally and completely ignorant of Him and ignorant of His attributes. They are ignorant of His person. They are ignorant of His power.

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• And then they callously liken Him to their gods. In other words, the only thing that they would know about the One True and the Living God is what they know about their own false gods. So let me just show you. I want you to look in your Bibles—hold Isaiah 37, but look in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 20. Here are some words that we need to look at, a situation that we need to consider. Because in 1 Kings chapter 20, Ben-Hadad, who is the king of Syria, has 32 kings to join him and he is going to do battle with Ahab king of Israel. So Ben-Hadad is so absolutely confident that he is going to whip Ahab because Ahab has so few men and is so weak militarily. Can you imagine just for one moment the size of the army that Ben-Hadad must have had with 32 kings? And so they are in his pavilion, the kings are, drinking themselves drunk. And if you look in verse 18 when some of the Israelites come out, notice if you would please—in fact, go back to verse 16—"And they went out at noon. But Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the 32 kings that helped him."

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• "And the young men of the princes of the province went out first," that is these young Israelites. "Ben-Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria." Now watch this. "And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they come out for war, take them alive." So it doesn't matter. He says, why they're coming out—if they want peace, wonderful, capture them; if they want war, wonderful, capture them. It doesn't matter. Just take them alive. So he's sitting there giving this order and his men go out. And if you look in verse 19, "So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. And they," that is the Israelites, "slew every one his man." That is all the Syrians. "And the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued after them. And Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen." Now watch. "And the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and the chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter." So here's the situation.

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• Now Ben-Hadad with 32 kings is soundly defeated by Ahab with just a few men. I mean they are absolutely trounced upon. So here's the question that you have to ask yourself: How did the Syrians explain their loss? Well, let me tell you. They explained their loss with a theological concept. They explained their loss based upon the theology that they held concerning their God. For instance, look in your Bibles if you would please, verse 23. Here is what they said to Ben-Hadad. "And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are the gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they." Now, they did not understand the absolute sovereignty of God. Moreover, they did not understand that the One True and the Living God controlled all aspects of life, and that He was and is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Consequently, what they were doing was they were setting themselves up for another loss.

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• So, if you look again, notice if you would please at verse 28. "And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is the God of the hills, but He is not the God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord."

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• Now the prophet had already come to Ahab and said, you can mark it down, one year later they are going to come back. They are going to come back. But they explain their devastating loss by saying that, well, the Hebrews trusted in a God who happened to be the God of the hills. What we are going to do, we are going to fight Him in the plains and the valleys. He is not the God there. He is not omnipotent. He is not omniscient. He is not omnipresent.

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• He is not sovereign, and surely our gods will enable us to overcome them there. So the heathen, although they may know something about gods, they don't know something about their gods. They know nothing about the one true and the living God as He's revealed Himself in the Bible. Now let me tell you, the fatal error of fallen man is not only that he does not fear God, he does not know God. How can you fear someone that you do not know? It's impossible.

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• So I could introduce someone in this room that looks so weak and insignificant, and yet he could be a master martial artist and could take on everybody in this room. But if you do not know him and know his abilities and what he can do, you would say, "Well, he's a pushover." Well, it is the same thing with God. They have no idea who God is. They have no idea about Him.

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• So consequently what fallen man has done is this: he has erected for himself false gods. In his ignorance, in his rejection, and in his denial of the one true living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, what fallen man has done is he has made a God of his own. He is deceived by the God of his own making.

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• Now, I want to show you something. I want you to follow me in Scripture. Turn if you would to Isaiah 44, and I want to read a rather lengthy passage, not too long. But I want you to see what God says about idols and I want you to see the thinking of fallen man. Look in Isaiah 44 and we'll begin in verse 8 and we'll read through verse 20. So, watch. Isaiah 44 verse 8, God says, "Fear ye not, neither be afraid." He's talking to His people. "Have I not told thee from that time, and have declared it?" Watch. "You are even my witnesses." Now look what God says. "Is there a God besides me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any." So God is saying, I'm the sovereign, I'm the only one. Now watch, verse 9, "They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?"

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• "Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen thereof men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yea, they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together."

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• Now look what he says, "The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth. He drinketh water, and is faint." In other words he is human, he is a man. Watch. "The carpenter stretches out his line, or his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with a compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in his house."

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• "He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn, and he will take thereof, and warm himself, yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread, yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it, he maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereunto. He burneth part thereof in the fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and is satisfied, and he warmeth himself, and says, Aha! I'm warm. I've seen the fire. And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falls down unto it and worshipeth it and prayeth unto it and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god."

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• "They have not known nor understood, for He has shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot understand. And none considers in his heart, neither is there any knowledge nor understanding, to say, I have burned part of it in the fire. Yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof, I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination and idol?"

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• "Shall I fall down to the stalk of a tree?" Now watch verse 20, "He feedeth on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" So God is saying here is the absolute stupidity of idolaters. Either a man has to make his own idol or another man makes the idol. I don't care how many images of Buddha you see or any of the other false gods. They're all man-made. He says, here's a man that will take a tree, he burns part of it, he warms himself, he cooks on it. Then the residue he turns around and makes a god out of it and says, "You're my god, you have to deliver me." Now you and I think and say, well that is absolute stupidity. Well hang on. I want you to look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2, Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 27. You see, men may call a stalk or a stone their father, but God says they are absolutely, totally deceived and their God has deceived them.

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• So notice Jeremiah 2 in verse 27, and by the way let's go back to verse 26 because he is talking to Israel. "As a thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face."

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• "But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us." So God says, look at this people, they are so stupid, they are so perverse, they are so rebellious, they fall down to a stone and say, "You have begotten me," and to a stalk, "You are my father." But He said, let them get in trouble.

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• Now of course they are going to cry to me. Look at it in Jeremiah chapter 10 and verse 8. Jeremiah 10 and verse 8. Because here the Bible says exactly what idols are. Jeremiah 10 verse 8, "But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities." Many times in the Bible when you read about Israel turning to the vanities of the heathen, it is talking about the idols of the heathen. Now if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 5, I want to show you what I consider one of the most humorous incidents in the Bible concerning an idol. In order to appreciate this you have to understand that Israel had been defeated by the Philistines. And the ark of God had been taken, 1 Samuel chapter 5. And you remember they took the ark and they put it in the house of their god, Dagon, who is an idol. So I want you to see what happens when they put the ark in the house of Dagon.

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• So 1 Samuel chapter 5 verse 1, "And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord." Now watch what happens. "And they took Dagon and set him up in his place again." Verse 4, "And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priest of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house tread upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day."

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• Now I want you to stop and think about that. Here are the Philistines, they are worshiping Dagon. The Ark of the Covenant is brought in and Dagon falls in front of it. Well they go back in and they help him back up. The next morning they come in and he has fallen down, his head is cut off, palms of his hands, nothing but a stump there. Now you would stop and think, the Philistines knew in one sense the power of God. Because the Hebrews had already come in and conquered the land, and even when the Hebrews were being defeated in 1 Samuel chapter 4, the Hebrews said, "Let us send for the ark, it may save us," not the God of the ark but the ark. So they were trusting the ark instead of the God of the ark. And when the ark came into the camp then the Hebrews shouted a great shout and the Philistines said, "Oh, what in the world is this? This is nothing but horror and terror for us.

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• The God of the Hebrews has come into the camp." They knew the power of God. They knew that because they had been defeated by that same One True and Living God. And now their God fallen down broken. You would think that anybody with one eye and half sense would put two and two together and say, "Hmm, our God must not be too much of a God. We have to help Him back up, He can't even help Himself. And He loses His head, and He loses His hands at the feet of the God of Israel." You would tend to think that people would say, "Hey, wait a minute, we are serving the wrong God."

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• But the truth of the matter is, no. They continued to believe in Dagon, and their God in whom they trusted deceived them. So you have to ask yourself this question: why would anyone trust in a God who could not help him or deliver him? I want you to look in 1 Chronicles chapter 14. I preached a message from this passage several years back, 1 Chronicles chapter 14, and I think the title of the message was "It's Time to Leave Our False Gods." And I took it from this passage. 1 Chronicles chapter 14, let's begin there with verse 9. "And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto him, Go up, for I will deliver them into thine hand. So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters."

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• "Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim. And when they had left their gods there," that is the Philistines, "when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment and they were burned with fire." So they brought their gods to protect them and to give them victory. The gods didn't protect them and didn't give them victory. So they left them there. Well, it's time to leave them when they are absolutely worthless. Now I want you to turn right over, or back I should say, to 2 Kings chapter 16. 2 Kings chapter 16. I want you to understand the depravity and the rebellion of fallen man. Ahaz was the king of Israel at this particular time. The king of Syria had attacked him. He was unable militarily to fight off the king of Syria, and so what he did was he sent to Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria, gave him all kind of wealth and said, "Come and help me." So Tiglath-Pileser, now king of Assyria, comes and conquers Syria. Damascus is the capital. Ahaz the

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• king of Israel goes to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser. Watch what happens, 2 Kings chapter 16 and verse 10, "And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof." Now this was an altar in Syria. "And Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Uriah the priest made it before king Ahaz came from Damascus." While he was up there he made it, he finished it. "And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar and the king approached to the altar and offered thereon." Now please understand, this is not God's altar. This is an altar from Damascus, from the Syrians. And verse 13, "And he burned his burnt offering, and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar."

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• "And he brought also the brazen altar, which was before the Lord, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of the altar. And king Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings, and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by." It's my special altar. "Thus did Uriah the priest according to all that king Ahaz commanded him." And you go on and see how king Ahaz then perverted and destroyed the house of God, the temple that had been built.

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• Now the thing is this: Syria had been defeated. Tiglath-Pileser had wiped them out. And so Ahaz sees this altar and he thinks, "Wow, this is beautiful. I need one just like this up to worship by." Have you ever stopped to think that just because someone thinks that something is beautiful does not make it scriptural and right? You look at some of the pagan temples. They are exquisite. They are beautiful. But they're not biblical. They're not right. You think that Ahaz was stupid? I can show you a man in the Bible that was even more stupid than Ahaz. Amaziah, another king. In fact, God even called him on his stupidity. For instance, look in 2 Chronicles chapter 25. 2 Chronicles 25. God challenged him on his stupidity. The very fact that Amaziah refused to listen to God indicated that God was going to destroy him. So watch 2 Chronicles 25 and let's begin reading there with verse 14. Now by the way, Amaziah had just defeated the Edomites. He had just won the victory. So watch, "And it came to pass after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them."

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• "Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him," that is, to the prophet, "Art thou made of the king's counsel? Forbear! Why shouldst thou be smitten?"

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• In other words, if you don't shut up, I'll kill you. Watch. "Then the prophet forbear and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this and hast not hearkened unto my counsel." Isn't that amazing? So here is a king now that has gone and defeated the Edomites and saw their false gods and took them then to be his gods.

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• Now, I want you to stop and think with me. Rabshakeh said, "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee." There may be a few in America that would actually bow down to idols, and I know that some of the cults and sects have their idols. I understand that. So there are a few in America that would do that. But most Americans, by and large, would never actually bow down to an idol.

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• I don't care if it's made of solid gold or silver or wood or stone. Because by this time, most Americans would consider bowing down to an idol not only idolatry, but they would consider it as gross, uncouth, and heathenistic. Right? We would never ever do anything like that. However, however, we do not object to worshiping a god of our imagination. And what we do not understand is this: that the word "image" comes from the word "imagination." You cannot make an image without first imagining that image.

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• Everything begins in the mind. It's just like I said, cars do not begin in a factory. Cars begin in an engineer's mind. And he then draws everything out on a piece of paper. And once it goes through all the process and that is approved, then that image that he has imagined and drawn out goes into the factory and they produce it. So everything basically starts with our mind.

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• When you and I think wrongly and unbiblically, and unscripturally concerning the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, to that extent we are idolaters. To that extent we are idolaters. Now listen carefully, the only true God that exists is the God that has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture. And He is exactly as He has revealed Himself. He is not as we wish Him to be.

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• He is not as we hope He is to be. He is not what we think He is. He is not what we desire Him to be. He is what He is revealed in Holy Scripture. So most people then are idolaters in the sense that they worship a God of their own imagination.

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• Now let me show you. We need to consider what the New Testament says about imaginations. Our Lord warned us. So if you will look in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Romans chapter 1. Everyone knows this passage. You understand it. But let me just show you where all this actually began. Notice in Romans chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 21. Romans 1 verse 21, watch carefully. The Bible says, "Because that when they knew God," that is they had knowledge of Him at one point, "because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God," that is they did not believe Him, they would not worship Him. Well, when they did not believe God and when they would not worship Him as God, what happened? "Neither were they thankful," here's what happened, "but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened."

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• "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Now, here is my question: where did all of the idolatry, or all of the idols begin? And the answer is in the imagination. They became vain in their imaginations, and they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

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• It all starts in the mind. And of course if you look in verse 25, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." So, all of our idolatry begins in the mind. That is why most Christians, professing Christians, are content with the God that they have in their mind. And I have heard, I have heard professing Christians make statements like this, "But I know God is not like that." Or "My God would never do something like that." Really? Your God probably would not, but the God of Scripture would. But because the only God that they have is the God of their own imagination and not the God of the Bible.

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• Now, let me show you another passage. Look in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 at verses 4 and 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 at verses 4 and 5.

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• I want you to follow with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4, Paul says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Now, let me just stop. The Apostle Paul is talking about a warfare, but he's not talking about a carnal or a fleshly warfare. He's talking about a spiritual warfare. But notice he said, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Now I want you to stop and think about a stronghold. What is your stronghold? Your stronghold is your place of defense. It's where you hold out. So if that cabinet over here and someone came through that door firing a pistol, I would jump behind that cabinet. That cabinet now becomes my stronghold. It's my place of defense. Okay? Now I want you to watch this. Look what he said in verse 4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." You want to know where man's stronghold is? Here it is: "Casting down imaginations."

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• "And every high thing," or literally every high thought, "that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So what is it that we must cast down? It is our imaginations. We cannot imagine God to be as He is not. When we do, we are guilty of idolatry. The God that we manufacture in our minds is the God that deceives us because He's not real. He's not any more real than an idol.

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• I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13. Jeremiah chapter 13. And look if you would at what God says, and He's talking about Israel. Jeremiah 13, God has commanded Jeremiah to take a new girdle and bear it by the river Euphrates. I'm not going into all that right now, but look what He said concerning His people, Judah and Jerusalem particularly. He said in verse 10, "This evil people," talking about Judah and Jerusalem now, verse 9, "Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing." Now notice if you would what he said, "This evil people who, number one, refuse to hear my words, who, number two, walk after the imagination of their heart, and number three, the imagination of their heart causes them to walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them."

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• Isn't that amazing? So God is telling us that oftentimes, yes, the God in whom we trust does deceive us because the God in whom we trust is not necessarily the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Moreover, we're equally deceived when we think that we can sin against God and escape His judgment. I know of individuals who think that somehow God's never going to judge them. God's never going to destroy them. But what is true individually is also true familially. It's also true ecclesiastically. It's also true nationally. Alice and I passed a church building this morning, and all across the churchyard were signs that said, "God bless America, God bless America, God bless America." And I looked at Alice and I said, "Why should God bless America? America does not bless God. We've turned our backs upon God. We've despised Him."

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• See, the problem is this. What we've done is we've manufactured a God of our own imagination. Let me point out that when we violate the Law of God, and basically what we've done in this country is we've forsaken God's Law. But when we violate the Law of God we are idolaters. The very first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." You cannot violate any of God's law, you cannot transgress against God, without first violating the very first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." I don't care what you do when you sin against God, you have already violated the first commandment because you have dethroned God and enthroned yourself and you've said basically, "I don't care what God says, I want what I want and I'm going to do what I want to do." A good example of this is found in the tenth commandment. The tenth commandment is "Thou shalt not covet." Now God goes on to tell us in that commandment a number of things that we are not to covet.

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• We are not to covet our neighbor's wife, his maidservants, his manservants, his oxen, his asses, or anything that is our neighbor's. But the principle is very simple: "Thou shalt not covet." I don't know if you have ever thought about the extent of covetousness or not. But if Steve had a brand new four wheel drive truck and I looked at that thing and I said, "Oh man, I like that. I'd really like to have that."

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• "I wish he'd give it to me. He won't give it to me. Maybe I can steal it." You see where I'm going with this? You know what the Bible says in Colossians 3 and verse 5? "Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." So when I covet that truck I've already committed idolatry. Why? Because I've denied God who said, "Thou shalt not covet." So you cannot sin against God without violating the very first commandment. Now, I want to show you what God says about idols. Then I'm going to make some applications. I want you to turn in your Bibles first of all to Psalm 115. Psalm 115.

  #50 | 42:30 to 43:24 | cleaned

• I really at one time started to enlarge upon this, but I thought I'd save that for another message. But look in Psalm 115. And let's begin reading there with verse 1, Psalm 115 verse 1. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?" Now notice the sovereignty of our God. "But our God is in the heavens."

  #51 | 43:24 to 43:57 | cleaned

• "He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." This is our God. He's sovereign. He does as He pleases. Watch verse 4, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are likened to them."

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• "So is everyone that trusteth in them." Now, wait a minute. "They that make them are likened to them. So is everyone that trusteth in them." What is an idol? He's dead and dumb. God said, if you make one, you're dead and dumb. If you trust in one, you're dead and dumb. Look in your Bible to Psalm 135. You'll see basically the same truth, but I'll point something else out. Look in Psalm 135 verse 15. Here's what God says: "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are likened to them. So is everyone that trusteth in them." Wow. You know, it really gets worse than being dead and dumb. Do you know that one of the words for an idol in the Bible is the Hebrew word "Gelulam"? You look up the Hebrew word in the lexicon and you will find that the word actually means "dung balls." Dung balls. That's what an idol is.

  #53 | 44:38 to 46:12 | cleaned

• That's what God refers to an idol as: a ball of dung. You remember the Valley of Gehenna around Jerusalem? That's where all the trash was, all the dead bodies, all the scum, all the filth. It was a picture of hell which our Lord used. And that basically is what hell is. Hell is nothing more than the outhouse for the dung balls of this life, those that worship idols. That's what He said, "They that make them are likened to them; so is everyone that trusteth in them." So yeah, when Rabshakeh says, "Let not the God whom you trust deceive you,"

  #54 | 46:12 to 46:58 | cleaned

• he was speaking a truth that we need to consider. Ah, an idol is a useless, worthless, man-made piece of garbage regardless of who made it and what it was made from. The only value that it would possess would be its workmanship and the materials that are in it. That's it. It does not possess life. It cannot give life. It cannot protect. It cannot provide. It is dumb. It is dead. And so is everyone who makes them and everyone who trusts them. A God of your imagination is of no more use than an idol because it's not God. The only God that is is the God that has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture.

  #55 | 46:59 to 47:57 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Isaiah 37. I want you to listen to some applications. The first one is this. And I think most of you would agree with this. It's easy, oftentimes, to give counsel and advice. And sometimes it's difficult to follow your own counsel and advice. So what did Sennacherib send Rabshakeh to Hezekiah to say? He sent him to say, "Let not the God in whom you trust deceive you." Wow. Guess what? The God in whom Sennacherib trusted deceived him. His God was Nisroch. If you will look in Isaiah 37 and verse 38, the Bible says this—in fact let's read verse 37, Isaiah 37:37, "So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh."

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• "And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." Wow! Do you realize he ended up trusting in a false God? His false God deceived him and he died at the hands of his own sons in the house of his false God. Hmm. Well, he sent word to Hezekiah, "Don't let the God in whom you trust deceive you." He never followed his own counsel or his own advice and he died in idolatry. Now I want

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• you to think about this second application. When one refuses to bow to the sovereign God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, deception is absolute and unavoidable. Let me say that again. When one refuses to bow to the one true and the living God, the sovereign God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, then deception is absolute and unavoidable. When you reject truth, you're only open to error. When one denies truth, the only thing left is deception. Have you ever stopped to ask, what is the source of deception?

  #58 | 49:47 to 50:37 | cleaned

• How can a man be deceived? There are plenty of answers, I'm sure, but I'm going to give you two answers. First of all, a man can be deceived by his own wicked heart. Jeremiah 17 verse 9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Our hearts can deceive us. In fact in the book of Obadiah chapter 1 and verse 3 God said to those people, "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee."

  #59 | 50:39 to 51:13 | cleaned

• In other words you've got yourself up here in the cleft of the rock. You think you can't be brought down? Oh, I've got news for you, said God. I can bring you down. The pride of your heart has deceived you. So, you can be deceived by your own wicked heart. But secondly, you can be deceived by the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth according to the principle of the Law of Retribution. God sends you that deception. It is called the Lex Talionis, the Law of Retribution where God makes the punishment fit the crime.

  #60 | 51:13 to 51:47 | cleaned

• So, if you do not want His truth He will see that you believe a lie. If you do not want His Word He will see that you believe error. Look in your Bibles two passages. First of all Isaiah 66 and look at verse 4. Isaiah 66 and verse 4. Look what God says. He's talking about people who won't listen. In fact, let's begin reading verse 1. Look what he said. Isaiah 66 verse 1, "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?" In other words, you try to build something just for me and you're going to run out of materials. I made it all. "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is of a poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man."

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• "He that sacrificeth a lamb is as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood." That's because they do it in rebellion. "He that burneth incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways." Watch now, "They have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations," not in God. Look what God says, "I also will choose their delusions."

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• "And will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear, but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not." Isn't that amazing? God said, "You don't want to believe me? Fine, I'll choose your delusions. I'll bring upon you your own fears." And if you will turn very quickly to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look if you would beginning there with verse 10. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 10, the Bible says, "And for this cause"—watch—"for this cause God shall send them strong delusion." Verse 10, let's go back to verse 10. I missed verse 10. "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." In other words, they didn't want the truth. Now watch, "And for this cause," because they did not want truth, "for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

  #63 | 53:18 to 54:42 | cleaned

• Why did God send them a strong delusion? Because they hated His truth. They refused Him. So listen to me very carefully. When God says, through Rabshakeh, "Let not the God in whom you trust deceive you," it's a principle. And we better determine who is the God that we trust in. We better determine that He is the one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ because there is no other God. God Himself said, "I know not any." And if God doesn't know any other God, very obviously we don't know any other God. This also should tell you where most of the people are at in America today. They're trusting in a God of their imagination. And they're deceived by their own God.

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• And like Sennacherib, unless God opens their eyes and gives them repentance and faith, they will die in their deceit. "Let not the God in whom you trust deceive you." I'm so thankful that I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word, for your truth, for your admonition. Give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray, amen.

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• so so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:35:45Z