Episode Transcript
Good morning.
It's 10 o'clock or as my uncle Riley Casper McKinney used to say, it's 9.60.
That's where I got my sense of humor from is that side of the family.
2 Kings chapter 19 and verse 15 is our text.
2 Kings 19 verse 15.
We began to study Hezekiah's prayer last week and in doing so we hoped to find out how we should pray.
We read in verse 15 where he prayed, "O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art to God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth."
And from that verse we learned that Hezekiah in his prayer acknowledged God as the self-existing one when he called him Jehovah.
He acknowledged him as the great three in one when he called him Elohim and that was in our study last week.
Lord God, that's Jehovah Elohim.
And when he prayed to him as the only God and as the creator of all things.
Now if you believe in God, you have to believe all these things are true about God because he declares them in his word.
He tells us who he is.
He tells us what his attributes are throughout his word.
Now here is where the world will try to counterfeit God's true undefiled religion.
They'll tell you they believe in God.
Now perhaps you've heard a lot of people say that when they're trying to defend themselves on a religious basis.
They'll say, "Oh, I believe in God."
And they'll tell you they pray to God and that they even trust in God.
But when you dig a little bit deeper by asking them about God's attributes and if they believe those things to be true.
That's when you finally find out that most of them believe in a God of their own making.
If they believe Jesus was a created being rather than eternally God the Son, then they don't believe in the God to whom Hezekiah was praying.
If the Freemason tells you there's more than one God, there's more than one way to be saved, then he does not believe in the God to whom Hezekiah was praying because he said, "Thou art God alone."
There's just one.
Ask the theistic evolutionist.
That is the one who tries to reconcile the theory of evolution with God.
He's called a theistic evolutionist.
And you'll quickly find out that his view of God is that of an infinite being but one who couldn't finish what he started.
He believes that God just put the elements out there and then let all these natural processes play out.
And he just stood back and watched it all happen.
Well, a person who is that way doesn't believe in the same God as Hezekiah because the God of Hezekiah created all things.
And we could go on further but the key takeaway here is this.
Whenever someone tells you they believe in God, don't assume they are talking about the God of the Bible.
Don't just make that assumption.
Ask those questions.
Ask them if they believe God is eternal.
If he is three in one, do they believe Jesus is God?
The Holy Spirit is God.
God the Father is God.
Ask them if they believe God created all things.
And if the only way a sinner can be saved is by believing the record that the God of Hezekiah gave of his own son.
And you'll understand such a person's theology very quickly after just a few questions like that.
Now let's continue with Hezekiah's prayer.
If you've just joined us online, we are in 2 Kings 19, verse 15.
The beginning of Hezekiah's prayer was not, "Oh Lord, who overlooks our mistakes and understands our deviant behavior because God is holy and hates sin."
He does hate sin.
That prayer was based in truth, not on the traditions and preferences of carnal man.
And you know the beginning of your prayer when you pray may not be exactly like Hezekiah's, but your prayer and your view of God must be based upon the same truth about who God is.
Not anything Hezekiah said about God was untrue.
It was all true.
And he believed it and we have to believe it.
God made us in his image.
We don't get to remake him in our image.
We pray to him as he is.
And we pray, if we're doing it obediently, we pray for what he commands us to pray for.
Now let's see what he asks for.
Look in verse 16 with me.
He said, "Lord, bow down thine ear and hear.
Open Lord thine eyes and see.
And hear the words of Sennacherib which hath sent him to reproach the living God."
Let's look first there at Lord, "Bow down thine ear and hear."
To bow down here in the Hebrew is to stretch forth or to incline, to lean towards something.
It's not like God is being asked to yield himself to bow down as you might see someone do before a dictator or a king.
God certainly would never do that.
And Hezekiah was not asking God to yield himself in that way.
Like I'm the king and I want you to bow down your ear to me.
This is more of the image here is of God descending, coming down with his ear because God's higher than all of mankind, isn't he?
So when he does anything for us, he descends to do it.
And you'll see that theme throughout the Bible, God descending to his people.
On Mount Sinai, when he met with Moses, he came down on the mountain from his abode.
And when Jesus came to earth, he came down from heaven not to do his will, but the will of the one who sent him.
So here Hezekiah is praying for God to bow down his ear or stretch forth his ear and hear this prayer.
So he said, "And hear, Lord bow down thine ear and hear."
Now the word hear for here is not like we would imagine it.
Well, I heard a good song the other day.
It's not so much as enjoying music or listening to the birds sing, but to hear with the objective of taking action.
There was something Hezekiah wanted God to hear and something Hezekiah wanted God to do about it.
Hezekiah heard and read what was in Sennacherib's letter.
God also saw and heard what was in Sennacherib's letter.
But Hezekiah didn't want God to just hear it and see it like Hezekiah did.
He wanted God to take over.
That's why Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord.
He said, "Lord, I'm not going to do anything about this.
I really can't, but I know you can.
And so I'm bringing this to you.
I want you to hear this.
I want you to see this and I want you to do with it what you will, what seems best to you."
So He said, "And hear."
And then next He said, "Open Lord thine eyes."
Now again, God sees everything.
God doesn't have His eyes squinted up there until someone like Hezekiah says, "Lord, open your eyes."
And then God opens his eyes and happens to see.
He sees everything.
But again, what Hezekiah is doing by appealing to the sight, to the sense of sight, just like he did the sense of hearing, is for God to not only look at the words that were written, but to do something about it.
And we're going to see what exactly Hezekiah wants God to do about it in a few moments.
I look down at the text again.
He said, "And hear the words of Sennacherib."
Now these words were written so they could be seen, but they were also spoken that they may be heard.
Remember that Hezekiah literally spread that letter before the Lord in the house of the Lord.
And these were spoken words because the messenger from Sennacherib, at least one of the messengers, read them aloud in the ears of the priests and the scribe and the head of the king's household were told.
But it's instructive to me that these words are attributed to Sennacherib.
Now who read them?
One of the messengers did.
And so at a superficial glance, you may say, "Well, the words are what he spoke.
This fellow here spoke, this messenger, this representative."
Well, it didn't matter who spoke the words.
They belonged to Sennacherib.
No matter who delivered the message, the words were from Sennacherib.
Now let's see how this same truth is played out in the world system today.
Everyone who is against God and everyone who is against God's people speak the words of their father, the devil, John 841.
Jesus just told the Pharisees, "You do the deeds of your father."
And here's how they answered him.
"Then said they to him, 'We be not born of fornication.
We have one father, even God.'"
So what they were trying to do is attribute their actions, their words to God the Father.
If you skip down to verse 44, that's John 844, and you'll see the one to whom Jesus attributes these words.
"To those same Pharisees, Jesus said, 'Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie," now who did Jesus say was speaking a lie?
Their father, the devil.
"When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it."
Now these men, these Pharisees here, were the ones who were actually doing the speaking and taking the actions that they took.
So Jesus said, "You're of your father, the devil."
So the words you're attributing to God didn't come from him because Jesus was God, but those Pharisees didn't believe that.
So they didn't come from God.
They're not God's words.
Don't go around telling people, "God sent me with this message."
They came from your father, the devil.
"And when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own."
So what was happening is the devil was speaking these lies through the Pharisees.
He was their father and he spoke lies through them.
Jesus said, "When he speaketh a lie, rather than when you speaketh a lie," you see the difference?
And although those unbelieving Pharisees were doing the speaking, the words were from their father, the devil.
Just like the words spoken by the Assyrian messengers were actually from their king, Sennacherib.
Now assigning authorship to the words that are spoken or written by man, as well as the actions of man, is a common theme in the Bible.
And this is a good takeaway here.
You ought to pay greater attention to whose words are being spoken and less attention to the one who's doing the speaking.
This works both ways.
Let me give you an example.
When a pastor teaches God's Word, he's using his own words to explain a text, but he's not teaching his own words.
He's teaching God's words.
And it's important to have Bible teachers, whether they are pastors or non-pastoral teachers.
God has designated them to teach the Bible.
In Acts chapter 8, an Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah the prophet.
And Philip the evangelist, who was sent by the Lord to explain this passage to the eunuch, said, "Understandest thou what thou readest."
And the eunuch said, "How can I accept some man should guide me?"
And so Philip explained that passage to him.
It was from Isaiah.
And after he explained the passage to him, you skip down to verse 39.
It's Acts chapter 8, verse 39.
And by the time this eunuch understood God's Word, he believed God's Word, and he was baptized as a new believer.
So this is what happens in verse 39.
It picks up right after this eunuch was baptized and came out of the water.
"And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing."
That means the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
The eunuch went on rejoicing.
Why?
Was it because he'd made friends with Philip?
No.
If that were the case, he would have missed him sorely and said, "Oh no, my friend, where did he go?
We know the Lord transported him in a different way than we normally get transported today."
That's not why he was rejoicing.
Was it because of how charismatic Philip was?
No, not at all.
Otherwise, the eunuch would once again have been sad that his charismatic new friend left his side.
Yet the text said that the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
He rejoiced because he understood God's words.
Those were the words he was reading.
He wasn't reading a personal letter from Philip and hoping Philip would come alongside of him and say, "Hey man, what did you mean when you wrote this letter to me?"
And then Philip say, "Oh, well, this is what that means, my friend."
The eunuch was reading God's words, and the eunuch was thrilled to death.
He was rejoicing because God's words were explained to him, not man's words.
In other words, Philip was not the author of the eunuch's salvation nor of the words whereby he was saved.
He was a guide.
He was sent to guide this man into that understanding.
Here's another example.
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 4 through 5, we're talking about how important it is to understand authorship.
Who wrote the words?
1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 4 through 5.
Paul wrote, "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak."
So Paul said, "We're speaking, but that gospel is not one we came up with.
We were put in trust.
This gospel came from someone else, and it's been given to me, it's been put in my trust, and after that manner, based upon the fact that I've been trusted with these words, I speak."
And he said, "Not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness."
So in this passage, we learn how to tell the difference between the authors of the words that men speak.
That's very important, isn't it?
Because men speak in pulpits.
There are many all over this world right now, at least in our time zone, who are teaching Sunday school, or teaching a congregation in what you call big church.
And whether they're teaching the Bible or not, I don't know.
I hope some of them at least are.
But they're speaking words.
And in our passage from 1 Thessalonians, we learn how to tell the difference between the authorship based on some clues that Paul gives us.
There's first of all, the gospel.
He mentions the gospel, which tells us that Jesus died for sinners, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day.
There are second of all, flattering words.
The gospel is not designed to please men.
That's what Paul said.
He said, "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men."
We did not come here to preach the gospel to please men at all.
He makes that very clear.
The gospel is not...
Now listen to this.
The gospel is not designed to please men, but flattering words are.
They are designed to please men.
The author of the gospel is God himself.
You see, man has displeased God.
And so it's God who needs to be pleased, not man.
1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 21, 1 Corinthians 1, 21, and you can put a little letter B as in boy.
This is the second part of the verse.
It said, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
It pleased God.
What pleased God?
Preaching, the gospel.
So the preaching of the gospel pleases God, not man.
And when you're trying to determine who is the author of the words that men speak, find out whether those words please God or please men.
And there's really one way to know that, and that's by looking it up in your Bible to see if it says what they said it says.
If the words are designed to please men, where are they from?
They're from the devil, aren't they?
That's what Jesus said about the devil.
He devil speaks of his own.
He's a liar.
And so if the words please men, they're from the devil.
In our text, they were from Sennacherib who first tried to win Judah to his side with flattering pleasing words.
Remember when he said, "Hey, you can drink from your own cisterns and you can eat of your own fig trees and then when you come to our country, we'll have even better stuff for you."
He used flattering words.
He also used threatening words.
But because those words from Sennacherib sent through his representatives were pleasing to men rather than to God, then we know the author of those words is Satan.
Yes, it was Sennacherib, but ultimately it was Satan, wasn't it?
You know, when Cardinal man, when the unbeliever hears the Gospel, he scoffed at it.
He says, even if he's religious, he says, "Well, God would never send anyone to hell."
And you know such a saying pleases men, doesn't it?
Cardinal man loves to hear that, "Oh good, oh good."
I was hoping that was the case, but that saying does not please God.
And whether they're the words of Sennacherib or the words of a preacher, don't measure those words by the man who speaks them, but by the one who authored them.
Don't measure the words that a man speaks by the man who speaks them.
Measure those words by who the author was.
Whether they were designed to please God or to flatter men.
Some of the largest congregations in this country are led by men who preach flattering words that please men.
And man, they can fill up a stadium in a hurry.
When Hezekiah asked God to hear the words of Sennacherib, you can guarantee that God knew who the real author of those words was, Satan.
And for those words and all the other wickedness, the prince of this world has spread, God will punish him with everlasting destruction.
I don't want to have confidence in words that will be punished with everlasting destruction.
I'm not going to be punished with everlasting destruction because I am in Christ.
But I don't want the words that are going to be punished with everlasting destruction, nor their author to be honored at all in my life, nor should you in your life.
Look back in the text in verse 16.
It says, "And see and hear the words of Sennacherib which hath sent him to reproach the living God."
Now this rendering, which has sent him to reproach the living God, can be just a little bit confusing.
In fact, most of the other translations render this as which he has sent.
The words which he has sent to reproach the living God.
And that's what he did.
That's what Sennacherib did, is send those words by his messengers.
And the word reproach, as we've discovered before, means to defy or to blaspheme.
We studied that at length when we read those very words.
And something to learn here is that no matter how flattering the devil's words are to man, they are sent for one reason, and that's to reproach the living God.
You may say, "Man, that guy sounds good.
He makes sense.
He's charismatic.
He's winsome.
I like hearing him.
He has a soothing voice, whatever your thoughts about him may be."
But if his words are flattering words designed to please men, as beautifully as they're spoken, as eloquent as his tongue is, those words were sent to reproach the living God.
And the devil's good at that, by the way.
He didn't scare Eve off, did he?
He came to her as the most subtle beast of the garden as a serpent and carried on a conversation with her.
And he knows how to use the flesh to win people to his sides, to his side.
You know, when a man gets up in the pulpit and tells man he's a champion on the inside, you're a champion.
You should follow your heart.
Those words sound pretty good to the carnal mind, don't they?
But no matter how sweet they are to the flesh, they are rotten as to God.
And those words are sent through that preacher to defy God, to reproach him, the same reason the words of Sinacarib were sent.
Those words tell sinners they're not that bad.
And those preachers say, "Man is something."
When God says, "He's not."
We know the devil authored any preaching that reproaches God.
In Genesis chapter 3, I mentioned this just now, the serpent approached the woman for one purpose, to reproach the living God, the same reason the words were sent from Sinacarib to Judah.
Now watch how he did it.
Eve told him they were not allowed to eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, the tree we know as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
She said, "We're not allowed to eat of that or touch it, because we'll die."
That's what God told her.
He didn't say not to touch it, but that's the best thing to do.
If you don't want to eat it, just keep your hands off of it, right?
And God was the author of the words that Eve spoke to Satan.
She said, "We're not to touch it.
We're not to eat it."
And though she added the touch part in there, the rest of it was true.
"We eat it, we'll die."
And it's that tree right there.
It's the one in the midst of the garden.
She didn't point at the wrong tree.
But listen to the serpent's response in verses 4 through 5, after she told him that.
"And the serpent said unto the woman," now this is Genesis 3 verses 4 through 5.
Just write 3, 4, 5.
Put a colon after 3, a dash after 4.
"And the serpent said unto the woman, 'You shall not surely die.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and evil.'"
Now whereas God said they would die if they ate from that one tree, Satan said, "You shall not surely die."
In fact, he said, "Your eyes shall be open."
Now open eyes are associated with life, aren't they?
It's one of the ways I know that you all are alive in here.
Your eyes are open, you're sitting up right without too much support from the pew, and you're breathing and looks like you're paying attention.
I believe you are.
And even if a person's eyes stay open when they die, he can't see anything.
The light enters in, but it doesn't do anything for him.
His open eyes avail him nothing.
He cannot be enlightened.
The author of words that contradict God's words is found right there in Genesis if you ever want to know where it is.
And once you know that, that the author of those words that were spoken back to Eve, the author of those words was Satan.
When you know that and you embrace that, your walk with the Lord will be so much better.
When you hear the words of a false teacher, you'll know those words are from the same one who contradicted what God told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Same author.
And you'll see, like Hezekiah saw, that those words, no matter who speaks them to you, even a loved one, were sent to reproach the living God, not to please him.
Verse 17, "Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands."
Hezekiah has not only spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, but he's also spread Sennacherib's destruction of the nations before the Lord.
Now, imagine what Sennacherib would think about Hezekiah spreading this matter before the Lord, if somebody would have sent Sennacherib a text message in those days.
He said, "Hey, guess what he did with your letter?
He ran to the temple and he spread it out before his God."
Well, Sennacherib has already made it known that he puts the Lord God right there on the shelf with all these other false gods.
He has no respect for the Lord God any more than he does any of those other gods, which is none.
And if Sennacherib could listen to Hezekiah's prayer right now, he would probably laugh him to scorn.
Just like people do when you say, "I've prayed about this."
They say, "You've prayed about it."
What do you mean you prayed about it?
"I spread it before the Lord."
They laugh, whether outwardly or inwardly.
But what Sennacherib doesn't realize is that Hezekiah did the most important thing, the most powerful thing a child of God can do.
How powerful was King David?
There was none like him, not even King Saul who was taller and bigger and had the bold set of armor that he tried to put on David, not even Saul.
Remember the verses, the song that Saul hated the most?
Saul hath slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands, drove Saul insane that David was a better warrior.
David killed the giant of Gath named Goliath when no other man, including Saul, would come near him.
And yet David sought the Lord as one who was weak and helpless in the face of his enemies.
Listen to his words in Psalm chapter 25 verse 2.
Psalm 25 verse 2.
I want you to picture this warrior who's killed tens of thousands of the enemy.
He said, "Oh my God, I trust in thee.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me."
Now if a king next door who knew of David's fame and might would have heard that, an unbelieving king, he would have said, "What do you mean let not mine enemies triumph over me?
David, nobody's ever beat you.
You're the champ.
You beat the champion Goliath of Gath."
And you cut his head off.
You weren't afraid.
You don't need anybody's help.
But David knew he was weak without the Lord.
He was nothing without the Lord.
It wasn't his might that ever gained him a victory over his enemies, but his trust in the Lord.
Hezekiah not only spreads Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, he not only spread Sennacherib's destruction of the nations before the Lord, but also his destruction of the religions before the Lord.
Look in verse 18.
He said this about the Assyrians, "And have cast their gods into the fire."
That is, they destroyed the nations and the lands, "and have cast their gods into the fire, for there were no gods but the work of men's hands.
Wood and stone therefore they have destroyed them."
Let's look at this first part, "and have cast their gods into the fire."
You'll see that gods starts with a little g, so it is not talking about the Lord God.
But to us who believe this is exactly what should be done with idols, with false gods, images cast into the fire.
But think about these unbelieving people, these idolaters in Sephirvaim.
We'll use that land as an example.
They had two gods.
A Dramalak and Anamalak were their gods of salvation.
Those two were the twin gods of the salvation of Sephirvaim.
And when those false gods were thrown into the fire and did not deliver Sephirvaim from Assyria, those people in Sephirvaim must have been terrified, disillusioned, because their fathers had told them, now listen to this, their fathers had told them that a Dramalak and Anamalak will protect you.
Now where were those words from?
Those were flattering words, weren't they?
"Design to please men."
Those words from Satan.
From the fathers of these people in Sephirvaim to their children, the words of Satan were spoken.
Now that's pretty harsh, isn't it?
To think that all over this world, since man was created, that the words of Satan have been spoken through the parents to the children unto their destruction.
But it happens.
Their fathers told them, "You can sacrifice to these gods.
They'll be pleased."
They were scared to displease those gods.
And just like that, the Assyrians threw those gods into the fire.
If you think about it, casting those false gods into the fire, those images, those actual images, is an example of what will happen in the book of Revelation chapter 19 and verse 20.
Revelation 19.20 where it says, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
There is one destination for the false prophet, the devil, his angels, and all who worship him, and that is fire, everlasting fire.
This fire into which these false gods were thrown was not everlasting.
It would burn out.
But the fire into which the false prophet and the beast and all those who worship them will be everlasting.
So even though it was the Assyrians who did it, it was fitting that those false gods of the nations were cast into the fire.
Look back in your text and it says, "For they were no gods, or because they were no gods."
That's why they were cast into the fire.
A real god could never be cast into the fire.
If you think about the concept of God, God is over all.
So how could any thing or person God ever created do something with God, throw him anywhere, even approach him?
But those were not real gods.
Now hang on because this is really good.
You may be saying, "Well, I'm a Christian.
I don't really have any worry about being cast into the lake of fire."
And that is absolutely true.
Praise God.
But in this flesh, you and I are fighting a daily battle.
Sometimes it feels like it's every five minutes, doesn't it?
A daily battle.
And we need some help.
We need some perspective so we can know how to please God.
And we're going to use this as part of our lesson.
1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 through 15.
1 Corinthians 3 verses 11 through 15.
Now what do we know about those idols?
They were the work of men's hands.
Okay?
This passage says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is lay, which is Christ Jesus.
Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."
Now the fire tried those idols, didn't it?
And they didn't come out anything other than dust, ashes, or melted metal, whatever it was.
They were destroyed.
It says, "Further, if any man's work abide, which he hath built there upon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."
So this is exactly for you, Christian.
Because this isn't talking about your salvation.
Paul is writing to people who are saved, but he's telling them about their works.
And I don't have time to expound that entire passage, but let's just use it to help us understand how the gods that were cast into the fire pertain to our lives.
In Paul's passage, the Christian is in view.
So your foundation is Jesus Christ.
You're saved.
If you're not, then these works here are the least of your worries.
But after you're saved, you will build something upon that foundation.
And what you build, those are your works, or how you build them, those are your works.
And those works are going to be tested or tried by fire.
Works that abide that last will be rewarded, and works that do not abide will result in a loss of rewards.
So when you're trying to figure out how to please God in your Christian walk, ask yourself whether the things you're doing would pass the test of fire.
Let's use money for an example.
If I invest $100 in a printing ministry that prints gospel tracts, that's a work that will pass the fire test.
Preaching the gospel and souls being saved will never be displeasing to God.
Not one place any of you have ever put a sticky note was displeasing to God.
God wouldn't say, "Don't put it there.
There's not a wrong place to put it."
I mean, we want to be respectful about how we do things.
We don't want to cover up a camera lens with a gospel tract, do we?
But that will always be pleasing to God.
Those works will not burn up.
They'll pass the fire test.
But let's say I decide not to invest in the spreading of the gospel.
I'm a selfish person, so I take my $100 instead, and I buy stocks with it.
And let's say that stock increases 1,000 fold so that I end up with $100,000 someday.
I just leave that money in the bank, and I pat myself on the back.
I build a bigger barn so I can have more and more and more.
That is also a work.
But do you know what's going to happen to that work?
It's going to burn up in the fire.
Now, I have money invested in mutual funds, and therefore the stock market, and some of you do too.
And I hope to make a lot of money from those investments.
But I'm not trying to please God with my investments in the stock market.
In fact, when I receive the dividends and gains from those investments someday, guess what I get to do with them?
Yes, I'm going to pay my bills.
I'm going to buy food and put it on the table and gas up to pick up.
But I'm going to be paying my bills for my house that will one day burn.
I'll buy food for my body, which will one day die and rot and turn to dust.
I'll put gas in my pickup that will one day wear out, rust out, and give out.
But also from those dividends and gains, I get to tithe.
I get to invest in kingdom work and pass the remainder of that down to my children, praying they will also do the same thing.
Those are works that will pass the fire test.
And be honest with yourself as we close, how much of what you do in a 24-hour day will pass the fire test when it comes to whether your works are pleasing to God?
Just this week, how many of your works will have no lasting value?
They'll just be wood, hay, and stubble to be burned up by the fervent heat of the fire.
How many of those works are in eternal investments in the kingdom of God?
I expect all of my earthly works to be burnt up, but not my spiritual ones.
Will your works be like the false gods of the nations cast into the fire, or will they be as gold, silver, and precious stones abiding the fire and abounding to your reward?
We'll continue with this theme next time because we are out of time today, and we'll look more closely at why those idols got tossed into the fire.
Father, thank you so much for the good attention given by those who have come, by those who've tuned in online.
And Lord, we pray that everyone can come away from here saying, "I was fed today by the Word of God."
And if that be the case, Father, we just give you all the glory in Jesus' name.
Amen.
