     "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

     All right, let's take our Bible this morning and turn to Exodus. We'll
look for a while this morning at the Second Commandment, given on Mount Sinai
to Moses. The Ten Commandments, given in the Old Testament in Exodus 20, and
downtown, there are 50,000 laws in the lawyers' offices, just to explain these
Ten Commandments. When I say 50,000, that may be an underestimation. Did you
ever go into a lawyer's office and look at his library? See all those books up
there? Rack upon rack, ten, twelve feet high, clear around the room. Those are
laws written to explain the ten you've got right here. And these ten laws have
to be amplified into 50,000 laws for man to take care of.

     You know, brethren, the rule is real simple. The more people you have,
the more regulations you have to have. Bob Jones Sr. used to say there's a
danger in bigness. And I believe that. I believe that. Because the more people
you have, the more regulations you have. And the more regulations and rules
you have, the more somebody's liable to break them. The more that break them,
the more trouble you've got.

     Those of you who have one child in your family, you know how these things
go. When you lived by yourself, you didn't have to have a whole lot of rules.
Then, when you got married, you had to establish some things that were to be
done and not done. Then you had one kid, and a whole new set of rules entered.
Then you had two. And you mothers and fathers who have four and five children,
you know how this thing goes. And the more children you have, the more rules
you've got.

     You know why the Army has so many regulations? It's got so many people!
You get 500,000 or a million people together, you've got to have rules and
regulations right and left.

     Now, God gave ten of them. And these ten rules are laid down for two
million people. And they've never been improved upon.

     Exodus chapter 20, verse 1: "And God spake all these words, saying,  I
[am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Now,
that's the commandment we talked about last Sunday. Now, this Sunday, verse 4:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any
thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that
[is] in the water under the earth:  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 unto the third and fourth
[generation] of them that hate me;  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments."

     Our Father, we ask your blessing upon the text this morning as read and
as expounded. We pray the Holy Spirit might make these things up to date and
real to this congregation today. May they understand that these words are just
as alive in this morning up in 1983 in June, as they ever were when they were
given 2,000 years before the birth of Christ. And help us, Heavenly Father, to
understand what we've read here today. And help this congregation to
understand it. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.

     Now, like I said, the more people you have, the more rules you have. You
have--I've marked them, two or three or four children--you know how it is
around the house. Don't leave the screen door open. Don't take the glass of
water out of the ice box. Be sure and flush the commode. I mean, if you want
to get the stuff up in modern language, you get it into a thing like that.
These modern-day bibles--they're not modern language. Modern language is like
that.

     And you have rule after rule after rule--and nobody likes rules. When you
read the Ten Commandments, you have a generation of people who say, "Well, I
just believe that's the rules to Israel. I don't believe God really said those
things." In our public schools, I read the other day where it's illegal to
even publish the Ten Commandments on the school grounds of the public school.
You say, "Why?" "Well, that's just somebody's religious opinion that they came
out of the Bible, and God said 'em, and I don't believe God said 'em."

     I want to tell you something. Whether you believe those commandments, God
gave them or not, I'll tell you what you do. You bust one of them, and watch
what happens! I heard a fellow say, "I don't believe they're the word of God."
You'll pay for them, whether you believe them or not! The surest proof those
things are absolute, is the fact that when you bust one, you pay through the
nose. You say, "I just don't believe it." OK, try. Try it. Just take any one
of them and bust it, and watch what happens. The thing'll work. It'll work.

     Those are the Lord's commandments. Now, they're ten of them. I know of a
certain denomination--and, of course, I couldn't tell you which one it is--but
I know of a denomination that doesn't have any Second Commandment. You
wouldn't believe it, but I know of a church, when they publish the Ten
Commandments, they make two out of the Tenth Commandment, and don't have any
Second Commandment. There's a church in this town--you wouldn't believe this,
unless you were broad-minded--but, if you were broad-minded and investigated,
you'd find there's a church in this town that doesn't have any Second
Commandment. And, if you'd look at their Ten Commandments, you'd never read
the following words: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." There's
a church--of course, I couldn't tell you what it is, that would be bigotry and
prejudice. Some of you folks would have a fit. And, "Oh, there he goes again!
And there he goes getting--" well, shut your mouth, and you'll learn
something!

     I mean, when stupidity is combined with bigotry and craziness, you've got
a real problem.

     Now, the thing is, if you were broad-minded, you'd investigate. And if
you would investigate, you'd find out. And if you'd find out, you'd find
there's a church in this town that has no Second Commandment.

     I get to talking like I talk, and folks say, "Oh, there he goes speaking
against folks' faith. I don't believe in speaking against folks' faith." Well,
tell me something. Why do you let them speak against mine? Why do you let them
tear my Bible up and take out a commandment I believe in, and then hop on me
for saying something about it?

     Wild, isn't it? All these folks believe in "sharing God's love,"
"sharing," "sharing." How about that one? How about them messing with what I
believe? Yes, how about that?

     You know, some of you street preachers, you know, you offend folks, you
know that? You know, some folks don't like you. You offend them; you upset
them terribly. And I want to say something; some of their religion offends me
terribly. I get offended when I see a statue of Mary out in a yard someplace.
Standing there. That disturbs me. You say, "Well, it shouldn't." Well, the
street preachers shouldn't disturb you either, he he he!

     I know how people are. I know how they are. They're just like me; they're
one-sided. I read you.

     You say, "Why, it's perfectly all right to talk about the Watts Riots,
you know, and perfectly all right for students at the university to throw bags
of urine at policemen, like they did at Kent State, and put razor blades in
potatoes and through 'em at 'em. That's perfectly all right. But it's wrong to
speak against somebody's faith."

     All right, there's a certain church that doesn't have any Second
Commandment. I've got a Second Commandment in my Bible that says, "Don't make
the images." I don't appreciate images of Mary.

     I like that story about that little boy who asked Jesus five years for
something for Christmas, and didn't get it. So, he went next door and took a
statue of Mary and stole it, and tied it up and gagged it, and hid it in the
bottom drawer of his dresser. And he sent the Lord a note saying, "If you
don't send me what I want for this Christmas, you'll never see your mother
again!"

     Now, to me, that makes just as much sense as anything, you know! All this
statue business.

     All right, now, what's forbidden? Well, there are two things forbidden.
Look at the text. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above." If you were Mary, would
you appreciate folks making statues of you? Now, you take, what's forbidden?
What's forbidden is a graven image or a likeness--two things.

     Did you know that there were no images around until after the Flood.
These liberals say, "Well, you know, man was originally polytheistic, and
then, when Christ came, one true God was revealed." That isn't so. Man was
originally monotheistic. You know, the American Indian believed in a Great
White Father, and called him the Great Spirit. The Indians had better sense
than a lot of these college professors. Man began monotheistic, and became
polytheistic after the Flood.

     Why, you take before the Flood, you don't read about images. If they
worshipped gods before the time of Noah, I'll tell you one thing, they didn't
use images as an aid to worship. The gods were right there. The images don't
show up until after the Flood. After the Flood, up shows Rachel, sitting there
on the camel's furniture, and Laban comes in furious, wants to know "Why have
you stolen my gods?" That's the first mention of images you read about in your
Bible.

     Then you read about Aaron making a golden calf, and Jeroboam setting up
the golden calf. You read in your Bible about Moses taking a brazen serpent.
After he made that brazen serpent for the purpose of healing people, up goes
that brazen serpent, the Jews took that thing and worshipped it, and made an
idol out of it, and called it Behushtan, and worshipped that thing from then
on. In the book of Isaiah, I read these words: "Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together, ye [that are] escaped of the nations: they have no
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god
[that] cannot save. Tell ye, and bring [them] near; yea, let them take counsel
together: who hath declared this from ancient time?" A statue? I reckon not.
..."[who] hath told it from that time?" Some wooden idol? "...[have] not I the
LORD? and [there is] no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; [there
is] none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I [am] God, and [there is] none else." There is it.

     He says, "You people who trust in images to help you out, they can't talk
to you, they can't tell the future. There's only one God, and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ."

     Why, if you had taken this town here a couple of months back, you had
twentieth century Americans, going out of churches, kneeling before the Via
Dolorosa, and kneeling before the stations of the cross, and going to get some
help from those things. You can't get any help from those things. Those things
can't help you out a bit.

     A fellow said, "Well, we just use them as an aid to worship." The only
aid you've got to worship are the Bible and prayer. The Bible says, "They that
worship God must worship Him in spirit and truth. God is a spirit, and they
that worship Him must not worship him with aids to worship." They worship Him
in spirit and in truth, is how they worship Him.

     What's forbidden? Images. What's forbidden? Likenesses. Likenesses. Now,
God told those Jews to make some cherubims for the curtains in the tabernacle,
and those kinds of things, and a lot of them emphasized their artistic
abilities, but not to bow down to. And those likenesses on the curtains were
likenesses of cherubims; they weren't likenesses of God.

     Graven images and likenesses and statues of any kind are forbidden. You
can learn a great lesson from Ghautama Buddha. One time, a fellow over there
took a statue of Buddha and smashed it on the ground. And some Buddhist there
was horrified, and said, "You committed sacrilege! You destroyed a sacred
idol!" And that fellow who threw that thing down said, "Buddha said,
(quote),'There are no sacred idols!'" And if ever a man didn't believe in
idols, it was Buddha. I don't say the fellow was saved, but if ever a man on
this earth believed in pure spirit, it was Ghautama Buddha. That nirvana, and
sumari, and that prajnan stuff that you get in Buddhism, that stuff is pure
spirit--there's no materialism in it. Buddha said there are no sacred statues.
There are no sacred idols.

     I mean, what if this morning, just--I'm not going to do this, but suppose
I put across this communion table, statues--a whole bunch of them--St.
Dominick and St. Francis and St. Mary and Blessed Joseph and Blessed John the
Baptist, and St. Jude, and St. Andrew, and St. Anthony, and put them across
there, and then for the worship service I came in this morning with a hatchet,
and just knocked off their heads and cut off their arms and legs, and just
banged them all over the floor! Wouldn't that be something?

     Of course, I've got a rough congregation! Some of you might appreciate
it!

     Why, can you imagine that in the First Baptist Church downtown? Or even
Smyrna?  Imagine if that happened at Olive Road or Smyrna, if you put up a
bunch of little old dollies down there, and then smashed them all over the
pulpit! Why, the Christians would have a heart attack!

     You say, "What Christians?" The Baptists. You better believe it!

     You say, "Why?"

     That's a good question. Why? Why?

     Why, there's no way to answer that question--unless you think idols are
holy. "To whom will ye liken me, and make [me] equal {saith the Lord}, and
compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh
silver in the balance, [and] hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they
fall down, yea, they worship. Isaiah 46:7 They bear him upon the shoulder,
they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place
shall he not remove: yea, [one] shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor
save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring
[it] again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for
I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that
are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure." He says these folks that carry that Virgin of Guadelupe around on
their shoulders, and carry it up and down on the street, and then set her down
on a corner, she can't get out of that corner to help nobody. She's a statue.
She's an idol. Statue of a saint--can't help you!

     You want to get healed from sickness? Run up there to Memphis, and get
St. Jude to fix you up. You want to have a good shrimpin' time around the
shrimp feet? Let ol' Papa come down there and bless the shrimp feet, before it
goes out. And pray in the name of some saint.

     The Bible says in the Book of Job, he puts no trust in his saints. Even
the heavens are not clean in his sight. You pray to get healed? You might get
healed, and you might not get healed. I know of an unsaved man in 1 Kings 13
and got healed, and he died an unsaved man! I mean the Lord healed him, but
didn't convert him. If all you do is get healed and don't get converted, you
miss the whole thing anyway!

     What is forbidden? Images. Likenesses.

     You know, I used to have a statue of St. Christopher back when it was
popular. St. Christopher was, you know, to keep the highway patrolmen from
gettin' you, I guess. And I had St. Christopher hung upside down by his heels
on a rear view mirror. I had him on a spring. And when I would go by a guy at
a stop light, I would just flip it. And he would go--booiiinngg! Like that,
you know. And you know something? If looks could kill, I woulda been shot ten
times a day! That's the truth!

     I mean, if you want to see how holy Americans are, try that! Put your
little ol dolly in your rear view mirror, and just flip it going by a stop
light. And watch those people just glare. You know why they glare? Because
THEY'RE PAGAN IDOLATERS! That's what's wrong with 'em. Why glare?

     I never have done this, and I'm not about to do it, but I get to thinking
about these things like that. And I have an old nature like anybody else. I
often think about getting a rubber statue of Mary, about five feet long, and
tying it to a bumper of a car, and then drive right down through, you know,
the Mardi Gras---bump, bump, bump, bump! Now, I'm not going to do that. And I
wouldn't recommend that you do it. But if you do it, I ain't gonna say nuthin'
about it!

     But you know something? If you did that, these charismatics and Baptists
would have a heart attack! You say, "Why?" Because it's sacred! And they'd
say, "Well, it isn't sacred to us, but it's sacred to them. Leave it alone."
You mean you'd encourage somebody in idolatry? You blasphemer! You
sacrilegious blasphemer! You mean to encourage somebody in sin and help them
out, would you?

     You say, "The love of Christ," and all that bunk. I'll tell you what's
forbidden is images and likenesses. They're forbidden. Absolutely forbidden.

     Now, did you know that every Christian is an idolater, although not every
idolater is a Christian? You took these Christian people, you know who we
idolize? We idolize Jesus Christ. You know what He's called in Hebrews chapter
1? "The image of God." You know what He's called in 2 Corinthians 4? "The
image of God." You know what He's called in Colossians 3? "The image of God."

     I worship images. I better correct that; I worship one image.

     Listen, did you know, as far as an orthodox Jew is concerned, you are an
idolater? An orthodox Jew doesn't believe God has any image. But I believe He
does. I believe the image of God is Jesus Christ.

     Paul said, "To whom I belong, whose I am, and whom I serve." And he said,
"I bow my knee to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, after whom the
whole family of heaven and earth is named." I adore and worship the image of
God. But the image of God I worship is Jesus Christ.

     All right, let's look at something else. Why does God forbid this thing?
We know what's forbidden; now, why does He forbid it? All right, now, let's
look at details about it. Chapter 20, verse 5: "Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them." One: It's forbidden, because you're liable to bow down to
them. That's the first reason. "Nor serve them." The second reason why you're
not to do it is because, if you bow down, you'll wind up serving. "...for I
the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me."

     The thing is, it's forbidden, is images and likenesses, because the
trouble is, you'll bow down to 'em and eventually, you're going to worship
them.

     Now, I was a Roman Catholic before I was saved. We were taught, no, we
didn't worship the image, we just used the image as an aid to worship. Yet I
read in the paper the other day where Pope John Paul was talking about the
"holy image of the black Madonna in Poland." I was reading in the paper the
other day about Pope Paul VI talking about the "holy images" of the virgin. I
read in a book I've got back there about Pope John XXIII, about how he always
honored the "holy relics of the saints." They do think they're holy, and they
do bow down to them.

     At that Notre Dame before they go to play football, the coach takes them
out there on the green, and there's a big statue of Mary out there, and all
the football team kneels down before the statue. That's what you're not to do.
You're not to bow down to them. Blocks of iron and wood--whoever heard of such
a thing?

     Whoever heard of somebody bowing down and kissing the foot of some liquor
head over there in Europe? And calling himself a Christian? And calling
himself an American? Americans don't believe in bowing down and kissing
people's feet. You know Americans? Are you an American? Do you believe in
bowing down and kissing people's feet, and kissing their ring, that kind of
thing? Where'd you get that stuff from? You didn't get it out of the Bible.

     You're not to make images, you're not to make likenesses, you're not to
bow down to them.

     Why, when the Mohammedans came to the Greek Orthodox church back there in
the centuries around the 5th and 6th Century, and came through there,
Nestorian Christians joined those Mohammedans, went into the churches, and
broke the heads off the statues and threw them out the window. And the Greek
Orthodox priest said, "Those Nestorians are heretics. They won't call Mary the
mother of God, and they're breaking up our holy relics."

     And the Nestorians said, "We're iconoclasts." What's an iconoclast? He's
somebody who doesn't believe in icons. What's an icon? It's an image.

     And those Nestorians were saved, born-again people. But there's one place
they were in agreement with Mohammed: no images, no statues. And they came in
there and tore 'em up, and broke 'em up.

     You know, I get accusations before people. I've had some of the ultra-
conservative brethren--and boy, some of the brethren are so far out in the
right wing, they make me look like an infidel. And I've had the brethren come
up at the end of the service and say, "What are you doing, drawing this
picture of Christ?" How many ever heard that? You ever hear that one? That's
one.

     And they come around there and say, "Well, you're not to make any
likeness, you know. Here's this likeness of Christ you're drawing up here on
this board."

     Now, I tell those people, I tell 'em, "Man, that thing is not an aid to
worship. That's a sermon illustration. Why, as far as an aid to worship goes,
we don't have worship services anyway. You're not here just to worship, man,
you're supposed to worship God Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
There's no aid to worship here in the worship service. You know, some folks
have a time getting the definition.

     I was so glad the other day. I drove down the other day, I was so happy,
I saw a sign out there, in front of one of the largest Southern Baptist
churches in America. And it said in the front of it, it said: "10:00 Bible
teaching, 11:00 preaching service." That's an improvement, brother! You know
what that thing used to say? It used to say, "Sunday school, 10:00. 11:00,
worship service." "Worship hour." Now, those folks have come a long way.

     Now, you know what you're here for this morning, if you're here with any
good intentions in mind? If your motive for being here is right? And, of
course, you might have all kind of motives for being here. But, you know what
you're here for if your motives are right? You're here to have fellowship with
the saints, and sing the praise of God, and put some money in the plate to
help the work of the Lord out, and hear the preaching of the word of God, and
get your hide tore off and stirred up and exhorted and blessed and comforted
and rebuked and prepared to go out Monday morning and hit 'em head on.

     That's what you're here for. It's not a worship service. That's the
purpose of the meeting.

     I mean, what you love is what you worship. Didn't you get that message
last Sunday? What you love--that's what you worship. Why, you can come here on
Sunday and leave what you love outside this building. I was raised in one of
those places. I was raised in one of those Episcopal churches, where folks
came in Sunday: "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silent
before Him. Amen. Amen." And they got out their money, and went back to Jack
Sharkey, and Gene Tunney, and Joe Louis, and Ed Wynn, and Jack Benny, and
Eddie Cantor. That's how far back I am. And Babe Ruth.

     They went back to their idols.

     It's gettin' real quiet here again. What Americans do, they go to church
on Sunday, and they go back to their idols on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday.

     Now, here's what's forbidden. Graven images. Likenesses. Why? You'll bow
them to 'em. You'll serve 'em.

     Finally...What is the result? What is the result of breaking this
commandment? For every commandment God gives, there's a penalty incurred if
you break it. What's the penalty for this one? Well, brethren, this is the
only commandment I know of in the Bible, where God promised to take it out on
your kids. Now, a fellow who commits adultery and gets a venereal disease, or
a man steals something and robs a generation may have to pay it back later,
and may have to pay in his body for it, and maybe you may suffer the
consequence of your individual sin for years. But there's only one sin in that
Bible, where God says He'll visit it on your children--and that's idolatry.

     Exodus 20 verse 5: "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 unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that
hate me." It goes down three and four generations. And, if you want to know
whether or not that's so, then you broaden your education. Go down to Mexico
and travel around awhile. Go to Italy, go to Spain, go to San Salvador, go to
Guatemala, go to Honduras. Go down and see what happened to the nations that
said, "Oh, that's just your opinion." Go down and look at the place where they
said, "Oh, well, some folks look at it one way, and some folks look at it
another, and I think my way is just as good as yours." Go down there and look
at the superstition and poverty and disease and revolutions and corruption in
government, and terrorists and torture, and poverty and filth and ignorance of
the word of God. Dolly worshippers. Dolly worshippers.

     You want to see the dolly worshippers? Go to South island. You want to
see the dolly worshippers? Go to Spain. Go to Italy. Whole generations
destroyed. Three and four of them. The next generation comes up, they pay for
it four more generations. The next generation comes up, they pay for it four
generations.

     Listen, the only reason England and Germany and the United States--we
people right here--have escaped this plague so far, is up to about the time of
World War II, we took that bunch with a grain of salt. Now, we've begun to
take 'em seriously.

     You know what you had in this town last year, about this time of year?
You had ol' "Fatty Fatima" come through here. Why, they brought Fatty Fatima
all the way from Portugal--a statue of her--and brought her to this town, with
the blessings of your mayor, Vince Webbs. And the Pensacola News Journal. And
a special time of commemoration for this statue, of ol' "Fatty Fatima."

     You say, "That's no way to talk about an idol." You're right. It's not
near harsh enough. I probably should choose better words.

     I'll tell you, you fool with the stuff and mess with the stuff, and the
first thing you know, your kids pay for it, and their kids pay for it--that's
what He said, that's what He said. Exodus 20. That's what He said!

     Now, let's get it up to date here. Let's make some modern counterparts.
Maybe you don't fool with graven images. Maybe you haven't got any around.
Maybe the nearest thing to a statue that you've seen is a plumber working on
your sink--for not moving.

     But, did you know every time God gives a commandment, there's always
something behind that thing, underneath that thing? When the Lord said, "Thou
shalt not commit adultery," there's something that lies under the surface.
What is it? "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her in his heart hath
already committed adultery with her." The Lord says, "Thou shalt not kill."
Well, that's just the top, see? You get underneath the bottom there, and you
find, "Whoever hates his brother in his heart is a murderer, and you know no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

     Now, you take this thing here. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Take your Bible and turn to
Colossians. And you need to turn to this, because you're not going to believe
it unless you see it. Turn to Colossians. Some of you may not believe it after
you've seen it. Turn to Colossians, and look what lies behind that thing in
idolatry. That thing about those idols, there's something that lies just below
the surface of that thing, and it's tough. Colossians chapter 3, verse 5.
Colossians 3, verse 5: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry." See that thing?

     Tell me something. What good did it do your Catholic friends to take the
Tenth Commandment and divide it into two, in order to get rid of the second
one? You know what the Tenth Commandment was? "Thou shalt not covet." You got
kinda caught in your trap there, didn't you? They got rid of the one on
idolatry, and kept the one on covetousness, and the Bible says covetousness is
idolatry. You won't slip around God; He'll get in behind you. There's no way
to fool Him?

     Why, folks talk about covetousness. This modern so-called generation gap,
and revolution of youth, you know what it is? It's just covetousness. You know
what the younger generation wants? They want what they want when they want it.
That's what they want.

     Folks talk about a generation gap. I'll tell you what it is. It's a TV
gap, boy! Don't you know what that TV is for? Can't you figure that thing out?
That thing is to make you feel like you're oppressed. You know what that thing
is for? That thing is to make you feel like you're not getting what belongs to
you. Just sit down and look at it. I don't care if it's anything from a hair
color to a hair do to a tire to a new jack or a lawn sprinkler, the whole
thing is set up to make you feel like that you don't have something you need.
That's what it's there for.

     All the colored fellows sitting around that thing watching white belly
dancers, don't you know they feel jipped? All you worn out housewives, beating
together a house full of children and a sloppy husband, sitting around like
somebody who fell out of the back end of the Tribulation, don't you know you
feel kinda funny until you pick up that thing and see all those fine dressed
women, on those TV operas, soap operas, all those beautiful young women who
never have a problem?

     Don't you know what that TV is for? It's to make you feel like you're
getting jipped!

     A fellow said years ago, they're saying, you know, "Give me liberty, or
give me death." Then they got to saying, "Give me liberty." And now they're
just saying, "Give me."

     Kennedy said, "Say not, what can my government do for me? Say, What can I
do for my government?" That kind of thing.

     Well, covetous people seeks just what the government can do for them.
That's where that tax stuff and food stamp and welfare stuff comes from.
Covetousness. You've got a generation of young people who want to do what they
want to do, they won't submit to any authority. They don't want to be told
what to do! And they're not going to take it if you tell 'em!

     "Go outside."

     "Huh?"

     "Outside."

     Mumble. Mumble. Mumble.

     "The door. You see the door? The door opens outside. Outside the door."

     "But I don't wanna go out."

     "OUT!  O-U-T!  OUT!"

     They don't get it.

     The kid sits there: "Uh, ye, huh, huh..."

     I remember one time I went out there to Woodham, and Pete was going to
school over there, and I just thought I'd, you know, reconnaissance around.
And I walked there and I stopped by the side of a couple of classes, and
looked in there, and watched them for about ten minutes in those classes. I
couldn't believe what I was looking at! I saw guys in there, you know, about
16 and 17 years old, and I watched one kid there for about six minutes, by the
clock. He sat there at that desk, and I don't know what the teacher was
talking about. He was talking about something. A couple of these kids were
talking over here, and a couple were talking over here, and one guy was, you
know, blowing his nose over here, and somebody else was half asleep.

     And this kid about sixteen years old was sitting there with a comb. Six
minutes by the clock!

     Hey stupid! Stop your comb!

     "Huh!"

     They don't know what authority is. You know what they want? They just
want what they want.

     They're covetous. You know what the Bible says about that business? That
Bible says, "Covetousness is idolatry." You're engaging in an act of self-
worship.

     Yes, yes.

     All right, now that isn't all. Back there in 1 Samuel I read one time
where a fellow got in some trouble trying to get in the priest's office. And
he coveted and coveted and coveted, and wanted to get in and wanted to get in,
and kept trying to get in. And the Lord told that fellow, "You've got no
business being in the priest's office. And you have no business being in the
priest's office, because you're a king, and you're not supposed to be priest."

     And yet he kept on trying to get in and trying to get in. And finally one
day Samuel came around that fellow and said, "Hath the Lord as great a desire
for burnt offerings as obeying the voice of the Lord?" And he said to that
fellow, he said, (you listening?) "stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."
That's what he said. Covetousness. Stubbornness. Those two things lying under
there.

     Are you like that?

     Yeah, I know you think everybody else is bullheaded. How about you? How
about when you want the thing laid out just like this--one, two, three--with
everything in the perfect place, and then it don't come out that way? Are you
a cheerful, sweet Christian? Do you go out shouting, "Oh, Lord, all thy ways I
adore thee"? I'll just bet you do, heh heh!

     You Christians who are into "sharing the love of Christ," and all that
stuff.

     Now, listen. Stubbornness is a good thing if it's sanctified, and if it's
unsanctified, it's one of the deadliest things on this earth. You know God can
sanctify stubbornness? God can sanctify a temper. But unsanctified temper has
no place in the Lord's work, and unsanctified stubbornness has no place in the
Lord's work.

     Some of you fellows would be better preachers if you had more temper.

     You talk about stubbornness, did you ever realize how stubborn Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego were? They wouldn't bend, they wouldn't bow, they
wouldn't budge, they wouldn't move--no matter what kind of pressure was put on
them. That's a good thing. But unsanctified stubbornness is something else.

     You take stubbornness. Stubbornness comes in these things where some of
you, in your dealing with people, you're real liberal. How are you when God's
dealing with you? You stubborn with Him? When God tells you once, and tells
you twice, and tells you three times, are you still of the same opinion?

     AMEN, RUCKMAN!  (I have to encourage myself in the Lord like David, once
in a while!)

     Take your Bible and turn to Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44.
Covetousness! Idolatry! Stubbornness! Idolatry! Yes, sir. All right, Isaiah
44, beginning at verse 9. Isaiah 44, verse 9--a lengthy passage, but a good
one: "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?" (We'd say, "Good for
nothing.") Then he describes how this idol is built. Verse 14: "He heweth him
down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak." Waterproof. Cypress and
cedar. "...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: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth [it],
and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth [it]; he maketh it a
graven image, and falleth down thereto.  He burneth part thereof in the fire;
with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea,
he warmeth [himself], and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:  And
the residue thereof he maketh a god, [even] his graven image: he falleth down
unto it, and worshippeth [it], and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for
thou [art] my god.  They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their
eyes, that they cannot see; [and] their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none considereth in his heart, neither [is there] 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? shall I fall down to the
stock of a tree?  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?"

     Now, you know what that is? That's an idol-maker. That's an image maker.
You see what he's done? He's going out here in this mountain in a winter day,
and cutting down these trees, and worked himself silly to make this little
god, and it's cold out there, so he takes part of the wood he made the god
from, and puts it in the fire and gets the fire going, and says, "I'm warm."
Then he gets hungry, so he takes some meat and roasts it on the fire he
started, and says, "Well, I'm satisfied." And then what he has left he makes a
god out of it, and falls down to it.

     Why, he's a fool! Didn't he just burn it? Well, how can a god help you
that you can burn?

     "A deceived heart hath turned him aside." The fellow can't even figure.
He can't even say, "It's a lie in my right hand."

     I've heard missionaries say this, and I've heard this more than once.
I've heard it maybe three times in about thirty years. I've heard missionaries
say the best way to get rid of pagan gods in these African villages, is sit
down with a fellow and talk with him like this. And I've heard this from about
three different missionaries, so it must work. They say, he sits the fellow
down, and he says, now, "Wamma-juujuu-boo-booo, or Baba-gava-hoo-boo, or
whatever your name is, you have an idol in your hut?"

     "Yes."

     "You worship your idol?"

     "Yes."

     "You pray to your idol?"

     "Yes."

     "Ah, suppose your hut burns down. Will you run?"

     "Yes. Me run."

     "Will you leave your god in the hut?"

     "No. Me pick up my god and run."

     "Why?"

     "Me need my god."

     And the missionary will say, "Well, now, when your hut burns down, can't
your god run out himself?"

     And the native will say, "No."

     And they say, "I'll bet you can run, can't you?"

     "Yes."

     "Well, Mumba-wumba-moo-moo, whatever your name is, tell me something. How
is it that you worship a god that can't even save himself?"

     I've heard them say this. That colored boy will sit there, and he'll go,
"Ummmm. Me see." And then go back in and destroy his god.

     The truth will just grasp him that the image can't save him.

     Isn't that a pitiful thing?

     You know, if that's true, then covetousness can't save you. And neither
can stubbornness.

     Now, did you know America has a lot of real idols in it? America has not
just stubbornness and covetousness. It's got real idols. Have you ever seen
the idols of Mount Rushmore? Have you ever been to the Gettysburg Battle Field
and seen all the statues? I like a little boy up North one time, he was about
two or three years old, raised in some Northern town, and he always would get
Mommy and Daddy to drive him by a statue of General Grant. And the boy was two
or three years old. "I wanna see General Grant. See General Grant. See General
Grant. Drive today and see General Grant."

     And General Grant was sitting up there on a big ol' horse, you know, with
his saber out, and everything, and the boy just loved that thing. And that
family, when that boy got to be about six years old, they left that town, and
the little boy wanted to see General Grant one more time. And he asked his
mama and daddy to go by and see him. They saw him. And that time that little
boy said, "Daddy, I wanna ask you a question."

     The daddy said, "What is it?"

     And the boy said, "Who is that man on General Grant's back?"

     I mean, that boy liked to look at the horse.

     But you take all over America, there are statues of Lee, there are
statues of Grant. You can go to the Football Hall of Fame up there and see all
the statues. Did you ever go to the Smithsonian Institute? I got a photograph
back in there of Lucy Baines Johnson doing the Watusi with the Secretary of
State in the Smithsonian Institute. A beautiful place for a jungle dance!
There are images and statues all the way around! Dolly worshippers. Dolly
worshippers.

     You know what Carl McIntire said? McIntire said in a football stadium in
New Jersey about four or five years ago, they put a statue of Fatima Mary or
some saint in there, and Catholics all day long, for a weekend, were lined up
and came up and kissed that statue. And it fell down. They kissed the feet off
it. Kissed the feet off that statue. I've read that report a couple of times,
from other statues. Statues made out of clay or plaister of Paris, people
would sometimes bend down and kiss that thing, till the feet are worn out and
the thing falls on its face.

     Brethren, that's in America--the land of the free and the home of the
brave.

     All right, one more reference this morning. Let's turn to Acts chapter
17. Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17, verse 24. "Thou shalt not make to thee
any graven image. Any likeness. Not to bow down to them." Your purpose in life
is not to make a god to worship. Your purpose in life is to find the God that
made you.

     Acts chapter 17, verse 24. Acts 17:24: "God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
temples made with hands;  Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of
their habitation;  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:  For in
him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets
have said, For we are also his offspring." That is, He's the Creator. We're
the offspring, not His sons. Not everybody is His son, but offspring in the
sense that God created him. "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we
ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold,..." That's a form of
idolatry. "...or silver,..." idolatry. "...or stone,"... like houses.
Idolatry. "...graven by art..." like silverware, or Tupperware, or chinaware,
or precious relics. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at..." He
overlooked it back in the Old Testament. "...but now commandeth all men..."
That's everybody here. "All men every where ..." That's here. Everybody in
this building. "All men everywhere to repent." To repent of what? To repent of
idolatry? To repent of making idols. Don't try to box God up like some of your
Roman friends. They have God in a little box up in the altar. It's called a
Tabernacle. How many of you know that? Let me see your hands? All right. And
they keep God in there till Sunday, and then bring him out, before they eat
Him. And the Host is up there in that little box.

     You know you hadn't better put God in a box? You know why? You might need
Him real quick. You run back in the box---knock, knock, knock, knock, knock--
"Lord, get out of there and help me. I need some help real quick!"

     You better hadn't box God up here Sunday morning. You might have some
trouble about Monday night someplace.

     The best thing to is put God first, and put God first, and everything
else second. God first. No graven image. No likeness. No covetousness, where
you'd want something more than you'd want Him. No stubbornness in His dealings
with you, in persisting on a path He's warned you about. In persisting on a
path He's cautioned you about, and prohibited. No stubbornness. You know why?
It's idolatry.

     "And thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."

     All right. Father, bless the message this morning. I pray the Holy Spirit
of God honor the words of truth here today. We're thankful for this Book,
thankful for your warnings, thank you for your admonitions, thankful for your
authority, thankful for your commands. Help us to be obedient, Lord, as an
obedient child should be to his Father, as a son to the Father, which we are,
here, this morning, most of us. Lord, if there is somebody here this morning
that's still tied up with these old pagan relics that came from Europe and
Asia, we pray you'll clean up their house, and clean up their lot and their
shelves, and clean up their front yards, and help them to put Jesus Christ
first in their life, and worship God in Spirit and in truth."

     Now, let's remain in prayer. Every head bowed and eyes closed. I'm not
going to give an invitation this morning. This message that I preached this
morning may not apply to too many of you. But certainly some of you. And the
Lord wouldn't have put it in that Book if He hadn't seen a need for it. Some
of you have been saved out of that religion. And some of you were saved from
religions where you had idols all over the house. How many of you were saved
from a religion where you had statues of Mary in your homes? May I see your
hands? There are thirty, thirty-five hands here this morning. Thank you. You
thank God the Lord liberated you. You thank God your children don't have to
pay your judgment. You thank God for it. Is there anybody here this morning
still hooked up with that? Is there anybody here this morning still fooling
around with that kind of thing? You raise your hand and say, "Brother Ruckman,
I want to please God, I want to be obedient to God. I want to please God. I
really mean business. If God don't want statues around my place, I'll get rid
of them." Is there anybody like that here this morning? Would you raise your
hand? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I know if you want to
please God, you will. Not just to please me--please God. It's the Lord who
told you not to do it.

     I think some Catholics are saved--I really do. I don't think just because
you're Catholic, you're damned--I've never believed that. I think a lot of
Catholics are saved--they're just sometimes kind of careless about checking
the word of God. Sometimes they get bad influence from their friends and their
relatives. But, listen, if you're saved, if you want to please God, you'll get
rid of that stuff. You'll get out of the house, and you'll get it out of the
yard.

     Before we close here this morning, is anybody here this morning who would
raise their hand and say, "Preacher, I'm not saved. I'm not a born-again child
of God. But I see my need for Christ. I'd like to have the congregation
remember me in prayer." Would you raise the hand, anywhere, like that? Anybody
here like that this morning?

     If you're not a Christian, would you let this congregation pray for you,
by the uplifted hand? They're going to pray for this people as a group anyway.
But you signal yourself out. Raise your hand right now and say, "Me." "Me." "I
need Christ. I see my need. Pray for me." Is there anyone like that here
today? We'll tarry just a few seconds? Anybody like that here today? This
bunch will pray for you. I got confidence in 'em too. We've seen a lot of
prayers answered here. A lot of prayers. Brother Barnes back there, I see,
this morning. The Lord took care of him. Others. The Lord answered prayer.
Would you let them pray for you?

     All right. Father, bless the message here today. May the Holy Spirit
apply it where needed. Help us to put it into practice, the things we learned
from your Book, and be doers of the word, and not hearers only. God, forgive
us for our many transgressions and sins against thee. We claim the blood of
Jesus Christ, and we claim the power of the Holy Spirit, and grace, to do
right, and do better in the future than we have in the past. We pray it in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

     Amen. The Lord bless you. And good morning.



