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JUST DIRT! Who is your God? One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him. The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost." God listened very patiently and kindly to the man. After the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well, how about this? Let's say we have a man-making contest." To which the scientist replied, "Okay, great!" But God added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam." The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. God looked at him and said, "No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!" Mankind sometimes think they are so smart. That they can do so much. They forget that God gives them everything they need for this life and also for all eternity. Our topic this morning will be: Does man need God? Does man need God to give eternal salvation, or can man just save himself? Does man need God so he can breathe, so he can walk around, so he can think and reason, so he can have health, so he can have prosperity? Does man need God so man can live? Let me ask you – what is your God like? If you have made your god out of the physical things of this earth, you are not really worshipping God – you are worshipping the works of your own hands. The passage I am going to read is talking about making a god out of wood, but if you have a god made out of metal, stone, or any other substance, you are not worshipping the King of kings and the Lord of lords. God is a spirit, and they that worship him worship him in spirit and in truth – John 4:24. Read Isaiah 44:13-19 "The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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: 17 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. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 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?" Read Psalms 115:1-8 – "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them."Man often believes they can get along without God, but it isn’t so. We need God to keep us alive. We need God to save our totally depraved souls. We need God to take us home to heaven. We need God for the very breath we breathe. Man is totally depraved - Romans 3:10-12 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:23 - All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: John 5:40 - And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Mankind trusts in their own selves too much. The truth is that a man cannot even breathe God’s air by himself. A man, by himself, can’t think, have the right use of his mind, or anything else. A man often believes that if they work hard enough and gain enough money, they will have financial security all of their lives. It’s not wrong to work hard, and it isn’t wrong to have financial security, but any security outside Jesus Christ is not security at all, but insecurity. I know you’ve heard the joke about the successful businessman who knew he was going to die. He had worked hard all his life and had accumulated a vast amount of wealth. He, after several tries, finally made an agreement with God to go to heaven and take as much of his wealth with him as he could pack into a big burlap bag. The successful businessman loaded all the gold he could into the appropriate burlap bag and promptly died. When he got to heaven, the people there couldn’t believe he had brought a burlap bag with him. When he opened the bag to show the people all his wealth, and they saw the gold, they couldn’t believe he had brought pavement with him. You see, the streets of New Jerusalem is paved with pure gold. The moral of the story is that the most precious thing on this earth, is nothing but common in heaven. Gold on this earth, which men work all their lives to get, is nothing but pavement in heaven, for we will walk on streets of pure gold. Sometimes people believe they can perform some good work and that will cause God to love them. This isn’t so. There is nothing a person can do, everything is left up to God. Sometimes people believe they can be baptized and that will cause them to be saved. But baptism without a personal belief in Jesus Christ as ones own personal saviour does nothing but get the person wet. Church membership is the same. All good works are the same. John 6:44 - No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. |