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With Nothing but God
B.B. Caldwell

Brownlow B. Caldwell (1899–1976). Born in 1899, likely in South Carolina, B.B. Caldwell was an American Baptist evangelist and conference speaker known for his distinctive preaching style and commitment to the doctrines of grace. Based in Greenville, South Carolina, he ministered primarily in the mid-20th century, a contemporary of evangelists like Rolfe Barnard. Caldwell’s sermons, marked by simplicity, logical outlines, and conviction, focused on themes like God’s sovereignty, human depravity, and salvation through Christ alone. Often considered a “prophet born out of time,” he faced misunderstanding due to his peculiar mannerisms and unwavering Calvinism, which was unpopular among many evangelical Baptists of his era. He preached across the U.S., delivering messages such as “The Deadly Danger of Humanism,” “The Good Shepherd & His Sheep,” and “Will God’s Elect Be Deceived?” preserved on platforms like SermonAudio. Little is documented about his personal life, including family or education, but his ministry left a lasting impact on Reformed Baptist circles. Caldwell died in 1976, saying, “The sovereignty of God is the foundation of all true religion.”
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In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Job and how God stripped him of his wealth and health to deliver him from the pitfalls of Phariseeism. The preacher emphasizes that God sometimes brings us down to a point where we have nothing but Him, in order to teach us surrender and reliance on Him alone. The sermon also mentions the biblical examples of God's judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah and the sons of Korah. The preacher concludes by urging the audience to reflect on their own lives and be prepared for God to strip them down to a point of complete reliance on Him.
Sermon Transcription
How long will you vex my soul and break me in pieces with words? These ten times have you reproached me. You are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me, and be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach, know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Behold, I pray out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my path. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side. I am gone, and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counted me unto him as one of his enemies. His troops are come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are very estranged from me. My kinfolks have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me far a stranger. I'm like an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body. Yea, young children despise me. I rose, and they speak against me. All my inward friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am ascaped with the skin of my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye of my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my place? All that my words were now written, all that they were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and led in the rock forever. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, not mine eyes behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in him? Be afraid of the sword, for the wrath bringeth punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment. I want to make a statement tonight that you may challenge, but I think if you read the book of Job carefully, you will come to the same conclusion that I have. I believe that Job, and in the book of Job, is not the consecration of a saint, but it's the conversion of a sinner. I made that statement up in Tennessee some years ago, preaching this same message, and I thought every preacher in the whole county was going to hang me up by my neck. But I want to challenge you to read the book of Job in mind along the line that I shall be presenting it tonight. Job's great problem is that he's caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. And if you study out the Old Testament and the New, you'll find that this is a trap that the devil has caught men in all the way down. Isaiah, the great prophet of God, was caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism, and finally God brought Isaiah to see himself. Then he saw others. Then he looked for God to purge him from his sins, and God did. The problem with Jonah was that he's caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. When they spent three days and nights in hell, in the belly of the fish, and saw all of the gastric juices all over him, all in his eyes, all in his hair, finally old man Job decided that he was in bad shape. He goes in the belly of the whale, an Arminian, and he comes out of Calvary and said, Salvation is of the Lord. Nobody but God can save me, and God did save me. The Jews in the days of our Lord were caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism, and they never did get out of it. I'm going to tell you what Pharisee-ism is in a minute, but I want you to see that this is something that has caught men and women all down through the ages. The apostle Paul was caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. He got along pretty well until he saw the Lord of Glory, and he saw himself. Paul was a very religious man, so was Isaiah, so was Jonah, so were the Jews. They were caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism, and the most difficult thing in the world is to deliver you out of the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. So the case with the old man Job. He's caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. Job was an Old Testament God-fearing, and he was a believer in that sense, but when he comes to chapter 39 and 40, God asked Job 101 questions, and he couldn't answer one of them. So God urged Job out of a whirlwind. Question number one. I'll give you one of them. You find the other hungry. Job, where was you when I made this world? Oh, my. Job found out he was not as smart as he thought it was. God urged Job out of a whirlwind. Then when you come to chapter 42, Job said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the air, but now mine eyes seeth thee. There he begins to repent and suck cloth and ashes, and what's he repenting about? I'm going to let you see tonight. He repents and sucks cloth and ashes, and saw for the first time that he was caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. And did it ever occur to you that the most knowledge we get comes by the way of contrast? Negro never knew he was a black man until he saw a white man, and you'll never know you're a sinner until you see the Lord. You ever see the Lord, you'll cry out, oh, how sinful I am. But the three friends were not able to handle Job. He's too smart. His life was clean as a hound, as straight as a gumball, and just as empty. And it took more than these three friends to paddle him down. God himself stops on the scene and brings the old man Job through. So what is Pharisee-ism? Here it is. All I can do is just numerate it for you, then move to show how God whittled Job down and brought him to repentance and faith. First, Pharisee-ism is religion without God. That's the most dangerous thing that ever happened to anybody in the world, is religion without God. Second, is doctrine without Christ. Doctrine without Christ. If you ever get solid in doctrine without Christ, you're caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism, not a certain the hellage is in unless God can bring you through. Third, Pharisee-ism is separation without the Holy Ghost. Oh my, you must be separated from something to something. In the fourth place, Pharisee-ism is faith without repentance. And you can have faith without repentance. James 2.19, it said, The devil believeth and trembleth, that they had no repentance, but they had a faith. There is a divine faith, there's a demonical faith, there's the faith of the saints that are saved. So is faith without repentance. In the next place, Pharisee-ism is works without love. You start doing religious work without love, and you're headed into Pharisee-ism. And if God don't deliver you, you never will get out. In the next place, Pharisee-ism is morality without regeneration. You start reforming outwardly without being regenerated from within, and you're in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. In the next place, Pharisee-ism is heaven without hell. You ever got to heaven without hell? You're done in the hell. Christ didn't die to keep men out of hell. That's error. Christ died to make you holy. And if you go to heaven without being made holy, you go to heaven and got a hell on the inside of you. And you'd be miserable and in hell in heaven. And in the final place, Pharisee-ism is righteousness without blood. Oh, listen. The most dangerous thing in all of the world is righteousness without blood. Matthew chapter 5 verse 20, Jesus said to the Pharisees who were caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism, he said, except your righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll know wiser enter into the kingdom of heaven. They had a righteousness, but it was one that they had worked up themselves. Exodus chapter 12, verse 13, God speaking through the lips of Moses said, when I pass through the land of Egypt, I'm looking for the blood. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the blood stands for death. And the blood of the Passover lamb was a picture of the Lamb of God one day that would come. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. God isn't looking for your morality. He isn't looking for your church membership. He isn't looking for your good news and bad news. The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for the blood. When he comes again, he'll raise everyone from the grave that died under the sheltering blood. Those who died out under the blood of the Passover lamb were destroyed and never saw the glory of God. So the old man, Job, was caught in the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. So God started in the beginning of this book and moving through with one of the greatest battles you've ever seen, to deliver this man, Job, from the pitfalls of Pharisee-ism. And the only way that God could ever deliver Job was to strip him down, for he had nothing but God. So that is the message tonight. And I want to ask three or four questions. Move as fast as I can. Question number one, what Job had. Job had seven things, but he had to lose all seven of them. First, he had great wealth. He was a millionaire, one of the great men of the east. But God bankrupted and stripped him down and took everything that he had, made a potter out of him. Second thing that Job had, he had wonderful health. Evidently, he was never sick before, but all at once, the strain is removed and Satan touches Job and he's sick. Saw balls from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He couldn't walk because of the balls on his feet. Couldn't comb his hair because of the balls in his head. And he couldn't take a bath. This poor man is caught, ladies and gentlemen, with a body. All of the corruption on the outside. God is saying to Job, Job, you're like that on the inside. That's what Pharisee-ism does for you. You're like that on the inside. I've let the devil touch you to let you see an outward picture and know that that's the inside of you. There is the third thing that Job had. He had a noble position in the community. Read this book of notice. The young man bowed and the old man said, be quiet, son. Old man, Job is passing by. Oh, what a man. Had a noble position in the community. Next thing that Job had, he had a joyous family. Ten in his family. Three girls and seven boys. But you notice in this chapter, Job is stripped down. He got nothing but God. Seven of his boys buried in one time. And his wife turns to an infidel and tries to get the old man to commit suicide and die. God is bringing him through. For he got nothing but God. There is the next thing that Job had. Job had many friends. Oh, if you'll study the whole book of Job, especially chapter 29. Fifty-nine times he uses the word I. At Pharisees. I've done this. I've done that. I get so tired and sick today, I hear my fellow preacher talk about what a great Sunday school I've got. What a great church I've got. I say, brother, I didn't know you had a church. I knew the Lord had one. I didn't know you had one. Fifty-nine times in chapter 29, Job said, I've done this. I've done that. I've done that. Oh, my. And the doing of all of that certainly accumulated a lot of friends. The next thing that Job had, he had a devoted companion comparatively. I'd like you to underscore that word comparatively. The old man, Job's wife, seemed to be coming along pretty well, till the old man gets in trouble. Now, it brings out of her what's the inside of her. Evidently, she was the devil to start with. So, God is bringing out of Job what's in him, same time he's bringing out of his wife what's in her. Why don't you curse God and die? Just curse God and commit suicide. You're sick. Balls all over you. I can't sleep with you. You stink. I can't stand you. Evidently, she's hoping the old man would die, so she could get married again. Why don't you just curse God and die, and get out of the way, and I'll get me a young flat iron. Down the way we'll go. He had a devoted companion comparatively. That was the seventh thing that Job had. He had a religion he could enjoy. But if you've got a religion that you can enjoy, you just suck the hellish as any. He had no trouble a bit in the world. His religion didn't offend anybody. I'm not preaching to the ordinary preacher today. His preaching doesn't offend anybody at all. He does get along finest in the world. He got a church, a board of deacons, and he's on of a committee, a speaker in town. He's got a religion he can enjoy. The apostle Paul had that kind of religion. He said he had vanished much in the Jews' religion. When they had a head-on collision with Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, he took his religion and got right with God, and he never talks about religion anymore. He talks about Christ. Now listen. Have you got a religion you can enjoy? Are you preaching? Does it offend anybody? If so, you're caught in the pitfalls of Phariseeism. But notice, suddenly he lost all of these things. Everything goes with one fell blow, and he's left with nothing but God. Now I'm firmly convinced God is able to get some preachers today, take all of their reputation away from them, and if they've got any degrees, let them hang them up and close it and let the rats eat them up. All of their reputation they've got and everything. If God can just strip us, where we've got nothing but God, I have an idea that God would be able to do great things with us. What Job had, yes, and he lost it in one fell blow. Question number two. What Job had left. Job had nothing but God. We're told in verse 25, he said, I know that my Redeemer lives. I've lost every friend I've got. My seven young men are buried. Wife turned an infidel. I lost all my friends. And he looked up in the face of God, said, but I know that my Redeemer lives. Somewhere in the book of Psalms we're told, when all people forsake you, God said, I'll take you up. I like that. God steps in, brings the old man Job through, thoroughly converted now, and completely sanctified. God said, Job, I want you to pray for them three friends. You haven't been fit to pray for them up until now. I want you to pray for those three friends. I was said, when you do, I'll turn your captivity. Hardest thing you've ever done, Dr. Neal, is get out here to pray for these folks that butchered you. I want to tell you, you've got to have more than I've got. I'll be out praying for these folks that told lies on you, butchered you, suffered you, done everything in the world. Job, I want you to pray for these three friends, and I'll turn your captivity. The old man Job had a prayer meet. Pray, God. I've got nothing but God, and a call upon God, and God turned his captivity. Not only that, but he gave him back everything he'd lost, except his seven sons. God said, give them back to him the resurrection. They couldn't give him back in this life, because that would mess up the resurrection. Said Job, I'll give you back all of your wealth. I don't know what happened to his wife. The story doesn't tell us. Maybe God killed her and put her in the ground and gave him a good wife. I don't know, but the only thing I know is that when I get tired and weary and all down and dumped out, I go to the book of Job. I ain't got a good reading this book, and I see, oh Lord, if I can be brought down to where I've got nothing but God, I'll be the happiest man in all of the world. You know, God brought Aaron to that. Numbers chapter 20, we're told that God took Aaron. Moses took Aaron up on the mount, said, Aaron, I've got to take off these priestly garments from you, and he began to take them off one at a time very tenderly. Said, Aaron, I'm going to go to bring you down to where you've got nothing but God. He stripped that man of everything he had, and he's left with nothing but God. Deuteronomy chapter 34, same thing happened with Moses. He comes down to the end of the way, and he's so poor, so God had to bury him. God preached his funeral, and God buried Moses, and we don't know this day where he buried him. But Moses had nothing. The Hebrew children had nothing but God. We're going to put you in the folly furnace. I teach and preach that these three Hebrew children were old-time Baptists. Not this fax little blue John Jacob the Baptist today, but these three Hebrew children were old-time Baptists. Now, the lady had come up at the close of her service. Now, Mr. Carwell, I challenged that statement. I said, go ahead and challenge it. I have an answer. How do you know that they were old-time Baptist preachers? I said, Sister, they wouldn't bow, and they wouldn't burn. They wouldn't bow to the devil's music, and bless God, when they put them in the fire, they wouldn't burn. Why? They came down to where they had nothing but God, and they faced the folly furnace. They faced all of the persecution, and you and I, as long as we got a friend, as long as you got money, you're not going to trust God. No, you're talking about it. As long as you've got a friend, you'll counsel with them. But if God can whittle us down, where we've got no money, got no friend, got no reputation, got nothing but God, we will seek the counsel of God, and we'll be moving in the right direction. Our good friend Daniel had nothing but God. Had no reputation, no money. Said, we're going to put you in the den of lions. Said, I can't keep you if you put me in there, but I'm going to praise you like I've been praised. Put him in the lion's den, but ladies and gentlemen, he smells much like God, and the lions couldn't eat him. They come out, we can't eat that man, he smells like God. But he had nothing but God. Our blessed Lord comes to Calvary, he has nothing but God. Hung supreme, suspended between heaven and earth, bleeding and dying. Even his preachers all run off and left him. Mother, some of the other women stand in there, but they couldn't do anything. Jesus Christ comes down to the end of his journey. He has nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, if we come down to where we've got nothing but God, we're the richest person in all of this world. Two little boys talking the other day in town. Millionaire died. One little boy said, how much did he leave? The other little boy said, he left it all. The Apostle Paul had nothing but God. Did it ever occur to you that he lost every friend that he had? Ever one of them didn't have a friend. Second Timothy 1 15, all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. He lost every friend that he had when he wrote the book of Romans. He wrote the first five chapters in the book of Romans. As far as I could see, that's as far as he aimed to write. He writes the first five books, that brings us in. The latter part of chapter five, he said, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. They went and told all over the country, here's this man preaching and teaching, the way to get grace is to sin. Romans chapter three and verse eight, Paul said, God will put them in hell for telling that lie on me. Then he comes back, and I'm glad it happened that way, he finishes out the book of Romans. The other start in chapter six, verses eight, should we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid. And the Greek scholars tell us that that's as close to cussing as a man can curse. Thus, sir, you misunderstood me. And he comes back and finishes out the book of Romans, and I'm so glad about that. All they which are in Asia be turned away from me. Second Timothy 4 17, said, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. Job comes down where he has nothing but God. Wouldn't it be wonderful, you and I could lose all of our friends, lose all of our reputation, and be brought down to where we have nothing. But I'm going to ask you question number three. What? And if God be for us, who can be against us? What difference would it make? Well, I'm against Tom Nader. Well, what difference does it make if God's for us? I'm against B.B. Caldwell. Well, what difference does it make if God be for us, who can be against us? God was for Abel, and who could be against him? Cain was against him. He killed him. But wait a minute. Abel's dead. He's yet speaking. He's yet talking about preaching for almost six thousand years. God was for Enoch, and who could be against him? He walked with God. He talked with God. And he moved on, and he caught God's elevator and went to heaven. Enoch left this world in a blaze of glory. He said, if God be for me, who can be against me? God was for Noah, and who could be against him? Everybody making fun of him, no doubt. Mocking him, that old fool, building a ark. It never has rained, but didn't it rain? Ah, listen. The ground was wet with a mist that came up this way, and some dew. Never had rained before. That made the building of the ark a matter of faith. God said, Noah, it's going to come and rain. Water up there. Noah said, I don't see it, but I believe it. And right now, there's more water up there than there is down here. We don't see it, but it's right there. Gonna come a rain, a great flood, and it did. Noah built the ark. God said, come in the ark. Did them go in the ark? Because God is in the ark. Come in the ark. No, I'm in here. Noah stepped in the ark, and the lightning began to play, and the thunder roared. Rain coming up and rain coming down. The old rock began to rot to and fro, and get over the ground and start sailing. I have an idea, the old man Noah said, if God be for me, who can be against me? He ran out, ladies and gentlemen, the Old Testament saints and prophets, patriarchs and poets. Old man Abraham left the air of the child days. Everybody called him a fool, going in the country he never been before, just because God said to go. But Abraham moves on and said, if God be for me, who can be against me? I have an idea here, the old man Jacob saying, if God be for me, who can be against me? I think I hear Moses saying, if God be for me, who can be against me? Joshua coming in to take over Canaan, and he fights and moves and fights over the acres. But he moves on, saying, if God be for me, who can be against me? But I'm going to ask question number four. What if God be against us, who then can be for us? God was against Cain, and who could be for him? What difference does it make? God was against the old world, and who could be for him? When the water came up and the water came down, the mighty judgment of the flood began to sweep this earth. Water whirling around the earth at a rapidity that evidently formed these great mountains that we see now. If God be against you, who can be for you? God was against Sodom and Gomorrah, and who could be for him? What difference does it make? God was against the sons of Korah, and who could be for him? There's a very peculiar case in the Bible, Numbers chapter 16. You have a committee of 250 men, said they'd run the preacher off, and the preacher's name was Moses. And they brought four charges against Moses, and I've watched churches running preachers off all the way down. As far as I can see, these same four charges are brought against God's man. I think it'll be of interest to you for me to enumerate these four charges. Find in Numbers 16. First, they said he's too holy. What a charge! Second, says he takes too much authority. What a charge! Third, they said he won't receive gifts from the wicked. Moses said, you low, down, dirty, stinker you. I don't want your money. God doesn't have to have it, and I don't have to have it. And he wouldn't receive gifts from the wicked. That offended them, and they brought that charge against Moses. And the fourth and final charge was, he's not progressive. Here we are. We left Egypt. God said, you're going to Canaan. And for 40 years, we've been going around and around and around and around. We're not progressive. Our Sunday school is not progressive. Our church membership is not progressive. Money's not coming in like it ought to be. We ought to change preachers. Well, if he's God's man, you fix him to go to hell, brother. These 250 men went to hell with the britches on. They sure did. God opened the earth, they went right down the hill, dogs, cats, and everything else. Shoes are hatched, neckties have had, and everything else. Fell right into hell screaming, all because they're trying to run the preacher off. Oh my, I didn't listen. God opened a big crack in the earth, and down the hill they go. God closed it back up. Said, Moses, shout, glory to God on the crack, and march on. And he did. Said, if God be for me, who can be against me? And the sons of Korah, if God be against you, who can be for you? Suppose that God opened a big crack in the earth. He says right now, nothing but the mercy of God keep you out of hell. That's all. Sons of Korah went to hell alive. The only time in the Bible God ever put men in hell alive. That was old King Ahab. God was against him, and who could be for him? That was the old lady Jezebel. God was against her, and who could be for her? That was the Jew in 70 A.D. God was against him. Sent the Roman army in, tore down the temple, and Josephus the great Jewish historian tells us that two million Jews were killed in that awful siege of Jerusalem. Ladies and gentlemen, if God be against us, who can be? At the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's coming back to this world to deal with the wicked of this side. And when he does, God will be against him, and who can be for him? And all of the Lord's people, when he comes back, God will be for us, and who can be against us? No doubt the antichrist will be against us. No doubt the old holy church will be against us. Every old false prophet will be against us. But I am persuaded to believe that if God sits before us an open door, no man can shut it, and you and I will be able to march on and say, if God be for us, who can be against us? The old man Job, a millionaire, great wealth, great reputation, great man of the east, but God strips him, takes away everything that he has, and brings him down where you have nothing but God. I have an idea that God's going to repeat this thing, going to strip us, bring us down where we've got nothing but God. We'll look up in the face of God and surrender. Oh Lord, I come into this world with nothing, and I'm going to leave you with nothing except for a giveaway in the name of the Lord Jesus. Our Father, take the message of the hour and use it for your glory, for we pray in Christ's name. Amen. God bless your hearts. Good night.
With Nothing but God
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Brownlow B. Caldwell (1899–1976). Born in 1899, likely in South Carolina, B.B. Caldwell was an American Baptist evangelist and conference speaker known for his distinctive preaching style and commitment to the doctrines of grace. Based in Greenville, South Carolina, he ministered primarily in the mid-20th century, a contemporary of evangelists like Rolfe Barnard. Caldwell’s sermons, marked by simplicity, logical outlines, and conviction, focused on themes like God’s sovereignty, human depravity, and salvation through Christ alone. Often considered a “prophet born out of time,” he faced misunderstanding due to his peculiar mannerisms and unwavering Calvinism, which was unpopular among many evangelical Baptists of his era. He preached across the U.S., delivering messages such as “The Deadly Danger of Humanism,” “The Good Shepherd & His Sheep,” and “Will God’s Elect Be Deceived?” preserved on platforms like SermonAudio. Little is documented about his personal life, including family or education, but his ministry left a lasting impact on Reformed Baptist circles. Caldwell died in 1976, saying, “The sovereignty of God is the foundation of all true religion.”