Go with me, if you would, back
to Matthew 16. Matthew 16. We're going to look at the first 12
verses that our brother just read for us and a lot is said
in these 12 verses, but I want us to focus on two things specifically. We're going to look at this and
we're going to focus on two things specifically that our Lord said
because these two statements make up the most critical message
that any man or woman could ever hear. Look with me at verse one, it
says the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting
desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. You may find it interesting to
know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees couldn't stand each
other. All right. The Pharisees were
standard free will work your way to heaven, lost false religionists. That was the Pharisees to read
about them. Whenever you read in a Bible
dictionary, a concordance. To read about them perfectly
describes false religion today. I mean, it's just a perfect picture
of false religion today. They thought they had the ability
to keep the law. Now I wrote in my notes right
there, Silah. Pause and think about that for
a minute, okay? They thought, the Pharisees thought,
That they actually had the ability to obey the commandments of the
law. And they thought that keeping the law was salvation. That's what they thought. They
thought they had the ability to do the commandments of the
law. And they thought keeping the
law was salvation. All right, now, reading about them says that
they really held more to their own traditions than God's law,
which sounds like false religion. I tell you where men and women
go wrong. And but for the grace of God,
all would go wrong. It's we veer from this word and
we start adding things to it and taking things from it. I
don't like that. Let's take that out. I think it'd be better if
we add this to it rather than the word alone. The Pharisees
held to their traditions more so than God's law even. They
were very snooty, very judgmental, very self-righteous, very better
than you. Very sickening. They were very
sickening. Riding pride all the way to heaven,
they thought. The Pharisees were the false
religious ones. The Sadducees were basically
atheists. They didn't believe in God. They
didn't believe in eternity. They didn't believe in any kind
of afterlife, any kind of resurrection. They didn't believe in heaven.
They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in any of
it. And they thought the Pharisees
were hypocrites, false religion, hypocrites. And the Pharisees
thought they, the Sadducees were of the devil. They didn't believe
in any of it. And they all hated each other.
They just hated each other. And they couldn't come together
and agree on anything except their hatred of this man, Jesus
Christ. They both hated Jesus Christ,
the false religious ones and the atheists. They both hated
Jesus Christ because of who he said he was. God come down manifest in the
flesh. They came together on those grounds
of their hatred for him. They came together just fine
right there. So verse one says the Pharisees also with the Sadducees
came and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign
from heaven. They said, if what you're saying
is so. Concerning God's sovereignty. Concerning God being God. When a lot of people ask me,
you know, what do y'all believe there? First thing I tell them
is we believe God is God. I mean God. God's sovereignty. And they said if what you're
saying is so concerning man's inability, absolute inability,
and God choosing a particular people to save. And God completely
supplying that salvation, God doing all the work to accomplish
that salvation and all the glory for all things being owed to
him alone. They said, if all that's true,
then you show us a sign from heaven. Verse two, he answered
and said unto them. When it is evening, you say it
will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning,
it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. Oh, ye hypocrites, you can discern
the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of
the times? He said, you can tell what the weather's gonna be like,
that old saying, you know, red sky in morning, sailor take warning,
red sky at night, sailor's delight. But he said, can you not discern
the signs of the times? Verse four, a wicked and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given
unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them
and departed. He said, the only sign that will
ever be given is the sign of Jonah being in the belly of that
whale for three days and three nights. Now hold on to that thought for
just a second and let's continue reading. Okay. Verse five says, and when his disciples were come
to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said
unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves
saying it's because we have taken no bread. They said, why did
he say leaven? Ah, we forgot bread again. Verse 8, which when
Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why
reason ye among yourselves, because you have brought no bread? Do
you not yet understand? Neither remember the five loaves
of the 5,000, and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven
loaves of the 4,000, and how many baskets you took up? How
is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning
bread that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees. Then understood they how that
he made them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Now, our Lord said two things
right here. Number one, he said, the only sign that will ever
be given is the sign of Jonah. What did Jonah in the belly of
that whale represent? Jesus Christ crucified. Our Lord said, as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son
of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
He said the only thing that will ever be revealed from heaven
concerning God's will and God's purpose and God's work
and God's mercy and God's grace in the salvation of God's chosen
sinners is Jesus Christ in him crucified. Jesus Christ and him
crucified. If we want to know something
of God's will. God, we think about God. We want
to know something of God's purpose. What has God purpose to do? If
we want to know something of God's work and God's way and
his mercy and grace. Then all we have to do is look
at Jesus Christ crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified. All right. So that's the first
thing he said. And then the second thing he said was. You had better
beware of every message that is contrary to and turns your
eyes away from the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. He said, beware of the doctrine
of false religion. I pray that the Lord will let
this sink in to me, to us, honestly. The Apostle Paul spoke on behalf
of every true preacher of God when he said this. He spoke on
behalf of every true preacher of God when he said, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel." He said, I have determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, there's no other message
to preach because there is no other gospel. If any man or even
any angel from heaven tries to preach anything other Any other
doctrine, any other gospel than the only true gospel that there
is, cursed is that man. Cursed is that man. And a day
when everybody is just so, you know, okay, what you believe
that, that's fine. I believe this, that's fine.
We're all going to the same place and cursed, cursed. Christ said, beware. I know that's probably what John
Smith says or whoever, but Christ said, beware. There's no other revelation given.
No other way given than the good news way of Christ, the gospel
way of Christ. Every man who stands up to preach
needs to realize, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Woe is unto me if I end up preaching
the doctrine of false religion. And I tell you this, woe is unto
you if you end up hearing and believing
and clinging to the message of false religion. For that reason, my aim and my
desire for this message is By the end of this message, I want
us to understand the difference between the gospel and false
religion. I want us to understand the difference
between the truth and a lie. What it is to preach and hear
the truth and what it is to preach and hear alive. Titled this message,
Beware of False Religion. Beware of false religion. Now,
I wanna try to be as plain about this as I can be. I'm gonna try
not to take too long, because I don't wanna, I wanna get to
the point, make it clear, and be done. That's my goal, all
right? Let me start with some examples
of what false religion sounds like. Okay? If you will obey the commandments
of the Bible, you'll be saved. If you give your heart to Jesus,
you'll be saved. If you accept Him into your heart,
you'll be saved. If you confess Him in baptism,
you'll be saved. If you'll come down to the front
and say the sinner's prayer, you'll be saved. If you'll go
into a little booth and confess your sins to another man, you'll
be saved. If you will stop sinning, you'll
be saved. All of that is false religion. And all of that is a lie. None of that is true. None of
that's true. And here's how you can recognize
this for yourself. Okay. As you listen to preaching
and preachers, you will know the lie of false religion. You'll
be able to recognize it. You'll be able to tell whether
or not it's false religion by these two little words right
here. If you Okay, if you, everything that I just said to you right
there started with, if you. That's the lie of false religion. If you're hearing that and believing
that and clinging to that and holding on to that, then you're
holding on to a false religion. And if I'm doing that, I'm holding
on to a false religion. May God in his mercy set me free
from it. caused me to let it go and cling
to Christ. It doesn't matter whether it
starts with if you or ends with if you. If you hear a man say,
now salvation is of the Lord. Christ died to save you and he
wants you to be saved. If you'll let him. If you'll believe on him. He did the work. But it won't
be applied unless you. That's false religion. That's
a lie. The lie of false religion is
if you. The truth of the gospel is if
God. That's the truth of the gospel.
The lie of false religion says you must. The truth of the gospel says
he must and he will because he already has. The lie of false
religion says it's your work. What are you going to do? It's
your work. The truth of the gospel cries
it's his work. Thank God it's his work. The lie of false religion says
do. The truth of the gospel cries,
done. It's done, it's complete, it's
finished, rest. Do we see the difference in that?
It's done. Let me show you some scriptures
to prove this to us. I can say that, let me prove
it to us, all right? Through these scriptures, I want
us to see what is the gospel concerning, who's the gospel
to, and what does the gospel declare, okay? Turn with me,
if you would, to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter 1, verse 1. It says, The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The gospel concerns Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. The gospel subject matter is
Jesus Christ. To talk about him is to talk
about the gospel. If we're not talking about him,
we're not talking about the gospel. If I'm talking about me or I'm
talking about you, I'm not talking about the gospel. I may be talking about, I may
be preaching the truth concerning our sinful condition, the deadness
of our flesh. I may be speaking truths. That's
true. I'm a dead in trespasses and sins sinner. That's not good
news to me. If I'm going to preach the gospel,
I have to talk about Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have
to talk about who he is, what he has done. Who he did it for,
why he did it, where he is now because of it. The gospel is
concerning Jesus Christ. It's all about Jesus Christ.
Turn with me if you would to Romans chapter one. Romans 1 verse 1 says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Verse 3 says, concerning his
son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead."
He said the gospel of God is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who He is, what He did. That's what He stated right
there. He said God came down, accomplished
what He came to do, and went back up. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. God came down.
God manifest in the flesh. Call his name Jesus because he's
gonna save his people from their sins. And he did it. He did it. Don't let any man
stand up and tell you that you have to do the work that it's
gonna take to save you from your sins. If Christ did it, it's
done. And if you still have to do it, he didn't do it and he's
a failure. But he's not a failure. He came down and he accomplished
what he came to do and then he went back up and sat down on
the right hand of the throne of God. He ever lives now to
make intercession for the people he saved. Verse 9 right here,
Romans 1 verse 9 says, For God is my witness whom I serve with
my spirit in the gospel of His Son. The gospel's all about the
Son. Verse 16, Paul said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
great. If we're gonna preach, hear, and believe the true gospel
of God, then we must be on the subject of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Otherwise, we're not going to
be on the subject of the gospel. If we're preaching a salvation
or a hope in anything else or anyone else, then we are preaching and holding
to false religion. May God deliver us. May He deliver
us from that. There's no salvation in false
religion. None. The doctrine of man. Christ said,
let's beware. Let's beware. Stay on Christ.
Stay on the gospel that concerns him. The salvation he's accomplished
for his people. Let's glory in it. Rejoice in
it. Preach it. Hear it. Believe it. Cling to it. Now, who are his people? Who
is the gospel to? Turn with me to Luke 4. Luke 4 verse 18 says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. He said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised." Who is the gospel to? It's to sinners. It is to sinners. It's to poor,
wretched, miserable, blind, captive sinners who cannot do what false
religion tells them they have to do. Just cannot do it. When the commandment of God's
law is declared, this commandment says, if you, you do this, you'll
live. The commandment of God's law
says, if ye, if a person hears that and says, okay, I can do
that. I think I can do that. That all I have to do like that
rich young ruler. Well, I've done that for my youth up. Okay. I can do that. If that's a response of a particular
person, the gospel is not to that person. The law is to that person. If
a person says, I hear the law and I can do it. Okay. Then the
law is to that person. If a person says in his or her
heart and truly believes I'm not poor, I'm not spiritually
poor. There are many people who will
say this. I'm not spiritually broken hearted.
I'm not captive. Are you captive? No. I'm not blind. Don't you say
I'm blind. Let me just go ahead and tell
you, I'm blind in my flesh, but for the grace of God, revealing,
opening continually daily, I'm blind. Anyone who says I'm not bound,
I'm not bruised. Well, the gospel is not to that
person. But if after hearing the commandments of God's law, That says, if you, you have to
do this, and you can't do that. If a person hears that and says,
I can't, I can't. Have you ever been there? You
read something, if you'll do this, and you think in your mind
and your heart, I can't do that. I can't hold to that. I haven't
held to that. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. In myself, I have no hope. If
I'm looking right here, I have, I don't see any hope here. I can't buy and eat, I'm poor. I can't lay hold of Christ, I'm
broken. I can't come to him, I'm captive. I can't even see God, I'm so
blind, I'm so spiritually blind, bound and bruised in the deadness
of my sin. To that person, the gospel says,
Christ came down here and did all that for you. He took care
of all that for you. That's who the gospel is to.
Those who desperately need the good news of the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All who find such relief in hearing
Christ took care of it. Christ took care of it. And I
don't need to, and that's a good thing because I can't. To every
soul that the gospel comes to, That's what the gospel declares.
Christ took care of it. It declares the finished work
of Christ. Salvation complete. This is the
gospel message today. And it'll go out and only those
who God puts faith in to believe will believe this. I used to
fear, I've said this to y'all so many times, I used to fear
giving a false hope. I didn't want to give anybody
a false hope. And then the Lord revealed to me, I can't. The
only way a person can believe the promises of God is if God
puts faith in that soul to believe it. In Christ, your salvation
is finished. You are complete in Him. There's
nothing else for you to do because He did it all and He paid it
all and He has secured it all. And He's gonna keep you no matter
how sinful you are. And no matter how just you beat
on yourself and you just hate yourself for the wretched state
that you are, Christ has covered you in His blood. And He's robed
you in the spotless righteousness of all His good deeds. And God
is happy with you in Him. And you're not gonna be lost. If God puts faith in us to believe
that message, we're a blessed people. We've received the gospel. We've received the gospel, the
finished work of Christ, all the mercy and righteousness and
grace that there is from God in him. Acts 20, 24 says it's
the gospel of grace. Romans 10, 15 says it's the gospel
of peace in the gospel. So peaceful. Religion, false religion has
everybody so worked up and stirred up and just got to get out there
and do for Jesus. And then you come in here and
the gospel says, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
for you. Just relax. It's so peaceful. Brethren, let's
beware. Let's beware. Let's pay attention
to what we hear, what we believe in our hearts, what we trust
in. If it's anything other than Anything added to, anything taken
from the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, it's
a false doctrine. It's false religion. To know
Christ is to know the truth. And if we know the truth, the
truth will set us free. If we know Christ, we know everything
we need to know. We have all the wisdom we need, all the righteousness
we need, all the sanctification we need, all the redemption we
need. To have him is to have it all. And I'll end with this. Okay. I read this to you often,
but this is a wonderful summary of what it is to preach and to
hear and to believe and to cling to and trust in the gospel. This is the gospel, the true
doctrine of Jesus Christ and him crucified. I don't know who
wrote this, but it says. There is a holy God that I cannot
please, but Christ did. There is a holy law that I cannot
keep, but Christ did. There is a perfect righteousness
that I cannot earn, but Christ did. There is a convicting record
of sin that I cannot erase, but Christ did. There's a great judgment
that I cannot endure, but Christ did. And there is an eternal death
that I cannot rise from, but Christ did. And if he's made
to be my all and in all, he'll raise me up with him at the last
day. Our Lord said, stay right there.
Stay right there. May God give us the ability to
do so. All right.