Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
? All thy faithful mercies crown ? Jesus, thou art all compassion
? Pure, unbounded love thou art ? Visit us with thy salvation
enter every trembling heart. Breathe, oh breathe, thy loving
spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in. be inherent. Let us find that second rest. Take away our sinning, Alpha
and Omega be. And a faith that's its beginning
Set our hearts at liberty Come Almighty to deliver, let us all
Thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore
Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
as Thy host above. Pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love. Finished in Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
37. Hymn number 37. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the
stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. It sinks my soul. ? My Savior God to Thee ? How great
Thou art ? How great Thou art ? And sings my soul ? My Savior
God to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
plains I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain
grandeur, and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze, and
sings my soul thy Savior's praise. to me. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Then sings my soul. to thee. How great thou art, how great
thou art. And when I think that God is
sun not swearing, Sent Him to die, Thy scares can't take it
in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee How great Thou art! When Christ shall come, with
shout of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill
my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art. Then sings my soul. Savior God to Thee How great
Thou art How great Thou art Then sings my soul Thy Savior God
to Thee How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter
7. Continuing going through the
book of Mark here. Read the first 13 verses out
of Mark chapter 7. You know that line in there that
says, When I thank God His Son not sparing, He bled and died to take away
my sin. If Christ died to take away your
sin, then you ain't got it. It's gone. When he takes away
sin, it's gone forever. Never to be remembered against
you again. But now we, we're conscious of our sin, but God's
not. God, you know, he sent his son
to take away sin. And everything he did, he did
once. Once he appeared in the end of
the world. Once he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
He didn't have to do anything twice. That's the kind of Lord we know.
That's the kind of God we worship. And one of these days Christ's
gonna come. And oh my, what a shout it's
gonna hear, this world's gonna hear. And then we'll meet him. And
we'll bow, as that old song says, in humble adoration, and declare,
my God, how great, how great, how great Thou art. Oh, what
a blessing. Our past is taken care of, our
present's taken care of, and our future's taken care of. That's
a pretty good life, ain't it? Pretty good life. All right,
let me read these first 13 verses. Then came together unto him the
Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his
disciples eat bread with undefiled, that is to say, with unworshipped
hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they washed their hands oft, eat not. holding the
tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market,
except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be
which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots,
brazen vessels and tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes
asked Him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of
the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and
said unto them, Well hath Isaiah, or Esaias the prophet, prophesied
of you hypocrites. As it is written, This people
honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment
of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots
and cups, and many other such like things ye do. And he said
unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that
ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father
and thy mother, and whoso curses father or mother, let him die
the death. But ye say, If a man shall say
to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift,
by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to
do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition which ye have delivered, and
many such like things do ye. our blessed God and Father by
Lord Jesus Christ. Here we are again coming into
your presence, coming into your presence as a body of believers,
as a group of men and women who've gathered here this morning to
worship you, to honor you, to glorify you, preach your blessed
word. And Lord, please, for Christ's
sake, come among us. Come down in power. Come down
and give us your presence. Come down and walk among us. Oh, may Christ be made known
today. May a heart be exposed today. May someone's understanding be
enlightened today. May some ears that's deaf hear
today. May some heart that's stony,
may it be taken out and the heart of flesh put in its place. Lord,
these are things that you can do, only you can do. Lord, I'll
do what you've called me to do. I'll stand here and I'll preach
and deal with your precious word. But Lord, if anything's done,
you'll have to do it. But Lord, we do pray for our
lost loved ones again. Please ask your mercy for them.
Oh, please be merciful. Oh, our children, grandchildren,
no, they don't even, if you enter their mind, I don't know it.
Oh, God, they never speak of you, never talk of you, never
ask a question about you. Oh, Lord, have mercy on them,
create in them a need, a need, where they are right now. Go
by the Holy Spirit, stir up their hearts, their minds, put the
fear of God in them, put the fear of God in them, and do it
for Christ's sake. Honor yourself today in this
service. In his holy and blessed name we pray, amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day on the back of the bulletin. In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear, Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild careers. I saw one hanging on a tree In
agonies and plight Who fixed his limpid eyes on me As near
His cross I stood Sure never till my latest breath Can I forget
and look It seemed to charge me with His death, Though God
a word bestowed. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt And plunged me in despair I saw my sins His blood has chained,
and hell to nail Him there. Alas, I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain Where shall my trembling soul be hid? For I, the Lord, have slain A second look He gave, which
said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid, I die that thou mayst live. Thus while his death my sin displays,
In all its blackest fear, Such is the mystery of grace. It seals my pardon too. With pleasing grace. and mournful joy, my spirit now
is filled. Be seated. I remember a deacon an elder that used to be at 13th
Street. He'd been there for some years,
and he was on his way on a trip one day, and the Lord opened his heart,
and he said, you know, he said, I never had saw Christ dying
for my sin. My sin. And he is in that car
and listening to a message and he's seeing that Christ bore
his sin. And he had to, he made a profession
way up in his years, made a profession. He said, you know, I've been
in this church all these years and never knew Christ. I had
to see him dying for me. And that's what that song's about.
When you see him taking your place, not somebody else's, yours. And that's why we love preaching
the gospel. That's why we love preaching
the gospel. Phil asked me the other day, he said, are you all
Baptists? And I said, yes, we are. He said,
what's the difference in a Southern Baptist and you? He said, you're
Calvinist, ain't you? And I said, we are. I said, THE
DIFFERENCE IS, IS THAT YOU THINK THAT MAN'S LEFT UP TO HIS OWN
SALVATION. HE CAN MAKE A DECISION, HE CAN
GET ON AN ALTAR, HE CAN PRAY THROUGH, OR HE CAN JOIN A CHURCH. AND WE BELIEVE AND I PREACH THAT
SALVATION'S OF THE LORD, ALL I CAN DO IS TELL MEN WHAT GOD
SAID AND LEAVE THE REST TO HIM. BECAUSE I KNOW FULL WELL THAT
A MAN LEFT TO HIS OWN FREE WILL WILL GO TO HELL. HE'LL PERISH,
HE'LL PERISH. But if God breaks in upon him
and Christ died for him, something's going to happen. Mark it down. You're going to see him hanging
on that tree, and it's going to trouble your heart, and you're
not going to get no rest until you understand that he did that
for you, did that for you. All right, let me deal with this
message today, and I want to Talk about bad lips and sorry
hearts. Bad lips and bad hearts. Bad
lips and heart. And that would get my text from
right there in verse 6. He answered and said unto them,
Well, and that word Esaias is Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites. That's the first thing he told
them, you hypocrites. And this is what Isaiah said
about you. IT IS WRITTEN, and this is from Isaiah 29, 13, THIS
PEOPLE HONORETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE FAR
FROM ME. HOW BE IT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP
ME, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. Now, that's
what Isaiah said about these folks 700 years before Christ
even came. And look in verse 1, let me start
here in verse 1 and deal with this. THEN CAME TOGETHER UNTO
HIM Pharisees, and certain scribes which came from Jerusalem." Now,
you know the Pharisees were already there, but they know it says
certain scribes which came from Jerusalem. They came all the
way from Jerusalem. Somebody, no doubt, has sent
them down there to talk and watch and tempt the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it s 90 miles from Jerusalem here where they are. So these
fellas are interested in belittling and finding some fault and being
able to accuse our Lord of something. And they encountered the Lord
Jesus Christ here, and they came together. They came together. And I tell you what, they encountered
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know how many times they
encountered the Lord early in His ministry? They encountered
Him, and every time they did, they found something wrong with
Him. every single time they found something wrong with him. And
you know, and they encountered him on six different occasions.
You know, when they let down that man through the roof and
he said, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee, the first thing they said,
Who can forgive sins but God only? So they found fault with
him right there, confronted him right there. Who in the world
can, for you can't forgive sins. He said, Oh, I can. I'm going
to tell you how I'm going to prove it to you. Get out of your
bed and get out of that bed and walk out of here. And he did.
And oh, here's the second thing they found that they did the
second time. He said, He's the friend of publicans and sinners.
Oh, what an awful accusation. What an awful accusation. He's
a friend of publicans and sinners. And oh, the third thing was they
come to Him and they said, Why do your disciples fast not? Everybody,
all the rest of us are fasting all the time. Why don't your
disciples do it? He said, They don't have to as
long as they're with Me. I take care of everything they
need. He said, When I'm not here, they will. And then the fourth
thing is, and oh, they did this so many times. Your disciples
break the Sabbath. The Sabbath, you know, to them
and a lot of people, the Sabbath is a special occasion. For the Jews, it started on Saturday
night, Friday night at 6 o'clock, last until 6 o'clock Saturday
evening. But oh my, there s a lot of people
today call Sunday the Sabbath. But all the Sabbath was, and
your disciples, they break the Sabbath. They get out here and
do things on the Sabbath they ought not do. They ll play basketball,
play baseball, and oh, you ought not do that. Whatever you do,
whatever you do, sit in your house and don t make a move,
doing nothing, don t do anything, and that s what they was teaching.
And then the fifth thing was, you know, they concused our Lord
Jesus Christ when He d heal somebody on the Sabbath day, they found
fault where they said, Boy, you broke the Sabbath, you broke
the Sabbath. And then the sixth thing they
accounted and confronted him with is when they saw him casting
out devils, which he did earlier in this book of Mark, they said,
You cast out devils by the prince of devils, Beelzebub. They accused
him himself of being a devil, casting out devils by devils.
But here they re not, you know, and from chapter 4, chapter 4
through verse 6, the Pharisees and scribes are not mentioned
at all, but here they come, here they come, here they come. Pharisees,
you know what a Pharisee is? That word Pharisee means someone
separated, it was a religious sect, and that's what we'd call
a fundamentalist today or a legalist today, that's what a Pharisee
is, fundamentalist or a legalist. And then there were the scribes,
and the scribes, they came all the way from Jerusalem down here.
The scribes were what you'd call a law specialist, specialized
in the law, not the law, all of Moses' law. They studied it. They interpreted it. They taught
the law, the Old Testament. And then they ended up, after
a while, they ended up taking all the things that they had
taught and ended up making traditions with them. And look what it says
here in verse two and three. So they came from Jerusalem,
and when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with undefiled,
that is to say, with unworshipped hands, they found fault. For
the Pharisees and the Jews, except they washed their hands often,
eat not holding the tradition of the elders. Now here's the
issue here, there's two issues here. The issue here is not hygiene. We all, we wash our hands. If I handle my dog, I wash my
hands before I do anything else. When I get ready to eat, you
know, my mother-in-law used to say, go wash your hands, supper's
on the table and you wash your hands. But that's not what they're
talking about here. You know, these fellas don't
wash their hands before they eat. They're talking about the
issue here is is law-keeping, it's law-keeping. Holiness, the
issue is here holiness, not hygiene, law-keeping, tradition. Eating
unworshipped hands, and look what it says there in verse two. Defile that is to say with unworshipped
hands that they might find fault, that they might find fault. This is not scripture, this is
not scripture. Oh my, but tradition, but tradition. And oh my, this was not, they
were more concerned about what they considered sin in somebody
else's life than they did their own. They didn't care about scripture,
they care about their tradition. They didn't care about God, they
cared about their tradition. They didn't care about what those
fellows was doing, their tradition. And they find fault. Now, let
me tell you something about finding fault. Now, if you want to find
fault with me, I've got lots and lots, you know, you've got
lots of ammunition to work with. You've got lots of it to work
with. Our Lord, how many times did He teach? He said, you know,
He said, you've got a moat in your eye, and a fellow with a
great big beam in his, he comes, I see that little old moat in
there. Oh my, what about that beam in your eye? And that's
what, there's teaching things like that. And I tell you what,
you strain it a gnat and swallow a camel. And that's what these
fellas was doing, they was finding fault. And God have mercy on
people that go around finding fault all the time. Oh my, you
know, if you, oh my, you can find plenty to find fault in
me, but listen, but here's the thing. We can find fault with
one another if we wanna do that. but to find fault with the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself? To come and say, find fault with
Him? Now that's what these men were
doing. They came 90 miles to find fault with the Lord Jesus
Christ. How can you find fault with the
Lord Jesus Christ? But they did, they did, they
found fault with Him. And oh, their accusation, Why
do your disciples eat with unwashing hands? For the Pharisees don
t do that. We don t do that. We wash, and
I tell you, look what they said here. And oh, except they come
from the market, they wash their hands often. often holding the
tradition of the elders. And when they come back from
town, and that market says come back from town, that's where
people went all the time to buy things, and they eat not many
of the things they be which they have received to hold as the
washing of cups and vessels, pots, brazen, and table. So whenever
they went to town, first thing they did, they went back, and
I mean they scrubbed. It's like a surgeon, you know,
they went all the way up to the elbow, is what the margin says.
Went up, I mean they wore it, and then when they got home,
before they touched anything else, they washed it, too! I
mean, you talking about, my father-in-law, you say sharper than a houndstooth
and cleaner than the Board of Health, that's the way these
fellas was. Oh, I'm telling you what, you know, we got I've been
to town. I might have touched a Pharisee.
I mean, I may have touched a Gentile. I may have sat someplace where
some Gentile sat down and was nasty, unclean, like an old dog,
lay down with a dog. That's what they thought when
you got around Gentiles. So they got him back in there and they
just went to wash him. Get that cup before you touch
it. Wash it. Get that table rack. Rub that
table. Clean that table up. Oh my, they found fault with
Christ. Why do your disciples walk not
according to the tradition of the elders? And oh my, and then
they said in verse five, then the Pharisees and scribes asked
him, asked him, if you want to answer to a question, ask the
Lord Jesus Christ. I told somebody the other day,
said, when you want to know what the Bible has to say, ask questions
of it. Ask questions, and that s what
these fellows said, Ask Him. If you ask Christ anything, you
ll get the answer. You ask the Scripture something,
you ll get the answer. Look what He said here now, And
He answered and said unto them. But now they was given an answer
they didn t like very well. Look, He said, Well did Isaiah
prophesy of you hypocrites at his arisen. This people honors
me with their lips, and their heart is far from me. How bid
in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments
of men. Now let's see exactly what Isaiah 29 says. Go over
to Isaiah 29, look what verse 13 says. It's Isaiah 29, 13,
just exactly what's said over here. Oh, our Lord, they encountered
Him, and He answers them. He answers their objection, their
fault-finding, their tradition. And you know what? Instead of
answering them according to their tradition, He answered them according
to the Scriptures. They said, We got the tradition
of the elders. He said, But I m going to tell you what God said. And
look what He said in verse 13, Wherefore the Lord said, For
as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with
their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from
me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."
And that's what our Lord's telling them. Oh, my. And you know, it
says here, and they're talking about the way He says, Me, they
honor Me with their lips and with their heart. And He says
showing how it's Me that you're not worshiping. It's Me, it's
Me and them. It's Me and those people against
Me. And when you hear Christ talking
about Me, He said, There's Me and this is the way they are,
the way they are. And you know, our Lord Jesus
Christ, Most scribes and Pharisees HATED the Lord Jesus Christ,
hated Him with a passion, and this shows that right here. Now,
I ll give you five reasons why they hated the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, men s born with
a hatred for God, believe me, they are. They don t like God.
I remember it as a teenager, and I remember when I was in
Vietnam, I had a great, great enmity in my heart toward God,
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Great enmity! Great enmity! And
the Lord beat that down in me. Lord, by mercy, save me from
all the things I said about him and the way I talked about him
and the way I spoke to him and spoke about him. But the Lord
had mercy on me. But there's five reasons why
they hated him. First of all, he claimed to have
all the power that God Almighty has. He claimed to have God s
power. He said, I and my Father are
one. He had the prerogative of God Almighty to do what He will
with when He will and who He will, and they didn t like that,
and that s why they said He makes Himself equal with God. The second
thing that they hated Him for, He didn t honor their traditions.
They talked about their traditions. He answered with the Scriptures.
He didn't honor their traditions. He didn't honor their Sabbath
days. He didn't honor their fast. That's why they said, we wash
and you don't. We fast and you don't. We got
traditions and you don't. You don't follow them. And I'll
tell you what, and this is another reason they hate him. Why does
your master eat with publicans and sinners? Don't they know
what kind, don't he know what kind of people they are? Don't
He know that they're bad people? If you touch a sinner, you become
a sinner. If you touch somebody unclean,
you become unclean. Oh my, they hated Him for that.
And I'll tell you what, and then fourthly, they hated Him because
they had too much influence on the people. They said, why? They said, the whole world's
going after Him. And the scripture says they were
moved with envy. Crowds followed Him wherever
He went, and they didn't like that. When they turned up at
their services, they'd have just a handful of people. But when
Christ come into town, multitudes followed to Him. Said, Oh, my!
Whoever said, We're Moses' disciples. I don't know where this fellow
come from. And, Oh, my! And I'll tell you the fifth reason
why they hate Him, because He was exactly opposite to them.
They were unholy and they were traditionists, and our Lord Jesus
Christ was holy. They were mean, He was gentle. Oh my! He was the very opposite
of what they are. And I tell you what, in the heart
of the heart of Christ's enemies, they realized that He was infinitely
better than they were. His humility, Look at His humility
and look at their pomposity, like right here, finding fault
with Him. His sincerity and His sympathy
and their cruelty. Oh, they were so cruel. They
laid burdens on men and wouldn't lift one finger to take them
off of them and wouldn't do it themselves. And I'll tell you
what, He says, Your worship, in verse 7, He says, Howbeit
in vain Do they worship Me? Vain, useless worship. That's
what that means. And vain, useless worship. They
worship Me, teaching. They're teaching something. They
got something to say. But it's the doctrines of men.
It's the doctrines of men. Oh, it's useless. And there's
two reasons why it's useless. First, the attitude of their
heart was wrong. Oh, they came there to find fault. They came
there to see everything that he was doing wrong. Everything
his disciples was doing wrong. The attitude of the heart was
wrong. That s the first thing. That s what the gospel deals. It deals with heart issues. It
don t deal with time. It deals with eternal things.
It don t deal with time and space, it deals with things of eternity,
eternal bound souls. We re looking at things into
eternity. We re dealing with human beings, but yet the gospel
deals with the issues of the heart, and two issues that man
has to face. First of all, his own sinfulness.
Oh my, that s your problem. That's man's problem. He's born
a sinner, he'll live a sinner, and he'll die a sinner unless
God intervenes. That's the first issue of fellow's
God. And the second issue you gotta face, who Jesus Christ
is, and he's the only one that can put away sin. And you'll
either ignore Christ, like these people did, worship him in vain,
or else you'll do like them disciples did, you'll follow him. No middle
ground. Christ and sin, those are the
two issues. People want to make heaven and
hell the issue, Christ and sin the issue. And God makes you
a sinner, you will not rest until you get to Christ. You'll seek
Him at home, you'll seek Him in the bed, you'll seek Him in
the morning, you'll seek Him all day long, and you will not
rest in your soul until you find and you come to Christ. Huh? Sin, sin, sin. You say, Well,
I'm not bad. Well, you don't know how God
sees you. Oh, listen. Somebody's got to put away my
sin. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. Oh, my. Then look what he said.
He called them up here back in verse 6. Well, did Isaiah prophesy
to you hypocrites? hypocrites. You know what a hypocrite,
and the second thing is, let me before I get to that, their
attitude of the heart is wrong, and their emphasis is wrong.
Tradition versus the scripture. They'd rather have their tradition
as what God said, than what God said. And then He says you hypocrites. You know what a hypocrite is?
Our Lord Jesus Christ is sincere. Our Lord Jesus Christ is holy,
infinitely holy. And Christ is sincere. He is
true. His word is truth. He's God's
faithful witness. But the word hypocrite means
an actor. It's the Greek word for actors.
And you know those actors would get up and they'd wear a mask.
If it was a sad play, they'd put on sad mask. If it was a
happy play, they'd put on happy mask. If they was angry, if they
was angry, they'd put on an angry mask, showing that they was angry.
And hypocrisy is acting. That's exactly what it is. Hypocrisy
is these fellows are play acting right here. Play acting right
here. Oh my. Hypocrisy is acting. They don't believe, here's what
they're acting not, and here they are, they don't believe
they're sinners. They're acting like they're not sinners. They're
acting like there's nothing wrong with them. But everything's wrong
with Christ. Everything wrong with their disciples, but there's
nothing wrong with them. They got their mask on. They
got their mask on. Their faith is an act. Their
faith is an act. How many people has a faith that's
an act? Huh? Just put on like I got some
faith. Act like I got some faith. I
may not have a none of it at all, but I got, I want folks
to believe I got it. And then all their repentance
is, their repentance is an act. Neither, neither one of these
folks did not look to Christ and Christ alone. Oh my, oh my. How many people, how many people
wear a mask? Oh my soul, how many people wear
a mask? Oh, my. Traditions. Then he says, you
hold the traditions. They talked about holding the
tradition of the elders. You know what a tradition is?
It's man-made rules. That's what it is, man-made rules. Teaching, man-made rules, man-made
teaching, man-made rituals. And whatever's taught in the
Bible is absolutely misinterpreted. Oh, my! Traditions, man-made
rules, man-made teaching, and that's what these fellows, why
do they transgress the tradition of the elders? These folks have
been doing this for generations. Daddy did it, Mama did it, Granny
did it, Aunt and Uncle did it, and I tell you what, we've been
doing this all our lives. And that's what happens when
people, when they start hearing the gospel. The first things
that happen, and you all remember this very well, some of you do.
When you first hear the gospel, and first hear of election, first
hear of sovereign grace and God's freedom, the first thing people
start saying is, I never heard anything like that. My mom and
daddy didn't teach nothing like that. What about my granny? What about my mama? Somebody asked, if you were to
want a message sent from heaven, what would you want them to say
to you? Well, ain't nobody in heaven gonna speak to me except
the Lord Jesus Christ. My mama's not going to, my daddy's
not going to, nobody's gonna speak to me from heaven but God
himself through Christ. People say, oh, mama's looking
down. Oh, my goodness. Oh my, tradition of man, and
most people, they misinterpret the Bible. People ask me all
the time. I've talked to two people last
week, and talking to us about God, and that man asked me, and
the only reason they ask these questions Like he said, Do you
know you're Baptist? What's the difference between
being what you are and what a Southern Baptist is? He didn't want to
know the answer to that. He just wanted to be religious
and let me know that he is religious, that he attended a church. That's
all he wanted to do. He didn't care about what I believed.
He didn't care about what I thought. Cause he's gonna continue going
exactly where he was. I told him exactly what salvation
is. I told him how God has to save
a man. I said, you're dead in trespasses and sin. A dead man
can't do nothing. He can't believe, he can't repent,
he can't come to Christ, he can't hear, he can't see, he can't
move. And I told him that. But you
think he's gonna come here and hear the gospel? No! He's going to go right back where
He goes, right down here, this place down here, where they're
going to have an enactment of the Lord's Supper at Easter.
They're going to have 12 people sit down, somebody's going to
play Christ, somebody's going to play Peter, somebody's going
to play John, somebody's going to play James, and somebody's
going to have to be a Judas. and they're gonna put that on
down there. They're gonna have a great big long table. They've
been advertising it for a long time. That's vain worship. That's the tradition of men.
That's misinterpreting of the scripture. There's nothing dishonoring
more to God than taking and taking the things of the Bible and using
them to deceive men and women and make them think they're doing
God a service. These fellows think I'm doing
God a service right here. I tell you what, we're doing
God a service. We're putting Christ in his place. We're telling
these folks exactly what's going on around here. That fella, this
Christ fella, he don't do what we do. Something's gotta be wrong
with him. Oh my, but oh my, they value
tradition but above God's Word. Look what I said down in verse
13. Making the Word of God of none
effect through your tradition which you've delivered and many
such like things you do. What they said is that your tradition
nullifies the Word of God, makes it void. Hey, you don't have
to pay attention to what God says, you got your tradition. Don't even read the Bible, we
already got it figured out, we know how we're gonna live, we
know how we're gonna act. Oh my, but oh my, what saith
the scriptures? You know, the scriptures, that's
what we gotta go by. God's, oh, lay, let God be true
and ever man a liar. The Bible, let me tell you something,
these scriptures right here, from Genesis to Revelation, bloodstained
book, that's our only rule of faith is right here. The only
thing we're to believe comes out of this book. And the only
way we're to live comes out of this book. not what I tell you
to do, not what some church tells you to do, not what some preacher
tells you to do, but this is what we believe, this is where
we get our faith, and this is where we get our practice. And then look what he said up
here in verse 7. He said, Teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men, and verse 8 he said, laying aside
the commandments of God. Let's take God's Word, just lay
it aside. Let's just set it over here out
of the way. We're not going to pay attention
to it. Just put it out of the way. Just lay it out of the way. You think I can preach now without
having the Bible up here? I can go on what I've got to
say, but that's exactly what they say. Just lay it aside.
Just put it out of the way. You know how many places people
go and they don't even bring a Bible? When they bring one,
they got one that you know you can't make head or tails out
of because it's one of them perversions, not a real book. And oh my, they lay aside the
commandment of God and hold their tradition, teaching for doctrines,
the doctrines, the commandments of men. And Isaiah said, they
honor me with their lips. How do they honor him with their
lips? You know, they say things, they use the right scriptures,
you know, a lot, they use right scriptural words. They'll say,
they'll talk about God. They'll mention Christ. They'll
talk about the Holy Spirit. They'll mention grace. They'll
mention blood. They'll mention faith. They'll
mention repentance. They'll mention election. But they all have different
definitions of these words, such different definitions. I was,
oh my goodness. Who was I reading yesterday,
maybe yesterday, a fellow was, A guy, you know, talking about
Spurgeon, that s who somebody s talking about, and they said,
You reckon Spurgeon was saved? And the fellow said, If he wasn
t, he deserved to be. What do you want to talk about
somebody died in 1892, you know? They just started preaching back
in the 1840s. And they said, you know, what
difference does it make? But they said, well, if he wasn't,
he deserved to be. That's a different definition
of grace. And one thing Spurgeon did teach,
he did preach grace. Free grace, sovereign grace,
almighty grace. Powerful grace, saving grace,
electing grace. Oh, he preached it. Oh my, but
if he didn't, he deserved it. Oh my. Oh, but their lips, they
honored him with their lips. Oh yes, they come in and said,
oh, I'm saved. I believe in grace. Oh, I do,
I believe in grace. I believe Jesus is just all right
with me. Oh, they give different definitions
of these words. But their heart, their heart,
you know, their heart was far from Him. You know what your
heart is? Your heart is who you are. Your heart's your mind. Your heart's your affections.
Your heart's your will. The heart is the real you when
you're alone. That's what the heart is. The
real you when you're alone. These fellas, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth spoke. And out of their heart, they
found fault. Out of their heart, they held
to traditions. Out of their hearts, they didn't care about God's
word. Out of their hearts, that's what they were. That's what they
really are. And you know when the real you
is when it talks about the heart. and what you are when nobody
else sees what you really are. That's what the heart is. And
our Lord Jesus Christ said in 8 and 9, He said, you lay aside
the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men as the washing
of pots and cups and many other such like things do you. And
listen to this, and He said unto them, full well, you reject You
reject the commandment of God. Reject God's word? Reject what God says? Huh? Really? That's what he says. You reject the commandment of
God that you may keep your own tradition. Oh, my. That's an awful thing. That's
an awful. Reject the word of God. reject
the word of God, reject God's commandment, and keep your tradition. Oh, I've seen a lot of that stuff
go on in my life, but now let me hurry up through these next
few verses. And he says, and this is to keep your tradition.
Then he goes, and over in Matthew it says, God said. Here it says,
Moses said. Honor your father and your mother,
this is the fifth commandment, that s what it is. Honor your
father and your mother, and whoso curses father or mother, let
him die the death. Oh, my! And if you don t honor
your father and your mother, and when you talk about honoring
your father and your mother, that means respect them, love
them, take care of them, You know, they took care of us all
the time we was growing up. When they get old and they go
back, we need to take care of them. That's what he said, that's
what Moses said, that's what he means. And oh my, love them,
respect them, care for them. And he said, if you don't do
that for your mother and father, let them die, just let them die.
But then look what they taught. But you say, you say, If a man
shall say to his father, go to his mama and his daddy and say,
listen, I've give a gift to the church. I've give a gift, a sacrifice
to the church. I gave it to the rabbis and I
gave it to the Pharisees. I gave a gift. I gave everything
that I should take care of you with, I gave it as a gift, that
is to say, by a gift, and whatsoever you might get from me, mom and
daddy, whatever you might get from me, mother and father, he
said, I've done give it away. I don't have to be responsible
for you anymore. And then he says, he shall be free and you
allow him or not let him or don't Cause him no more to do aught
for his mother or father. You know how many people put
their mom and daddy or grandma or grandpa in a funeral, in a
nursing home and walk off and leave them, never go back? And that's what he's saying here.
I'm a firm believer in this. My mom and daddy, neither one
raised me. After I left, I was about 10 years old when I hit
the road and they sent me out. But I tell you this, if you got
a mother and you got a father that's raised you and been good
to you and been faithful to you and cared for you and taught
you and instruct you, You love them. You respect them. And when
they get older, you see that they don't hurt for nothing.
And keep them in your home if you have to. Move them in with
you. Or go live with them. But you
take care of your mom and daddy. There's people here that they're
mothers and daddies. I mean, you love them. And I
tell you what, you take care of them. Don't leave the state
to take care of them. Don't leave a nursing home to
take care of them. Don't, you know, do it. Do it. Rick Garrett, right now,
he's taking care of his wife, taking care of his mother. He
had to leave last week to get right home real quick to take
care of his mama, sit with his mama. That's a wonderful thing
to do. It's the right thing to do. And
a fella don't do that, he ain't worth the salt goes in his biscuits.
And Nicky goes on to say here, you say, don't do nothing else
for your mom and your daddy. And what he says, and you, by
doing that, you make the word of God an unaffect. Oh, through your tradition that
you gave to everybody, huh? Oh, my. Well, I said all I want to say on that
subject. And may God use it to his glory
and our good. Our Lord, our God, our blessed
Savior, what an encouragement, what a comfort your word gives
us. Lord, let men do what they will. Let them do what they will,
go where they will, and act the way they will. But O God, Keep
our hearts believing. Don't let us just honor you with
our lips. Though our lips wants to honor
you, our heart wants to glorify you. Oh, we don't want to be hypocrites.
Oh, Lord, we don't want to be hypocrites. We don't want to
worship in vain. So, Lord, save us from ourselves. Save us from
this old flesh. And God bless the gospel today
as it run. God bless you to the heart, the
mind, the understanding. Bring glory to yourself through
us here at this congregation of believers. And do it for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound. that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. I see him. I see him. Well, see you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.