Good morning and Happy New Year
to everybody. Let's open this morning's service
with the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Let's all stand
together, the hymn on the back of the bulletin. you. Another year of our brief lives
is gone and countless are the wonders we have known. How oft we've seen God's blessings
rich and rare Proceeding from our Father's love and care Him
we adore His goodness we confess His providence all wise now let
us bless. Our trials oft we viewed with
fearful eyes. While mercy's great by us have
been despised, Ashamed we bow and knock at mercy's door, Confess
our sin and plead your grace the more. Father, your grace, your mercies
rich and rare, should flood our souls and conquer every fear. O lift our hearts to Christ exalted
high As the new year begins, Savior, supply Our souls with
praise each day by faith to see Your mercy's new, Your love and
grace so free. O give us grace each day by faith
to see Your mercy's new, your love and
grace so free. Please be seated. Good morning. Happy New Year. Let's go before the Lord and
ask his blessings on his word. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we are thankful for the blessing of being able to come here to
this place and have the assurance of thy promise that where two
or three are gathered together in thy name, there you are in
the midst. Oh, Lord, how we need for thee
to manifest thy grace and thy mercies to our hearts. Lord,
we're sinners. We're sinners greater than we
know. What a glorious hope we have in knowing that that thy
grace is greater than our sin. Truly, Lord, where sin abound,
grace does much more bound. Oh, afford us the blessing of
being able to come before thy throne of grace and find mercy
and help in our time of need. We pray that Christ will be lifted
up. Lord, that you would draw us to him before we ask it in
his name. Amen. I wanted to take a little
time during this Bible study hour to look at several passages
of scripture relating to the importance of upholding the purity
of the gospel. I don't suppose that there's
ever more than a couple of weeks that go by that someone doesn't
accuse us of being unloving, of being intolerant, of being
mean-spirited because of our unwillingness to compromise the
truth of the gospel. The irony is that no one loves
like a child of God loves. No one loves God like a believer
loves God. We love him because he first
loved us. Our love for him cannot be compared
to his love for us. I'm reminded again of what the
Lord said to Peter after the resurrection. When he asked him,
he said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Do you agape
me? That's what he said. And Peter
said, Lord, I phileo you. And the Lord asked him the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, agape thou me? And Peter said, Lord,
I phileo you. And the third time, the Lord
asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, phileo thou me? Lord thou knowest that I phileo
you. The Lord was saying to Peter and saying to us that my love
for you is eternal and infinite and the only reason that you're
able to love me is because I have first loved you and your love
for me cannot be compared to my love for you. Yet God's people
do love God and they do love Christ. To be accused of being unloving
is just not true. It's not true. God's people love
one another. They love fellowshipping with
their brethren. They love the unity of the Spirit
that the Lord has given to them. They love the members of the
body of Christ, even as they love the different members of
their own body. And they enjoy praying for one
another, and caring for one another, and doing good unto all men,
especially those who are of the household of faith. Any accusation
that would be made that God's people are unloving is just simply
not true. God's people love unbelievers.
They do. They know. They know who makes
them to differ. They know that had the Lord not
arrested them, had the Lord not been pleased to snatch them out
of the fire, they would be just like everybody else in the world.
No interest in the gospel, no interest in Christ, and their
hearts are burdened for unbelievers. They want men to know Christ. They want people to believe.
to be accused of being unloving is simply not true. No one loves like a child of
God. Why do these accusations come? Well, they come for the same
reason that Cain hated Abel. It's jealousy. is jealousy. The jealousy wasn't on the part
of Abel's spirit towards Cain, but rather on Cain's spirit towards
Abel. Abel had a sacrifice that was
pleasing and acceptable to God. It was a blood sacrifice. It
was the firstling of his flock. And God had regard, the scripture
says, for the sacrifice of Abel. But for Cain's sacrifice, the
labors of his hands, God had no regard. And Cain became jealous
of his brother Abel. It's never changed. The scripture
makes it clear in Hebrews chapter 11, by faith, Abel offered a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. Oh, we can't. You see, love is
what keeps us from compromising the gospel. love for Christ,
love for our own salvation, and love for the unbeliever. What they accuse us of is just
simply not true. God, the scripture says, testifying
by his gift, and by it, though he be dead, yet speaketh. Turn with me to Galatians. chapter
4, Galatians chapter 4. Here's another example besides
Cain and Abel. How many we could find in the
scriptures. Galatians chapter 4, look at
verse 22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one
by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. But he who was
of the bondmaid was born after the flesh, but he of the free
woman was by promise. Abraham thought, we'll help God
out. And he put his hand to the promise
of God. The world has never recovered
from that. The conflicts that are taking place in the Middle
East today are the result of the animosity between Ishmael
and Isaac. Isaac being the child of the
promise, Ishmael being the child of the bondwoman, the child of
the flesh. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. So the law You either
under the law or you under grace. There's no in between. You can't
be under both. And so those who are under the
law are jealous of those who are under grace, always have
been, and always will be. Which things are, I'm sorry,
verse 25, And this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth
to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. So, you know, I guess you could
liken it to the resentment that many people in the world have
towards the freedom that we enjoy in this country. Why is there
such animosity among so many nations, so many people that
are under bondage against Americans? Because they're jealous of our
freedom. And it's the same thing, isn't it? Verse 27, For it is written,
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, Thou
that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children
than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so is it now." Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. Now, I've got no desire to be
contentious. I desire to be at peace with
all men whenever possible. I've known some mean-spirited
Calvinists who press their doctrine to the point of just creating
conflicts that are unnecessary. And I don't want to do that.
But neither do I want to compromise the gospel for a little leaven,
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And I know that in
standing for the gospel, we're going to have the same response
that Isaac got from Ishmael, that Jacob got from Esau. Same thing. Isaac had two sons
of the same woman, born at the same time. And there was a conflict between
them. Even in the womb, before they
were born, they fought. And then when they were born,
there was jealousy and contention between the two of them all their
lives. It's just part and parcel of the gospel. I like the story when Nehemiah
brought the children of Israel back from the Babylonian captivity
and was in the process of rebuilding the temple and setting the walls
and the gates. That's what we're doing. We're
building the gospel, the temple. We're lifting it up. We're setting
the gates. And there were two men, One's name was Tobiah and
the other one's name was Sanballat. And Tobiah sent Nehemiah letters
telling him, he said, come down off that wall and meet me in
the valley of Ono. Now you can look it up. The word
Ono in the original language means common. Let's find some
common ground. Let's find a place where we can
just agree that we're all serving the same God. And we'll just
agree to disagree on those other non-essentials. No, they are
essentials, and we can't agree to disagree. And Nehemiah said,
I can't come down, for God has given me a great work to do.
I'm not coming to the Valley of Ono. And Tobias sent him that
letter five times. Same letter. And Nehemiah sent
the same response back five times. God's given us a great work.
We cannot come down. We're not going to meet you there.
We're not going to compromise this gospel. The gospel of God's
free grace in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
illustrated by that lamb that Abel offered, Illustrated by
the birth of Isaac, which was a miraculous birth given by promise
without the aid of Sarah and Abraham. Illustrated throughout the scriptures
in so many different ways. Cannot find any common ground
with a message that depends upon man's works. It just can't. Law and grace. That's the message
of this book. If you're under the law, you're
not under grace. If you're under grace, you're
not under the law. It's the message of the book
of Job. Job's friends. They started out
as his friends. But then as the gospel became
more and more clear, Job refers to them as his miserable comforters. You're not providing me for any
comfort whatsoever by your accusations against me.
And it's the message of this whole book. It's either of law
or it's of grace. And it's of grace that can no
longer be of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
15. Illustrated with Egypt and the children of Israel. who were
under the taskmasters, the slave owners of Egypt, requiring of
them a quota that they could never meet. And when they got
close to it, they just raised the quota. Maybe you've had that
experience on your job. You can never meet the demands.
That's the way works religion is. You can never do enough. You can never do enough. And the glory of the gospel is
that it is finished. It's all done. It's all done. Look at Exodus chapter 15 at
verse 9. And the enemy said, I will pursue. I'll seek after God. No, you
won't. No man seeketh after God at any time. I will overtake. I'm going to exercise my will
and I'm going to let God have control of my life. I'm going
to let Jesus come into my heart. Isn't that what they say? I will
divide the spoil. I'll take what He did on Calvary's
cross and I'll make it work for me. My lust shall be satisfied
upon them. What is man's natural lust? It's
his lust for power. It's his lust for power. It's
his lust for control. And what he's saying is that
my lust will be satisfied when I take what Christ did and make
it work for me. I will draw my sword. What is
the sword? It's the tongue, isn't it? I'll
pray that prayer. I'll make that commitment. And
my hand shall destroy them. What a picture of man's works
gospel. That's all it is. Look at verse
10. Notice the contrast between the
pronouns in verse that we just read. By the way, there's six
of them. And the seven that are going to follow in the next few
verses. Thou didst blow with thy wind. There's the gospel. Lord, it's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. It's God that showeth mercy.
Nicodemus, you've got to be born of the Spirit. He's like the
wind. Thou didst blow with thy wind. The sea covered them. They
sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness? fearful in praises, doing wonders. Thou stretcheth out thy right
hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hath led forth
the people which thou hast redeemed." Lord, you're the one that drew
me to yourself. I wouldn't have come. I wouldn't
have chosen you. The Lord said, you did not choose
me, I chose you. Lord, had you not chosen me before
the foundation of the world and drawn me to yourself, I would
never have come. See, these gospel messages are
diametrically opposed, aren't they? There's no place for common
ground between them. And when we make the distinction,
what are we accused of? Well, you're just being, you're
just being mean-spirited, you're being unloving. No, there's nothing
more loving than we can do than to tell men the truth. Thou hast guided them in thy
strength unto thy holy habitation. The people shall hear and be
afraid. They'll hear the voice of God.
They'll fear. You know what the fear of God
is? Fear Scripture says that God
has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power
and of sound mind. Perfect love casteth out fear.
What a powerful emotion fear is that often grips our hearts
in the flesh. And it's not of God. It's not
of God. But you know what the solution
to fear is? It's not courage. The solution to fear is fear. That's right. The solution to
fear in men, the solution to fear in your circumstances, the
solution to fear in yourself is the fear of God. The fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom. Fearing God just simply means
that you're afraid of the thought of standing in the presence of
a holy God without a substitute, without an advocate. without
one who would plead your case and stand in your stead before
God. Is that something you're afraid
of? Afraid of your sin? Afraid of
yourself? That's a good fear. That's a good fear. And that
comes from the fear of God. So many examples we could find
in the scriptures. Here we just read the one with
Moses bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, a picture
of God delivering his people out of works religion and separating
them unto himself and making it clear that they were not to
go back to Egypt. Picture in 1 Kings chapter 18,
you remember when Elijah went on Mount Carmel with the prophets
of Baal and built those two altars and said, the God that is will
answer by fire. And the prophets of Baal tried
to get their God to respond. Well, he wasn't a God at all.
He was nothing more as all false gods are, the figments of men's
imagination. That's all they are. They don't
exist. And then Elijah called on our
God and he answered by fire and consumed the sacrifice. And the
sacrifice quenched the fire. What a glorious... And what did
Elijah do after that? He put to death all the prophets
of Baal. That's what he did. That's what we're to do. We're
not in a physical sense that we go out, but in the preaching
of the gospel, in our own hearts, we put to death anything that
would rob Christ of His glory in salvation. It's the most loving
thing that we can do for ourselves in response to the grace of God
and for the unbeliever. The most loving thing that we
can do is preserve the purity of the gospel. Turn back with
me to Galatians chapter 1. I pray that the Lord will enable us
to remain faithful to the simplicity of the gospel. Look at verse
6 in Galatians chapter 1, I marvel that you are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. There's lots of gospels out there.
Lots of Christ, lots of Jesus, lots of spirits. John tells us
that we're to try the spirits to see whether they be of God. Listen to the message that's
being preached, and if they speak not according to the law and
the testimony, it is because there's no light in them. In
other words, is the gospel they're preaching consistent with the
revelation of the gospel that's in Scripture? Look at the next
verse, which is not another, but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. That's what we don't
want to do. We don't want to pervert the gospel of Christ. We want
to preserve it. We want to uphold it. We want
to be faithful to it. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed." Now that's strong
language, but that's God's language. Was the Apostle Paul hated? Yes. Was the Lord Jesus Christ hated?
Yes. Who were they hated by? Who were
they? The Romans weren't concerned
with the message that the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching. Pilate
didn't want to put the Lord to death. He tried everything he
could to avoid that. It was the Pharisees that cried,
crucify him. It was the religious people.
Why? The same reason Cain was jealous
of Abel. The same reason Isaac was jealous
of Jacob. The same exact reason that men
are jealous of us. Yeah, there's lack of love in
this relationship, but it's not on our part. It's not on our
part. Verse Nine, as we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. Let him go to hell. That's what
he said. You see, the importance of preserving
the simplicity of the gospel and keeping all men's hands off
of it is the salvation of our souls. It is. It's that. We can't compromise this gospel
lest we lose our own hope. For do I now persuade men or
God? Are we concerned with pleasing
men? Are we concerned with the approval
of men? With the praise of men? If we
are, then we're going to have to sacrifice the approval and
praise of God. That's what Paul's saying. Do
I persuade men now or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
If I'm going to compromise the gospel in order to please men,
I'm going to lose my own salvation. I'm going to dishonor Christ
in order to get along with men. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Just back a page or two. 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Apostle Paul used very strong
language, as did the Lord. When the Lord spoke against the
lawmongers, those who would pervert the gospel, what did he call
them? He called them whitewashed tombs
full of dead men's bones. He called them serpents. He called them He said that they
washed out the outside of the cup and the inside was full of
corruption. Look at verse 2 in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Oh, this gospel can't be compromised. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled he through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus." We're
going to be looking at Matthew chapter 6 in a few minutes. And
it talks about having an eye that is single. If the eye be
single, the whole body should be full of light. And that's
what he's talking about here, the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you received
another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel,
which you have not accepted, And he goes on to say, you might
well bear with me. And he goes against his better
judgment. He goes to the point of proving
his own apostolic authority over those who were coming in with
another gospel and preaching another Jesus. Let me show you
one more verse. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
5. Galatians chapter 5. Look at verse 9. A little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through
the Lord that he will be none otherwise minded, but that he
that trouble you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Let
them make the accusations all they want. Let them call us unloving. Let them call us mean-spirited. we're doing the most loving thing
that any man can do, tell people the truth. And what Paul's saying
is they'll suffer their own judgment. And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, if I give men anything to do in the work of salvation
other than what's already been accomplished through the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. If I
yet preach circumcision, if I give them any agreement in this other
gospel, why do I yet suffer persecution, then is the offense of the cross
ceased. We ought not be surprised that
men are offended by the gospel. It robs the religious of his
salvation. If we compromise the gospel in
order to have peace with men, it will rob us of our salvation
and Christ of his glory. And Paul goes on to say, those
who preach circumcision, verse 12, I would that they were even
cut off, which trouble you. This gospel that we believe, it's too precious, it's too important. It's too important to the glory
of God, it's too important to the salvation of our soul to
be intimidated by the accusations of those who are offended by
it. May God give us the grace to remain faithful to it. Alright, let's take a break. Thank you.