Old, New, False & True

Q: What does the Bible say about trusting in our own works?

The Bible warns that trusting in one's own works is unprofitable and leads to destruction (Isaiah 57:12). Scripture clearly indicates that relying on our own righteousness and works is ultimately futile; it leads to vanity and the wrath of God. Isaiah 57:12 states, 'I will declare thy righteousness and thy works; they shall not profit thee.' This emphasizes that our efforts to gain favor with God through our actions are worthless when separated from Christ. It is Christ alone who provides true righteousness and hope for salvation. When we depend on our deeds instead of trusting in God, we risk facing eternal separation from Him.

Q: Why is fear of God important for Christians?

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and ensures reverence for Him in our lives (Isaiah 57:11). The fear of God is not merely an emotion but encompasses a deep reverence and respect for His holiness and authority over our lives. As stated in Isaiah 57:11, God questions the lack of fear among His people, indicating this absence leads to a disregard for His commands. True wisdom begins with a healthy fear of God, as it shapes our understanding of His nature and our response to His Word. This fear anchors us in faith, guiding our actions and decisions, and helps prevent spiritual complacency and indifference.

Q: How do we know that particular redemption is true?

Particular redemption is affirmed through Scripture that emphasizes God's choosing of specific individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5). The doctrine of particular redemption, often encapsulated in the concept of limited atonement, holds that Christ's sacrificial death was intended specifically for the elect. The Bible supports this view in passages such as Ephesians 1:4-5, which reveals that God chose certain individuals for salvation before the world's foundation. This not only highlights God's sovereignty but also magnifies the efficacy of Christ's atonement. Rather than viewing salvation as a vague offering to all, Scripture presents it as a particular act accomplished with certainty for those chosen by God, demonstrating His justice and grace in saving His people.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to avoid false religion?

Avoiding false religion is crucial as it leads to spiritual deception and separation from the truth of God's Word (Isaiah 57:5). False religion presents a significant danger as it often masquerades as truth while leading believers away from the real Gospel. As highlighted in Isaiah 57:5, God condemns the idolatry and misplaced zeal of His people, illustrating how false teachings can ensnare the unsuspecting. Engaging in practices that compromise the integrity of God's truth fosters spiritual blindness and can result in judgment. Christians are called to hold fast to the sound doctrines of Scripture and discern the genuine from the deceptive, as only the true Gospel has the power to save and sanctify.

Let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah
57. Isaiah chapter 57. Now God is speaking here to the
self-confident, the self-righteous, the self-made religionist. He's speaking to the children
of Judah, right smack dab in the middle of Jerusalem. And
here's what He says, Isaiah 57 10, Thou art wearied in the greatness
of thy way. Yet saidst thou not, there is
no hope. Thou hast found the life of thine
hand, therefore thou wast not grieved. And of whom hast thou
been afraid, or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not
remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held my
peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not? I will declare
thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee. When thou criest, let thy companies
deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall
take them. But he that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. When you hear God's description
of sinners and false religion in the Old Testament, do you
think it's the same today? We ought never hear God's description
of sinners in the Old Testament and imagine that it's somehow
different in our day. When we hear it, we ought to
realize that's religion in today. That's what God's saying about
religion today. Because man's depravity is the
same, Satan's deception is the same, and sin's the same. It
hasn't changed. We make a mistake if we think
that a sinner's ways are different today than they were then. Listen
to the wise man, Ecclesiastes 1.10, Is there anything whereof
it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of
old time which was before us. So I want to talk to you today
about the old, the new, the false, and the true. And as we hear
God describe the way of the majority in Israel, We're going to compare
it with our day and we're going to contrast it with God's way.
Alright, first of all, here's the first problem. Dead sinners
rejoice in their own way. They love their own way. God
said in verse 10, Thou art wearied in the greatness of Thy way. Look at Proverbs 16, 25. Proverbs
16, 25. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Do you
see that? There is a way that seems right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Now turn
over with me to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. The Lord Jesus Christ
said this at the end of His Sermon on the Mount. Verse 13, Matthew
7, 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Now watch this word. In many, many there be which
go in thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. Many go in this broad way, he
said, and few enter in at this straight gate, the narrow gate.
Look back at our text and he tells us what this broad way
is. The broad way is the way of much
zeal, of many gods, and of many meeting places. Look back at
verse 5, Isaiah 57, 5. He said, You inflame yourselves
with idols under every green tree. In Isaiah's day, God had
the true and living God, the one true and living God for all
of Israel, all the twelve tribes. He set up one temple with one
high priest with one mercy seat, and said, that's where I'll meet
with you. But here's what happened. Israel fell out with the tribes
of Judah, and they split off, ten tribes did, and they said,
it's too far to go all the way up there to Jerusalem, so they
made them a meeting place somewhere else. And then Judah fell out
with one another, and they all had meeting places everywhere
else. He's just talking to the children of Judah here. And they
began to meet in other places. And he said, of all of them as
they met and they added their traditions and what they thought,
each one of them set up their places to meet. He said, under
evergreen tree. Everywhere there's a little shade,
you got a meeting place. He said, and they imagined God
to be like they thought God should be. That's what an idol is. He
said, they're worshiping idols under evergreen tree. And they
did it with much zeal. He said, inflaming yourself.
They were zealous. And yet every bit of it was ignorance. It was all ignorance. Is it the
same in our day? Isn't it? I grew up in a town
where I went to high school. This town had one traffic light.
That's how small the town is, one traffic light. Over 20 different
church buildings in and around that little town. Why would God
establish that many churches in a town that small? Would he? Here's the problem,
the root problem. The unregenerate heart is offended
at the gospel of Christ. And so he becomes offended at
the preacher and becomes offended at the brethren who meet at that
place. And each one spreads off and
sets up their meeting place. And each one imagines God to
be like they think God should be. And each one is zealous for
their tradition. God brings His child out of the
broad way. That's where every one of us
were. We thought, you look around, here's the problem with you young
folks right now that don't know God. You think, well, how do
you know that's right? Look at all these gods around
here. That's exactly what the young folks in Isaiah's day were
saying. How do I know I should worship at Jerusalem where God
says He is to be worshipped? Look at all the places there
are to worship. They all can't be wrong. God
said they were all wrong. God said they were all wrong. He gives discernment to His child
to hear the Word of God. He gives discernment to His child
to bow to the Word of God. He gives discernment to His child
to join with His brethren and unite with His brethren and hate
sowing discord as much as God hates sowing discord because
now He shows you how valuable it is to have a place where the
Gospel is preached in truth. You value it because you see
it's a rare thing. It's a rare thing. All right? The broad way is the way of exaltation. The broad way is the way of exaltation. Look at Isaiah 57, 7. He said,
Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed, even thither
winnest thou up to offer sacrifices. This is the common lot of false
religion. False religion is big business.
It was then and it is now. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6, 5,
they suppose that gain is godliness. They measure godliness by gain,
by numbers, by increase. That's how they measure godliness.
False religion is the devil's way. Let me show you the devil's
way. I had Eric help me find this. It just came to me. Isaiah
14. Here's Satan's way. Isaiah 14, 12, How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut
down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most
High. I will, I will, I will. That's
the devil. And that's those whom he has
control over. and the religion he has control
over. And so religion wants the biggest. They want the biggest
building. They want the tallest steeple. They want the best preacher,
the best programs, and the most members. That's religion. That's religion. Making merchandise
of men's souls. Isaiah 56, 11. He shows us there. He spoke of their pastors. He
says, they're greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they
are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way,
everyone for his gain from his quarter. That's false religion. You know what God does to His
child? He creates a broken and a contrite heart. God's church
is his people. And all of his people that make
up his church have a broken and a contrite heart, so that they
are lowly and humble worms. Just worms. Just an old slimy,
good-for-nothing worm. There's a church, me and Rupert
were riding around down there at his place in North Carolina. And we passed by a church building,
and they got on a sign down there, the church where everybody is
somebody. This is the church where everybody
is nobody. God's church is a church where everybody is nobody. Listen
to this. Better it is to be of a humble
spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. That's God's Word. Alright, here's
the broad way. It's the way of ecumenical prostitution. It's the way of ecumenical prostitution. You know, churches want to unite
with every church and every denomination and everybody lock arms together
because we're all worshiping the same God and going in the
same place and going in the same direction. Here's what God said
about that in Isaiah's day. This is not my word, this is
God's word. Alright, watch. Isaiah 57-8. Behind the doors,
now pay attention to that, behind the doors also and the posts
hast thou set up thy remembrance For thou hast discovered thyself
to another than me, and are gone up. Thou hast enlarged thy bed,
and made thee a covenant with them. Thou lovest their bed where
thou sawest it. Alright, listen to this. Remember
when God gave the law? The law of God. They were under
a covenant of works, Israel was. And that law of God was the covenant
they were under. That was like a covenant of marriage
to them. That law that he gave. That was their covenant. Now
today, or well, all believers all the time, in every age, have
been under the everlasting covenant of grace. The everlasting covenant
of grace. That's our marriage covenant
to Christ. That's what unites us to Christ. Alright? While
they were under that covenant of works, it was a picture in
some ways of the everlasting covenant of grace. And it is
in this regard. While they were under that covenant,
they had the law of God written on tablets of stone. That was
their marriage vow, their covenant. And they were to put that, remember
God said put this on the doorposts of your house outwardly and put
it on the gates of your city outwardly so that anybody, so
that they constantly were reminded and anybody that came around
were reminded they had one God and one God only and him they
served. This was to show and declare
the truth of God that this is the only God we worship and serve. But where did they put that?
Where did they put that? Well, the equivalent of that
today would be you and I have the law of God written on our
heart, the everlasting covenant of grace written on our heart,
not tablets of stone. And we're to preach the gospel
and truth to everybody we come in contact with. That's the new
covenant equivalent of that. But where did they put that remembrance? They put it behind the doorposts
and behind the gates. Nobody could see it. They hid
the truth so nobody could see it. And when they hid that, then
like an unfaithful wife, they discovered themselves to another
other than God. And they went up to them. It's
like taking off your wedding ring and hiding it and pretending
like I'm not married. They hid the truth so they could
unite with other religions. and go up to them. And they enlarged
their bed that way. And they invited others into
their bed, and they made a covenant with them, breaking their covenant
with God. And he says, and also, they loved
the bed of others. They didn't only invite others
into their bed, they liked to join in the bed of others too.
And he says, and they united with them in their bed. This
is the same thing that happens in our day. This is the adulterous
sin of compromising the truth for the sake of gain. That's
exactly what it is. We just hide back the truth a
little bit so that we can get these other folks to join with
us. And we'll increase our numbers that way. Look at Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. They were uniting with folks
who hated the truth, uniting with folks that were the enemy,
just so they could enlarge their church, is what they were doing.
And here's what God said about it. Ezekiel 16, 25. If I just
made this up and spoke this myself, this would be dirty language,
but this is God speaking. Look at Ezekiel 16, 25. Thou
hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast
made thy beauty to be abhorred. Their true beauty was God and
His glory and the truth. He said, you've made it to be
abhorred. And has opened thy feet to everyone that pass by
and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou has also committed fornication
with the Egyptians, thy neighbors. great of flesh, and has increased
thy whoredoms to provoke me to anger." You see, it was all about
increasing the numbers. Look at verse 28. Thou hast played
the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable.
Yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldst not
be satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied
thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea. And yet
thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart, saith
the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things the work of
an imperious, whorish woman. That's as popular in our day
as it was in Isaiah's day. That's religion. That's churches
set aside the truth in the name of loving one another. That's
Satan's greatest deception. It's just, it'd be uncharitable
for you to stand for the truth and that's going to hurt somebody
else's feelings and break their heart and upset them. Tone that
down and love your brother. Do you realize that believers
love each other in the truth? Listen, John said, The elder
unto the well-beloved gayest whom I love in the truth. That's where love is, it's in
the truth. I heard a preacher actually say this, we will not
let a minor issue, we will not let a minor issue like the doctrine
of particular redemption keep us from receiving our brethren. We ought to open our doors to
anybody who wants to hear the gospel, embrace them, receive
them, encourage them to enter in and hear the gospel preached.
but you don't ever take the doctrine of particular redemption and
put it behind the door post and act like it's a minor doctrine,
because the doctrine of God coming in the flesh and saving those
He chose from before the foundation of the world by the blood of
Christ, so that none shall ever be lost, but every one of them
shall be called out and preserved unto final glory, this doctrine
of limited atonement, of particular redemption, is the gospel, brethren. It's the gospel that declares
God just and the justified. You take that out, you just got
a country club. You might as well just make a
golf course and just call it what it is because you got no
gospel there whatsoever. The gospel of particular redemption
is not a minor doctrine. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. And it's true with all the truth
God's written on the heart of His child. So we invite others
to come and we want them to come. We want to see God's people called
out. But we must never compromise
what the Scriptures declare concerning the doctrine of man's total depravity. Because that makes Christ to
be the one that gets all the glory for saving all His men
out of this sea of corruption. We preach the doctrine that God
chose the people from before the foundation of the world because
it makes salvation to be by God's choice and not the sinner's choice.
And we preach the successful redemption of that people by
Christ because it declares Christ actually perfected them by His
one offering, that He succeeded in redeeming them. And we preach
that every one of them shall be called out by the Holy Spirit
of God and regenerated and they must be because they can't give
themselves life And they've been justified, so because of God's
glory, justice demands they must be called out, they must be saved,
they must be preserved. We preach that perseverance of
the saints. We don't preach it that man now
by his own strength perseveres. We preach that God preserves
him and keeps him by his power and therefore he perseveres in
faith until the end. These are truths that we don't
compromise, brethren. We're not going to compromise
this. We want to see God use the gospel to save His people,
not take the gospel out of it just so we can get a bunch of
people to join in. That's ecumenical prostitution. Alright? The broad way is the
way of man's methods and means. He says there in verse 9, Isaiah
57, 9, It's just you just got to read
these things and see them what they are. This is man using the
power of politics, man's wisdom, man's ingenuity. Verse 9 said,
Thou winnest to the king with ointment. We got a king in glory. We got the king of kings and
lord of lords. This is who we're trusting to call his people out.
We're not going to try to make covenants with political figures
of the earth, with powerful men and using powerful men to persuade
others to join us. Look at this. You did increase
your perfumes. Ladies, what do you use perfume
for? It's attractive, isn't it? You know what you use it for?
It's attractive. When he's describing a church here increasing their
perfumes, what is this for? It's to attract. Increasing,
ever increasing and marketing some new perfume to get people
to join with them. He says this, and you send your
messengers far off. and debase yourself to hell. You'll just humble yourself down
to hell, doing away with the truth, not standing for anything,
just to make a convert. And God says of it all, you're
wearied in the greatness of your way. Wearied in the greatness
of your way. That's the first problem, brethren.
Man's religious by nature. And he loves this way, of this
broad way. Christ said there's many that
goes that way. Few finds the straight gate. You hear Christ
speaking? Many go this way. Few find the
straight gate. Alright, looky here. Here's the
second problem. Most never consider there's no
hope in their works. No hope in all that. He said
in verse 10, Yet saidst thou not, There is no hope. Thou hast
found the life of thine hand, and therefore thou wast not grieved.
In Isaiah's day, the children of Israel were so zealous and
busy in all their religion and all this that he just described,
they could never ever consider for one moment. He said, No man
lays it to heart, none consider. And they couldn't lay it to heart
the possibility that there was no hope in all this that they
were doing. That's Satan's number one goal
in getting men all wrapped up in religion and doing and doing
and doing is so that you won't ever entertain the thought that
there just might not be any hope for you in this. That's the goal
of it. Get you doing and doing and doing
and doing. Doing and doing and doing and
doing. God sent true prophets to him. He did that with Isaiah
here. They didn't hear him. He sent
Jeremiah to them. They didn't hear him. What he
said here, you found the life of your hand and therefore you
haven't been grieved. You know, the life of your hand
doesn't involve any grief whatsoever. But the life that's from God's
hand involves some grief. It involves grief at first, a
lot of grief at first, because God's going to humble us. He's
going to strip us. He's going to show us that our
way is not His way. He's going to bring us down to
the dust to cry out to God for mercy. And I'm telling you, if
you haven't been grieved like that and brought down like that,
then you found the life of your own hand. Because this is the
common lot of those God saves. He brings us down to see how
grievous our way is. And He continues to do this.
When we turn away from Him, He faithfully chastens His child.
And it's grievous when He chastens you. It's not supposed to be
pleasant. It's supposed to turn us from our way to His way. And
that's what He continues to do. But the flesh, the carnal mind,
looks at that way that's going to be grievous to bear. For instance,
a man comes in and hears the gospel. And he hears me talk
about total depravity, showing it in the scripture, no fear
of God before Yah, all these things. And a man hears that
and that causes him grief to hear it. It causes him grief
to know he's going to have to let go of his works and all that
he's invested in his religion and all that to be saved by God,
by the true and living God. And he says, that can't be the
way of God. But now this way I've chosen
is nice. It lets me be saved the way I
want to be saved. It lets me have a part in it.
And I think that's how it ought to be. And so, he's not grieved
and his carnal mind says, that's the way. That way that's so grievous,
that can't be God's way. That's how man's mind thinks,
upside down in sin, till God sets his right side up and shows
you we're upside down. We're calling bitter sweet and
sweet bitter. And when a man's confident in
his own works, you know what he's saying? He's saying, there's
hope in the life of my hand, but there's no hope in God's
hand. Look at Jeremiah 18, and I'll show you that. That's what
they said. God said that's what they said. Jeremiah 18, 11. And
that's what men say in our day. Jeremiah 18, 11. Now therefore go to..." He's
sending Jeremiah to preach the gospel to the men of Judah. "...go
to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against
you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now everyone from
his evil way." Make your ways and your doings good. This evil
way wasn't the way of literal adultery and harlotry. It was
the way of spiritual, religious adultery and harlotry. Now watch
this. And they said, there's no hope. There's no hope. Now over there
in our text, he said, you haven't said there's no hope. He was
talking about in the work of their hands. Here, they're talking
about the work of God's hand. They said there's no hope in
God's way. No hope in God's way, but look, but we will walk after
our own devices and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil
heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord, ask ye now among the heathen,
who's heard such things? The virgin of Israel had done
a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of
Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Will he leave
out in this barren desert? Will he leave the pure water
of the snow of Lebanon? forsake that, look at this, or
shall cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
Because my people have forgotten me, and they've burned incense
to vanity, and they've caused them to stumble in their ways
from the ancient paths to walk in paths in a way not cast up. Do you know that the only way
of truth is, it's old as God? Men will hear something preached.
I had men say to me last week after the message, Oh, that's
Phineism you're preaching. Well, no, it's not. It goes back
further than Phine. Phine did preach a lie, but it
goes back further than that. The truth is ancient truth. It's
as old as God is. And he said, and they've forsaken
that for a bunch of new ways, a bunch of new nonsense that's
not true. There's an old saying, if it's
new, it's not true. is new is not true. Look at this
now. He said, they've done this to
make their land desolate, a perpetual hissing. Everyone that passeth
thereby should be astonished and wag his head. I will scatter
them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the
back and not the face in the day of their calamity. Now that's
what Jeremiah preached to them. That's the word of the Lord that
Jeremiah preached to them. Now here's the next verse tells us
what they responded with after they heard Jeremiah preaching
the truth. Verse 18, Then said they, Come, let us devise devices
against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish
from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from
the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the
tongue. Let us not give heed to any of his words. Is it changed
in our day? Men hear God's preacher preaching
the word and that's what to do. You call it our way? A vain way? You're saying that God's going
to bring judgment upon us? These holy people of God? Let
us do something to that preacher. Get him out of here. He's not
fit to live. That's the doctrine of depravity
personified. It's not just a doctrine. That's
the hardness of the heart. That's who we are by nature.
And that's where we were and where we'd have stayed if God
had left us in a covenant of work. Just splitting off, creating
whatever, and going and doing all the religion of the world.
Thank God He calls His people out of that mess. Aren't you
glad? Alright, here's the third problem. Isaiah 57, 11. There's no fear of God. No fear
of God. Verse 11, Of whom hast thou been
afraid or feared that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered
me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held my peace even
of old, and thou fearest me not? They had no fear of God, and
so when they were offended, they would speak evil against those
that God had made righteous in Christ. Same then as it is today. God had set up a high priest
and he said, this is how you come to my presence. It pictured
Christ, our high priest. He said, here's the mercy seat.
This is where you can come with the blood of a lamb. It pictured
Christ, the mercy seat, the propitiation, the meeting place of his people,
the lamb of God, the only place God would meet with his people.
And they heard that and it offended them. This ought not be the only
way we have to go." And he spoke evil against God's priest, and
against God's prophet, and against God's people. Just whispered
it to somebody. And when you whisper something
to somebody against God's preacher or God's people, here's what
you're doing. You're drawing a big old line in the dirt right
here, and you're asking that person that you're whispering
it to, take sides. Choose their side or my side.
That's what we do when we whisper something about our brethren,
about anybody for whom Christ died, about those for whom Christ
has sent. And look at what God said about
it, Isaiah 57, verse 4. Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom make you a wide
mouth and draw out the tongue? Who were they doing it against?
God says no man lays it to heart. But this is what he said over
in Ezekiel 23, 38. This they've done unto me. They've defiled
my sanctuary. It's what Christ said in Matthew
25, 40. He said, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, you've done it unto me. They called God a liar when they
called his priest and his prophet a liar. They called Christ a
liar when they said His preacher's not preaching the truth. They
called Christ a liar when they said His people are in error
about something. That's serious, isn't it? What
would make a man do something like that? Of whom hast thou
been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and hast not remembered
me nor laid it to thy heart? There's two great pressures involved
in preaching the gospel and pastoring the church. Two very great pressures. Number one, knowing that you're
preaching in the name of God. You're preaching as Christ standing
there representing Christ preaching to his people. And you're going
to be held accountable for every word you speak. And number two,
you're preaching to folks who have an eternity to spend somewhere.
And the reason that pressure exists for God's preacher is
he's put the fear of God in their heart. He's given them a reverence
for God to know this is not, this is not something to be trivial
about. This is, you know, folks will hear you preach and right
after the message, no time, no thought, nothing, quick to speak,
slow to hear and quick to speak. They'll tell you exactly what
they think. If I've preached it here, you can better believe
I've spent some time studying it, praying on it, asking God
for the wisdom to preach it. And if I don't have, if I'm not
certain about it being true according to this word, I'm not going to
say it here. I'm just not going to say it. There's a lot of things
I don't know that I don't preach because I just don't know it
yet. When I know it, I'll let you know, but I don't know it
yet. But folks, I tremble for folks who are so quick to speak
out and speak against God's preacher and against God's people. I tremble
for those who are quick to divide God's brethren and divide and
try to lead folks away from the place where God has established
the gospel. I tremble for them because they're going to give
an account for every whisper of division that they spoke,
for every step of division they took. Oh, that's serious business. You read the scripture, God hates
those that sow discord. hates them with a perfect hatred.
That's serious business, brethren. And he says here the whole problem
is there's no fear of God with any of them. You know what he
said when he makes his covenant in our heart? Listen to this.
He said you come out from falsehood, you come out from and you join
yourself with God's people. And he said this in 2 Corinthians
7, we have the promises of God. And he says, And having these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit. That means be done with it once
and for all. Come out from among them once
and for all. Perfecting holiness. That means that's it. You're
done. Now you're holy. You're separated by God. And he says, And this is how
that's done. In the fear of God. It's the reverence and fear of
God that makes you realize this is darkness. I'm not going to
be in darkness. And you enter into the light
by God's grace. And once you've done that, then
this is what happens. You don't divide with your brethren.
Even if they're in error about something, you look to the sovereign
God you claim to believe to instruct that preacher and instruct those
brethren and make them stand by His way instead of yielding
your power and your fist and dividing brethren. And you know
why you do that? In the fear of God. Ephesians
5.21 says, Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of
God. It's what I'm talking about here.
The fear of God won't let me say... It won't let me criticize
Eric Lutter to Cheryl. Why? Well, if Christ died for
him, I'm saying it about Christ. That's why. Do we not reverence
Him? Reverence Christ? I'm not going
to speak about His brethren. That's how one He's made us,
brethren. We can't speak against one without speaking against
another. But what happened here in Isaiah's day, because there
was no fear of God, they just all split off and went where
they wanted to, worshipped like they wanted to, with who they
wanted to, and just spoke evil and supported themselves against
God's true people. You see it? That's what they
did. That's what people do today. All right, last thing. Most do
not know that trusting in their righteousness and works is unprofitable. And when God says it's unprofitable,
that means God is going to throw them into hell. Look here now,
Isaiah 57, 12. God says, I will declare thy
righteousness and thy works, they shall not profit thee. Now let me be as clear as I can
be. If you worship your will, if you trust your works, then
your religion is vanity. And soon the wind of God's wrath
will take it away. Look at verse 13. When thou criest,
let thy companies deliver thee. When you get to the point where
you cannot save yourself, and I tell you, you're going to come
to that point. We're all coming to that point eventually. We're
going to not be able to save ourselves. We're going to face
God one day, and there's not going to be a thing we can do
about it. And God says, if you trust in your will, you call
on your will in that day. Oh, I will, my will's so strong,
I'm just going to will that I won't die. Try it. Just try it. The will is the weakest thing
we got, brethren. Don't put any confidence in it.
Look here. The wind shall carry them all
away. Vanity shall take them. What's profitable then? Where
is hope then? The righteousness that we must
have, the life we must have is Christ the Lord. Look at here,
verse 13. But he that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.
He spoke there about their way. You're weary in the greatness
of your way, He said. Christ is our way. Christ is
our way. And our way is truly great. The
greatness of Christ our way. He spoke there of their hope.
You've not said there's no hope. Christ is our hope. You know
you have a good hope if He's your only hope. He's called the
hope of righteousness, the hope of glory, the hope of the gospel,
the hope of salvation, the hope of eternal life. Christ is our
hope. He spoke there of finding the
life of your hand. Christ is our life. Christ is
our life. The only life I have is Christ.
He's my life. He spoke there of not having
the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. When you have Christ as your
wisdom, that's when you have the fear of God in your heart.
And Christ is our wisdom. He speaks here of their righteousness
is not profiting them. Christ is our righteousness.
not by any righteousness in us, not by any works in us, not by
any merit in us. We have the righteousness of
God given freely to us through God-given faith in Christ. He
says, He that putteth His trust in me. He that putteth His trust
in me. I wish I could... Whenever Paul
said, I'm fearful that Satan's going to turn you from the simplicity
that's in Christ, I wish I pray. I don't wish. I pray. I ask God,
give us an understanding that all the promises of God are freely
given to us simply through this conduit, this pipe, this channel
called faith. God gives it. God connects this
channel to us, this pipe to us, this funnel that comes to us. He connects it to us so that
we Behold God and believe God. And through that channel of faith,
God gives us every promise, everything that He says He'd given. Because
what God rewards is this. Simple, childlike trust in Him. Well, I've got to do my part.
You do your part and you'll go to hell. God hates it. God hates
it. He sent Christ to do the part
of His people. And that's every bit of it. And
so He delights in those that just rest in His Son. That's
what I'm trying to get us to do. Rest in His Son. Just rest
in His Son. Don't trust your feelings. Don't
trust whether you think you know enough. Don't trust whether you
think you worked or done or anything. Just believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He that putteth his trust in
me shall possess the land and inherit my holy mountain. Here's
what I pray Christ to do for us. Turn back there to Matthew
7 one more time. I pray Christ to take these words and that he'll do this right
here for us. That he'll speak these words
affectionately and make us do this. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereas. because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life and few there
be that find it. I would that he would speak that
so effectually that today he'd make one of his children enter
in to Christ the way and rest there. There's few that enter
in that way. Oh brethren, Whatever you do,
don't speak a word against one another. Let's not let our children
hear us say a negative word about anybody in the family of God. Never, ever. Not even joking,
because it's just not good. It'll breed, grow, and it just
causes division. If you've got the fear of God
in your heart, you won't. But trust Christ, rest in Him,
look to Him. He says, He that trusts in me
will be saved. Amen. All right, Eric.

Old, New, False & True

What does the Bible say about trusting in our own works?

Why is fear of God important for Christians?

How do we know that particular redemption is true?

Why is it important for Christians to avoid false religion?

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Old, New, False & True

What does the Bible say about trusting in our own works?

Why is fear of God important for Christians?

How do we know that particular redemption is true?

Why is it important for Christians to avoid false religion?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

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