Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9. We're
going to look at this one sentence this morning. Be not carried
about with divers and strange doctrines. Now, be not carried about. that is moved here and there
and then over here and over there, carried about, carried out of
the way, tossed about. I think of a leaf. You see a
leaf and the wind blows and that leaf begins to go whichever way
the wind blows, that's where it goes. because there's no root
in it. There's nothing that vitally
connects it to the vine, that keeps it in the vine. It's carried
about. With what? Verse 9 says, with
divers and strange doctrines. Now, doctrine means teaching. What I do when I stand here is
I indoctrinate you. I teach you. That's what I do.
But you notice here it has an S on the end. It's plural. It means doctrines because it's
referring to man-made teachings, teachings that man has invented.
Somebody pointed out that God's doctrine is one. I've often made
the comment that when the men read Scripture and I get up here
to preach, it always seems like they don't know what I'm going
to preach, but it seems like the Scripture goes right along with what I'm
going to preach. That's because the doctrine is one doctrine.
It all stands together. It all stands together. It all
ends in Christ Jesus. Every bit of it has its glory
from Christ Jesus and it redounds to His glory. It's all concerning
Christ the Lord. The Lord told us there's one
body and there's one spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope, There's one Lord. There's one
faith. There's one baptism. There's
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. He's speaking to believers. There's
one who teaches the believer. And He teaches the believer of
one. And He makes the believer one
in that one. And that one is Christ Jesus
the Lord. So, it's called the faith. It's
called so great salvation. Turn to John 7, verse 16. John 7, verse 16. I want to show
you this one passage. It's the doctrine of Christ. But in John 7, verse 16, The
Lord Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine, My teaching
is not Mine, but His that sent Me. He's saying that all true
doctrine is from God. And He says, If any man will
do his will, if any man will do what God teaches in this doctrine, he shall know of the doctrine. If any man will do what God is
teaching in this doctrine, he'll know this doctrine, whether it
be of God or whether I speak of myself. Because he that speaketh
of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, that's what you'll do if you believe this doctrine.
You'll seek the glory of God who sent Christ Jesus. That's
what you'll do if you believe this Gospel. And that person
that seeks His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no
unrighteousness is in him. Now, when we read of doctrines,
back there in Hebrews 13 and 9, Be not cared about with divers
and strange doctrines. So when we read doctrines, plural,
it speaks of man's doctrines and man has invented many doctrines,
many teachings. Now there's two descriptions
given here of man's teaching. Let's look at it. Verse nine
calls it divers. That's an important word. That
word means variety. I looked at all the different
translations and some mix this word divers and strains together
and lose the meaning of what it is, the total meaning here.
Divers means there's a variety of teachings. You know that snack
pack that your mom brings home that has It has all the different
flavors and all the different colors of snacks in it so that
whatever mood you're in at that moment, there's a taste there
that might fit the taste you want at that moment. There's
a color there that'll appeal to your eyes at that moment.
It's a variety pack. That's what it is. That's what
the doctrines of men are described as, as a variety. They're invented
to appeal to whatever your taste is, whatever your society, whatever
your flesh wants at the moment. That's what they're designed
for. And then verse 9 describes them as being strange doctrines. It means they're not taught by
God. God doesn't teach them. They're
not in the Word of God. They're not in agreement with
the person and work of Christ Jesus, which is what God's Word
is all about. And they're foreign to the teaching
that salvation is by God's grace. You know, if you were lost, let's
say John got lost and his dad sent instruction to him, teaching
to him, to teach him the way to go to get home to his father. That would be the true doctrine. That doctrine would be pure doctrine. It would be true. It would be
for your good. He was wanting you to get home to him. Now,
somebody else came along and they began to give some other
instruction, some other teaching, teaching you a different way.
that was not the way that your father told you to get to him.
Their teaching would be foreign. It would be strange to how your
father told you to come home. This word God's Word on how to
bring us to himself how he will bring us to himself The way in
which he brings his people to himself men come along and teach
Another way and it's strange. It's foreign to the way God the
Father teaches Now let's look at an example of this John chapter
10 John chapter 10 And I've taken just a simple
statement our Lord Jesus Christ made, and I'm going to go through
this statement with you, and then I'm going to tell you what
some teach that is foreign to this. First of all, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in John 10, verse 11, John 10, verse 11, He said,
I am the good shepherd. I am. That's a title that's specifically
given to the great I am, to God. Really and truly, Christ Jesus
is the Son of God. He is God. Some teach He's not
God. Some teach that Christ Jesus
is not God. That's strange and that's foreign
to the Word of God. It's strange, it's foreign to
what God says about Himself. He said, I am The good. There's none good but God. With men, there's none that doeth
good and sinneth not. The only man that ever walked
this earth that could truly say, I am good, is Christ Jesus the
Lord. There was nothing in his heart
That was, you know how sometimes somebody will come up to you
and listen, look, look at me, look at me. This thing of iniquity,
of hypocrisy, God say hypocritical, things like that. When somebody
comes up to you sometimes and now you, you don't have to admit
this, but I know you've done this and I'm going to explain
to you what hypocrisy is. Somebody walks up to you at school.
And they've got on some new shirt or a new dress or some new shoes
or something like that. And they say, do you like these?
And you look at them and you say, yeah, they're nice. And
in your heart you're thinking, that's the ugliest pair of shoes
I've ever seen in my life. Man, you wasted your money then.
That's hypocrisy. You said one thing with your
mouth, but you believe something else with your heart. Well, there
was none of that in him. What he said with his mouth was
in his heart. It was true. Every word he spoke
was from his heart. It was true. But now some people
say that there's a little bit of good in us, that there's a
little spark of goodness in us, that we can exercise it, fan
the flame a little bit to sort of bring ourselves to Christ.
That's strange to what God said. He said, no man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. This word says
clearly there's none good. There's none that even seeketh
after God. God has to give the willingness,
the heart, the desire and draw us to himself or we won't seek
him. Well, he said, I'm the good shepherd. Scripture tells us
there's only one shepherd. The Lord said throughout, through
the prophets, He said, I will raise up one shepherd and he'll
feed my sheep. I'll raise up one shepherd. And
Christ came and He said, I am the good shepherd. I am the David
that He spoke about when He said, I'll raise up one shepherd, even
David. He said, I'm that shepherd. I'm that guide, that leader,
that teacher. Now some people will teach and
they'll focus everything on man. And they make it seem as though
the shepherd can't be the shepherd without the sheep allowing him
to be the shepherd or making him to be the shepherd. He said,
I'm the good shepherd. So that teaching is foreign to
what he said. It's strange from what he said. It's a different flavor from
what he said. And he said, there's one God,
one good, and one Savior. And that's Christ Jesus, the
Son of God. And any other teaching that differs, that varies, that
says anything otherwise is strange to this Word, is foreign to this
Word. It's not of God. Now, verse 11
there, he says, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. In verse 11, he talked about
his person. Salvation is in a person. And
salvation is in the work that person performed. Now here in
the second verse, verse 11, or in the second half of verse 11,
he says, I'm the good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. Now he's telling us about what's
the work of the shepherd. This word, giveth his life, see
how it ends with E-T-H? Look there in your Bible. See
it? See it ends with E-T-H? It means continual. It continues. You see? When he entered into
an agreement with his father before the word was made, before
anything was made, to be the surety, to pay the debt of his
people, of his sheep. And when he did that, he struck
hands in an agreement that couldn't be broken. And He gave His life.
He's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world because
when He entered into that surety agreement, that mediatorial agreement,
He became surety. He gave His life then. Now some
people say you don't become a sheep until you believe Him. But that's
strange to what He said. Because He gave His life even
from eternity. He gave His life when He agreed
with the Father in eternity, and then He gave His life when
He willingly came from Heaven's glory, where He had been with
the Father, to where we are. He gave of Himself to do that. And then He gave His life at
Calvary by dying under the wrath of God, because without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. Sins won't be put away. You know what purging sins is?
You know what sins are to be purged? When you're, when you're, you
go out and you play and you get your clothes dirty. Did y'all
have your clothes dirty the other day after we played paintball?
I went home, my knees was dirty. Real dirty. You know what has
to happen for that stain to be removed? Whoever washes your
clothes will take some soap, and they'll put that soap on
that stain, and they'll scrub and scrub and scrub and scrub
and scrub on that stain, and then they put it in, and they
wash and wash and wash and wash it, and when they get through,
the stain's gone. It's gone. You know what happened?
It was purged. It was gone. Christ purged the
sin of everyone He represented when He died at Calvary. Now,
some people teach that He didn't purge the sin. Some people teach
that He made it possible for the sin to be purged. He brought in this thing of chance,
that there's a chance yours can be purged if you trust Him. And
what they say by that is, is His work really didn't accomplish
what He said it accomplished. They say, now you have to do
something to make that work have an effect, to really have purge
to stay. Do you have to believe that your
mother put soap in there and purged that and got the stain
out for that stain to be gone? When she brings those clothes
back to you and you see them, you say, the stain is gone. The
stain is gone. Your believing is not what made
the stain gone. The stain being gone is what
made you look and go, the stain is gone. I believe it, it's gone.
You see, it's his work. It's not, you hear that saying,
put the cart before the horse? Which pulls which? The horse
or the cart? Well, he's the strength and the power represented in
the horse, and he's the one that's the first call. He pulls the
cart. So, He said, I give my life for the sheep. He gives
His life when He regenerates us, when He gives us life in
here to know Him and to love Him, to trust Him and believe
Him, to see that the stain is purged. He gives us eternal life. Some say that we have that by
something we do, that we get that by something in us, by something
we do. How can death bring forth life?
How can a leopard change his spots? How can an Ethiopian change
his skin? He can't. God has to give life. He gives life. That doctrine
that says otherwise is strange and foreign. Well, he gives his
life continually to intercede for us as our advocate with the
Father, to keep us because he's God's high priest for his people.
He's the mediator between God and his people. He intercedes
with God and pleads his life, his blood, and he intercedes
with his people and reveals to us again and again, the stain's
gone, it's purged, you're accepted in me. Some people say that either
we can live above sin after we're converted, or that we can have
some power in us to put away our sin and repent of ourselves.
Some people act as though some men call themselves priests and
put themselves in that position as if they can do what only Christ
can do. Some call themselves priests.
Some call themselves pastors and set themselves up just like
a priest. That's foreign. That's absolutely
foreign to this world. That's strange doctrine. Strange
doctrine. He perfected forever. He redeemed
from all iniquity. He purged sin. Find out what
it means when he says, He giveth his life. Find out what that
means. Well, and then he says, I giveth
my life for the sheep. For the sheep. Some people teach
that Christ died for all men without exception. He died for
all men without exception. He said, here I give, give, give
with my life for the sheep, for my sheep. Now in John 17, six,
He said, he prayed to the Father, and he said, I've manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. And then he said, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I'm glorified in them. Wouldn't it be strange?
Wouldn't it be strange if he died for everybody, but he wouldn't
pray for everybody? It'd be strange that he would
give his life for everybody, but he wouldn't intercede for
everybody. No, he intercedes for everyone that he gives his
life for. His sheep are his. They're written
in his book before the world ever began. And because they
were written there, because they were chosen in Him, they were
blessed with all spiritual blessings by simply being put in Christ
by God's choice. Now, when men say, well, but
election means God foresaw you would believe and therefore He
chose you. There we go putting that cart
in front of the horse again, putting man, strengthless, powerless
man in front of the power and the glory. Can't do that. That's
another doctrine. That's foreign. Now, I want you
to listen carefully. Look back at Hebrews 13 with
me. I've got to show you this. I'm sorry I don't have any fancy
illustrations for you this morning to keep your attention. I'm just
trying to get you to listen to me. Alright? Listen. Trust Christ Jesus the Lord. What did I just say? Trust Christ
Jesus the Lord. That's what we've been taught
throughout the letter to the Hebrews. Trust Christ Jesus the
Lord. That's what we're being taught
in the context right here in these few verses. We were told
there in Hebrews 13, 5. Can you see that? Hebrews 13,
5. Look there at the end. It says, He hath said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. And then we're called to remember
faithful pastor-teachers. You know why? Because Christ
is the one who teaches His pastors the Word of God. The Word says
they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that knows God is learned
of the Father. They've been taught of God. The
Lord is the one who sends His pastors, giving them to us. And His pastors speak the Word
of God. They teach the doctrine of Christ. In the pulpit and out, Paul said,
we're ambassadors for Christ as if God, as if God did beseech
you by us, as if God was talking to you by us. And we're called
on to follow the faith of faithful pastors because Christ is the
faith which faithful pastors follow. They don't turn from
Christ because Jehovah is salvation and he's their guide. Therefore
Christ is the end of all that faithful pastors teach and do. Now I'm not speculating on this.
I'm not saying that some are that way and some are kind of
that way. All God's pastors are that way. Or either Christ is
an utter total failure who has no power to do what he says he
has to do. One of the two. Either you're
going to have to deny your blood the will of man and the will
of your flesh. Even though it may step all over
your toes, you're going to have to deny that or you're going
to have to deny Christ and his power to do what he says he does.
And he says here, faithful teachers don't change from believing what
Christ teaches. Neither do believers. The pastor
who Christ has sent doesn't change the word he teaches. Don't change
it. Not if he's sin of Christ, because
Christ don't change, and the word he teaches don't change.
It doesn't change. He teaches the same word. He
may grow in an understanding of it, but he doesn't go back
on what God has taught him. The pastor who Jesus Christ has
sent doesn't change the manner of his teaching. You know why?
Because his conversation, his conduct, his manner is dictated
by the power of Christ. That's right. And what did we
learn last time about Jehovah our salvation? Look at verse
8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Now, those
who teach varied teachings which are strange to His Word and to
His glory are not sent by Christ. They are, according to Christ,
false prophets. who teach different and strange
doctrine. Do you understand that? Beware
of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now look at 1 John 4, last scripture,
1 John 4. This is what we're called on. Is this going to involve Us looking
away from ourselves to Christ to be not carried away? Indeed.
That's the only way we won't be. We'll flatter our flesh and
we'll hang on to what we've always thought and the way we've always
done it. We'll listen to what the testimonies of men are and
say, well, now he appears to be a faithful man and he was
used so much that I have to believe that's false. What I always tell
you, Go from God down to men, not from men up to God. Don't
put that cart before the horse again. Listen to what God says
and reason from God down. It's how God says it is. And
therefore, when he says there's false doctrine, that means there's
false prophets who go about teaching it. It's doctrine, it's teaching.
Somebody has to teach it. Now listen. Beloved, believe
not every spirit But try the spirits, whether they are of
God, sent by God, taught by God, directed by God. How did Christ
say you'd know? Whose glory do they seek? Who
do they speak about? They speak about man. They speak
about God. Do they twist the doctrine so that man can say
that I had to believe to make his work effectual? Do they twist
the doctrine to say that, well, it's because I believe that God
elected me? Do they twist the doctrine to say Christ loves
everybody without exception so that they can really ultimately
say, I saved myself? Or do they tell what God said?
Because many false prophets are going out into the world. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth,
agreeth with God, that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh
is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. You know
what confessing Jesus Christ is? It's agreeing with God. Confessing that He's coming to
the world is agreeing with God that He is the King, that He
is God's anointed, that He is God's high priest, represented
to God. He goes before God and He goes
before men. And he brings God and his chosen
elect people together. And it means that he is the prophet. He is the one who teaches his
doctrine, the doctrine of him. And he does it through his word
and through pastors that he has sent to teach it. As if God did
beseech you by us, Paul said. So now we're told to do what
His faithful pastors did. They were held up and we were
told to remember them, who spoke in the Word of God, to consider
whose faith followed, considering the end. Where did their conversation
meet? What is the purpose of it all?
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And then
we're told, you're told, listen, Be not carried about. Don't be carried out of this
truth. Don't be carried out of the teaching
of God. Don't be carried out of the doctrine of Christ with
these different flavors. Whatever appeals to your flesh,
you know why for the moment. And with these doctrines that
are foreign, strange to God. Don't be carried here and there
by the variety pack of teachings. which are strange to what God,
Christ, Jesus, the prophet teaches. Is that clear? That's what he
says. The only way we can deny that God gives pastors who
feed with knowledge and understanding is to deny the God who gives
them. The only way we can deny that those who teach strange
doctrine or false prophets is to deny Christ the prophet. The
only way we can deny and go after these strange doctrines is to
deny the doctrine of Christ. And so he says, be not carried
away with them. Be not carried away with them.
All right, let's pray.