Hebrews chapter 13, we have a
very important, very needful verse to look at
this morning. Very, very important and needful. Not only is this wise counsel, this is critical information.
It's not just wise counsel. It is critical, critical information. This is the difference in inheriting eternal life and
missing eternal life. This is the difference, being
denied eternal life. Hebrews 13 verse 9 says, Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. Here's what he said. Don't be
taken up with doctrines. Be established with grace. Don't
be carried away. Don't be carried about with divers
and strange doctrines. Be established with grace. Established with grace. Now what
does that mean? What is it to be carried away,
carried about, with doctrines and what is it to be established
with grace? Well, the word doctrine means
teaching. It means words. It means instruction. And there is only one doctrine
in this book. I think that's a shocking thing
to consider. There is only one doctrine in
this book. There's just one doctrine. Let
me show it to you in 2 John. 1 John, 2 John. Chapter 1, there's only one chapter
in 2 John. 2 John 1 verse 9 says, whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed. All of the teaching in this book,
all of the instruction in this book speaks of one thing, Christ
crucified. That's it. Christ crucified. This right here is THE singular
from page 1 to the very last page in the book. This is THE
doctrine of Christ. Don't turn, but Titus 2 verse
9 calls it THE doctrine of God our Savior. Who's our Savior? Jesus Christ. How did He save
us? He was crucified. The doctrine. First Timothy 1.3 says, teach
no other doctrine. Teach no other doctrine. Acts
2.42 calls it the apostles doctrine. Singular. They had one doctrine. They preached one thing. Our
Lord called it in John 7 verse 16, my doctrine. My doctrine. Every time the word doctrines,
plural. Every time it's in the scripture,
it refers to false teaching. Every single time. Our text said divers and strange
doctrines. Look with me if you would at
Matthew 15. Matthew 15, and this is our Lord
speaking. And he said in verse nine. But in vain, they do worship
me and and how horrible is that they're they in their mind, they
think they're worshiping me. They're gathering together in
a building. And the organ's playing, and
the man's standing up, and the choir's singing, and all that
kind of stuff, and they're raising their hands, and they're doing
all this stuff. But he said, it's all in vain.
They are not worshipping me. He said, in vain they do worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. That's all
they are. Man-made commandments. That is
mostly what is being preached and taught in pulpits today. That is mostly what's being taught,
man-made instruction. There is a phrase that is used
in reference to the truth, the actual truth of God, the truth
of the gospel. There is a term, a phrase that
people use, and the term is the doctrines of grace, Most all
of us, I'm sure, have heard of that term, the doctrines of grace. Man made the phrase up. And the
reason is because there are five individual truths that make up
the truth. Five different principles, five
facts that collectively come together and make up the truth.
And it's not that there's anything wrong with that phrase. I've
mentioned that to you before and I repeat it again. That's
okay. If somebody says the doctrines
of grace, there's nothing wrong with that phrase. But this is
what true believers come to understand. After God truly opens up their
heart to what is being said in the Word, this is where God brings
His people, all of them. They will come to realize that
we don't believe on the doctrines of grace. We believe on Christ. We don't trust in the doctrines
of grace. We trust in Christ. We trust in Christ. We don't
come to the doctrines of grace. I can't tell you how many times
I've heard people say, that's when I came to the doctrines
of grace. And I know what they mean. It's okay. But we don't
come to the doctrines of grace. We come to Christ. We come to
Christ. we come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, when a sinner comes to Christ, will he know and understand and
agree with what men call the doctrines of grace? That every soul on this earth
is totally depraved. I mean completely sinful. Men love to say, well, there's
a little bit of good in everybody. They love to write songs and
put it on the radio. I think everybody's got a little bit
of good in them. When a sinner comes to Christ, will he know
that man is completely, from the crown of his head to the
sole of his foot, nothing but sin? And will he know that God
unconditionally owned the part of the sinner? It had to be.
He's totally sin. God unconditionally, on the part
of the sinner, chose who He would save. They were all ruined. They were all dead. They were
all enabled. But God chose who He would save. And Christ did not die for every
soul on this earth. He did not die to make salvation
possible. He died for every soul His Father
chose. Only those. And those that He
died for, He saved them completely. And in time, God's Spirit is
going to find every single one of them and call them to Himself. Call them to a knowledge of who
Christ is and how He saved them. And every single one of them
will be kept. They're being kept by the power
of God. He is the successful Savior. There's no possibility of being
lost. If a sinner comes to Christ,
will he know and understand and agree with all of those things? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's exactly what the Scripture
teaches. everywhere. But if in any of
those individual things, those all five of those truthful, truthful
things, if in any of those individual details a believer starts to
become carried away from the simplicity of the person and
the work and the focus of Christ himself. The moment we lose sight
of the man, the moment we lose sight of the man, the moment
we are just taken up with something other than the man, we have been
carried away by doctrine, no matter what doctrine it is. The moment that our mind and
our heart and our focal point becomes stuck. And there have
been times that we have all been stuck. And we will meet people
who come to an understanding of some of these things, but
they're stuck on one of these things. The moment that we get
stuck on a thing, we've lost sight of the man and we've become
carried about with the wind of doctrine. There is a difference
in knowing doctrines and knowing Christ. There is a difference in worshipping
doctrines. Some people do gather together
to worship doctrines. And there is a difference in
worshipping doctrines and worshipping Christ. And the difference is
life and death. eternal life and eternal death.
Doctrines have never saved anybody. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the man. We don't come to a place where
we say, well, I'm saved because I came to a knowledge of the
doctrines. Doctrines do not save people. The man does. Christ the man does. He is the
issue. He's the only issue. Every other
issue is just a diverse and strange doctrine. Now let me show you
a couple of them. Different things that men instruct
that are not taught in the Word of God. That's what makes them
strange. They're strange to God's Word. Turn with me over to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 16 says, let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new
moon or of the Sabbath days. These are all things that people
believe are doctrines that will save their soul. Things that
people are holding to is doctrines that'll save their soul. The
Jews believe if you don't eat pork, it'll save your soul. I'm
glad I don't believe that. Most or many, I'll say many little
old ladies in religion believe that if alcohol never touches
their lips, it'll save their soul. Those who are not religious at
all believe, well, as long as I go to church on Easter, I'm
sure that'll have a bearing on saving my soul. That's a holy
day, people think. And at least I observe that.
No, I don't really, but I'm there on Easter. I do the sunrise service. Some people believe that if they
make themselves absolutely miserable on Sunday, Nothing but a straight
face. Don't let your kids play, it's
the Sabbath. All of these things, these are
all things that people believe will save their soul. These are
diverse and strange things that people believe will save their
soul. It's not so. It's just not so. Let's not be
carried about with them. Verse 16 says, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day
or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow
of things to come. But the body is of Christ. This is where we start to enter
into what it is to be established with grace. Verse 20 right here
says, Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you
subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle
not. And that's what men stand up
and tell people. They get up in pulpits and they say, Touch
not, taste not, handle not. And he's saying, Why are you
telling people that? Verse 20. If you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living
in the world are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste
not, handle not, while all are to perish with the using. After
the commandments and doctrines of men, they're all to perish
with the using. Which things have indeed a show
of wisdom and will worship and humility, And neglecting of the
body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. These
meats and these drinks and these ordinances and these days, all
of these things, these things will never save anybody. Do's
and don'ts don't save people. Christ does. Christ does. So he said back in our text,
look with me back in Hebrews 13. Verse 9, Hebrews 13, 9. Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. Established with grace. Grace means gift. Christ is the
gift. God's gift. The work that he
accomplished in his life and in his death is the only thing
that will save a sinner. It's the only thing. So it's
a good thing that a sinner's heart be established with Christ. A heart that's established with
grace is a heart that's established with Christ. And if it is, the
next time somebody says, you better not eat that. You better
not drink that. Don't let that touch your lips.
You better eat this or drink this instead. The heart that's
established with grace will say, man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He's
my meat. He's my drink. He said, this
is my body broken for you. Take, eat. This is the New Testament
of my blood. Drink ye all of it. My salvation
is not dependent on meat and drink. Not at all. The next time somebody says,
you better watch your holiness. Are you keeping yourself holy?
Are you as holy as you can possibly be? The heart that is established
with grace will say, in Christ I sure am. I sure am. In Him, I'm as holy as He is. As He is, so am I. Well, are you resting on the
Sabbath? The heart that's established
with grace will say, I sure am. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Because my Sabbath is not a day.
My Sabbath is a person. I'm resting on my Sabbath. Christ. Christ my Sabbath. Go
with me quickly to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Almost done. 2 Timothy 1 verse 8 says, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Who? Not what. Who hath saved us? And this is
where all error comes from. What must I do to be saved? This is where all error comes
from. What is it? And this place says, this is
what it is. And this other place says, this
is what it is. And this other place says, this is what it is.
And we will never get it right until we say, who? It's not this. It's not what. Who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles." What he's saying
is, this is my doctrine. For the which cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed for I know whom I
have believed. and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. Not according to our works, not
according to meat, drink, do, don't, day, ceremony, but according
to His own purpose and grace. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded my heart is established. It's established. He is able
through His grace. The grace that was given me before
the world began. Those old Puritans, they got
it right. Those old Puritan writers, they
got it right. This is what it is to not be
carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, but to be
established in the heart. This is what it is. Scriptures
alone. Faith alone. What must I do? This was the answer. Believe
on a person. Look to a person. Trust what
he did. Say, I'm a sinner saved by grace
alone. Scriptures alone, faith alone,
grace alone. What made him do it? Well, it
wasn't the goodness in me. It was just his gift alone. Christ
alone. the glory of God alone. May God
establish our hearts with that.