be not carried away or about
with different and strange doctrines." That's how this verse 9 starts
out. Now, James, in the book of James,
he tells us that an unstable man will receive nothing from
the Lord. He says in James 1.8, a double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways. And let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. But what we have back
in verse 8 is the most stable person there is, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I can preach Him this evening,
I can preach Him tomorrow, come back here next year, the Lord
willing we have a next year, and preach Him, and nothing's
changed. He hasn't changed. Not one thing
about Him has changed. There is no one more stable than
Jesus Christ. The immutability of Christ is
a It is of greatest importance. It is proof of His deity, because
only God changes not. Only God changes not. He only
is our rock. Our rock. That speaks of stability. That speaks of strength. We can
trust Jesus Christ. We can take Him at His Word. Stake your life on it. Stake
your life on it. He's good for His Word. He changes
not. He changes not in His person,
in His work of salvation. He changes not. When you and
I are gone from this life, And if the Lord allows this world
to continue another 10,000 years, the gospel of Christ, the gospel
of grace will remain exactly the same. Exactly the same. It will not
change. How God saves and justifies sinners changes not. Jesus Christ
is the changeless Son of God. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, and seeing this is so. Remember, he's writing
to some Hebrews that were struggling with going back to the old ceremonies,
the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices. They were struggling
with this. They were struggling. And seeing
that this is so, don't be carried about with diverse and strange
doctrines or any strange teachings. That's what doctrines are, is
teachings. You know, this is where we get
the far left and the far right. they get carried away. Carried
about is being carried away. They take a subject and they
go completely to the right or completely to the left. They
can't find the middle ground. They can't find it. And this
comes from instability. And in spiritual matters, it
comes from the ignorance of the teaching of the Word of God. Ignorance of the teaching of
the Scriptures. It comes from false teaching. When I was sitting in my study
today, going over this, being carried away with diverse and
strange teachings, the first thing that came to my mind was
this mess of the flat earth. Now who in the world would ever
think that would have any foothold? And it applies. This applies
to that. Don't listen to that. Don't get
carried away with strange and diverse teachings that is not
completely founded in the Word of God in the Gospel. Don't get
carried away with it. Don't get carried away with it.
The church has a strong doctrinal foundation in the Word of God. We have a very solid foundation. We're not on shaky ground. We
are not building on shifting sand. The gospel is firm. It has solid doctrine concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no reason to be unstable. We have no reason to be unstable.
The Word of God, I believe, is very clear on how God saves sinners. That God chose a people. The
Word of God is very clear on that. It's very clear. We are to stand, Scripture says,
stand fast in the faith. Stand fast. There is no new doctrine. There is no new revelations.
What we have, we have. And it's all we need. If we needed
more, God would give it. God would give it. I worked for
a group of Mormons out of Utah, and they sent one of the men
there to help manage, work with me, managing the company when
I took over as the plant manager. And he came from Utah, and we
spent probably a couple months, at least, together. And we became
friends, as far as just friends go. But we had a lot of discussion
on the Scriptures. And they took me to Utah, and
I went to visit. There was a temple, and I went
in there where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings. He took me inside
of there, and he was talking about the prophet. This prophet,
he gets new revelations from God, and I said, no, no, no.
No, that's not so." I said, what we have in the Word of God, this
is it. And he said, you mean to tell
me that God has nothing else to reveal, to say? Yes. That's what I mean, yes. And I told him, I said, you don't
even understand what's already there. Why would He give us more?
That's what I told him. I said, you and I don't even
comprehend all that's here, and you're asking for more? Don't get carried away with this
strange... It's called strange doctrines
here, too. It's doctrines that the Word
of God doesn't even teach. It's doctrine that does not come
from the gospel of Christ, from the person of Christ. Every doctrine
taught in the Scriptures, we should be able to run it to Christ. Understand it in the light of
Him. Diverse and strange doctrines
have no foundation in the Word of God. They are strange to the
teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't buy into it. Don't
buy into it. If Christ is not the sum and
substance of it, don't buy into it. For it is good, he says here,
It is good for the heart to be established with grace, the gospel
of grace, the doctrine of grace. It is good for the heart to be
established and strengthened. It is by grace and not by food. And here's what he's talking
about. Not by the rules of diet and ritualistic meals that they
always observed in their ceremonies. He says, they have no benefit. They've never benefited spiritually
anyone's soul. They never have. And they never
will. But the first thing that stands
out here is this, that salvation is a heart work. Listen, for
it is good for the heart to be established. Salvation is not
forms and doings and not doing, it's a heart work. It's God doing
business in the heart. That's salvation, it's a heart
work. It is spiritual and it's not ceremonies and rituals. We're
not gonna come into this room and go through some ceremonies
and some rituals and do some things like that and say we've
worshiped God. We haven't. God is a spirit and those who
worship him must worship him how? In spirit and in truth,
not in ceremonies and rituals and that kind of stuff. You've got to do it in the heart.
It starts in the heart. True religion has to do with
the heart. It has to do with grace. Salvation by grace. It's not
salvation because I keep some things and do some things. It's
by God's grace without me doing anything. I do absolutely nothing to obtain
salvation. It's all of grace. It has to do with the heart,
grace. It has to do with righteousness.
It has to do with faith and repentance. The fruit of the Spirit. Love,
joy, peace, long-suffering. These are things of the heart. And he said it's good for the
heart, the heart, to be established. That means to confirm. To confirm. That means to be grounded, to
be grounded in the gospel of grace, how God can save you and
me and be a just God and a Savior. Let's never go beyond that in
salvation. Through the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, God can be a just God and a Savior and save a wretch
like me. He can do that. But outside of
that, he can't. I don't care how moral a person
is. It matters not. They may be the most moral person
in town. They may be the most giving person
in town. They may be the best neighbor
in town. But apart from Jesus Christ, they're lost. They are
lost. God can only save us, and God
can only be a just God through the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. The answer to how God can be
a just God and a Savior is only found in the gospel of the grace
of God. That's the only place it's found. The gospel of grace is the establishing
and strengthening of the heart in that new man. If you want to be strengthened,
in the heart. If you want to be strengthened
in faith, if you want to be strengthened in these matters, go to Christ. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't go to the law. Don't go to ceremonies and types
and pictures. Don't go to these things. You'd
be surprised how many people do. Don't go to them. And he's saying
here there's no spiritual benefit in these ceremonies, these rules
of diet, in these ritualistic meals, there was no spiritual
benefit in them whatsoever. They pointed to Christ. The benefit
has always been in Him. It's never been in these things.
Never. It's always been in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All these rituals they did and all these diets
they observed did nothing for the heart. It didn't enable you
to love your enemies. Doing these ritualistic meals
and diets and all these things that they observed and all the
ceremonies they observed, not one of them enabled you to love
your neighbor anymore. But grace in the heart will. Grace in the heart will enable
you and me to love our enemies. It will enable us to pray for
our enemies. But being religious won't. It won't. They did nothing for the heart,
but I tell you this, feeding on Christ the bread of life,
has great benefit, great spiritual value. Feeding on just bread
and all these other things is like the husk. It's like that
prodigal son went down and just fed on the husk. Look over at Colossians 2. Look in verse 8. Well, let me go to verse 6. Let
me go to verse 6. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him, rooted and built
up in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, established in the faith
as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware
now, he said, beware. Lest any man spoil you through
philosophy, vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Beware of this.
Satan is so subtle. Now you and I would like to think
that we couldn't be duped. But he said if it were possible
that Satan would deceive the very elect. If God allowed it,
we'd fall like an apple from a tree, if He let us. You know, there's some pretty
slick talkers out there now, and Satan is the slickest of
all. Now look over in verse 20. 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, which all are to perish with the using, after
the commandments and doctrines of men?" And this is exactly what some
of the Hebrews are being pressured to go back under, this touch
not, taste not, handle not. Go back under that life, that
old economy. That old Jewish economy, the
old priesthood. Now, he says here that those rules
of diet and ritualistic meals had no benefit or spiritual growth
to those who observed them, but There in verse 10, we have an
altar. An altar. You know, the Apostle Paul here
in verse 10, we have an altar whereof they have no right to
eat what serves the tabernacle. He actually, he bypasses the
temple and goes, he reaches back to the wilderness, to the tabernacle
in the wilderness, is what he does. And he points back to the
tent in the wilderness where there was an altar. God gave
an altar. And that altar was for the sacrifice
to be offered upon, the sin offering. It was a way to God. It was a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way to God. And the sacrifice and atonement
was made on that altar once a year, and the priest... Let me read
the rest of this. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat which serves the tabernacle. The priest was allowed, now listen,
the priest was allowed to eat of the sacrifices on that altar,
except on the day of atonement. He could not eat. He could not
eat of that sacrifice. Now he says, and he's pointing
out to these Hebrews and to us, here's a lesson, if you're going
to go back, if you're going to go back, they were going to go
back to the old economy, that old priesthood. If you want to
go back to freewillism, if you want to go back to Arminianism,
if you want to go back to that, he says you have no right to
eat at this altar. You have no right to eat of this, officer."
Those who served that tabernacle and those who offered that atonement
on the Day of Atonement, they were not allowed to eat of that
sacrifice. But now you and I have an altar.
We have an altar. Jesus Christ is that altar. It's
not a piece of wood. It's not the cross He hung on.
It's Him. He's that altar. And you and
I have a right to eat of that altar. You and I have a right
to eat of that sacrifice which they had no right to eat of.
We have a right to the Lord Jesus Christ. He that eats my flesh
and drinks my blood hath eternal life." See, they had no right
to eat of that sacrifice that was offered for the atonement.
They had offered the blood and we'll show you what they did
with that body. But brethren, we have an altar. We have a sin
offering. We have a sacrifice. And you
and I can eat of that, eat of Him. He's it, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But, if you leave this one, if
you leave this one, and you go serve another one, and saying
to them, if you go back to that tabernacle, you have no right
to this one. You have no right to this one. We cannot, what he's saying here,
we cannot sit at two tables at the same time and eat. It's going
to be one or the other. It's going to be works or grace.
One or the other. You're not going to do both.
If you want the way of works, if you want to go back, if you
want to go by the way of works, you'll have to get up from the
table of grace. and leave Christ and Him crucified and sit at
the other table." Because you can't sit at both tables. It
doesn't work that way. Law and grace does not mix. It does not mix. Now, look what they did here
on the Day of Atonement in verse 11. "'For the bodies of those
beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high
priest for sin, are burned without the camp. On the Day of Atonement,
they would slay the sacrifice. The blood would be brought in
and sprinkled on the mercy seat. And because of sin, and it was
a sin offering, it was a sin offering, it was considered polluted. And so what they would do, they'd
take the flesh, the skin, and the dung of that animal, and
they took it outside the camp. They took it outside where Israel
had all these tents, you know, that's camped. They took it outside
the camp. And they would set that beast
on fire and burn it up. They would burn it up. Here's a beautiful picture and
an awful picture that we're about to look at. The body of those
beasts were taken out and is burned. This shows their uncleanness. They were taken out to the dump. They were taken out
to the dump and burned. and even those who took them
out to the dump had to wash themselves before they could come back into
the camp. That's how polluted it was considered to be. And how clearly this shows Christ
being made sin for us who knew no sin. He is the sin bearer He was made sin for us. He knows what that's
all about. And because of this, he had to
go outside the camp. He fulfilled the tithe. He went
outside of Jerusalem, the city. He was judged there in Jerusalem,
in the city, and then he was taken out. He had to go outside
of the city. Listen, he had to go outside
of the city to the dump because he was made to be sin. He was
our sin bearer. And he had to go outside the
city and be burned by the wrath of God. The wrath of God burned
on him. See verse 12? Therefore, in fulfilling
this tithe, therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people,
that he might set apart as holy." And you know what? You and I are included in this,
everyone who believes here. We are included in this verse. We have to look at it closely. Wherefore Jesus also, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, that He might
set them apart, make them holy. I'm looking at a people that have been made holy. And before God Almighty, you
are without blemish. And you're without blemish not
because you quit doing some things, not because you straightened
up, because the blood of Christ, because the blood of Christ washed
away your sins. Listen here. Wherefore Jesus
also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. What did they do? to the body
of those beasts that were offered, those animals, what did they
do? They burned them up because they were so polluted. Jesus Christ was made sin. And when he was taken out there
on Calvary's tree, the hell of God's wrath, the fire of God's
wrath fell on him. He had to go outside the city
of Jerusalem to suffer and die that you and I might be brought
in to the city of God. Most everyone I read today, in
the last few days, think that He went to the very place where
they burned the bodies of those animals. That He went to that
very place. And that's where the That's where
He died. Suffered and died. Crucified.
He was taken to the dump and burned. Burned under the wrath
of God. And here's the reason, as I said,
so that He might make us holy. That He might present us before
God without spot or blemish. That's why. Now, what are you
and I to do? What are you and I to do? He went outside that city bearing
the reproach for our sins, bearing the reproach and hatred of men
for who He was, who He is, God. So, this being so, let us, verse
13, let us go out to Him. Let us go forth Go forth, therefore,
unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach." Not saying, why
this? Why is this happening to me?
No, it's gladly, gladly suffering for Christ's sake. Gladly suffering whenever the
Lord sends our way, puts us through. Let us go forth unto Him, not
ashamed of Him." Not ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
say, well, I'm not ashamed of Him. You know, Peter said, I'll
never deny you. No way. I will not deny you.
He said, oh, yes. Before that, the cock crows three
times in the morning. Peter, you'll deny me three times. It's amazing. I mean, it was
just not too long after that, that incident came up, and Peter
never thought about what the Lord said. He just denied Him
three times. And one time he says, He cursed
His maid. He said, You're one of them.
Your speech betrays you. You're one of them. No, I'm not.
He cursed. I'm not. And then the Lord just
looked at him. broke his heart. Some think we ought to stay in
the camp. We would have more influence there. No. He says we must come out from
among them. Come out from among them. Christ is not in false
religion. I thought when I first heard
the gospel, and I told the people there, I told the pastor there,
I thought they'd be happy. They weren't. But I thought if
I stayed around, I thought if I kept going back, I would convince. Henry said, and I talked to Henry
about it once, he said, no. He said, well, he said, you're
gonna have to leave that place. You gotta come out. You gotta
come out. The old and the new cannot be
sewn together. You know, in the scripture, it
teaches in the Old Testament that a new garment and an old
garment could not be sewn together. God has not wedded and sewed
the new nature to the old nature. They are two separate natures.
Ones of Adam fallen will never be any good. And ones of God
and will never sin. That new nature cannot sin. It
can't do it. It's born of God. That which
is born of the Spirit is what? It's Spirit. It's Spirit. Why would God give me another
nature that's just as sinful as the one I already got? He doesn't. He doesn't. And He doesn't put new wine into
old wine skins. He said, if you do that, what's
going to happen? The old one is going to burst. But you put
new wine into new bottles. And what happens is in the new
birth, in the new birth, we have the
Spirit of God We have the Spirit of Christ. Christ dwells in us. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
He takes the things of Christ and shows them to us. If you think giving up old friends,
old ways, and family ties, if it crosses, if it crosses, what they believe concerning
the gospel and what the scripture says concerning the gospel, which
is what you believe. If you believe God, it's just
what you believe, what the scripture says concerning Christ. So if
you think giving up old friends, old ways, old family is too much,
then you can stay and perish with them. Remember Pilgrim? I don't know if you've ever read
Pilgrim Progress. He tried to get his wife and family to leave
with him. He said, God's going to burn
this place up. The city of destruction's going to burn it up. And at first
they wouldn't leave, but he set out. He went on his own. He went
ahead and set out. Broke his heart, but he set out
and left them. Doesn't mean we're not friends
with Him or can be friendly with Him. Doesn't mean that. But what does mean is this, if
Christ had to go outside the camp, why would we want to stay
in it? Why would we want to stay where
He left? Why would we want to stay where
He's not? Where He is, is where I want
to be. where He is, is where I want
to be. So let us go out to Him outside
the camp bearing His reproach. Bearing His reproach. I thought
about this today, and I actually think that we've gotten... I
don't know how to really put this into words, but I think
as believers we've gotten lazy. in our witness of Christ. If I find Christianity to be
easy, I've probably missed it. I've probably missed it. If I
find it just to be an easy road, no problems, because it says
here, bearing his reproach, I guarantee you If you stand at work, if you
stand at the water fountain, and a conversation comes up over
the gospel, and you tell the truth, who Jesus Christ is, what
He did, who He did it for, where He is now, you're going to find
what reproach is about. There's a cross to bear. Let us go forth therefore unto
Him without the camp," without the camp of religion and all
that's against Christ, we leave it. We leave it. We're bearing
His reproach, no matter what they say about us. It was really
the reproaching Christ. For here we have no continuing
city. Why are you trying to hang on
to it, huh? Oh, that God would enable us
to let go now. Henry used to tell us several
times, he said, let it go now and it won't hurt so much when
God takes it. If you just let it go now. Let
it go. Here we have no continuing city.
In AD 70, they destroyed that temple. Messed that place up. Tore it down. We have no continuing city here,
but we seek one to come, don't we? We seek one to come. We're like a bunch of nomads.
We're like a bunch of nomads. You know, I thank God He's given
us housing so we can keep the rain off our heads and staying
out of the weather, but our home is in glory. Christ said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. In my Father's house are many
mansions, many dwelling places, and I'm going to go and I'm going
to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. We are truly pilgrims. We're
truly pilgrims, traveling traveling. Often when I watch the History
Channel or I watch something about history, it always strikes
me, if I see a grave, they dig up these bones, and I always
think, that person at one time was alive. These events at one time actually
happened. And one day they're going to
say that about me. He used to be the pastor of Bethel Baptist
Church. He used to go there. He used
to live there in North Carolina on Bethel Baptist Road. My grandfather built his house,
lived there for 60 years. We went there, visited, and they're gone. The person
who lives there is a stranger to me. I don't know him from
anybody. But there was one time the family gathered there, it
was all gathering and talking, and gone. Gone. No, we have no lasting city here,
but we're looking for one, which is to come, it's sure, it's sure.
We leave the camp of religion and family and friends and head
out by faith, looking for a city which is to come. Who's builder,
maker? God. Well, that's enough. The lesson here is this, be not
carried away with... be not carried about or away
with different doctrines and strange teachings. If it sounds
weird, it is. If it is. If it's a gospel to
you who believes, if it's a gospel, it ain't weird. It's the truth.
It's the truth. Someone asked me once, they said,
why don't you say something about him preaching about that flat
earth business. I said, that's so silly. I don't
want to waste my time on it. I don't want to get carried away with diverse and strange doctrines,
even in his pulpit. The most dangerous things that
could happen to you is for me to get carried away with that
and start bringing it out of this pulpit. Just keep laying
that straight stick down. Just keep laying that straight
one down. You'll see the crooked. It'll become obvious. Alright,
I'm going to shut up.