Good morning. It is good to see
all of you. Glad to be here myself and I'm
glad you're here. Now let's see what we can do this morning in telling what we have just
put in song as well as the lesson on the names for Christ throughout
the scriptures in the Bible class this morning. Now, I need for
us, first of all, for our reading passage, to turn to 2 Peter chapter
2. My title this morning is a question. What is heresy? What is damnable doctrine? And what people believe. And they claim they can find
it in the Bible, but it isn't there. It's straight out of their
own mind and wicked heart. And the same is true of you and
me until God conquers us by His grace. And if He has not yet
conquered me, I'm just as lost as I was when I was born. And
so are you." So this reading is intended to be a background
to this subject, what is heresy. So let's start at the very beginning,
2 Peter 2, verse 1. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privately or privately shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction." And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers
not." Now notice in that verse that expression, to make merchandise
of you, to use you to further their religious futures and climbing
whatever ladder it is that they're trying to climb. Alright, verse
4. For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into
chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and if He spared
not the old world, that is, the one before Noah, but saved Noah,
the eighth person, A preacher of righteousness, and another
word for that is what? A preacher of Christ and Him
crucified. Bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly. Now there are plenty of people
that you have met and are yet to meet, and the same with myself,
who claim to know more than God, And we can just fly right into
the face of the statement we've just read. But it ain't gonna
change, it's gonna be there tomorrow. If tomorrow comes and the next
day, if the next day comes. God's truth doesn't change. He
doesn't say one thing today and something else tomorrow. Verse 6, And turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that after should live ungodly, and delivered just Lot." That
doesn't mean he just delivered Lot, it means righteous Lot. God delivered righteous lot,
vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous
man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptation, out of trials,
and to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished.
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness,
and despise government, especially God's government, presumptuous
are they, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak
evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater
in power and might, bring not railing accusations against them
before the Lord, but these as natural, brute beasts, These
are human beings being likened to natural brute beasts. made
to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they
understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption,
and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that
count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are and
blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while
they feast with you." having eyes full of adultery, and they
cannot cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls, on
heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children,
which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray. Following the way of Balaam,
the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but
was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbade
the madness of the prophet." These wells, these are wells
without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom
the mist of darkness is reserved forever? For when they speak
great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust
of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped
from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants. of corruption? For of whom a
man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. And
if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire." So we're compared in a great many ways in this
chapter with language fitting for animals but not fit for men
and yet found all over this earth this morning, in every state
in this United States, in every county, in this county, in every
township, in every church, including this one. Now may we pray. Lord, what sobering words we
have just read. What awful things to say about
any human being. And yet they must be said. For
you have certainly spoken them. And we're obliged to preach what
we find in this book. We beg for mercy from above that
you would help us. Let us deal faithfully and honestly
and truthfully with the things that your word calls heresy. Lord, we're trying to answer
a question. What is heresy? Help us. Send your Spirit to meet with
us this day. If you will, we beg in Christ's
name, Amen. Now my first approach to the
subject of heresy is to try to identify what human beings would call
heresy. But you might be surprised at
what I have chosen. And you might even take exception
to it. If I thought God would follow
you when you left here, I wish you would take exception. Because it's not me trying to
convince you. And there's no such word that
applies to God as the word try. He ain't never tried anything.
All He does is speak and it's done. And I mean done forever. Salvation is by the will of God
and not the will of man. It's not 90% God and 10% man,
it's all God and none from us. We cannot give ourselves salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2.9, as my friend who's
now deceased used to say, When he spoke those words in that
whale's belly, and I don't care if you call it a whale or a fish
or whatever it is, it's still what it is. And it was large
enough to house a man and keep him to some extent alive in the
belly of that fish. And when he came to his senses
and spoke these words, salvation is of the Lord. My friend said that old Armenian
whale couldn't stand that and he spit him out on dry land. Preacher, you surely don't tell
me you believe that. Oh indeed I do. I have no other recourse. If
this book is wrong in one place, it can be wrong everywhere. But
ain't no mistakes in a book that God writes. and no telling how
many of his children were put to death for standing up to those
in their generation who denied what this book says and these
men went to their graves gladly bearing the reproach of Christ. If this generation, this world
in which we presently live is ever to be changed, it's going
to take something exactly like that. Some people will have to die,
but if they're believers, you can't begrudge God, can you? He simply is telling them to
come up here. It's time to come home. When you tell the average religious
person that the will of man has nothing to do with being saved, They'll just about drop their
teeth. They cannot believe that you
would actually say this, especially in public. And for that matter,
on the internet, on a CD. But that's what this book is
about. God's will is not dependent on ours. What we do is dependent
on Him and His will. There's a statement in Proverbs
that reads, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as
the rivers of water he turns it whither so ever he will. Now I know there's some obstinate
people in this world. I've even heard that I was one
of them. And I'm afraid they're right. But you can't talk about
language like that when you're talking about God and ourselves. He does exactly as He pleases
every day that rolls by. Secondly, what do religious people
call heresy? To tell a sinner that salvation
is a finished and a perfected work. You and I cannot add one
single thing to it. Nothing. It's all of God, because
it's all of grace, and it's all of Christ. Therefore, we do not
contribute. We are the beneficiaries, but
certainly not the cause. How about turning to John 17
and then while we're right there in John we want to pick up a
statement out of verse 19. John 17. passages and words such as we
are using this morning, these are found in all aspects of the
Scripture, Old and New Testament alike. And yet people say, this
can't be who God is. Well, it's who He says He is,
now whose word are we going to take? We must take His, we must
take this book, and we must not part with it. Salvation is a
finished and a perfected work. It is done, not do. You and I can't do one thing
to save ourselves. If Christ hasn't already done
it, it ain't ever going to happen. Now you might be 99 when God
crosses your path with His gospel, or you might be 19, I don't know.
I can't predict these things. All you can do is preach the
truth and let it fall wherever it falls. John chapter 17 and verse 4. Our Lord Jesus in this true prayer
of intercession, He says in verse 4 of John 17, I have glorified
you on the earth. I have finished the work which
you gave me to do." Now what work is this? It is all the work
before the cross, not including the cross. Because we're going
to come to a statement in just a moment that will bring that
into the whole matter. I have finished the work which
you gave me to do." Now basically, just to put it as simply as I
can, and some people might take exception with it, and that's
fine if you do, but he is speaking here of the active life of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in which He lived in this world some 33 years
before going to the cross. And in those years, He is earning
for His people a perfect righteousness, and He is here telling His Father,
I have finished the work which You gave Me to do. It's finished! Thank God it's finished. Yet
there's still something left. There's this matter of dying
in our place, in our room as our substitute. So right here, in the same gospel,
chapter 19, did I give you the verse? I'm
glad, I didn't mean to. Now we go to the verse. It's
verse 30. John 19, 30. When Jesus, therefore, had finished,
had received the vinegar, Now in John's Gospel, this is the
last words out of his mouth, but I'd have to go back to all
the other three to make sure, but I don't know that this is
the actual final word that he spoke, but as far as the subject
matter in which we're concerned, this will do just fine. When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. That's exactly what he said back
in chapter 17, wasn't it? Of John's Gospel. It is finished! And this time that means the
whole thing is finished. His suffering, His bleeding,
His dying. Taking our places, our substitute. He lived for us. He died for
us. And now He bowed His head and
gave up the ghost. And nobody ain't ever died that
way before. Never. Never. Until he releases
his soul, he cannot die. My soul, he's God. He's the God-man. You have to make this distinction,
that there are two aspects of His work, both of which are now,
according to the Scriptures, finished. Finished, finished,
finished. My next answer to this question,
why do religious people call what we preach heresy. There
are a couple of scriptures that I'd like for us to see, but let
me make the point and then we'll trace it in our Bibles. The only
holiness that God will accept, the only holiness that God will
accept is the one He provides in our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ,
our substitute. The Father makes Him our substitute. Alright? Let me read you this
verse and then we'll turn to the next one. This is in 2 Corinthians. For God has made Christ to be
sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. The only righteousness we have
in this world, or in the world to come for that matter, is the
imputed righteousness of Christ. And yet everybody and his brother
thinks he has a righteousness of his own and they're so proud
of it they just can't wait to tell you about it. But it's a
lie. A sinner? Like we heard described
this morning in that running through the statements regarding
our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, my goodness. The only righteousness God will
accept is the one that He gives us in His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if you'll turn to this Scripture,
I did read that one, didn't I? I think I did. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For God has made Christ to be
sin for us Christ, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him." That's our righteousness. And the Scripture also speaks,
I'm not asking you to turn there, I think I can remember this one.
Just as sure as I say that, I'm starting to feel like I can't.
Third and fourth verses. In the book of Romans chapter
10, those verses teach us this glorious, glorious truth. Let me look it up, I declare.
I hate to promise something and not do it. Here, I had mine marked. Y'all better hurry up if you
want to get there in time. Romans chapter 10. We're going
to do verses 3 and 4. And these are statements that
are absolute. They're not suggestions. Well,
maybe this is what you ought to think, or maybe not. You're so smart, maybe you're
smart enough to make up your own mind. You don't need God.
We don't need His Word. Oh yes, we do. Some of us know
that we need it more than we ever needed it. This thing of
age is not just playing games. Not always kind, but that's how
it goes in big cities. Are you ready? Romans chapter
10, verses 3 and 4. Paul has referred in the previous
chapter as well as the previous verse that his heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
But Israel has a problem. And you don't have to be an Israelite
to have the same problem. We're all born with this same
problem. We think that we can make ourselves
righteous, give us a higher seat in glory above some other people
we could name. Here it is in verse 3. For they,
referring to those people whom Paul speaks of in verse 1, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, are going about
to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Now what righteousness is that? It is the righteousness of God.
But, here it is. You can't make it any plainer
than this. Verse 4. That follows verse 3, right?
For Christ is the end, E-N-D, end of the law, for what? For righteousness to everyone
that believes. So what is the righteousness
of all believers? It's Christ. Christ and Him crucified,
but it's Christ. And it's all Christ. And it can't
ever be anything else. You can be a believer for the
remainder of your days and be just as wicked and lost without
Christ as you ever were. And so can I. The Lord, our righteousness. You remember this in Jeremiah
23.6? His name is to be called the
Lord our righteousness. Then in chapter 33, we put it
again and it says, She shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That is His bride, the church. If Christ is righteous and He's
taken His people's case to Himself, and came into this world for
their sake, and lived for their sake, and suffered for their
sake, and died for their sake, then they ain't got but one righteousness,
and that's the finished righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alright,
the fourth thing comes out of, let's see if I can find my note
here, comes out of one of the letters
of Timothy. If I narrow it down too much, you'll be trying to
find it instead of listening to what little bit I've got to
say. Here's the fourth thing that people take exception to,
and they tell us that we are heretics. And I can certainly
testify to the fact that that this has been done on many occasions
and not the least of which the last time I vaguely, well I can't
say vaguely on that, took place right here in this auditorium.
Right here. They said that what I preached
is not even in the Bible, let alone believing it. But as it turned out, More people
believed here than I ever expected to see at one time. Y'all ought
to know what I'm talking about. In 2 Timothy, here are these
words. Who has saved us? and called
us with unholy 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." Before the world began. This righteousness
is already determined. Before God ever made man. Before
Adam ever fell in the garden, it's always been this way. This
is how it is. Then in the book of Daniel, And
at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes to heaven,
and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored Him that lives forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are imputed as nothing. And He does according to His
will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what are you doing? God does as He pleases, all the
time, everywhere, with everybody, including you and me. My, what
a God, what a God indeed. I don't remember what number
that was, but I got a pretty good bit of time
left. Let me read you another statement. You find this in 2 Timothy. Well
shucks, you all don't want to turn so bad, I'm just going to
let you turn. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. Now what was our last statement about
heresy? It had to do with righteousness. And Christ is all the righteousness
the sinner has. And it's always been this way,
and it will be throughout ages to come, in eternity. Then we come to this matter regarding
God's grace. People are real sensitive when
you tell them That God, He doesn't need you
to let Him into your heart. Good heavens! I used to believe
that and rejoice in it and thought it was great. Oh, but not anymore. Not anymore. God's grace is irresistible
and almighty. All powerful. If you want the
other word, omnipotent. That's who God is. And He doesn't
change. If God could change, He either
wasn't God to start with or He's not God now. Which is it? Did you find 2 Timothy? Chapter 1. In verse 9, "...who has saved us
and called us with unholy calling, not according to our works."
It's got nothing to do with our works. If you and I did it, it's
sinful anyway. We contaminate everything we
do and say. Not according to our works. What's
it based on? But according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. Before this globe was ever made. I tell you, this salvation has
been the same forever and ever. And it will be forever and ever
to come. Another thing that sticks in
people's craw is this statement regarding the absolute sovereignty
of God Almighty. And then we come in the sixth
place, that there is only one mediator between God and man. It's the God-man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2.5 for sure. Now I got three little statements
and I'll be finished. Even though they're short, I
mean in length, each one of them. One-liners. And the paper ain't very big. But I'll tell you what's big.
It's what I'm about to say. Here are three of the greatest
heresies this world has ever confessed. The greatest. They tell us that God loves everybody. Well, if God loves everybody,
why isn't everybody going to heaven? Now you don't have to go to the
graveyard to find out about this. There are plenty of people in
this book that are said to be in hell. Now if God loves me, His love
can't be much if it can't keep me out of hell. But we must understand that nowhere
in our Bibles does it say that God loves everybody. and a thousand
statements in the Scriptures that define for us those that
in fact Christ actually died for. We'll save that for another
time. Here's the second heresy of all
heresies. Oh, and I've got the Scripture
here for this. Let me ask you to turn back to
John 17. I don't remember how long ago
I found this, but I'll tell you what, it took my breath away. First time I ever saw it. John 17, what verse is it? 9. This is called our Lord's High
Priestly Prayer. He's praying to His Father, and
He's praying for His children. And look what He says. I pray for them. These old sorry-good-for-nothing
disciples of mine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. What
did you say? I pray not for the world? He didn't come to save the world.
He came to save His people. And this world can't end until
He finishes the job. I might not be here, you might
not be here, but that ain't gonna change a thing. God is still God. Christ is still
the only Savior. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which You've given Me, for they are
Yours, and all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. Now, I don't see where somebody
slips out from under that statement. I just don't see it. God chose you in eternity, He
gave you to Christ in eternity, and He comes in time and reveals
who those people are. They're in every generation that's
ever been, and will be until this world ends. Christ died for everybody, and
He won't pray for everybody? Surely you can't miss that, can
you? He died for people He won't pray
for? My soul! What kind of God is that, to
be sure? And the third thing is that God's
Holy Spirit is trying to save everybody, and since God the
Father is God, and God the Son is God, so is God the Holy Spirit. And He cannot fail, He must prevail,
and prevail He has, and is, and will. Alrighty.