These words that our Lord has
said throughout the Gospel of Luke, such seriousness, sobering
words. I can't help but think, I'm just
certain of it, that these are indeed the last days. And judgment
has begun at the house of God. Our Lord said things like this,
well look at verse 13, here's where we are. No servant can
serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and
love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and man. You cannot. You cannot be a servant
of God, a child of God, and serve self and the world and these
things, be given to these things, be in love with these things. And He's speaking of God, He's
speaking of the Kingdom of God, He's speaking of the things of
God, Son of God whom we serve, His call, God's Word, God's truth,
God's gospel, God's church, God's people. You cannot, cannot give
yourself to both. You cannot. You cannot, our Lord
said you cannot. He said, cannot many times. He
said, if any man loved father or mother, husband, wife, son
or daughter more than me, cannot be not saved. Hate not. Hate not. Cannot be not saved. Except you forsake all that you
have, you cannot. Didn't he say that? A master is one who owns you. A master is your lord. A master
is your ruler. In days of old, there were true
masters who were lords over estates, over kingdoms, over the world.
There were masters and then there were servants. And an estate has one One master,
one lord, one owner, one ruler, and every single servant, every
single one who lives in that estate serves that one master. You can't serve another. You
serve that one, that one master. A servant is one who serves that
master, his cause, his estate, his kingdom. He cannot, that
servant cannot serve himself and serve his master. He cannot
be out in the world. for and live with and live unto
their master, right? This is what our Lord is saying.
A servant's life is to serve, to please his master. That's
his vocation. That's his career. That's her
career. That's her life, servant. You remember, we looked at the
ship, the fellows on that ship. They're sailing. They're all
on board that ship. And in a ship, there's one captain. There's one master. One master,
he's called, that's what they call it. The master of the ship,
the captain of that ship. All on that ship, they serve
that master. They take their orders from that
master, that captain. They serve the cause of the ship. What is it? They're leaving somewhere,
going somewhere else. They all know it. They're all
glad to be on it. And they're all glad if they
have a good captain, they're glad he's running it. This is the fellowship of the
gospel. We're in the Ark of Christ. He's
our captain. He's our master. And we're with
him, and we're so glad we're in this Ark, aren't we? All God's
people, they truly are. And they all have a desire, one
great desire, to reach the other side. And their desire is, we
have a good master, we have a wonderful master, we have a kind master,
whom to serve is, his yoke is easy, his burden is light, his
commandments are not grievous. To the contrary, his commandments
are wisdom, righteousness, kindness, And good, all good, everything
he tells us, everything he orders us to do, everything he says
to do is just right, it's just, it's good, it's for our salvation. And so we listen to him, don't
we? We don't want to listen to anybody
else. We don't take our orders from anybody else. We don't see any wisdom anywhere
else, do we? You cannot serve Him and heed
Him and follow Him and follow the Word. You cannot. You either
hate the one or love the other. Love the one, hate the other. Now, the Lord is not saying we
cannot go to school, get an education, have a job, have a home, have
a family. Every person in scripture that
lived in this world did that. It does not say we cannot serve
one another. We're told to serve one another,
by love, serve one another. Husband, serve your wife. Wife, serve your husband. Servants, serve your employer. Right? That's what it said. Enoch,
we looked at many examples. Enoch lives 365 years. He had
a family. He had many, many children. He
had to work. He might have worked two or three
jobs. He had to. Abraham was rich in houses, not
houses, he lived in a tent, but in lands and cattle. He had much
to oversee. Many people that worked for him.
He was a master. He had many servants. David had
a kingdom to rule. You'd think he had a responsibility.
David had wives. Shouldn't have, but he did. More
than one. Several. Seven or more. Children. He had responsibilities, didn't
he? But Enoch walked with God. He took his orders from God. He lived with and loved his God,
not the world. He was in the world and went
up. He didn't listen to it. He didn't take his orders from
the world, but from his God. He wasn't walking with the world.
He was walking with his God. Can you do both? Can you live
in the world? Yes, you can. You can live in this world and
not be of it, not be taken with it. Enoch, Abraham. He dwelled
in tents. Why? He was looking for a permanent
place. God's blood with God's people. David. David. Christ was David's
life. He had a kingdom to rule. Every
day. Every day from his waking moment
to his sleeping. When he went to sleep, he had
thousands of people that needed him. But he served God. and God's
kingdom. The child of God lives in this
world. Now, this is just a fact. Our
Lord said you cannot do both, and this is a fact. And although
we're exhorted here and we're rebuked and reproved and admonished
about this, this is just a fact. The child of God lives in the
world, but they don't live for it. They live in the world, but they're
not of it. That's just a fact. It's like life. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst. The Beatitudes, when the Lord
was saying, blessed are they that mourn. That's not, you ought
to. God's people do. Yes, we ought
to mourn. But they do. It's either there
or it's not. It's called life. It's called love. It's called
the life of God. And so, especially the poor,
God's people are poor and needy. They never quit being poor and
needy. Hunger and thirst, that's a sign of life. That's the vital
sign. If there's no hunger and thirst,
then right now I'm just grieving over some people that just don't
need this. Demas hath forsaken me, Paul
said. He loved what? He loved this
world. He can't love the world and love
this, love Christ, love his people. He can't. Our Lord, you cannot. It's not possible. You either
love the one or you hate the other. I didn't say that. I'm not saying
this. It's our Lord saying it. And so rather, but rather than,
I'm a pastor, I've got sheep that I'm concerned about, and
so should you be. But don't so much examine other
people, but examine yourself right now. Let's examine ourselves
and ask ourselves, is Christ my life? Do I live for Him? Is it my heart's desire to win
Christ and be found in Him or win the lottery? The child of God lives in this
world. He's not of it. He's just not. He works in this
world, but he doesn't work for it. He works for his Lord. He has possessions in this world,
but he's not possessed by it. That child of God heeds, follows,
submits to, and walks with his Lord. according to the word of
his Lord and his master, not the world. Our Lord said you
cannot do both. You can't. Now mammon, the Lord
just talked about being wise in it. And here's wisdom about
mammon. It's deceitful. The riches of
this world are deceitful. The whole world is deceived by
it. They that will be rich, Paul wrote, drowned in it. Perdition. The people of the
world are drowning in the world, the waters of this world. We're
going to look at the woman at the well. When she met the true
water, she dropped her water pot. She found true water. The waters
of this world, the people, you know, the children of Israel
passed through on dry land. They passed through the waters
of the thing. They weren't overcome by this world. The Egyptians
are saying to do, we're drowned, destroyed by the things people
overcome by. Oh, brother, we're passing through,
aren't we? Put my feet on solid rock. Don't let the mud cling to me.
The mire, don't let me get mired in this slime pit called the world. Cannot, cannot. Now, we can enjoy
these things. The Lord giveth us all things
richly to enjoy them. The Lord would not have us be
miserable here. The Lord would have us... Ecclesiastes,
the whole book is about that. Enjoy these things. Enjoy these
things. Enjoy these things. Enjoy these things. But, if these things, if we love these
things... Now, love means desire. Love
means you don't want to live without. Love means I have to
have. When I fell in love, when the
Lord caused me to fall in love with Mindy, I didn't need anybody
or anything in this world but her. I didn't need to sleep. I went long periods of time without
sleep. It's just love, isn't it? I pursued
everybody and everything. Just go on, I don't need anybody
but her. I climbed the highest mountain.
I swam the deepest sea. Really. Brother Stephen, Court
and Mary all the way down there in Nashville. Get on that road,
boy, just as soon as you can. You've got to get to her. It's Christ, you know. Who or what's going to keep you
from worshiping your Lord? Who or what do you want to be
with more than your Lord and His people? You know, I still don't have
to ask myself, am I going home today to be with my wife? Are
you kidding? Seriously? The question doesn't
enter my mind. I love her, I want to be with
her, more now than ever. That's love. If any man loves
his father and mother more than me, he cannot be my child. You
love the one or you hate the other. Right? That's what he said. Now, the Lord uses the word hate. Look at verse 13. You hate the
one, love the other, else you hold to the one, despise the
other. You cannot serve, cannot love
both. Do you not hate that the world
has such a pull on you? I'm speaking to God's people
now. Do you not hate the sin that is within you? Do you not
hate Our Lord said, all that is in the world. He said, love
not the world. Amen. Love the world. The love of the
Father is not any. He said, all that is in the world.
This is what the Lord said. Bless the eyes, bless the flesh,
and the pride of life. That's this world. That's what
it's all about. Me and mine. Get all you can. God. Who? There is no God. This is God. I'm God. I serve myself. That's what the world said. Do
you not hate that? Do you not hate that it's still
in you? Do you not want to be done with this? Our Lord calls
it this present evil world. Why is it evil? Well, it's not
the things. God created this world. He says it's good. It's
good. But when man loves these things
and doesn't give God a thought, in fact, does the opposite, takes
credit for and glories in, worships the creature more than the creator. He begins to hate God, hate sovereignty,
hate holiness, hate righteousness, and love sin and love evil. And God hates that and hates
those who hate him and hate his son. Is this so with you? But God
is rich in mercy for great love wherewith he loved you, even
when you were dead in sin. Quicken, sent this gospel. Holy
and righteous and sovereign God whose hand your breath is. He
lived all those years without giving him a thought. Now you're
thinking about it. And you're convicted of your
sin. I didn't know God, didn't worship his son, didn't care
about his son. God sends the gospel, says, I sent my son down
here to be the burnt offering for you. I sent him through hell
so you won't go there. Oh, thank you, Lord. Now, what
are we going to live for? Now, what are we going to be
taken up with? Romans 6 talks about that. Romans
6 says that we are dead to sin and live any longer therein.
How? How? How? How? Once you were servants of sin,
and now, he said, servants of righteousness. And once you had
no pleasure in the things of God, but only pleasure in the
things of the world, walked according to the course of this world,
children of wrath, even as others, just like the world, and loving
every minute of it. Not giving God a thought. But
God. Quickened by this gospel. Is
this gospel important? Is what I'm doing important?
We won't be saved without it. Our children and grandchildren
won't be saved without hearing it. That's how vital this place
is and what I'm doing. It really is. It really is. It's life or death.
This is not Sunday go to meeting, good service, good sermon preachers.
Oh, this is life or death. Today is the day of salvation. That's serious. He said you cannot,
cannot, cannot. Well, the Pharisee, now let's
go back. Verse 14. Pharisees heard it. Pharisees.
Who were Pharisees? Pretenders. Hypocrites. They looked religious. They talked
religious. They attended all the services. They were Sabbath keepers. They
wouldn't dare miss a Saturday. Man, I don't want to be a Pharisee. Do you? I don't want to be a
Pharisee. Many of them. They were everywhere.
They were everywhere. And it says they were covetous.
They were covetous. Everyone else wouldn't know it,
but they were. They coveted, they were envious
of our Lord's fame. And the people, they wanted their
people to follow them. They wanted big crowds and big
buildings. That sound like religion today?
That describes modern religion. It's covetous. It's covetous. Don't you hate modern religion?
I hate it. You can't love God and not hate
what you're seeing and hearing in modern religion today. You
can't. I hate it. I see these signs. Men tell me,
don't read that church sign. I can't help it. I read pretty
quickly and they're everywhere. You can't help but see them.
I hate it. Saw one sign coming back from Madisonville. And everything
man is saying in religion is exact opposite. It's a denial
like Satan. Satan's seat. Satan said, God
didn't, you're not going to die. Did God say that? That's not
what he meant. Big sign coming back says, God's not mad at you. That describes modern religion,
that God loves you, Jesus died for you. It's an abomination
to God. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination inside of God. Scripture says God is
angry with the wicked every day. Only one verse that religion
knows is John 3, 16. And nobody's quoting John 3,
36. The wrath of God right now abides on the ungodly. John 3,
36. Right now, God is angry. Then
the wrath of God revealed from heaven. Romans 1, 18. Revealed
from heaven. Every day. Day in and day out.
But religion says, God's not mad at you. I hate that. It's damning men's souls. I hate
it. Don't you? If you love God's glory and you
love men's souls, you hate it. I hate the garment spotted with
the flesh. You hate everything about it. David said, I esteem
all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate
every false way. I hate it. I hate it. I hate
what they're saying. I hate how they're using my Lord's
name. I hate it. A bumper sticker. It says, I
love Jesus. And on the other side, I love
my schnauzer. This is why you don't use God's Word like that.
You never put it anywhere where it can be desecrated like that.
You might mention His name is exalted. We fear His name. We don't use it commonly. We're
not going to put it where people can spit on it. If you love God's glory, if you
love His name, if you fear His name, you hate what men are saying
about Him. What if they had your mother's
name on their bumper? Our Lord came in, hopefully this
is a zeal of God's house, a zeal of God's glory, a zeal for His
truth. The Lord came in that temple
and He took a whip, the zeal of God's house, and ate him up.
He said, you've made this a den of thieves. And that describes
all of religion today. Can't build buildings big enough.
For what? To have coffee shops and gymnasiums
and have fun and bring entertainment in and rock groups. God's house is a house of prayer,
a house of worship, a house where a man stands up and preaches
the gospel. Nothing else, nothing less, nothing
more. A place of salvation for sinners
to come and hear the gospel. That's one thing, one thing is
needful. A man to stand and hold up that
pole with a serpent where Christ is crucified and say, look! Everybody's
dying and don't know it. They're bitten and don't know
it. Look! Our religion has become fun and
games, entertainment, poor man's country club. You know it so,
don't you? You see it. I hate it. I hate
it. You cannot love God's glory and
tolerate what's going on in His name. You cannot do it. Pharisees were covetous. Religion
is covetousness. They covet people, not their
souls. They covet numbers. They covet money. They covet
numbers and people. Why? So they can build more buildings. All we want to do is build up
one another on this most holy faith. Build up one another on
Christ. All we want to do is get in the
heart, get in the heart, get in the heart. Flood's coming.
Fire's coming. Get in the heart, get in the
heart. If I preach with any less fervency,
go someplace else. It's that serious. Cannot serve
God in man. And he said in verse 15, you
are they which justify yourselves before men. One time he said,
how can you receive the word of God who wants the glory of
man? You can't. God's people are concerned
with one person being accepted by and loved by. And true to one person, it's
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's out of the world. Please, men, I'm not the servant
of Christ. It says, God knows your hearts.
That which is highly esteemed among men is a bond relation
to God. That which is highly esteemed
among men, the wisdom of this world, the knowledge of this
world, the attainments of this world, the inventions of this
world, the technology of this world. That's what man esteems. That's what man thinks is going
to save him. And it's what man has done. It's all that man has
done. And the Lord's going to destroy every bit of it. God
says the wisdom of this world is foolishness. But the world
says, no, this gospel is foolishness. The wisdom of man is wise. Right? It's the opposite. What do you
think? I say the wisdom of this world is foolishness. It changes. Whatever changes. Whatever changes
is foolishness. Whatever doesn't change, there's
only change for the better or for the worse. God says, I don't
change. The truth doesn't change. Man
changes. Religion changes. Society changes. Man esteems himself very highly.
God says he's an abomination. Man esteems man more than God,
worships creature more than God, and God says this is an abomination
to man. All that man is and does is an
abomination to God, because man thinks he's going to be his God.
This is what Satan said in the beginning, you'll be his gods.
Free will, you have free will, you'll be as God's. I know what
he said, disregard that. God, this world, is still running,
ruling, according to God's rule and will, this world, and everybody's
falling for it. This false gospel of health and
wealth and modern philosophy, you're somebody. Listen, that
big tent out there on the, okay? I talked to a woman who goes
there, and I told you this years ago. I said, why do you go there? She said, because he makes me
feel so good about myself. All right? Right over there is
a lady who works with another person that goes there. And she
said the same thing to her. That woman said the exact same
thing. She said, he makes me feel good about myself. Now, when God gives you a new
heart, Ezekiel 36, when God washes you from your sin in the blood
of Jesus Christ, that's what it took, the death of His Son. You don't feel good about yourself.
He says there in Ezekiel 36, He says, you loathe yourself.
You'll be an abomination in your own eyes to yourself. I'm not
here to make you feel good about yourself. I hope God will make
us feel real bad about ourselves. I hope God will show us that
we've lived our whole life, and all of a sudden we're going
to accept Jesus? Are you kidding me? That's an abomination to
God. Well, I might, and I get my fill
of this world, and, you know, live for this world, and then
when I get ready to die, or when I get old, then I'll give God
some thought. Yeah, I'll accept Him. I'll let
Him save me. Oh, will you now? So the culmination of God. Man is not better off now with
all his attainments and all his technology. He's worse. These
things have caused us to forget God, to think we're gods now. In our technology, we're going
to pull ourselves out of this mire. We're evolving. No, the
opposite has happened. We started upright and now crawling
on all fours. They say man came from soot,
an ethereal soot. Get it now. Here's the wisdom
of this word. Man came from this complex thing,
this glorious thing called God's creation. Mankind being his chief,
his greatest creation in the image of God. Nothing like this
brain. Nothing like this fearfully and
wonderfully made. by the hand of God. But no, man,
in his wisdom said we came from soup. What has happened is now his
brain is full of soup. Muddy water. What an idiot man. I wish that was such for some
of you, all of us. You can't preach the gospel without
these two words. And you, this was you, but God. The religions of this world,
the philosophies of this world are abomination to God. Abomination. Then he brings up the law. The Lord brings up the law. The
law. You know that every human being
is under the law of God right now. except God's people. And you better be glad. We are
glad. We know something about the law.
We do, and we're so glad we're not under it. You know how few
people know that? You know how few people that
know and don't want to be under the law of God? Well, everybody
that's not in Christ under the blood is under the law. And here's
what the law said. This is what the law said. Now,
the law and the prophets, verse 16, were until John. And since
that time, the kingdom of God is preached. What's that? King. These prophets preach God as
king, sovereign. Nobody knows what sovereignty
is today. There's not one human being on this earth that's truly
sovereign. A sovereign is one that looks at you and can kill
you or make you laugh. Can take everything you have
just because he will. And nobody can say anything about it. That's
a sovereign. There's nobody on earth like
that. Hadn't been in years. A sovereign king. But there is
a sovereign. And all men are owned by him.
They don't know it. It's our Lord Jesus Christ. But they got
man being the sovereign. Religions put man being the sovereign
and Christ like a man. That he can't do anything without
you. That you have sovereign will. You know what an abomination
that is to God? The law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, when the kingdom of God is preached,
when the prophets preached, there were some who pressed into it,
who pressed. They heard of this holy and sovereign
and righteous God in whose hands our breath is, in all our way. And we live and move and have
our being in Him, God, our creator, God, our owner, God, our judge,
God, who can do with us as He will a hearer of this. And they
find out they're sinners in the hands of an angry God, like Jonathan
Edward Pruitt. And they all bow to it, they
all submit to it, and they all cry, Lord, I want in that, let
me into thy kingdom. Lord, accept me in the beloved.
Have mercy upon me. Let the blood be propitiation
on the mercy. Please. My only hope, my only
plea is the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
I want in. I want in. Open the door. I want in. He's
not standing outside the door. They are. They are knocking on
Christ's door. Let me in. It's pressing. When you finally realize who
God is and what you are and the only hope is Christ, it becomes
a pressing matter. Not a part-time matter. It's
a pressing matter. And when you find out how pressing
it is, you'll want your children to be in it. You'll want your
grandchildren to be in it. You'll want your spouse to hear
that. Right? Your mother, your father. Come
on. Moses said, come down with us,
we'll do you good. To his father-in-law. You're
not in the ark. You're outside the ark. Noah
would say. Pressing. Pressing. Every man
that's in the kingdom presseth into it. Now concerning the law, verse
17, he says, it's easier for heaven and earth to pass than
one tittle of the law to fail. One period. One jot. God is holy. God is just. The law is holy. Just and good. The law is spiritual. Paul said, but we're carnal. The law requires, it shall be
perfect, Leviticus 22 and 21, shall be perfect to be accepted.
Perfect, perfect. You must be perfect. You must
be as holy as God to get into his kingdom. How? You know how
few people are asking that question? You know how few people care
how God can be just and justified? You know how few people have
ever even heard that? If they did, they'd just reject
it. They don't need that. Don't worry about that. We do,
don't we, John? We know that. How can man be
clean as more of a woman? How can God be just and justify
me, the sinner? How? How? How? We know. You know,
don't we? We know. One way. One person. The next message
is a woman who thought salvation was in a place. No, it's in a
person. It's not what or where, it's
who. We know that. Why do we know
that? But God brought us to this well, and
that's the next message. But He brings up the law, and
then verse 18, why does He bring up adultery? Of all the laws, He brings up this one. Right? You ever thought about that? Whosoever
putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery.
And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband
committeth adultery." Why does he bring that up? Of all the
laws, why? And I sat down the other day
and counted, I think, 15, 17 adults who have
been married and divorced, some more than once. But every person in this room
is a spiritual adulterer. You hear me? Every one of us. We're married to another. This
find me to say. We're married to another. You
read the Old Testament. He talks about his people. He
said, you've committed fornication with everything under the sun.
Seeking your fleshly pleasure with everything and everyone
other than the Son, but me. And I'm supposed to be your husband.
And you've gone after your lovers. Every one of us. Every one of
us. But you know, let me end this
good. We're guilty, aren't we? Even though we've been married
to the same husband or wife all these years, we're still guilty.
We haven't done it without it, but we're all guilty of doing
it, being adulterers. James said, you adulterers and
adulterer sis, didn't he? Why is that? Because we haven't
loved God with all our heart, my son. We haven't gone after,
we haven't served him. We've served ourselves, we've
served the world, we've served, haven't we? Anybody not guilty
of this? Whatever the law says, guilty,
guilty as charged. What's our hope? I couldn't wait to get to this.
We got a faithful husband. He said, find your divorce. Find
a bill of divorce. Find it. Go. Look for it. You
won't find it. You left me, he said. I'll never leave you. That's why we're here, to thank
Him. Thank you, Lord. Lord, Lord,
get a hold of me. Don't let me go. If you let go of me, I'm
gone. I'm going after my lovers. They still appeal to me. Don't
let go of me like Jacob. I'll not let you go. Jesus bless
me. Please, please don't let me go. I love you. I want to be your bride. I want
to be in the marriage supper. Don't you? I want to be there
with God's people. Don't let me go. If He does. If you can't leave, you will. He will. But not if He holds
you. And that's why we're here. We're
here to call on Him. We're here to thank Him for causing
us to approach Him, revealing Himself to us, revealing Christ
to us. If you're hungry and thirsty, poor and needy, you love what
we're doing or rather who we're worshiping, Bless God, bless
God, bless God. If this is a pressing matter
to you, you're in a game.