Look at verse 8 and 9, and everyone will be forgiven
this morning for coughing and hacking and blowing your nose.
I've had it too. I still have a little touch of
it. That verse 8, heat Jesus Christ
the same yesterday and today and forever. We looked at that
recently. The next verse goes along with
this. You see, Christ is the message of Scripture, isn't He?
To Him give all the prophets witness. Our Lord said, they
are they, the Scriptures, are they which testify of me. All the Scripture speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Pictures, types, shadows, symbols
of stories of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the next verse says,
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. Because
the message is, the message of Scripture, the doctrine of Scripture,
the teaching, that's what doctrine means, the teaching of Scripture
is salvation in, by, through Jesus Christ. That's what John
said when he said, we talked about the doctrine of Christ. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Doesn't know God. Doesn't know truth. Because that's,
Christ said, I am the truth. So this book speaks of Christ. So that verse, this verse goes
with that, doesn't it? Christ's same message yesterday,
the same way men were saved. Abraham was saved by Jesus Christ.
Abel was saved from that blood sacrifice he brought. The blood
of lambs can't save anybody. That points to Christ. So from
Abel to Zechariah, A to Z, everyone is saved by Christ. It's the
same yesterday. There's salvation in no other,
neither is there any name, no other name given among men under
heaven whereby we must be saved today and forever, forever. Be white, be true, be light.
So don't be carried about, he said, with different and strange
doctrine, different doctrine, different from what God's Word
says, different from what God's Word says. Isaiah wrote this,
to the law. and to the testimony. If they
speak not according to my word, it's because there's no light
in them. The law and the testimony. The Romans says the law reveals
Christ. The schoolmaster brings us to
Christ. What's the testimony? Testimony is when you testify
of something. When you bear witness of something.
This is the record. This is God's testimony. concerning
his son. Salvation's in him. This is my
beloved son, he testified. Hear him. Hear him. So anything
different than that? Anything different? And strange,
not different. Here's what the scripture says
about salvation. By grace, he said. So if somebody
says it's grace and works, that's false. Here's what Scripture
says, you're not under the law. By the deeds of the law, no one
will be justified. No one is saved by the law. That's
what the Scriptures plainly say. Well, if someone said, the law
is our rule of life, that's not right. That's different than
what Scripture says. Scripture says, thy God reigneth,
emphatically declared. God reigns and rules. God is
God. Well, if someone says, Well,
he's done all he can do. Now it's up to you. That's a
different doctrine. You're going to learn that from
the Scripture. Here's what the Scripture says.
That man's up for trial. Man is judged by God, not the
other way around. That man is the one that needs
accepting. Man is the one that needs accepting.
It says we are accepted. One way. in the Beloved, Ephesians
1.6. Right? That's what God's Word
says. We're accepted in the Beloved. Thank God he accepts us. Today
is an acceptable day of the Lord. But if someone says, you must
accept Jesus, that's a different doctrine. That's different from
what Scripture says. Scripture doesn't say that anywhere.
Nowhere does it. That's different. Strange. Different
and strange doctrine. Strange. You know, the world
thinks the truth is strange. Like over in Acts 17 when Paul,
you don't have to turn there, when Paul came to Mars Hill,
Athens, Greece, Mars Hill with all the philosophers and Stoics
and Epicureans, that's where it says everybody, the Athenians,
spend their time in doing nothing more than telling and hearing
of some new doctrine. I want to hear something new.
New revelation. That sounds like today, but we've
got it over here. We've got it over here. New vision,
Baptist church. New vision, new revelation. The
truth is not new. It's as old as God. But when
Paul was at Mars Hill, they said to him, we want to hear this
strange doctrine. They said, he's setting forth
some strange God. The truth is strange. The truth
is so foreign today, it's so hard to find, it's so rare, that
people think it's strange when you start saying God is God. That is, He reigns and rules
over everything. He predestined everything before
the world began. That's what it means to be God.
If God is not in absolute control of everything, if there's anything
outside of his control, he's not God. The word means absolute
ruler and controller. And if there's anything outside
of his control, boy, we're in trouble, aren't we? This scripture plainly says,
God reigns. God is God. And you stand up
and declare that God is God. Men think it's strange. Stand
up and declare that Christ came with a particular purpose to
save a particular people, and He did just that. He didn't try.
Scripture says, He shall not fail or be discouraged. Long
before He came, He shall not fail or be discouraged. He came
sent by God to do a work. When He was hanging on the tree,
He said, It's finished. Finish the work. All you've given
Me to do. He did it. And there's nothing
left up to anybody. He did it. Well, you declare
that and men think it's strange. You've got to give men something
to do. Strange, doctor. Call God, God. You know, the
name Jesus means Savior. I think it's strange, doctor,
when you say that God loves me and that Scriptures say love
never fails and yet there's people in hell right now that God loves.
That's a strange kind of love, isn't it? Would you send somebody
to hell that you love? Strange kind of love. Strange
father who let his children perish, isn't it? Everybody, they say,
is God's children, and yet some of them perish. That's a strange
father to me, isn't it, you? I don't need a father like that.
I don't need a God like that. That's strange, isn't it? Strange.
Strange. Don't be taken by that. You aren't. You were. Some of you were. The Lord revealed the truth to
you, the doctrine of Christ, that all things are in Him, by
Him, for Him. He did it all. Accomplished it. Look at the next line. It's a
good thing that the heart be established with grace. Salvation is by grace. It's a
good thing that the heart be established with grace. If it's
not, boy, you won't have any peace. If salvation is left up
to you, you must keep yourself. If you're not kept by the power
of God, boy, that won't give you any peace. If there's something
you need to do to make yourself acceptable to God, boy, that
won't give you any peace. You know you're a sinner. It's
a good thing the heart be established with grace. Grace. Sovereign grace. Electing grace. Let me tell you this. Grace.
Electing grace. Men hate so much. I'm so thankful
that God chose the people. I'm so thankful for the sovereign
electing grace of God. You know why? Because Spurgeon
once said this. He said, I know, I believe that
God chose me. And I believe he did it before
the foundations of the world. Because if he had waited until
after I was born, he sure wouldn't have done it then. And he said,
I know, I believe that he chose me because I would never have
chosen him. I would never have chosen him.
The old hymn says it. It is not that I did choose thee,
for Lord, that could not be. For if thou hast not first chosen
me, I would never have chosen thee." I believe the Lord chose me.
I was that prodigal son that didn't give God a thought, running
just as fast as I could the other way. But God, rich in mercy, stopped my wild career, turned
me. If he doesn't, we won't return.
If he doesn't choose us, we won't choose him. If he doesn't call
us, we won't come. I'm so glad, aren't you? Salvation
by his sovereign electing, predestinating. Aren't you glad that the covenant,
Scripture said concerning his people, the covenant of grace
is ordered in all things and sure. That he's ordered it all. Aren't you glad? The world hates
that. God's people love it. They love
the fact, and they rest in the infinite wisdom and power and
grace of God Almighty to effectually bring about everything that He
has purposed. They rest right there. Rest right
there. Keeping grace. Keeping grace. Electing grace. Keeping grace. If the Lord doesn't keep me,
I won't be kept. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. What's my hope? He said, I'll
never leave you or forsake you. He said, they'll never perish.
None will pluck them out of my hand. That's called keeping grace. Of all which thou hast given
me, Christ prayed, I have lost nothing. I've kept them all.
I've lost nothing. I've kept them. Keeping grace. Oh, it's a good thing the heart
be established in that. Helping grace. Helping grace. How can you get through the trials? Deep, heavy, weighty, fiery trials
that the Lord sends. Trial of your faith. How? Not
in your own strength, can you? No way. No way. Only by the grace of God. He
said, He promised. to give you grace to bear it. Is His grace sufficient? Tell
me, you who have been through these tough trials, is His grace
sufficient? A dear sister sitting right there,
suffering for years, is nodding her head and smiling. Bonnie sat right there at her
husband's funeral, smiling, nodding her head like she is now. and
others. His grace is sufficient. We couldn't
go through it. The foundation of faith is this,
by grace you're saved. And you know what? The top stone
will be laid on it when it's all said and done, Zerubbabel,
this is Zechariah 4.7, Zerubbabel who represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. who built the temple and laid
the topstone, it says in verse 7 of Zechariah 4, he'll lay the
topstone with shouts of grace, grace unto it. It started by
God's grace and it ends by his grace. By grace we say, a gift,
a free, sovereign, effectual, eternal gift through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad? It's a good
thing that the heart be established with grace. Because then you'll
have peace. Then you'll have rest. Not with
meats. Look at verse 9. Not with meats
which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. Meats. Touch not, taste not,
handle not. Or ceremonies and rituals that
the Jews would go through. And still today, they are very
fond of their kosher this and kosher that, and meats that don't
profit anybody. Jews and Gentiles both are taken
up with meats of different sorts, aren't they? Everybody thinks
that meat, it all has something to do with meat, proper diet
and exercise. I'm not against exercise, I get
a little of that, but Scripture says bodily exercise does what? Profited little. Doesn't say
that. Profited, but very little. You're
going to die of something. Well, we'll increase our lifespan
six months. Well, tell me. You know, 70 years is what the
Lord has promised us. Right? Three score and ten. That's what he said. If by reason
of strength, God-given strength, 80 years. Some in here over 80.
You're still going to die. And for a believer, when you
hit 70, then you're going through a life, the next 10 years or
so, there's nothing but pain and more suffering, right? Why
do you want to extend your life? Besides, we can't. We can't add
one moment. Our Lord said our days are numbered.
Our bounds are fixed. We cannot pass. It's determined
by the Lord, isn't it? Scripture says this in 1 Corinthians
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, I'm not advocating abuse of the
body or anything like that. It ought to be reasonable. The
Lord never advocated any kind of diet, did he? He never gave any secrets, although
he knew all the secrets of every herb and everything. He never
said one thing. Here, do this and you'll live long. Not once.
He said don't be taken up in those things. He said that's
what the Gentiles are taken up with, isn't it? That's what he
said. That's all they care about. Don't
do that. The Jews here, though, in context,
the Jews, their ceremonies and their Jewish religion, you know,
it's all about meats and drinks and so forth. That's what this
is talking about, the Jewish rituals and all that. It doesn't
profit them that have been occupied therein. The Jews then and now
are all about ceremony, ceremony, ceremony. You see them today,
don't you, with their different garb. They still wear the phylacteries.
They still try to look like they did years ago. We've got some
American Baptists that try to look that way, don't they? Go
back to the Levitical law, Leviticus, and pull up some verse of Scripture
and start dressing like old Jews and everything and think, this
is the way it's to be done. Keep in the Sabbath and so on
and so forth. It doesn't profit anybody. It
doesn't profit. All those things in the Old Testament
served a purpose. What was the purpose? To point
us to Christ. All right? They all pointed to
Christ. Every single thing that God instituted
in the Old Testament was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. OK? To give faith in the Christ who
was to come. The Jews began to do these things
out of habit, out of duty, to keep the law. Oh, I'm doing it
just right. I'm washing, I'm doing this and that and the other.
Now God's pleased with it. No, that's not why He gave it.
The point is to cry. Well, when Christ came, Scripture
says in Hebrew, He took away the purse. to establish a second. He fulfilled the law, every jot
and tittle of it. The Jews no longer kill lambs.
I looked it up recently. I didn't think they did. I think
it ended a long time ago. But they no longer kill lambs.
If the Christ hasn't come yet, and they don't believe Christ
has come yet. They don't believe that Jesus
is the Christ. Alright? If He hasn't come yet, you better
be killing lambs. You better be shedding blood.
Every Jew knew this. You can't approach God without
blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. That's what the Old Testament
says. All those animals slain. They never ceased to kill animals. Morning and evening. All year
long. High priest. Why did they stop? We know why it stopped. Christ
stopped it. This is what Hebrews is all about. The whole book of Hebrews is
a summary of the Old Testament. How that Jesus Christ fulfilled
it all, took it away, fulfilled it, to establish the second. Establish the second. Salvation
is not by you keeping the law, it's by Christ keeping the law.
And giving you the salvation that he earned. So, you know, the high priests
over there, they still have one. And even in this country, you've
got Catholicism with the priests. You've got all these pretenders,
all these ceremonies, all these rituals, holy water and all that. That's all flesh. Put it away. It's of no value. It doesn't
profit anybody. All right, you come down into
Southern Baptist religion. Good old Bible Belt mainstream
religion, you know. The altar call. The altar call. Everybody in
here had one. Did you go down front? Most of
you go down front, had what's called an altar call. And in
some places, an actual bench, wasn't there, Mom? Where you
kneel down at the altar. What altar? What altar? Scripture only talked
about one altar in the Old Testament, and it was the altar where the
blood of that lamb was burnt, roast, on that altar. Okay? The blood was shed, taken
in a basin, and the body was burnt on that altar, the brazen
altar. That was the altar. Okay? There's no altar in the New Testament.
No more altar. Look at verse 10. It says, We
have an altar. We have an altar, and they don't
have any right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Here's what he's
saying. God has revealed to his children
that Christ is all the religion that there is. All the religion
we need. All those things, tabernacle,
the high priest, the lamb, that's all Christ. That's all about
Jesus Christ. He's the high priest. He's the
lamb. You know, in the tabernacle,
in the temple, in all those things they did in there, you've got
the table showbread, bread, you're supposed to make bread every
day. What's that? Christ said, I'm the bread. You've
got the candlestick. The Jews still use those candlesticks,
seven globe, you know, candlestick. Christ said, I'm the light. Don't
need candles, said in Revelation. Don't have the sun either. Christ
is the light. You've got the altar. You've
got the incense. Christ said, it's His prayer. He walked in the Holy of Holies,
there's the Ark of the Covenant, and it's Aaron's rod that budded,
the pot of manna, the law, and the mercy seat. That's all Christ. He's the mercy seat. He's the
Ark of the Covenant. And when Christ died, God ripped
the veil of the temple, ripped it open. It's no longer a secret. Don't need it all there. It's
all a shadow. Scripture says it's a shadow. When Christ the
person came. It's a shadow. You see a shadow
coming, you know a person's behind it. Right? That's what the law
is, a shadow. Everything's a shadow. But when
Christ came, the person, he don't need a shadow. That can't do
anything. pictures, he's in person. He
takes it away. We have an altar, of which Armenian
religion has no right. We don't come down front. That's
a show. That's flesh. We don't come down
to the soul winner, to the preacher, dedicate, rededicate. You all
keep coming to the altar. Put you all on the altar. What
altar? We have an altar, and he's in
heaven itself. We come to Him. To whom come
it? To whom come it? Not of where,
not of what. Him. He's our altar. We come. Well, I'm going to save the rest
of this maybe for a message of itself. Well, it talks about
going without the camp. Oh my, so much there without
the camp. So, here's a conclusion here.
Jew or Gentile? If religion has anything to do,
your religion has anything to do with flesh, it's unacceptable
to God. Anything to do with you, with
what you do, or the law you do and so on, it's unacceptable. Salvation's in Jesus Christ. Just look into him. You mean
that's it? Just faith in Christ? That's
exactly right. It's a good thing the heart be
established with that. The heart. Because it'll keep
your heart. It'll keep your heart from despair. Okay.