very choosy when it comes to
all the songs that we endeavor to sing. I think the very valuable portion of our
worship service is the music. And always try to select songs
that are honoring to God Every once in a while you run
into a song that maybe has a few words that need to be dickered
with a little bit. But not that one. Not the one
she just sang, because that's Psalm 121. Verbatim. And such a blessing. If you would, open your Bibles
to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 13. Here's my subject. Established with grace. Established with grace. I have just the one verse that
I want to deal with this morning. and again this evening also. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9. These are the duties that the
inspired writer is giving to the Hebrews, giving to us. Things that we need to be very
careful about. And he says this, He says, be
not carried about with divers and what he calls strange doctrines. Don't be carried about. Don't
be blown around by various religious beliefs that are contrary to
the word of God. And actually, carried about means
dragged away. Don't let anybody drag you away
from the truth. You've heard the truth. You have
the truth here. Thy word is truth is what Christ
said in John 17. So you have the truth of God
before you. You have Christ Jesus set before
you. He is himself the full embodiment
of truth. because he said, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. All of the truth of God is in
Christ Jesus. Don't let anybody drag you away. Don't let anybody pull you away.
Divert your mind's attention to another message than the message
that you've been hearing. There are lots of different beliefs
out there, various. The word divers literally is
various. Various. Strange doctrine. Strange means foreign. That which
is foreign. Foreign to what? Foreign to the
Bible. Foreign to the truth of God. You've got to be very careful.
There are lots of voices out here. And I'll tell you, there
are voices that are quite enticing. They draw you away. They want
to get followers. But He said, don't you be carried
away now. Don't let anybody drag you away
from the Gospel. This message of redemption, of
salvation by grace. I know God keeps us, and we are
therefore preserved by God, but there's also perseverance. That's our responsibility. Keep
yourselves in the love of God. Nobody else is going to take
care of you, but take care of your own soul. You better look
after your own business between you and God. And he says very
specifically, don't be carried about. If there wasn't anything
to worry about, he wouldn't have given this admonition, would
he? He would not have said to the
Hebrews, and he would not say to us, be not carried away with
divers of various and strange doctrines, if there wasn't a
need to be on the alert here. Watch out for yourself. You've
got to be careful who you listen to and you've got to be careful
what you listen to. And then he says, for it is a
good thing. You know what a good thing is?
According to Psalms, it's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.
But here's another good thing. It's a good thing that your heart
and my heart be established, established with grace. And if people come along saying,
well, you know, grace is good, but you got to live it, there's
certain Duties which you you must fulfill in order to be saved
such as here he lists With meats don't don't be established with
meats in other words these outward things meats which have not profited
them which have been occupied therein. And when he mentions
meats, I think he's talking about all these outward things, outward
laws and rules that people would give you. Don't pay any attention
to those. Don't let anybody bring you under
bondage. Don't let any religious organization
lay before you certain regulations that you've got to meet. You've
got to do this and you've got to do that. You've got to do
something else. Listen, we need to be established in grace. Salvation
is all of grace. It began with the grace of God.
God's eternal purpose of grace. as grace is manifested in the
Lord Jesus in His work of redemption. We're redeemed by the grace of
God made manifest in the substitutionary death of the Son of God. And
it's the grace of God that is at work in us in regeneration,
in the new birth, in living the daily lives that
we live under God, for His glory. It's the grace of God that sees
us through this life. It's the grace of God that will
take us home to heaven. The Bible says, not of works.
Not of works. For by grace are you saved through
faith, not of works. Don't be occupied. People lay
down rules, well, Christians shouldn't do this, Christians
shouldn't do that, and all these rules and regulations. Certainly,
the Word of God, the Scripture teaches us, the Spirit of God
teaches us how to live. But listen, our works, our outward
duties, don't have anything to do with our acceptance before
a holy God. I know that my relationship with
God is not determined by anything I do. Not meats, abstaining from meats
or drinks or anything else. But on the other hand, my relationship
with God has everything to do with the life that I live. Now
that's true. But he says very, very clearly,
don't let anybody lead you away from the God, lure you away. Don't let anybody drag you away
from the things of God by all kinds of different doctrines
that are foreign to the Word of God. We've got to be like
the Bereans. It says that they were more noble
than those in Thessalonica. Because when they heard the Apostle
Paul preach the Word, they searched the Scriptures daily to see if
these things are so. Where is a man leading you? Listen to the theme, to the very
heart of a man's message. Is it toward grace? Grace alone? The Lord Jesus alone? Who is
received by faith alone? Which is revealed in the Word
of God alone? lead you toward works. Don't
let anybody drag you away from this gospel. What does it mean to be established? He says, it's a good thing for
your heart to be established with grace or in grace. With grace or in grace. To be
established is to be steady. It's to be stable. It's to be very confident and
sure. Look with me at a couple of references.
First of all, the book of Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter
number 2. And let me begin reading at verse
5. Look in Colossians chapter two,
verse five. Here's the Apostle Paul writing
to the believers at Church of Colossae. He says, chapter two,
verse five, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you
in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. You're steady. You're steady. You're established. It's like you're immovable. And
you hear somebody preaching a works-based salvation, you say, that's wrong. That's not consistent with the
Word of God. You hear somebody belittling
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as though it was ineffectual
for his people, as though it's the will of man that makes it
effectual. Jesus died for everybody, and
now it will only be successful if you let it be successful.
Don't you stand for that. You be steady now. You be steady
in the gospel. The steadfastness of your faith. One of the, well I won't tell
you who it was, but a person told me when I was considering
coming here to be the pastor and weighing it, what would God
have me to do. Somebody called me up and said,
I'll tell you a negative, Preacher. I said, well I didn't ask you
really. And so I'm going to tell you, here's a negative. It's
an elderly congregation. And I said, you know what that
tells me? Steadfastness. Established in the Gospel. All
these years, nobody's moved you. Nobody has, no wind of doctrine
has blown you to the side. You've not followed this error
or that that era, things that are contrary to the word of God.
Steadfastness, it's what he said. Look at verse six. As ye have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him rooted,
now watch this, rooted, and built up in him, and established, He
says the same thing again. Established in the faith. And
he's not talking about so much believing the Lord Jesus and
using that word faith, though that's true. But he's talking
about the body of God's truth. He's talking about the gospel.
You're established in the gospel. You're immovable. You're steady. You're confident. You're sure. You're immovable. Rooted and
built up in him. Who rooted you? He rooted you. Every plant that my father hath
not planted, he'll root them up, but his people are rooted
and rooted and grounded in what? The truth. As it is in Christ
Jesus. Rooted and built up. in him, in Christ, and established
in the faith as he had been taught. Somebody taught you. God used
a voice to teach you. It doesn't matter whose voice
it was, as long as the voice, but it was the voice of one of
God's servants. We don't go around and say, well,
I was converted under this man's ministry. I was converted under
that man's ministry. Oh, you're like the Corinthians
there. Some of them said, I'll tell you, I was saved under Paul's
ministry. Well, I was saved under Simon
Peter's ministry. And others said, well, I'll tell
you, I was saved under Jesus's ministry. Let me tell you something. It doesn't matter who the mouthpiece
is. as long as it's the mouthpiece of God. As long as they tell
Him the truth about you, tell Him the truth about God, tell
Him the truth about Christ Jesus and His work of redemption, this
salvation that's all of grace. Be established in this. Be rooted
and built up in Him. As you have been taught, read
the rest of it. Abounding therein with thanksgiving. Giving thanks to God. Who rooted
you? Who grounded you? You see, I
believed this gospel for 50, 60, 70 years maybe. Was it you? Or was it the Lord? He rooted you. He planted you. He put you in his vineyard. And
he watered you with the word. And you've grown in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He adds this warning
now, look at verse eight. Beware. Beware lest any man spoil
you. Somebody carry you off and enslave
you. That's the same thing we're being
warned about in Hebrews chapter 13. Beware lest any man should
spoil you through philosophy, love of wisdom, and vain deceit
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ. Somebody comes along and says,
I'm going to lead you into deeper things. I tell you what, there's
nothing deeper than the gospel of God's grace. This goes back to the very wisdom
of God. The wisdom of God who determined
how He could be just and justify folks like us. That took infinite
wisdom. How can God remain holy and absolutely
pure? and embrace us who are defiled,
who drink iniquity like water. We're defiled from the top of
our heads to the bottom of our feet. How can a holy God deal
with us in mercy and grace and in justice, receive us and forget
all of our sins, forgive all of our sins? It can't be done
but one way, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus the Lord. That's deep, brother. That's
deep. So don't let anybody carry you
off. Don't let anybody lead you astray. Here's another reference. Look
at 2 Corinthians 1. Look at 2 Corinthians 1. Let me give you two verses
here. 20 and 21. the book of 2 Corinthians chapter
1, and we'll look at two verses, 20 and 21. For all the promises of God in
Him are yea, and in Him, in Christ, amen, unto the glory of God by
us. Now, watch this. He which establisheth
us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. Who is it that establishes us? Now, back over here in our text,
we're reminded of our responsibility. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, but who really establishes us? It's God himself. It's the Lord
who keeps us steady, immovable, absolutely confident. He keeps
us steadfast in this gospel. Now, there's something I think
that needs to be understood, and I'm gonna spend
the rest of my time this morning dealing with this. This establishment is in the
gospel. And I want to ask you, are you
established? Are you steady? Are you confident
that this gospel that I preach to you is God's gospel? You've heard this same message
ever since this church was founded. You've heard from three voices. Here's what I'm asking you. Are you absolutely confident? Are you steady in your mind and
in your heart that the message that goes forth in these four
walls, the message that goes out on the internet, The message
that I preached, that Bill preached and Henry preached. Are you absolutely
steadfast in your heart and mind that this is the very gospel
of God and every other message is a false gospel? Anything different is a false
gospel. And this has got to be established.
This has got to be settled. You see, if you think, if you
think, well, Jim, I think there's some good in every religion. And you say, well, you know,
we may be a little different, but I believe, I believe that
basically all religions, talking about heaven, I'm not talking
about heathens now, but basically all religions, you know, talk
about God and talk about Jesus and we're all going to heaven.
If you believe that, you're not established in grace. You're not steadfast in the gospel. If you think there's some hope,
For your family members and your other friends and loved ones,
they've got some hope of salvation with God, believing another message
you've not established in the gospel. I had a lady, she just about
broke my heart one time. Her sister died. At a funeral home, not here,
another city. And I went visit, you know, and
she's down at the casket. She said, you know, Jim, if there's
ever a woman that I knows in heaven, it's my sister. She's
the best woman I ever knew in my life. You just never know
how many good deeds she did for people. That just, that's like,
that's awful. That's awful. Hey, I'm glad she
did good deeds for people, But that's not why she's in heaven.
In fact, if that's what she's depending on, she's not there.
She got no hope at all. Hey, be a good person, absolutely. Treat people right, sure. Do good deeds, absolutely on
that too. But remember this, God only accepts
you for Christ's sake. Is that clear? It doesn't have
anything to do with your deeds, with your doings. You say, I
don't talk filthy, I behave myself, I'm faithful to my spouse, I
don't curse, I don't swear, I don't get drunk, I don't do all these.
Well, whoopee for you! That doesn't have anything to
do with your salvation. I'm glad you live in a life of
morality. That's commendable among men. But that won't get you anywhere
with God. You see, God is only impressed
with His darling Son. That's all God's impressed with.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him,
hear Christ Jesus. He says, I'm the door, by me
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He didn't say, now
do good works. and you'll enter into heaven.
He said, by me. He said, I'm the way. You see, there are a multitude
of voices out here. You know that. All kind of messages. But there's just one faith. That's
what it says in Ephesians chapter four. There's one faith. There's
one Lord, one faith. There's one body of truth. That's all there is. There are
not many ways. There are not many Gospels. There's
just one Gospel. Read again Galatians chapter
1. That's what the Apostle Paul said. He said, I'm shocked, I'm
amazed that you're led away from this Gospel to these other messages
and they're not the Gospel. There's just one true gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the gospel of salvation by grace
alone in Christ Jesus alone. Are you established in the gospel? Now, if you should ask me, well, Brother Jim, how do you
know that the gospel you preach And the gospel you believe is
the one true gospel of the Bible. If you were to ask me that, this
is what I'd say. I'd say I do believe that the
gospel I embrace and the gospel I hang my soul on, the gospel that is all my hope
I believe it's a true gospel, and I'll tell you why. Can I
tell you real quick? Number one, I'll tell you why
I believe this gospel that I preach is the one true gospel. You can
quote me, jot these things down, whoever you talk to in any religion,
it don't matter to me. Tell them this is what I said.
I believe that this gospel I preach and that I believe is the one
true gospel. I'll tell you why. Number one,
it's the gospel of the Old Testament. It's the same gospel of the Old
Testament. I would ask you this, and I'd
ask other preachers this, can you find your gospel in the Old
Testament as well as the New Testament? I can very easily. Now if you happen to believe
in baptismal regeneration, you're going to have a bit of a tough
time. But if you believe in salvation
by grace, through the right sacrifice offered to God, you're on good
ground. It's the gospel of the Old Testament.
See, the Old Testament is not the message for the Jews, and
then the New Testament, the message for the Gentiles, and the Jews
were saved one way, and the Gentiles saved another way. Don't believe
that reference Bible that says in the Old Testament they were
saved by law, and in the New Testament, saved by grace. Listen,
anybody who's ever saved is saved by grace. Law has never saved anybody. The law was given to drive us
to Christ Jesus. The law shows us our sinfulness. It doesn't even show us a better
way. It's cut and dry. This do and
live, disobey and die. That's the message of the law. The law backs us in a corner
with no way out. It says God demands perfection. You can't produce it. You're
a goner. I'm going to damn you. That's
what the law says. It's the sweetness of the gospel
that comes in and says, what the law cannot do in that was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the form of, in
the shape and the likeliness of sinful flesh. He condemns
sin in the flesh. That's what the gospel says. It's the gospel of the Old Testament. I look in the Old Testament,
I preach the gospel from just about anywhere. Let me pull one
out of the hat. Israel. On their way through
the wilderness to the promised land. Got no water. You got hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of people. They don't have any water. They
murmured against Moses and said, what, have you brought us out
here in the wilderness to kill us and our children and our cattle? Water is a necessity of life.
We know that. They had to have water to drink,
water to cook with, water to bathe, water for their cattle,
for their sheep. And Moses went to the Lord and
said, Lord, These people are ready to stone me. And the Lord
said, take that rod with which you smoked the Nile River in
judgment. It turned to blood. That rod
was a rod of judgment. You take it up here to a rock
that I'll show you on my whore-up, and take the elders of Israel
with you. Then I want you to take that rod, that rod of judgment,
that rod that speaks of the wrath of God, the just wrath and anger
and vengeance of God. I want you to smite that rock. And he did. And you know what happened. Water
came out. An abundance of water, a river
of water. It came out and people were amazed
and refreshed. Where's the gospel in that preacher?
First Corinthians chapter 10 says, that rock, that was Christ. And that rod of judgment, that's
the wrath of God. Raised up against the Son of
God when he died in our room, stand in place. when He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree, when He took our great
debt upon Himself, when all the sins of all of His people of
all the ages were made to meet on Him, the rod of God's justice
smote Him. And then, out from His wounded side, Rivers
of mercies flowing out from his wounded side. You know that song?
Out from his wounded side. It's a river of water for thirsty
sinners. Are you thirsty? Jesus stood
and he cried saying on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles,
if any man thirst, Let him come unto me, let him come. I don't
care who you are. If you thirsty, you thirsty for
forgiveness, you thirsty for righteousness, you thirsty for
a hope here, you thirsty for glory later, you thirsty for
God as the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my
soul after the living God. If you're thirsty, he said, let
him come to me and drink. I'm the fountain of water. Your
soul will be refreshed. Therefore Isaiah says in Isaiah
chapter 12, Therefore with joy shall we draw water from the
wells of salvation. Come and draw forth water. Drink
to your soul's contentment. Because the rock of our salvation
has been smitten by God himself. See, I can preach the gospel
from the Old Testament. I love to do that. Why do I believe this gospel
is the very gospel of God? Because this is the gospel declared
in the Old Testament. That rock was Christ. We sing,
on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That was a rock smitten for us. Secondly, why do I believe this
Gospel I preach and that you've heard preached all these years?
Why do I believe this is the Gospel which is the Gospel of
God and we're to be established in this Gospel? Number two, because
this is the Gospel our Lord Jesus preached. Scripture says in Matthew 4.23,
Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel. He went to a man, or a man came
to him at night, Nicodemus. You know what our Lord Jesus did?
Preach the gospel to him. Yeah, he did. Nicodemus thoroughly,
thoroughly indoctrinated in the history of Israel. And he knew
all about the miracles that God performed while they were traveling
through the wilderness. And our Lord Jesus looked at
him and said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Nicodemus, you remember Moses lifting up that serpent, don't
you? He'd say, uh-huh. I've taught it many times over
here in the seminary. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness because people had been bitten by fiery serpents,
our Lord Jesus said to him, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have eternal life. Just like Moses lifted up that
brazen serpent, I must be lifted up! I must be! God decreed it! I must be! God's justice demands
it! I must be! Because I've covenanted
with my Father to be lifted up to die the death of the cross. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. I must be. Our Lord Jesus preached. You know, that's substitutions,
what that is. That's satisfaction. Whosoever
believeth. And whoever believed, whoever
looked by faith upon that serpent of brass, they said, oh my, I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm not dying anymore. And I'm telling you, look to
Christ Jesus for everlasting life. You look to Him for your
righteousness. You can say by the authority
of God, you're not going to die. You're not going to die. Christ
died for you. He was judged for you. He took
your place. I know this gospel I preach to
you is the gospel of God because it's the gospel of the Old Testament.
It's the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you thirdly,
it's the gospel declared by the apostles. They went forth preaching
the gospel. And I read passages like 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Here's what the apostle Paul
said. For I delivered unto you also that which I first received. So I heard the gospel. What'd
you hear? I heard how that Christ died.
How did he die? As a substitute, as a sin offering,
as a sacrifice, as a sovereign, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose
again the third day according to the scriptures. The same message
that the apostles preached. Same message the evangelists
preached. Philip preached to the Ethiopian
eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53. He preached to him Jesus. The Gospel I preach, the same
Gospel as the Old Testament. The same Gospel the Lord Jesus
preached. The same Gospel his apostles
preached and the evangelists preached. And I'll tell you this,
it's the only message that gives all glory to God. That's right. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians 1. Look at verse 29. Or verse 30. I'll read 30 and
31. But of him, of God, of God are
you in Christ Jesus. You know who joined you to Christ
Jesus? God did. He did before the world
began. There's an eternal union of the
Lamb of God with His sheep. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us everything we need. I tell you, we're well
supplied in Christ Jesus. Every need is met because He's
been made of God to be our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Everything you need. Like Charlotte
Elliott wrote in that song, Just As I Am. All I need in thee I
find, O Lamb of God, I come. Everything I need's in Him. I
don't need anything else. I need Him. I need Him. So we find in Him everything
we need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. That,
according as it is written, He that gloryeth, let Him glory
in the Lord. It's the only message that gives
God all the glory. There isn't the least amount
of wiggle room for man's efforts or works to get in there anywhere. And here's the steadfast rule
by which you should judge what a man is saying, who is getting
the glory. You listen to this man preach,
listen to your Some television preacher preach,
or radio preacher, whoever it is. Here's the steadfast rule. Who is getting the glory? I mean
all of it. Who is getting all of the glory?
Is salvation ultimately dependent upon what the sinner does? Or
is it all of God? You've got to put every preacher
to that test. It don't matter to me who he is. Well, I'm afraid... You know, I wouldn't want to
hurt preacher's feelings if I ceased to listen to him. I don't care
about preacher's feelings. I'm not too interested in your
feelings. Hey, I want to make sure I got the right gospel.
I got a lot at stake here in this. Forgive me if I'm being
selfish, but I want to make sure this is right. I don't care whose
feelings it hurts. But I tell you, if I believed
this Gospel, my family would be real disappointed in me. I'd
rather my family be disappointed than God angry with me. Wouldn't you? I don't have to
stand before my family at the judgment, but I've got to stand
before God. And I don't want to stand there
with some kind of substitute righteousness that is in competition
with the righteousness of His darling Son. Don't want to do
that. I just say to my family, listen,
I don't want to hurt your feelings, but whatever you want to believe,
have at it. As for me and my house, we're
going to serve God. I'm going to believe this Gospel.
This Gospel. this gospel that's the gospel
of the Old Testament, this gospel that's the gospel of my blessed
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this gospel that is the gospel
of the apostles, this gospel that gives all glory to God,
and I give you one more, this gospel that is the very power
of God and the salvation that everybody believes. And no other
message got tired of saving anybody. Because God's not going to use
any other message to save anybody. Here's what the Apostle said,
I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first
and also to the Greek, but it doesn't matter whether it's Jew
or Greek. This Gospel is the very dynamite
of God. To set it forth. Just set it
forth. Just tell sinners about Christ
and His work of redemption. You see, I'm established in this,
aren't you? I'm just settled on this. I'm
immovable. There are a lot of things I'll
compromise with you and maybe bend over backwards to get along
with you on other areas. That's fine. But not on this
area now. Not when it comes to how God
saves sinners. I'll ask to the Gospel. Be established
in grace. In grace.