I'd like to direct your attention
this morning to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. We're going to be dealing with
the last of the parables in this chapter, Matthew 13. The Lord
had been speaking to his disciples in parables, teaching them the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, teaching them how the gospel
would go throughout the world, how it would develop, how it
would spread in its growth, how it would be attacked from the
outside, how it would be corrupted from the inside until the day
of the Lord's return when He would divide the wheat from the
tares, the sheep from the goats in His great judgment. We read
about that as Brother Aaron just read in John chapter 5, and we'll
be looking at that in just a moment. But here in verse 51, look at
Matthew 13, 51. Just read two verses. Now after he had given them all
these parables, he concludes it with a question and then just
with a short one verse parable or parabolic statement. It says
in verse 51, Jesus saith unto them, unto his disciples, have
you understood all these things? You understand what I have been
telling you, teaching you. And they say unto him, Yea, Lord,
yes, we understand. Now, look at verse 52. Now, if
you understand these things, here is the parable. He says,
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder,
which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new, and old. Now, I've entitled this the Parable
of the Householder. That's easy to see. But we might also call this the
Parable of Great Responsibility, or what we might call the Parable
of Stewardship. We're going to talk about stewardship
a little bit this morning. This is about those who have
been instructed concerning the gospel of the kingdom. those
who have the knowledge and understanding that only God can give by the
power of His Spirit in the new birth, the mysteries of the kingdom. And this parable shows the importance
of preaching the gospel in the world. The Apostle Paul knew
something of that. In 1 Corinthians 9.16 he wrote,
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. I
don't have anything to brag about as far as my preaching. You remember
one time he said, I boast in Christ. God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of Christ. That's my glory. That's my boast.
Christ and him crucified, buried and risen again. That's what
preaching is, bragging on Christ, not bragging on the preacher,
not bragging on the people, but bragging on Christ. So he says,
though I preach, he said, I have nothing to glory in my preaching,
for necessity is laid upon me. I have to preach it, he's saying
there. I don't have any choice in this matter. I've been given
this message and I have to preach it. And he says, it's this important,
yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Could you imagine
what we would think of a doctor or a scientist, a medical scientist,
who suddenly found the cure for all cancer and kept it to himself? What would you think of such
a man? You would think of him no greater than you'd think of
the worst murderer that you've ever heard of in the world. Isn't
that right? Keep it to himself? Well, this
is something that everybody's got to have. And that's the way
Paul felt about the Gospel. We can't keep this Gospel, this
treasure, to ourselves. Look over in Matthew chapter
5, here on the Sermon on the Mount, just a few pages back.
Matthew chapter 5 and verse 13. instructing His disciples here.
He says in verse 13 of Matthew 5, He says, You are the salt
of the earth. What is salt? Well, salt in that
day and age was mainly used not as a seasoning, but as a preservative. And when He says, You are the
salt of the earth, here is what He is actually telling the disciples.
The only reason that this earth is not destroyed and cast into
an eternal hell right now is because God has a purpose that
he's going to work on this earth through his church, through his
people, in the preaching of the gospel. That's the only reason. Somebody said, why does the Lord
keep this world going as evil as it is? It's because he's still
got some sheep to bring into the fold. When is He coming back? I'll tell you exactly when. Listen
up. When the last one is brought into the fold. That's right. So you're the salt of the earth.
In other words, if you're a believer in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which He redeemed with His own precious blood, which
He called out by His Spirit in the new birth, you're the only
reason this earth is going on today. If it weren't for you,
it'd be gone. That's what he's saying. Now
think about that a little while. That's a great responsibility,
isn't it? That's a great weight to put
upon our shoulders. But look what he says. He says,
but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be
salted? It's thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out
and to be trodden under foot of men. Now he's talking about
his people now. If a person, if the salt loses
its savor, it's preserving power. And that would be like, for example,
a church or a group or a person who started out believing the
truth but then left it. And that probably describes most
of religion today. The apostate church. What's it
good for? Nothing. And then he says in
verse 14, you're the light of the world. There's no light in
the world except Christ. We're light because we carry
the message of light. He spoke of that in John chapter
5 that Brother Aaron read. He spoke of Christ being the
light. He spoke of bearing witness. John bore witness of the light. Behold the light of the world,
Christ, in him crucified. And he says, you're the light
of the world because we carry the glory of Christ. He says,
a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. You can't hide
a light, not this bright a light. He says, neither do men light
a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it
giveth light unto all that are in the house." So he says in
verse 16, "...let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven." Now, understand what verse 16 says. I have to say
this every time I read this verse, because I know what I was taught
growing up about it. You remember hearing the saying,
well, I'd rather see a sermon than hear one? Well, my friend,
faith cometh by hearing. Not by looking. You see what
I'm saying? Now, every believer in here,
your life, your walk, your talk, our walk, our talk, our life
ought to reflect the glory and grace and goodness of God. Many
times it doesn't. But it ought to. But nobody's
going to be saved by looking at our lives. It's by hearing
the gospel, the light, The light here is not our good works. That's
not what this verse is teaching. Listen to it. Let your light
so shine before men. What is our light? Christ is
our light. The gospel is our light. The
truth of grace is our light. How God saves sinners, that's
our light. We know how God saves a sinner. Most people don't. They think
they do. I heard a fellow on radio yesterday
talking about grace, and I turned it up. I said, well, let's hear
what he said. And he said, now let me tell you something. He
said, you're not going to get to heaven unless you live a pure
life. That's not grace, my friend.
And I'm not saying that just to be mean or to jump onto one
fellow. No, that's not the life. First
of all, you cannot live a pure life according to what God's
standard of purity is. Now, you may be pure in your
mama's side, but now to be pure in God's side is another thing
altogether. There's only one who lived a
pure life, and that's the Son of God incarnate. And my only
hope of getting into heaven is Him, His blood, His righteousness. And to look to anyone else or
anywhere else or any way else is darkness, not light. So the
light here is Christ. And Him crucified, buried, resurrected
for the justification of His people. Now that light shines
on our works. And it either testifies that
our works are evil deeds or good works. They're evil deeds if
they're aimed at saving ourselves or keeping ourselves safe. That's
a denial of Christ. That's a denial of the glory
of God. But they're good works if they're the fruit of God's
grace in Christ. And so what does he say? How
do men end up here? When they see your good works, they glorify
who? Your Father, which is in him. Don't glorify you. Don't
glorify me. They glorify God. They glorify
God. That's what that's saying. So
don't think that this gospel is to be hoarded. Now look back
at verse 51 of Matthew 13. He said, do you understand all
these things? Have you understood them? Well,
here's the first point. Do you understand the great gift
you've been given? That's what it's called. Do you
understand? They said, yea, Lord, we understand.
That means they've been given a great gift. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. I want to show you something
here. Now, we always, when we go to this chapter or when we
quote from this chapter, we most often quote the first part or
the last part, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, The first part, where Paul says
in verse 1, I brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God. I'm telling you the word of God.
Well, what does that consist of? Verse 2 is the summation
of it. He says, for I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was Paul's message. Now
Paul dealt with other issues, other matters, other subjects,
but they were all dealt with in light of and from the ground
of Christ and Him crucified. And he let people know we're
not saved by our works, we're not saved by our trying to keep
the law, we're saved by the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross to
satisfy God's justice on our behalf. And then usually we'll
go down to verse 14. Look at verse 14. Now remember
what Christ asked the disciples. He said, do you understand what
these things, what I've told you? Well, it says in verse 14,
the natural man. What is the natural man? That's
man as he is born naturally into this world. He's born a fallen
son of Adam, dead in trespasses and sins, without spiritual life. without a spiritual mind, without
spiritual understanding, without spiritual sight. Everything that's
dead can be used to describe a person spiritually. That's
what we are naturally. That's why salvation is literally
a resurrection from the dead when we speak of spiritual matters.
That's why you must be born again. Christ told Nicodemus, you must
be born again or you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You must
be born again or you can't see it, you can't understand it.
So he says in verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. He won't have them. He doesn't
want them. For they are foolishness unto
him. In other words, that which is the very wisdom of God to
the natural man is foolishness. You mean to tell me that God's
going to save me without putting any conditions on me? Somebody
said, a fellow asked him, he said, well, you've got to do
something to be saved. Because it's foolishness to think
otherwise to the natural man. To tell him that Christ did everything
is foolishness to him. You've got to do something. Somebody
says, you've got to believe. Well, yes, you have to believe,
but you've got to believe what? You've got to believe that Christ
did everything. You've got to believe that He
met all, fulfilled all conditions. You've got to believe that everything
God requires of me in order to be saved and enter heaven, I
find complete, full, and finished in the person and work of Christ."
That's what we've got to believe. And even that faith is the gift
of God, for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that
not of yourselves. Faith is not natural to the natural
man. If it were, then you could say,
I was saved because I believed. In other words, you might as
well say it this way, I was saved because I was better than other
people. They didn't believe. And I was less obstinate. They
were more rebellious. Well, you see, what I'm telling
you here is foolishness to the natural man. He doesn't want
it. And that's what he says here
in verse 14. For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, that is, know them savingly, because they are spiritually
discerned, they are spiritually understood and evaluated. But
he goes on, he says, but he that is spiritual judgeth all things,
yet he himself is judgeth no man. The spiritual man, the man
born again, born of Christ, born of the Spirit, he receives it.
Well, look back up at verse 12. Now, remember Christ said, have
you understood the things I've told you? And they said, yea,
Lord. Well, look at verse 12. He says, now we have received,
not the Spirit of the world. Now, what is the spirit of the
world? It's ignorance, darkness, self-righteous, works religion,
salvation conditioned on the sinner, not on Christ and Him
alone. But we receive the Spirit which is of God. That's being
born again of the Spirit. And here's how we know it. Now,
look at this. He says, that we might know, understand, receive,
believe, love the things that are what? What is that word there?
freely given to us of God. You see, that's what the natural
man doesn't want. He doesn't want it free. Do you know the things that are
freely given of God? Well, what are those things?
I'll tell you exactly what they are. Everything in salvation
is freely given of God. When you talk about earning things
from God, you've dropped into the realm of the darkness of
the world. Did you know that? Somebody said, well, you get
saved by grace, but you've got to keep it by your words. That's
the world. Salvation and all of salvation,
even unto final glory, is freely given. Well, how and by whom
are they freely given? Well, look at Romans chapter
8 with me. You go through these verses.
Listen to this. He says in verse 32 of Romans
chapter 8, "...he that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, all for whom he died,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" In
other words, if you have Christ who was freely given, you have
it all. freely given. It's grace. Grace. I've had people tell me,
said, I never really understood what grace is all about until
I heard this message. I used to think I knew, but freely
given. Unconditionally. That's what
it's talking about. Now, that's what Christ is asking
His disciples about. Do you understand these things
that have been freely given? Literally, have you put them
all together? And when he says in verse 51
there, do you understand? He's talking about more than
an intellectual knowledge. Well, I know it's so. He's talking
about a real knowledge, love, and conviction of proof. A faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A living faith. Not just a mental
assent. Not just being in a particular
place, in a particular pew, at a particular time. But he's talking
about being heart a heart drawn out to Christ, one that's come
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. Understanding these things savingly
is a great, miraculous gift from God. It's the gift of Christ
himself, Romans 8. It's the gift of salvation. It's
the gift of righteousness. Romans chapter 5 calls righteousness
not something you work for, not something you earn, not something
you do, but it's a free gift of God's grace. What is my righteousness? Who is my righteousness? Christ
is. Where do I find the forgiveness of sins? By His blood. The preacher
who told his congregation that the cost of forgiveness is repentance,
was preaching from the darkness of the world. The cost of forgiveness
is not your repentance. The cost of forgiveness is the
blood of the Son of God. And if you ever see that, I'll
tell you exactly what you'll do. You'll repent. Because it's
been freely given. You see that? It's the gift of
mercy. You can't earn mercy or it wouldn't
be mercy. It's the gift of grace. You can't
earn grace or it wouldn't be grace. It's the gift of the Word. In John chapter 5 there that
Brother Aaron read, Christ told the Pharisees, you have not the
Word of God abiding in you. Now let me ask you, do you have
the Word of God abiding in you? Is it your heart? Well, that's
a great gift, isn't it? It's the gift of the Holy Spirit
who indwells each and every heart of every believing sinner, whom
plants the Word. who gives us life, all of that.
Now, that's the great gift. It's all of salvation. Here's
the second point. Do you understand the great responsibility? Now, go to verse 52 of Matthew
13. Now, having been given this gift,
and some of you may not have this gift, I pray that God will
give it to you. I pray you'll seek it. That's
what Christ was talking about in Matthew chapter 6 when He
said, don't lay up treasures for yourself here on earth. where
moth-eaten rust deteriorates, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven." What does that mean? What do you do when you do that?
You rest in the person and finished work of Christ. And he says,
"...seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
That's the treasure, you see. So he says here in verse 52,
do you understand this gift? Well, do you understand the responsibility
that comes with it? He said unto them, Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is a householder." He has the charge of a house.
He doesn't own the house, but he has charge over the house.
He's being given the responsibility over this household. And in this
household there's great treasure, and he bringeth forth out of
his treasure things new and old. Things new and things old. You
see, what he's telling us is this, understanding these freely
given gifts is a great weight of responsibility, and it's upon
the shoulders of every believer, but particularly upon the shoulders
of all whom he describes here as scribes in the kingdom. Now, who are those scribes? Now,
normally when you think of a scribe, you think of something negative,
don't you? Because there were scribes in Israel, in Jerusalem,
in the day of our Lord, and our Lord never had anything good
to say about them. They were connected with the
Pharisees. What was a scribe? Well, a scribe was a person who
was gifted and trained in the interpretation and in the writing
and in the reading of the law. Sometimes they're called lawyers.
They weren't lawyers who defended people. They were scribes. Sometimes
they would sit at the judgment seats and they would record the
verdict of the Sanhedrin, the court of the Jews. But these
were men who were considered to be very intelligent. They
were the commentators of the word back then. They knew the
languages. They knew the ancient languages.
They knew the Greek language. They could write. And they were
considered to be great scholars. But just like in everything that
man gets his hands on, they became corrupted. And they were hooked
up with the Pharisees. Many times you see them connected
with the Pharisees. Our Lord in Matthew 5.20, He
said this, He said, "...unless your righteousness exceeds the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall
in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven." So they were men
who had become corrupt. Classically, a scribe was just
simply a man who was gifted and trained by God as a preacher
of the gospel, to know the scriptures. Back in the Old Testament, Ezra
was a scribe, but he was a good scribe. He preached Christ. He
preached the gospel. And that's what our Lord is saying
here. The scribe He's describing is one who has been skillfully
brought in by the Holy Spirit into the kingdom and gifted with
the tools and the knowledge of preaching the gospel. Now, as
I said, this weight of responsibility is upon every individual in the
whole church, but especially upon those who preach the gospel. men who have been instructed
into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the purpose of God
to glorify himself, the incarnation, the person of Christ, His righteousness,
His redemption, regeneration by the Spirit, preservation by
His grace, all of grace, godliness and obedience. What is the responsibility
given here? Well, turn to 1 Peter chapter
4. 1 Peter 4. Now God's servants, gospel pastors,
are householders under Christ. They're responsible for witnessing
the gospel to the world. They're responsible to feed the
family of God. Do you remember when Christ spoke
to Peter on the shore there before he ascended into glory? He said,
Peter, do you love me? Peter answered, Lord, you know
I love you. And what did he say? Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep,
feed my sheep. They are responsible for the
care and the guidance and protection of the family of God. They are
to be good stewards of the grace of God. Look at 1 Peter 4, verse
7. Peter writes here, he says, but
the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober, that means
sound minded, and watched unto prayer. And above all things,
have fervent charity, love among yourselves, for love shall cover
the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging, as every man hath received the gift, that
which is freely given." The gift of salvation, the gift of the
Word, the gift of the Spirit. Even so, minister the same one
to another. In other words, whatever you've
been given, use it in the ministry of the glory of God. And he says,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Good stewards. We're stewards. That's what he's
saying. We don't own this. This is not my church. When I
was growing up, this was always called Mahan's church. It wasn't
Mahan's church. It was Christ's church. It's not Parker's church now.
I hope it never will be. If it ever becomes my church,
we're all in trouble, including me. I'll be worse off than any
of you. As I told you, you know, it's
just like patting somebody on the back. Man's the only creature,
you pat him on the back, it swells up his head. And that's the way
it is. We're stewards of the grace of
God. What we have, we didn't earn. And what we have, we don't deserve. Isn't that right? God owns us. Christ bought us
with His precious blood. What we have by way of righteousness,
He gave us freely. And He's just letting us use
it. And so we're to be good stewards of it. Now, you all have heard
stories about people who have children, for example, who have
gotten huge inheritances. You've heard all kinds of stories
about that. I was looking some up, and I don't have time to
tell you all of them. But I read stories about about children
who got inheritances. They didn't earn it now, they
just got it because they were members of that family and daddy
earned it or granddaddy earned it and gave it to him when he
died. And what did they do with it? They squandered it all. They
didn't know how to handle it. They didn't earn it and they
went out and squandered it all. But I've also heard several stories
about children who got inheritances and they hoarded it. There's
one story about a woman up in the Northeast who was a multi-millionaire,
but when they found her, she was in a dirt floor shack in
poverty. That's just as bad. And then
we've heard good stories about those who used the money wisely,
built upon it, made more money with it, and used it to help
other people. Well, you see, this is the way
it is for the stewards of Christ. the stewards of the grace of
God. We've received a treasure. That's what he talks about in
Matthew 13 there. He said you're a householder,
and in this house you've got this treasure, and out of that
treasure you bring forth things old and things new. You didn't
buy the treasure. I know he talked about in the
treasure hidden in a field, the man sold everything he had to
get it. That's not teaching you've got to buy salvation. That's
teaching how much a person who sees their sins and sees the
glory of Christ, how much he values Christ. I've got to have
Christ. And nothing else matters. Nothing
else is valuable, you see. The pearl of great price. That's
a treasure, you see. So you've been given this treasure.
Christ bequeathed it to you. When He died, you got it. That's
what Hebrews chapter 9 teaches. He earned it. He deserved it.
We didn't earn it, but He gave it to us. In fact, we were the
most undeserving. We were rebels, enemies of God,
and yet He gave it to us freely. Now, what are we to do with it?
Are we to hoard it? Let's keep it to ourselves. There was a
church down in the South that split. That's not too strange,
is it? Splitting churches. But they split, and you know
what they split over? They were arguing over whether or not to
put a sign out in the front of the building. Some said, no,
we don't need to put a sign out there. If they're God's elect,
they're coming. Some said, well, people need to know we're here,
know what it is. And they split over that. Well, that's not being
a good steward over the grace of it. What are we to do? Well,
look here, he says in verse 52, he says, "...which bringeth forth
out of his treasure new..." That word, bringeth forth, means scattering
abroad. That's what it literally means.
It means let it out. Share it. To anybody who wants
it. Anybody who will listen. You
say, God's elected a people. Yes, He has. We're to preach
the gospel to the whole world. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. You see, that's our responsibility.
We're to preach the gospel. This treasury from which we bring
forth things old and things new as they're needed, it's the Word
of God. It's salvation. Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, he says, "...for God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give unto us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's what we have.
And that's a treasure. Now, you went on to say, we have
this treasure in earthen vessels. Understand that when you're hearing
this treasure and receiving this treasure, that you're getting
it out of a broken clay pot like me, or who else. In other words, if you're trusting
in the clay pot, you're in trouble. You don't want the clay pot,
you want the treasure. And this treasure is salvation, all of
salvation, free the given. This treasury is the gospel of
Christ. Do you realize? Turn over to
John chapter 5 that Brother Aaron read. Listen to this. Let me
show you how valuable this is. Bring it forth. Fling it out
there. Scatter it abroad. Be liberal with the riches that
we have. And then he says, things old
and things new. I believe what he's talking about
there are things in the Old Testament and things in the New Testament.
That's what I believe he's talking about. I'll show you that in
just a moment. Now, look here in John chapter
5. What he said here, look at verse 25. He says, "...verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live." Now, you know he's talking about the return
of the Lord, the second coming of Christ, to judgment. He's
going to judge the quick and the dead. And he says in verse
26, for as the Father hath life in Himself, God the Father is
the source and cause of eternal life, salvation, so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself. He entrusted all of this treasure
to His Son. And His Son did all that was
required to earn and deserve this treasure. He did it by His
obedience unto death on the cross of Calvary when He took the place
of His people on that cross and died for their sins. And so he
says in verse 27, because of that, and have given him authority
to execute judgment also, because he's the Son of God. So marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice. You see, the first part
there, he's talking about those who are alive in Christ. But
now he says, all that are in the graves. And he says in verse
29, and shall come forth they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life. and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation." Now, let me show you how valuable
this treasury is in light of that. You are coming to the judgment. I am coming to the judgment.
And they that have done good, they will get what? Resurrection
unto life. But they that have done evil,
resurrection of damnation. Now, what does the world do with
a verse like that? Well, all good people are going
to heaven, and all bad people are going to hell. That's the
extreme. Some will say, well, no, it's not saying that. You've
got to believe in Christ, and then you've got to do good. Some will say, well, the Lord,
He's going to weigh your good works with your bad works, and
see which one outweighs the other. Now, you couple that with other
scriptures, though. You talk about getting confusing now.
The natural man. The Bible says in Romans 3, verses
10-12, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
seeketh after the Lord, no, not one. There's none that doeth
good, no, not one. Somebody says, well, they've
got to be talking about somebody else, not me. The Bible says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What does that mean? They
that have done good. under the resurrection of life.
Well, are you able to tell somebody what that means? If you are now,
think about what a treasure that is. That's better than being
able to tell them how to cure cancer. Because if you can tell
them how to cure cancer, something else is going to get them, right?
I mean, we may be able to wipe out cancer off the face of the
earth, but something else is going to get it. I don't think
Methuselah died of cancer. Somebody said, well, he died
of old age. Yeah, 969 years old. And he died. So you wipe out
a disease, and that's a good thing. I wish somebody would
find that magic pill that would clear out these arteries. But
I'm going to tell you something, something else is going to get
me. Isn't that right? But here's eternal life. as opposed
to eternal death. What does it mean, they that
have done good? I'll tell you exactly who it's talking about.
It's talking about those who trust in Christ. Period. You'll either be found in Christ,
washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, or it'll
be the resurrection of damnation. And that's exactly what he tells
them. Now, look down there. Now, he said, things old and
things new. He's talking about things of God in the Gospel in
the Old Testament and things in the New Testament. Now, we're
New Testament Christians. We're not under the Old Covenant
law. The Old Testament was written for our learning, Paul wrote
in Romans 15 and verse 4. For our admonition, he wrote
in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. We don't throw away the old treasure
of the Old Testament just because we've been blessed to receive
the new treasure of the New Testament. It's the same gospel. All scripture
is God-breathed, and it's profitable for our learning, for our doctrine.
All scripture is inspired of God. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
1, he says, the gospel that I preach to you today in the New Testament
is the same gospel that the prophets preached in the Old Testament.
I'm not telling you anything new. We have some new revelations
in the New Testament. We're speaking of Christ who
has already come, whereas they were looking to Christ who was
to come. Christ set His disciples down and He taught them how to
preach. Christ and Him crucified and resurrected again and ascended
from Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. But look down here
at verse 39. Christ says, John 5, Christ says,
search the Scriptures. Now what Scriptures was He talking
about then, the Old Testament? What they had. John 5, 39, search
the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify of me." I can preach
Christ just as well from the Old Testament as I can from the
New. Now, many times, New Testament
scriptures shed light on the Old Testament. In fact, I've
told you this, that the best commentary you can buy on the
Old Testament is the New Testament. And that's right. What did Moses
write? What did the Law of Moses mean?
Well, look at it, verse 40. Now, he says, you will not come
to me that you might have life. Why wouldn't they come? Self-righteousness,
unbelief, pride. He says in verse 41, he tells
them, I receive not honor from men, but I know you that you
have not the love of God in you. I come in my father's name and
you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? The reason they wouldn't come is because that wouldn't
exalt the flesh. That wouldn't get the praise
and the honor that men will give. That's why people do what they
do in religion. They want honor from men, whoever
it is they have in mind. So verse 45, he says, "...do
not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one
that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust." They didn't
trust Moses the person to save them, they trusted in the law
of Moses, their works under the law. That's what he means there.
So he says, for had you believed Moses, you would have believed
me, for he wrote of me. That's what Moses' writings are
all about, Christ and the glory of our Savior. He says, but if
you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?
That's what he's talking about. Things new, the fullness and
the glory and blessings of the new covenant, the mysteries of
the kingdom, things old, the truth of God as revealed in the
Old Testament, all summed up in Christ and Him crucified and
resurrected and glorified. Remember I told you Ezra was
a scribe? There is a verse over in Ezra
chapter 7 and verse 10. That's appropriate for this,
and this is how I'll conclude it. It says, "...for Ezra had
prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it,
and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." In other words,
Ezra prepared his heart to teach the Word of God. And that's what
the responsibility, the householder does. The household is the family
of God. The householder is the preacher
of the gospel. How do we prepare to do? We study
to show ourselves approved under God, workmen that need it not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We preach
Christ. Every time we gather together, we preach the word
of God and how it shows us more of the glory and the assurance
of salvation that we have in Christ. That's what inspires
God's people to obey. That's what inspires us to love.
and to glorify and worship God in Christ.