to Luke 16. Luke chapter 16. You know, we were talking this
morning, Shirley and I were, about how the Lord hath been
so merciful and gracious to folks we know There's Jim, got so sick
and the Lord restored him. Kathleen, you know, they didn't,
she was really, really sick and the Lord's raised her back up
and she's doing real well. And then her brother-in-law went
eight years without a kidney on dialysis and got a kidney
and the kidney's working. Having the most wonderful experience.
That's, you know, Ain't the Lord gracious, ain't the Lord merciful. That goes to show you, He's got
all the power. Got all the power. And we are
immortal here until our work is done. Nothing can kill us,
nothing can harm us. A fella could put a gun to your
head and it wouldn't go off until it's the Lord's time. That's
the truth. There's a song that says that.
We are immortal here until our work is done. Very grateful for
that. All right, let's start reading
here at verse 1 of chapter 16. And read down to verse 18. He
said also unto his disciples that there was a certain rich
man which had a steward. A steward's a man and he is in
charge of all your household and the things that go on in
your house and your goods. And the same was accused unto
him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto
him, how is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy
stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the
steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my Lord
taketh away from me the stewardship I cannot dig. To beg, I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that
when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their
house. And I'll have someplace else to go. I'll have some other
job. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors and said unto
the first, How much owest thou my Lord? And he said, A hundred
measures of oil. He said unto him, Take thy bill
and sit down quickly and write fifty. Then said he to another,
How much owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures
of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and write fourscore. Write eighty. And the Lord commended
the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children
of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light,
that they know how to get by in this world. They'll do whatever
is necessary to further themselves and save themselves in this world.
And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting
habitations. In other words, if this is the
life you're going to choose, give it all you got. And he that
is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much,
and he that's unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore
you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful
in that which is another man's, like that unjust Stuart was,
who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve
two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and Mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were
covetous, heard all these things, and they did right in him. And
he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before
men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the
prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of
God is preached, and every man presses into it. And it is easier
for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the Lord of
heaven. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another,
committeth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that
is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. Our great and glorious sovereign
God of heaven and earth, God who sits on his throne and inhabits
eternity, measures the waters in the hollow of his hand, counts
the nations of the earth as dropped in the bucket and dust on the
balance. Absolutely. Oh, Lord, it's you
that we look to, trust in, believe on, come to. And oh, blessed
be your name for allowing us, giving us this wonderful privilege,
and a privilege indeed it is, together with the children of
God, together with people of like mind, of like faith, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, people whose heart is gathered
here to hear what the Lord has to say today. And oh Father,
I pray that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit would be present
in my preaching, that you'd quicken my mind and my heart my thoughts,
my memory. And Lord, enable me to speak
from my heart to their heart, from the word into the word that
answers to their heart. And oh, bless you, Savior, bring
glory to yourself. Thank you for what you've done
for those among us, how you've raised up the sick, how you've
healed bodies, how you've strengthened and encouraged families, how
you meet the needs of your dear people and our Father and how
you answer prayer. And Lord, we pray again for these
saints and give thanks for them and ask for your continued presence
and power and healing power upon them. And have mercy, mercy,
mercy, mercy upon our children and grandchildren. Everyone here
has got someone they love, they're praying for. Someone they want
to see come hear the gospel. someone that they want to become
a believer, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, to be washed in
his blood, to have his righteousness as their only hope and standing
before God. Lord, honor yourself today. We
ask it in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Rick, can you and Helen
sing in a minute? Would you try it? In Luke 16 down there in verse
15 is where I'm going to get the title of my message. He said, Under them, ye are they
which justify yourselves before men. This is the title of my
message. But God knoweth your hearts. God knows your heart. And that to me is a great consolation,
a great comfort. God knows my heart. I mean, He
knows it intimately. He knows my thoughts are far
off. He knows our frame that we're but dust. And as a father pities his children,
even so the Lord pities us. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ was
a plain spoken And when he spoke, he very plain spoken. He came
right to the point. He never beat around the bush.
He didn't have to understand what he was saying. You may not
believe what he said. And that's why they got so angry
with him. They understood what he said. They didn't like what
he said often. And when Christ spoke, it was
the Word of God speaking. It was God's Word speaking. He
said, John in 1248, he says, the Lord, the words that I speak,
they're not mine, but him that sent me. God told me what to
say. My father told me what to say.
I speak the very word of God. When you hear my voice, you're
hearing God's voice. When you hear words that I say,
you're hearing the words comes from God, comes right from heaven
itself. So that's what he's talking about.
And that's why when we, who are believers, look in his word,
and look at His Word, and look at His Word, we take it to heart.
We take it to heart. It speaks to us. It touches us. It has something to say to us.
And we say, you know, the Lord's talking to us. When I read the
Scriptures, I don't think He's talking to anybody else but me.
There's a time that I used to not do that. Back when I was
in religion, I'd read the Bible for somebody else, you know. And what this person needs to
preach on that, surely they'll get that and they'll understand
that. But got over that years ago, Gary. But all listen, not
only do we take it to heart, but we want to obey it. We want
to listen to it. We want to do what it says. We
want to do what it says. And that's what the apostle meant
when he says the love of Christ constrains us. The love of Christ
constrains us. And it's His love for us, not
our love for Him, His love for us that caused Him to give Himself,
to give His all, to give His blood, to give His life, to give
His everything about Himself, give Himself for us, to redeem
us, to pay our sin debt, to save us out from under God's laws,
save us from God's justice, save us from God's wrath. and to redeem
us from all our iniquities, to preserve us, keep us day in and
day out. And so you see, beloved, the
love of Christ constrains us. He has love for us. That's what
causes us to keep on keeping on. But what is our Lord teaching
here? And I tell you, I want to start
in verse 13 and go down through these verses. What is our Lord
teaching us here? Well, he says there in verse
13, He says, no man can serve two masters, for he'll either
hate the one, love the other, or else he'll hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and man. Now our Lord's teaching us here,
and I lay this to heart. What God's saying is that God
won't have a divided heart. You cannot serve two people at
the same time. You can't serve God, and serve
sin. You cannot serve God, you cannot
serve the world. You cannot serve God and serve
somebody else at the same time. You cannot be God's child and
the child of the devil at the same time. It's an impossibility. And that's what our Lord, He
says, you cannot, you'll hate the one and love the other. And
yet, and that's what James said. Look over, you keep Luke 17.
Look over in James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Look at James.
Right after the book of Hebrews, James is that little five chapter
book there. Now this was our Lord's brother.
And this said here in verse 8. 1.8. You know this is what our Master
is talking about. God will not have a divided heart. He said
a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. A double-minded
man, he's got a mind for this and he's got a mind for that.
Now I hear people say all the time that they can, they are
multitaskers. But I'm not a multitasker. I
can only deal with one thing at a time. If my mind goes to,
I got to stay on that, whatever I'm dealing with, that's what
I got to do. My mind will wander, I'm not telling you it won't
do that. But I can only do one thing at a time. And that's all
I can do. And that's what our Master's
saying here. You can't do two things at the same time. You
can't love God and love Him to be your Savior and love Him to
be your Master and love something else at the same time. But yet
multitudes try it and they believe they're very successful at it.
They believe they're very successful at it. They try it. They think
they're successful at it. And I know folks that's tried
it and I know folks that's still doing it. I know folks that put
up verses of scripture on the internet and do things like that.
And yet, beloved, it's rare, rare to see them in a gospel
service. It's rare to see them sit down in a service and listen
to somebody preach the gospel of God's grace. But yet they
got religion. They put up verses of scripture.
And they have a lot to say about being thankful for this, that,
and the other. And you know people, most people feel they have to
have some religion. They got to have some religion.
And yet their affections, their thoughts and their hearts are
so worldly. They're so concerned for the
world and what this world's doing and what this world gives and
what this world attains and they can attain in this world. So
they're always, if they have certain amount of religion, they're
always in a state of discomfort and guilt. They can never rest. They always, you know, they got
enough religion to keep from being real, real happy and enjoy
the world. And they got just enough world
in them that they cannot be very happy or very rested or very
glad in their religion. They're torn between these two
worlds. And that's what our Lord's talking about. You can't have
this. It can't be done. And our Lord said it can't be
done. That's what I just read to you, the unjust steward. That
was his problem. He tried to serve himself and
his master at the same time. But he couldn't serve both at
the same time. You know who he cared about more
than anybody else? Himself. That's why he was called
the unjust steward. He took everything that that
master owned and his head over his house and he took everything
that master owned and started keeping so much of it to himself.
and started stealing from him, started taking the bills that
come in, and he'd take the money from them. Well, his master found
out about it. He said, oh, I know what I'll
do. I'll dig. I can't do that. I'm not going
to go get a job. There's no way in the world I'm
going to go out here and work. I mean, I've been somebody, and
I'm going to stay somebody, and I'm going to stay in a powerful
position. I'm going to stay, and I'm going to keep my position
one way or another. He said, and to beg, I ain't
fixing to beg. I ain't going to beg God. I'm
not going to beg man. I'm not going to beg from anybody.
I'm going to be independent and make it on my own. I'm going
to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I'm going to stand up on my own
two feet, and I'm going to show people that I can make it no
matter what goes on. Boy, he figured out a way to
do it. He said, now, if my master fires me, one of these other
fellas here, that I'm doing him a favor, he'll take me into his
house and I'll get a job with him. And that's worldly wisdom
at its very best. I know what I'll do. If I lose
this job over here, I got all these fellas over here I've been
real good to, one of them will see that I'll be taken care of.
But our Lord said it can't be done. I tell you, Judas couldn't
do it. Look over in John 12. Look in
John 12 with me. Look what our Lord said about
Judas. Look what our Lord said about Judas here in 12 and verse
5. Demas couldn't do it. Demas was,
Paul wrote about Demas, you know, Demas is going to come, going
to bring me this, that, and the other. And the next time you
hear about Demas, Demas having loved this present world, hath
departed. He couldn't serve. His heart
was in the world. His heart was in the world. His
heart wasn't for the Lord Jesus Christ. Judah's heart wasn't
for the Lord Jesus Christ. That unjust Stuart wasn't for
his master. And look what he said here. And
look, Judas is talking in verse five. Judas is speaking. Why was not
this ointment, when Mary come in and took that ointment and
anointed our Lord Jesus Christ, why was not this ointment sold
for 300 pence and given to the poor? Boy, that's a good thing
to do. Support the poor. That's what
the world's telling us to do. Go out here and take care of
the poor. Well, I ain't met nobody poor yet. I'll tell you, this
is a true story. One of these liberal women says that, you know, they talk
about all these children that's starving and going to bed hungry
in America. A fella said, you go find me
one and bring him here and I'll take care of him. She ain't found
him yet and ain't never brought him yet. Do you know any children
that's going to bed hungry in this world? In America? It ain't happening. And that's
what our Lord said. That's why he said, let's take
care of the poor. That makes folks feel good about
themselves. And they say, oh, listen, let's go down here and
set up a soup kitchen. And oh, that's wonderful. That's
right. That's what he said. Let's tell this stuff and give
it to the poor. This he said, listen to it, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he is a thief. And he had the bag. He was the
treasure. and bear what was put in there.
He said, if I get a whole $300, 300 pence, I'll have lost. He
sold the Lord Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He was a thief. He couldn't serve two masters.
And oh, listen. I tell you what, that's what
our Lord's saying here. And I tell you, you know the
way to real comfort and peace? Do you know the way to real comfort
and peace? Having one master, even God,
that's the way to true comfort. That's the way to true peace. Loving only one, having only
one master, only one person that you worship, one person you look
to, one person that you trust in, one person that you bow to,
one person that gives you the orders, one person that you live
for, one person that you're trying to honor, one person that you're
trying to bring glory to. Look in Psalm 86. This is what the psalmist said
about it. Psalm 86 and 11. 86 and 11, and boy, you're talking
about a message. Here's a message that'll, that'll,
that'll, I'd love to preach a message
on this one time. You know, having the way to real
comfort, the way to real peace, where you ain't out here trying
to figure out a way to save yourself in this world. He says in verse
11, teach me thy way, oh Lord, Teach me thy way. Teach me the
way of you, the way of the Lord. Teach me the way of your word.
Teach me the way of your gospel. Teach me the way of faith. Teach
me the way to honor you. Teach me the way to glorify you.
And I'll walk in thy truth. You show me the truth, I'll walk
in the truth. You teach me the truth and I'll
walk in the truth. I want the truth about myself.
I want the truth about everybody. I want the truth about my nature. I want the truth about, I want
the truth! Lord, give me the truth! And
I'll walk in it. And then, look what he says. Unite my heart. Make it one heart. One heart. Unite my heart to
you. Unite my heart to your truth.
Unite my heart to your ways. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Huh? And that's what our Lord's
teaching us here. You know, I'll tell you the real
rate of comfort and peace. He gives peace that passes understanding. And you know what it is to have
peace that passes understanding. You're in a situation and God
puts you in situations. Well, you don't understand why
you're there. You don't understand what's going on. You don't understand
the trial that's coming. You don't understand why it's
dark. You don't understand why you're struggling in this world
and you're having these trials. You don't understand God coming
into your home and taking your heart and tearing it all to pieces
by taking people that you love or giving you the awful news
that you're not going to live long or give you the awful news
that you've got a bad heart and you're not going to make it. to give you the awful news. Somebody
calls you and say a son or a daughter died and they died without any
hope in God, any hope in Christ. And then you say how in the world
can you make it? He gives you peace. And that
it passes. You don't have to understand
everything that's going on. You don't have to understand
what God's doing. You don't have to understand
everything. You don't have to understand all of His Word. You
don't have to understand what He's doing in your life. All
you know is that He gives you a peace. A peace in your soul
that said, it's the Lord. Be still and know that I'm God. And whatever happens, whichever
way it comes out, it's going to come out to your good and
going to come out to His glory. And that gives you a peace. And
it passes anything that goes on in your heart and mind. It
passes your understanding. You say, I don't understand why
I've got such calmness and such peace. I do. God gives it. God gives it. And there's joy
and peace in believing. And the world can't give you
this. The world can't give you joy. The world can't give you
peace. The world can't give you a peace
that passes understanding. In fact, what it does, it comes
and steals it away. Huh? It steals it away. Remember what happened to Lot's
wife? She started out a Sodom. And
she looked back. Huh? You know why? The body was
outside of Sodom, but her heart was still there. And oh, look down in verse 14
now. So oh my, the way to real comfort
and peace is to know God, to serve the One, hold to Him, love
Him. And oh listen, the Pharisees
also who were covetous, heard all these things and they derided
him. They heard, and our Lord Jesus,
he was talking to his disciples. You remember the verse first
said that he was talking to his disciples. They were so miserable
because they were so covetous. And they were covetous, that
means they were greedy. And when they were so greedy
and desired so much of this world and all that was in it, that
they sneered at our Lord Jesus Christ. They made fun of Him.
They mocked Him. They said, what in the world
are you talking about? They knew that, listen, you talk
about this unjust steward. Well, listen, we're not. I mean,
they were so covetous. And you know what our Lord said
about them? They devoured widows' houses. Now what does that mean? That's like these preachers on
TV. And all these preachers, they'll take from a widow, and
people get old, and women and men get old, and they get to
thinking, boy, if I support this preacher, surely, surely that'll
count something. If I send him half of my income,
if I keep sending him money, and he keeps praying for me,
surely, surely he'll get me through, and I'll get to go to glory.
They don't care about widows. They don't care about them. They
keep telling them, oh you send money to me. You keep up that
good money and God will bless you and save you and prosper
you. They'd devour what is had them.
And they'd make merchandise of men's souls. All in the world
a man is to them is something to brag on, and they're converts. And to brag on how many souls
they won, and how much money they got. You know there's churches
that they set their budget, and you got to commit to give so
much to that church every year out of your income. And if you don't, the deacon's
gonna be at your house. You're just nothing but a merchandise
to them. You're just something only to
be bought or sold. And the Lord was addressing His
disciples. Wasn't talking to these men at
all. But in teaching them and instructing them about the unjust
steward, their hearts were exposed. They was exposed to be what they
really were. And then look how differently.
how differently what men esteem and what God esteems. And he
said unto them, said to these Pharisees, you are they which justify yourselves
before men. You mock me and make fun of me
and deride me and despise me and hate me and you love your
greed, you love your money, you love your praise. You love to
stand in the marketplace making long prayers. Love them long
robes you wear. And he says, you are they which
justify yourselves before men, but God knows your heart. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. And our Lord says
these men justified themselves before men. They justify, I mean they was
more interested in what men thought about them than what God thought
about them. They was more interested in being justified before men
and being cleared before men and being highly thought of before
men and being respected before men and being honored before
men. They didn't care about being justified before God. And our
Lord says that that that's highly esteemed among men is abomination.
What do men highly esteem? What do men highly esteem? What
is it that they esteem? What is it that they set up to
be very high and to go after? Riches. Riches. That's why everybody,
you know that's why people buy lottery tickets? You know why
people buy lottery tickets? They think this is going to be
the one that makes me rich. That's why people buy lottery
tickets. I'll buy this one right here,
and if they make $5, they'll spend $50 to make another $5.
But being rich is, rich is, oh, if
I could just, and, oh, my. Wealth, wealth, wealth, wealth,
wealth. People are getting rich. I'm
telling people how to get rich. and honors. Men love honors.
They love to see their name, love to hear their name called,
love to hear people talk about them. They love their honors.
Did you see what I just got? I got that honor for this and
I got that trophy for that and I got this ribbon for that other
thing. And oh my, I just, I started out in the mail room and now
I'm up, I'm right before the guy who runs the company. They
love their positions in this world. They love pleasure. They
love their houses. Oh, my. People used to raise
a half a dozen kids in a four-room house, and now they got a 40-room
house and got three people in it. Just upside down, ain't it? And this is what most are living
for. But God says they're vanity. 39, Psalm 39, look what God says
about it. Look what God says about it,
Psalm 39. In verse five, this is what God
says. God says that what you love and
you esteem and you honor and you think's the greatest thing
in the world, God says it's just vanity. Verse 5, Behold thou
hast made my days as a hand breath, and mine age is nothing before
thee. Oh my, my age is nothing before you. Methuselah lived
987 years, 989, how much? 969. God says your age ain't
nothing for me, Methuselah. Compared to me, you don't have
any age. We think we're getting old. God says your age don't
mean nothing. Before me, your age ain't nothing.
We think about it and we worry about it. We talk about getting
old, but God says your age ain't nothing. And oh, listen. Verily, every man at his best
state, the best possible state he can be in, is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Walks with an image. That's what
he means. Got to put on an image. Surely
every man walketh in an image that he wants to present. Surely
they're just quieted in vain. He heaps up riches and don't
know who's going to gather them. Now you know what God esteems?
That's what man esteems. You know what God esteems? God,
you know what He esteems? He esteems His Son. He esteems
His Son. In fact, He esteems Him so highly
that He gave Him a name that's above every name. That every
tongue one of these days is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. And every knee's gonna bow. Every one of them's gonna do
it. And I do it now, don't you? Oh, I confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. I confess that He's the Sovereign
of this world. I confess that He's the King
of Kings. I confess that He's God's only
beloved Son. I confess that His Son is the
only Savior in this world. I confess that He's the only
one whose blood can cleanse from sin. I confess that God esteems
His Son and He said that there's no way I could come unto His
Father unless I come by Him. I confess, and I know you do,
I esteem, God esteems His Son. This is my beloved son. You listen to him. Hear what
he has to say. His mother come to him one time. They come to him and they said,
oh, we're out of wine here. What are we going to do? And he said, well, his mother
come to him and said, woman, what have I had to do with you?
What have I had to do with you? Mine hour has not yet come. Oh, and I tell you what else
he esteems. He esteems his word. He said his word above his own
name. Magnified his word above his
own name. What in the world is he talking
about he magnifies his word before his own name? Because I tell you what, if his
word fails, then his name means nothing. That's what he means
by that. If my word fails me, If my word
ever falls and don't accomplish what I sent it to do, then my
name is not worth anything. That's what he's talking about.
That's why his word is magnified above his name. And I tell you
something else he esteems. He esteems his church. He esteems
his sheep. He esteems his elect. In fact,
he said in one place, he said it'd be better for a man to have
a millstone cast about his neck and him throwed into the depth
of the sea that he should offend one of these little ones who
believes in me. He said if a man just gives a
cup of cold water, just a cup of cold water in a disciple's
name, he won't lose his reward. Whoever, and you know James,
you know I don't know what the Lord's gonna do for you, but
I tell you what, I sure appreciate this ice water. Who gives a cup
of cold water? You do it because you love me.
And you do it because you want to honor the Lord. Thank you
very much for it. And the Lord bless you for it.
But oh listen, he loves his church. He ain't gonna let nobody harm
his church. He said, he that harmeth you
touches the apples of my eye. I'll tell you something else
he esteems. He esteems faith. Faith. To believe Him. To believe
Him. To believe Him. You know the
thing that honors God more than anything you can do in this world?
That's to believe Him. Believe Him whenever sight can
see a thing. To believe God. Abraham believed
God. Believed God in things that's
not yet done. He says, all my counsel shall
stand. To believe God when nothing else
matters. To believe God, there's nothing
honors God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. Faith, oh how God, how faith
honors God. It takes Him at His word. It
don't back up. And if it says, if I don't understand
it, that don't mean that it's not true. Oh, faith, faith, faith. And
I tell you, He honors repentance. He honors grace. He honors faith. He esteems faith. He esteems
grace. He esteems communion with Him. Oh my. What men call great, God
says is abominable. What God calls good, men calls
it evil. And what God calls evil, men
call it good. I'll show you that from the scriptures.
I'll show you that. Look in Isaiah 5. I'll show you
that from the scriptures. And this is it. You know, and
people that's close to us, this has happened to me. This has
happened to me a couple of times. with people that I love very
dearly. You try to talk to them, try to tell them that, you know,
they need Christ, they need to go where the gospel is preached. And I've had two very, very close
people to me, very, very close people to me say, well, you know,
I'm satisfied with what I've got, so just don't mention it
to me anymore. I'm satisfied with what I have.
I'm satisfied with being confirmed in the church. I'm satisfied
with having a woman preacher. I'm satisfied with going to a
church, you know, that wouldn't know the gospel if they met it
in the middle of the road, wouldn't know God from a goat. But I'm
satisfied. So just, you know, let's just
leave it alone. Let's just leave it alone. Okay. All right. And look what he said
here in Isaiah 5 in verse 20. woe unto them that call evil
good. Boy, I tell you what, there's
a lot of evil being called good right now. A lot of evil being
called good. And a lot of good being called
evil. And that put darkness for light.
Oh, they're walking in darkness, but they call it light. They call it light. And they
put light for darkness. They're just absolutely opposite. And they put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter. Oh my. You know, there's out in Houston,
Texas, I'll tell you all this, and this is just, they're out
there, they tried to make every preacher give every message that
they preached. and give them up to them to see if they was preaching
any hate speech that you'd ever preach. God forbid
that you ever preach against sin. And if you don't believe me,
just look it up and see what I'm telling you, see if I ain't
telling you the truth. And one of these days, the government's
gonna be wanting that. If they catch you saying anything
against sin, Anything against lesbianism, homosexuality-ism, they gonna come after you. That's
just a matter of time. That's where we're headed if
God don't stop us. There's coming a time when our freedom of worship
is well on its way out. And that's what he said here.
They put evil for good, good for evil. And I tell you, look
what he says. Woe unto them that are wise in
their own eyes. prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them, they're mighty
to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which
justify the wicked for reward. Oh, listen, I'll clear you. Listen,
you won't get in any trouble. You got money, I can keep you
out of trouble. You got money, I'll clear you.
You won't have to worry about a thing. And take away the righteousness
of the righteous. regard the righteous as people
that absolutely are unrighteous. That's what he's talking about,
huh? And that's why the scripture said over in the book of Acts,
they said, those fellows that turned the world upside down,
they've come over here now. You know what? Remember God turning
our world upside down? I mean, he tore it all to pieces.
And you know why it was upside down, turned it upside down?
Because it's wrong side up. And he had got to turn it over.
And, oh, listen, center, and they said, he seemeth to be a
center-forth of strange gods. But, oh, we love God's sovereignty. They love man's freedom. We love
the cross and the person who died on the cross. They love
a symbol. They love something around their
neck, something on their wall. We love God who's invisible and
can't be seen except by faith. They got to have an image. They
got to have a picture. They got to have somebody with
a crown of thorns on their head that they can look at. But let
me ask you whose word is true, man's or God's? Whose estimate
is correct? Whose judgment will stand at
the last day? Then what of man's opinions?
and those that justify themselves. Yea, let God be true in every
man and liar. Look what our Lord said here
and I'll wind this up. Verse 16, Luke chapter 16. Look what he said. Not only did
he esteem his son and his word and his church and faith, but he esteemed the law and the
prophets. Our Lord said the law and prophets
were until John. Since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached and every man presses into it. Our Lord
says, there's the law. Our Lord says, there's the prophets.
And they were until John. The law and the prophets. John
was the last Old Testament prophet. Ain't gonna be no more prophets.
Ain't gonna be no more law preached. Ain't gonna be no more law that's
gonna, no more ceremonies, no more rituals, no more holy days,
no more feasts, no more Passover's. No more that. No more high priests. No more entering into the temple.
No, no, that's what he said. But now, now, he esteemed John. He esteemed the prophets. He
esteemed the Old Testament. And then he says, now is the
kingdom of God preached. We're preaching that there's
a kingdom, not of this world, a spiritual kingdom, a powerful
kingdom. And he says, Christ says, I'm
the king of that kingdom. There's a kingdom on this earth
and there's only certain people that see that kingdom, enter
that kingdom, know that kingdom. That's why he said, told Nicodemus,
except ye be born again, you can't even see the kingdom of
God, much less enter it. And all the kingdom of God's
preached. We preach that there's one kingdom, one Lord, one kingdom
in this world. And that's a spiritual kingdom,
a powerful kingdom, and Christ sits on the throne. And then
look what he says. And every man, every man who
wants in this kingdom, who desires this kingdom, who esteems what
God esteems, He presses into it. He strives to enter into
it. He knows there's no other way.
What it means is He wants it so vigorously that I've got to
have the Kingdom of God regardless of what happens. I've got to
be saved. I've got to have Christ. I don't care what anybody else
does, what anybody else believes, what anybody else's opinions
are. I've got to have Christ. And look what our Lord said about
the word, esteem it. It's easier for heaven and earth
to pass than one tittle of the law to fail. Talking about esteem
and the law. It's easier for heaven and earth
to pass away than one little bitty mark from the law to fail.
Little words over there. Our Lord honored and magnified
the law. He said it's such, I esteem it.
I think it, and listen, in fact, you know what he used to illustrate
the law? I see God didn't really lower his requirements. He upheld
them. He magnified it by his blessed son. And the Pharisees,
they changed the law by their traditions, by their works, by
their changing and adding a lot of things that wasn't even there.
And they had even changed the reason for divorce, and look
what I said. You know, this is how strict the law is if you're
going to be saved by the law. And if you're going to look to
the law, and I tell you it's easier for it to fail, and I,
Lord, use this to illustrate it. Whosoever putteth away his
wife and marrieth another commits adultery. Boy, you can't make that any
plainer than that, can you? Can't make it. Put away your wife,
marry another, you commit adultery. And whosoever marreth her that
is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. Oh my. Look in Matthew 5. Look in Matthew
5. And that's why our Lord's showing
the abiding nature of the law. It doesn't change. The Pharisees,
they said, oh, Moses gave us divorce. Said no Moses may have told you
that you could do that But he says from the beginning it wasn't
so from the beginning. It wasn't so look in verse 31
It has been said whoso shall put away his wife let him give
her a writing of divorcement You want to be done with her
you won't be done with that man You won't be done with that woman.
Just sign some papers and have it over and done with But he
said, I say unto you. Now he's just showing us the
strictness. And that's why you've got to press into the kingdom
of God. Whosoever put away his wife,
and the only reason he can is for fornication, and if he puts
her away for any other reason than that, causes her to commit
adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committed
adultery. And he is showing us that the
law shows us that there is absolutely no hope for us in that law. There
is no hope for us. None. God ain't going to lessen
it for us. But he says the law is good if
a man uses it lawfully. The law shows us our sinfulness. But God shows us Christ. God reveals Christ to our heart.
And God's holiness and righteousness leads us to Christ. God knows
your heart. God knows every heart in here.
He knows whether it's for Him or He knows whether it's not.
He knows whether it's divided. He knows whether it's single
or not. He knows whether you're serving two masters and hating
one and loving the other. He knows exactly where we are. Knows exactly what we feel. Knows
exactly our attitude toward Him. God's not playing games with
us. He's dead serious about this
business. He is so serious about it. He is so serious about it.
That He, as He sung this morning, He loved
us before the world was. And then sent His Son to put
sin away. by the sacrifice of Himself to
make us accepted in the Beloved. Gave us grace in Christ before
the world began. And oh listen, there's only one
King, one Savior, one way and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not your thoughts, not your feelings, not your opinions, not anything
about you. The only thing that matters,
do you believe His Son? Do you trust His Son? Do you
run to the Son? Do you press into the Kingdom
of God? Do you get up and say, Lord,
I've got to have you today? I've got to have you. I must
have you. I must press into the Kingdom
of God. Lord, bless your Word today. Bless your Word today. Not the
preacher, but the Word. The Word. Lord, you're the only
one who can make the Word effectual. We can say words, we can use
words, interpret words, but you're the only one who can make it
effectual, make it real. cause it to drop into a man's
heart. You're the only one that can
do that. And Lord, we're shut up to that. No matter how hard
we preach, how sincere we preach, or how honest we preach, how
sorry we preach, it makes no difference. It's your word. It's
your word that's effectual. And bless it, Lord, to your glory.
Oh God, take the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, oh take the things
of Christ. Lodge them in people's hearts
for His sake. Amen.