All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to 1 Corinthians, or to 1 Corinthians, Galatians
chapter one. As Joe was preaching, I will
say this, it just dawned on me, there will be a day in this universe
when there will be a big bang. But it won't be the beginning
of this universe, it will be the end of this universe. But
be that as it may. For the sake of context, I want
to read Verses 6 through 10 of Galatians chapter 1. My actual
text will be out of verse 10. And I know a lot of preachers
may say this, something along this line about the context,
but I have, I wouldn't encourage you to do this, but when I have
looked on TV or social media, different things about men saying
something about the Lord, they are so prone to take a verse
and pick a word or two or a phrase and then start with that, and
you realize they're not even talking about what the verse
says. What they're saying from the
words in the verse may sound very great, but it's not what
the writer was saying. So for the sake of context, let's
look at verse six. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now let
me just stop for a moment. This is not about us trying to
combat and keep all perversion at bay. Perversion will come
out. But this is when that perversion
begins to trouble the assembly, then God's people are to do what? I'm not ashamed to own my Lord
nor to defend his cause. which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again. If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received,
let him be accursed. Now here's our text. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Now my title, I guess my subject,
could be put this way. It cannot be both. It cannot. You see, there are
many denominations that defend their denominational stance.
They refuse to have fellowship with others who do not acknowledge
their denominational stance. I understand that. I do understand
that. Because in our day and age, it's
getting now to where it doesn't matter what your stance is. As
long as you got a few key words about God, Jesus, and the Bible,
doesn't really much matter. But why? Why is Paul so vehement
concerning this? Because we're talking about the
person and work of Christ. This is not some religious stance. This is who God's son is and
what he did when he came to this world. It cannot be both. Now Paul's
inspired word in verse 10 is a summary of the gospel preached. God gives all the honor to himself
in the person of his son versus all gospel perversion. Gospel
perversion, no matter how minuscule it might be, Now, men may disagree,
do you have a song after the Lord's table or do you not? They
sang a song and went out in the mouth of olives. Well, we can
sing a song, but we can't go out into the mouth of olives.
You understand what I'm saying? And you can sit and argue all
day long as whether, or he broke the bread, so should we have
one loaf and as we get it, break obviously, but men love to argue
about things like that. And it does not matter. But when it comes to the personal
work of God's Son, it does matter. Because all gospel perversion,
not some, not the worst kind, not the worst kind, because I
don't know that that's even a proper phrase. All gospel perversion
invokes God's disdain and God's condemnation. The one thing that both our Lord
and the apostles were willing to call other men and women false
brethren over was the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, honoring God or seeking
popularity among men never mixes. It cannot be both. Now again,
I say I would not encourage you to do this, but if you get on
especially TV On our cable, if you get up into some of the higher
channels, you've got all of these religious programming that goes
on 24 hours a day. And these men are buttering people
up. They have persons, people's persons
in admiration because of what, Paul said? Advantage. Here's
the main reason they do that. I was gonna say what's in that
pocketbook, but there's nothing in that pocketbook. But you don't
understand what I'm saying. As Tim James once said, people
talk about, they say it. There's people out here going
to the Walmart, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. I'm not trying
to be overcritical, but there was a place that actually called
themselves PTL. from down in, what was it, North
Carolina? They may still be up and running, I don't know. They
called it the Praise the Lord Club. Well, Tim James says we
know what that really means. It means pass the loot. Now, we sit here and laugh, but
folks, they bleed widows dry. Old women that's lost their husbands
and are barely surviving, and they suck them dry, promising
them more. and they build these people up,
build these people up. I want you to listen to a paraphrase
of verse 10. Because sometimes, and I'm not against the KJV by
any means, but sometimes the Greek translated into the English
is a little difficult, and especially since we have, in the old KJV,
a lot of the old English language, as it were. And I'll look at
some of that in a moment, but that's, in itself, not the main
point. There's a paraphrase, and I took
this from the Amplified Bible, but I tweaked it a little to
match what it says in the Greek. I was going to give you the Greek,
but if you read the Greek word for word in English, it's like,
that's hard to understand. Here is the point I'm making.
I'm giving you the paraphrase now. Here is the point I'm making. Do you see that? For do I now
persuade men or God? It's a question mark. Here's
the point I'm making. Am I trying to win favor with men or am I
trying to seek the honor of God? Question mark. Do I seek to be
in a human popularity contest? Question mark. If I do seek popularity
with men, then I definitely am not. That's the meaning of I
should not be. It's not, I might not be, I might
be. No. If you seek popularity of men,
you definitely are not Christ's servant. One of the best things that's
ever been said to me is somebody said, I didn't like what you
preached. And I thought to myself, well
at least you know what you don't believe now. Because I said it
so clearly that you know you don't believe what I just said.
Well, there are some people, Tommy and I talked about this
some yesterday, as long as you hit on a certain point or a certain
verse or certain words that they really like, it don't matter
what else you read, boy, they're just happy. They're just happy. No. You see, if I seek popularity
with men, then I am definitely not Christ's servant. Again,
it cannot be both. Now consider just a few thoughts
about this. Number one, God himself never
seeks or is even concerned with human popularity. Turns to Psalm
50, the 50th Psalm. Now, I'm not gonna read, I was
gonna read the whole Psalm, but I thought, no, there's no need,
I can just read the verses that kinda bring out what I'm talking,
it cannot be both. And what I'm talking about here
is God never seeks or is even concerned with human popularity. Psalm 50, look at verse two.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Now, first of all, that's the
main, how did Christ teach us to pray? Our Father, which art
in heaven, hallowed, holy be thy name. And why that? Why not
loving be thy name? Why not compassionate be thy
name? Why not merciful be thy name? Because God is both love
and hate. So that's not his outstanding
characteristic. God is both compassionate and severe. This is in the book.
Compassionate and severe. That's not his main trait. But
everything about God is holy. Whether it's his love or his
hate. Whether it's his compassion or severity. It all could be
defined as what? Hallowed be thy name. But then look at verse seven.
Hear, O my people. Do you see this? Hear, O my people,
and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. See, God's the only being in
the universe that'll tell the truth to the people He loves
about themselves, rather than trying to butter them up to get
their favor. He will make them to know they
are absolutely dependent upon His favor. Hear, O my people,
and I will speak, O Israel. I will testify against thee.
I am God, even thy God. Look at verse 12. When I first
read this years ago, after God had actually gospel converted
me, I read this and I thought, man, I know I read through it. I read through the Bible several
times and went to many meetings and revivals, all these things.
I was a, Joe, I was a constant adherent to the Daily Vacation
Bible School. Every Sunday, every summer I was there. If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee. For the world is mine and the
fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats? You see it? Look at verse 16. But unto the wicked God saith.
Now wait a minute. He's not changed talking about
different type of people now. He's still talking to what? I-S-R-A-E-L. David, the psalmist, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, the man that even God called a man after mine
own heart, said, the wicked saith in my heart. So he's calling
himself what? W-I-C-K-E-D. Somebody said, well, I'm not
wicked, then God's never opened your eyes. you've never really seen God
for who he is. But under the wicked God saith,
what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest
take my covenant in thy mouth? Who are you to even speak about
me? I don't have the right, well
God called me, I don't have the right to stand behind this podium
and preach to you. The only way this is so and honors
God is because it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that belief. And when Christ ascended into
heaven, he gave spiritual ascension gifts unto men, and one of those
gifts is pastor teachers. That's it, that's it. I remember when I was in religion,
I looked up to the preacher. I thought the preacher was a
great example. As I got older, Jack, I found
out he was just like me. He was just probably a little
better at hiding than I was. Now, here our brother Isaiah.
Look at Isaiah 58. Now, of course, I'm saying our
brother Isaiah, but this is Isaiah writing what God has said. Isaiah
58, cry aloud, spare not. See, if what you want to do is
come here and me fluff your pillow for you, if what you want me
to do is when I come here is for me to lift up your feet and
put the little pillow under your feet, just let you relax and
feel good about yourself, then I am not one cent of God. The more of a sinner God can
make you to see that you are, the more you will trust Christ.
And that's just a fact. Just a fact. Cry aloud, spare
not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people. Do you see
that? Not the Amalekites. Not the Canaanites. Not the Philistines,
which David had so much trouble with. And shew my people their
transgression and the house of Jacob. Their sins. But that's not the gospel. That's
just facts. You hear me? That's not the gospel. That's just facts. I'm here to say, now I've heard
this statement, I probably even made it before. So again, I'm
not trying to be hypercritical, but I've heard pastors say, and
pastors I love and respect, and will still love and respect.
And I probably said it myself, and I probably love me more than
I do them. It's just another fact. God's put all of his eggs
in one basket. That ain't true. God's only got
one egg. And that one egg is in his basket.
That's Jesus Christ. Because if you miss Jesus Christ,
even if you got everything else right, you got nothing really
right before God. Look at Isaiah 40. Isaiah is the prophet that said
that even our righteousnesses is as filthy rags in God's sight. And a human being, a fallen,
corrupt, unregenerate human being cannot lay hold of that truth.
They just can't. How can supporting the Shriners
Crippled Children Hospital be transgression, be even mensis
clause in God's sight? It is if you do it for your own
glory. It is if you do it not simply
out of, I wanna help those kids. Because most people I know that
help those kids got to let you know I help those kids. They
can't give it and just let it go. Right here's another one. Another one. Mm, look at it,
Isaiah 40, I didn't even get to the passage, did I? Isaiah
40, verse, let me find, make sure I have my, yes, Isaiah 40, verse three.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare you
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. You know who that's talking about,
don't you? John the Baptist, in particular, John the Baptist. Now, there is no doubt it would
apply to any person, even male or female for that matter, that
God sends to someone with the seed of the gospel. It would
apply to anyone. But this is specifically a prophecy about
the coming of John the Baptist. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places made plain, and
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And
the voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
Well, you folks are good folks. I mean, you folks are here every
Sunday, Sunday night, maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night.
You just support and you give and you witness to your neighbors.
Is that what it says? All flesh is grass. And all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field, the grass withereth. Now think about it, here's the
grass. Even like a flower, when it first come up, a lot of it
is what? Green, it's just green. It kind of looks green like every
other green there is. But then there is this what?
This flower that comes up. It's beautiful, right? It's magnificent,
right? Grass wither and the flower fadeth,
because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely this people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fades. And you could put this in all
ways. At least before God. Now it may not before my eyes,
it may not before your eyes, but it fades before God. but
the word of our God shall stand forever. So do you see God trying
to fluff someone's pillow? See him trying to just make them
feel good about themselves? You remember what Isaiah said?
God said, I put, what is it? I put a jewel in your nose and
a crown on your head and rings in your ears and rings on your
fingers and necklaces on you and gave you satin and all of
these, and you were beautiful. And you know what he said about
them? Now, we don't often quote that, but you know what he said?
You corrupted that. Read the rest of the context.
Israel, God gave them all this glory. They had the tabernacle,
they had the priests, they had the sacrifices, and what did
they do? They corrupted those very, very
things. And we, by nature, are no different. And apart from the free and reigning
grace of God, even every individual in this small assembly this morning,
apart from God restraining us, we would corrupt his gospel and
pervert it to our own ends. Somebody says that's a bleak
picture of man. It's the true picture of man. Here's a second
thought. Popularity with men is rejected
outright. Let me show you four ways in
which this is true. Turn to Galatians 2, back in
our textbook, the book we began studying a while back. Galatians chapter 2. I'll give
you the passage, I'll make a statement, and then I'll show you from the
scripture where I get what I'm stating. Let's go to Galatians
2. You see, popularity with men is rejected outright. It is rejected
outright when it comes from infiltrators. When it comes from out here in,
but shouldn't we be trying to win those out there? Not if they
got a perverted gospel. Here's the thing, leave them
alone. Leave them alone. You don't invite
them into the assembly. God may use you out there somewhere
to sow a seed, just to sow a seed, but you don't invite them into
the assembly hoping God might win them over. Galatians 2, verse five. Now these men, and you look at
it, they come in secretly, false bread, look at the context, read
it more later. They come in secretly to espouse
our liberty, and then he says in verse five, to whom we gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour. that the truth of
the gospel might continue with you. You see, just let us never think
that we have the power to keep the perversion out. We do not. We do not. But of these who seem
to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to
me. God accepteth no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat
in conference added nothing to me. Do you see, now listen to
me, do you see how Paul looks down, not upon the men as an
individual soul in need, no, but as these proud, arrogant
gospel perverters. They added nothing to me. They had nothing to give that
God had not already given me. And my brothers and sisters,
this man, Paul the Apostle, wrote the majority of the New Testament. He spoke more than any other
preacher in the world. And when he wrote these letters,
they are God inspired. So popularity with men is rejected
outright when it comes, even when it comes from infiltrators,
we're not trying to win the world. but popularity with men is rejected
outright when it concerns promoters of legalistic perseverance. Look at chapter three. Same letter. Galatians chapter
three, verse one. Oh foolish Galatians. Now he
loves these people. He loved these people when he
was first with them and preached to them and he loves them now.
But they've turned from the truth of the gospel. No foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you. When I preach this to you, what
I preach to you and who I preach to you seem to be real to you.
It's almost as if you were standing there at Calvary. That's what
he's talking about. Crucified among you. This only
would I learn of you. This only. Received you the spirit
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith, it cannot
be both. It cannot be both. Are you so
foolish? Come on, is this, are you really
convinced of this? Are you really convinced of this?
Come on, think about it. Are you so foolish? Have you
begun, I love the way, we'll deal with this, God willing,
more when we get to this passage later. Are you so foolish have
begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? Notice he equates what? The works
of the law to flesh. You see it? This is something
I did not understand even as a gospel called person and a
gospel sent preacher for years. The law deals with the flesh. And somebody says, well, the
law teaches me how righteous I ought to be. No. No. The law teaches you how righteous
you are not. I don't know if that's good English
or not, but that's the facts. The law doesn't teach us how
righteous we ought to be. It teaches us how unrighteous
we really are. I mean, my brothers and sisters,
if and when I'm honest, I can't even get past the first commandment.
That's to love God with everything I am. I can't get past that one. Christ said there's a second
one, it's likened to it, love your neighbor as yourself. I
can't get past that one. No, having begun in the spirit,
are you now made perfect by the flesh? The answer is rhetorical,
a resounding, it cannot be both. I think I told this to Tommy
yesterday. This morning I mentioned it.
May not be the exact wording to both of them, but mentioned
it to Penny this morning. I think about it. The law defines
sin. It'll tell you exactly what sin
is. If I do this, it'll tell me whether
it's right or wrong. Right? It'll tell me if being
promiscuous, having sex outside of marriage, is it right or wrong?
Wrong. Is it wrong to murder somebody?
It's wrong. Is it right to love God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit? Is it right? Yes, it's
right. The law defines sin. But only the cross of Christ
shows us how bad sin really is. And you can preach the law to
a man or a woman all day long, all day long, all day long, and
if they're unregenerate, all they can say is, oh, I need to
do that. At best, that's all they can say, I need to do that.
And then they engage in doing that, and then deceiving themselves
into thinking, well, at least I'll give it my best shot. And remember what Joe said years
ago, it still stuck with me. It's not the 10 suggestions,
it's the 10 commandments. And bless God, when we break
one, acknowledge it for what it is. You broke it. If I do
it today, it's still a broken law. It's still sin. God didn't save us, so now we
can go out and commit murder. Isn't it? But if you try to find
God's favor by not committing murder, even if you say to your
brother, thou fool. Did our Lord not say that? If
you just say, you don't even have to say it out loud to him.
You say within your soul, thou fool, you're guilty of hellfire. If a man looks at a woman, just
looks at her to lust after his heart, he's guilty of adultery
already. Hmm. And how the unregenerate
mind, I'm not talking about just religion, the unregenerate mind
twists the law of God and lowers it down to their level where
they can step in. Step in. That law is as holy
as God himself. Now what you're saying when you
say I'm keeping the law, you're saying I'm as good as God himself. And the law doesn't allow for
us to say, all right, I've lived for years breaking that law.
Today, I'm gonna start keeping the law. It don't work that way. You don't start keeping the law.
You have to have always have kept the law. Our same letter,
same chapter, verse three. Verse 10, for as many as are
of the works of the law, they're under the curse, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which were
written in the book of the law to do them. Oh, bless God, but
if God ever opens your eyes, I'm talking about spiritual eyes
now, ever gives you a heart to perceive, and you see Christ
crucified on that tree, and you see that For God to save me,
he had to do that to his son. That's how bad my sin is. Yet when even the holy God looked
upon Joe the holy son, that lamb without blemish and spot, and
yet, Ellen, he's seen some sin on him. His people sin, right? He bore their sins in his own
body on the tree. And what did this holy God do? and he forsook him. So that he
felt it down in his own soul and cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And we quote that, Joe, because
that's one of the phrases we hear in the gospels, as we call
it. But he said, but thou art holy. Even when the father turned his
back on the son, the son didn't accuse the father of wrongdoing. Because he said, Christ said,
go back and read the Psalms. My sin is ever before me. Not his by actual omission and
commission, but his by God laid it upon the person of his son.
And if that don't float your boat, you don't even got a boat. I mean, folks, if that don't
encourage you, if that don't cause you to see how bad you
are, And that's exactly what Paul was meaning when he, let
me find it, I've got it in my notes, I think it's another one
down, but look at Galatians 5. Verse 11, and I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, now remember, with these legalizers,
they weren't saying you gotta keep the whole law, they just
started with circumcision. But their ulterior motive is
once they get you there, then they can take you to the next
one, and to the next one. So the next thing you know, Ellen,
you're done underneath the whole total bondage of the law. Because
again, as I said, this is a Pandora's box. If you let one demon out,
they all come out. You can't open the box and let
one out and then close it back up. Look at it, and I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased. How is the cross offensive? Because it says that's how bad
you are. If God's gonna save you, he's got to do this to his
son. He's got to slaughter his son on the tree. And I realize
I can preach that, and some men and women, they just, it doesn't
matter. Well, isn't Jesus sweet? This is our God hanging on that
tree. The creator of heaven and earth. The one who, when our
daddy and mommy Adam sinned in the garden, he came looking for
them. They did not go looking for him.
If we still had any ounce of goodwill, goodwill, I know some
call it free will, but if it's free, it's good. Is my freedom
good? Mm-hmm. They did not have one ounce of
goodwill. They immediately, Joe, if they
had any ounce of goodwill, they should have run. Oh, voice of
the Lord, we've sinned. We need mercy. No, what did they
do? They sewed to them fig leaf aprons.
And when they heard the voice of the Lord God coming, walking
in the cool of the day, they didn't say, hey, looky here. Now, they were forced to confess
what they'd done. They went and hid themselves,
you remember? And as one old preacher said,
before there was ever a seeking sinner, there was a seeking savior.
You know how far he came down to save his people? All the way
to death on a tree. Now let me move on. Popularity
with men is rejected outright from infiltrators, from those
who promote legalistic perseverance. God's people must persevere,
but they don't do so in the flesh. They can only do so in the Spirit,
and that's a work of God. You don't cooperate with the
Spirit, He works up on us. And sometimes, I've seen Don
Fortner do this, and I just can't help it, sometimes he lifts that
restraint like that. And Don said, we start in this downward
spiral. Now I know most good church Calvinistic
folk today don't, we got it, but he lifts that restraint just
a little, he'll start this downwards spiral. And you'll begin justifying
yourself for every turn. You'll find a justification for
every, well it's God's sovereign will, God hadn't purposed this.
Just like our daddy had a blamin' god who was in the garden. You
gave me the woman. You know, we start that downer
spot, and we could not stop ourselves unless God said, whoa, horse. That's as far as you go. Now this is oxymoron, I understand
that, but it's good for God to bring me all the way back down
here. Because then I'm forced to look where? To Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ. Remember what John said, and
I know the wording, and I know what men accuse us of, believe
you me. We've been accused of that so
much here. First John chapter two, my little
children, these things right unto you, that ye sin not. Don't
sin. That's just it. Don't sin, period. Tommy didn't tell us how to not
sin, he just don't sin. Right? My little children, these
things right I do, that you sin not, and if any man sin. Cause he knows we will. He knows we do. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now I know
what the flesh says, well let us sin so he can be. No, he is
our advocate. We don't sin so he'll be our
advocate. Bless God he already is the advocate. So when you find that God's lifted
that up a little and you went down and down and down, just
look to Christ. Somebody said that can't be all
there is to it, preacher. That's all there is to it. He
has to lift you back up. Isn't that what the Old Testament
says? Though a righteous man fall, God, now I'm paraphrasing,
God shall hold him up. God, and when you try to do it
yourself, that means, that's the whole, when you're trying
to do it yourself, it means, and what's gonna happen? Down
you'll go. Down you'll go. You say, preacher,
how do you know that? I don't even have to read the
book. Now, I've read to you some passage. I've been there. So
many times I've been there. But here's one, there's another
one. Popularity with men is rejected outright from infiltrators, from those who promote legalistic
perseverance. Turn to Galatians 2. It's even rejected concerning
wishy-washy believers. And that's the best, Joe, the
easiest way I can say that with this outright being downright
mean. Now look at it, let's read the
passage, Galatians 2 verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
Now notice, Tommy, this is a side note for me and Tommy. Notice
he didn't say, all right, I'm about ready to put you out of
the church. Did he? No, he confronted him. But notice
this is not about, well, Peter, you just didn't take the Lord's
table right. And you know you have houses to eat in, so you
ain't supposed to eat in a church building. Y'all heard some of
that stuff, yeah? No, that's not what it's about.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because
he was to be blamed. For before, that's before this
happened, that certain came from James, now that doesn't mean
James sent them knowing what they were going to do, but they
came from Jerusalem where James was what we would call the head
pastor. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with
the Gentiles, as Peter did. But when they were come, he withdrew
himself and separated himself, fearing them which were of the
circumcision. All he did was get up from a table and remove
himself from some Gentile believers and go over here to be with these
men who came from James. Peter did not take, Paul did
not, I'm sorry, Paul did not take this thing lightly. And
other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas
was also carried away with their hypocrisy, their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, and I don't have time to, we'll deal with
that, God willing, when we get there. Now, I know our brother Tim James
made a statement one time, and I still laugh when I think about
it. I don't even have to hear him preach it. He said what Peter
did was get up from the table of Gentiles and went over here
and sat down at the table of the Jews with pork chops on his
breath. Now, it don't say nothing. It doesn't say he was eating
pork. Because, listen, we laugh at
that, but here, it wasn't about what he was eating. He just got
up here. Okay, he's fearing. They will see me with these uncircumcised
Gentiles. Paul said, hold on. You're not
walking uprightly according to the gospel because a little leaven
leavens the whole lump. You open Pandora's box, the demons
will come out. I'm going to give you a story. It's not too late. I remember
watching, I don't even remember what the title was. It was one
of those Horror movies years ago, they'd have like the 15
minute little horror movies, and they had this one. This family
moved into a house, and they fit in this nice pretty box.
Down in the basement, they opened up that box, and there was two
beautiful horses with wheels on them, like little toys. They
had kids, let's take the toys out of the box. And the kids
rode them, and rode them, and rode them, and then they said,
well, had to move. They thought, well, okay, let's put the horses
back in the box. And let's move somewhere else. So they did. Everything seemed
fine. But on the move, something happened. And one of the horses
was broken. So they just tossed the one horse
away and had the first horse in the box. So the kids got it
out. And Joe, they played with it
and played with it. They decided to get it back in the box for
whatever reason. And it wouldn't fit in the box. What's going on? The box didn't
shrink. Well, come to find out, it was
bewitched. And those two little horses had to face one another
in that box. And as long as they seen one
another, they stayed the same size and was very calm and cool,
collected. But if you ever forced them not
to be able to see one another, they turned into a raging, demonic
being. That scared me to death when
I was young and watched that. When you let the cat out of the
bag, you can't put the cat back in. You know what God usually does
in cases like that? Somebody will be leaving the
assembly. The assembly must split. Now do you hear what I said?
Now by God's grace, we have had that happen, but thank God, because
God has been so gracious to us, they found that you have no inroads.
and they just filter away. And they filter away. Without
a lot of fanfare, a couple veins popping out in the head and eyeballs
bugging out real big. Listen, we don't put up with
gospel perversion. And again, here's the last one
on number two. Popularity with men is rejected
because the gospel is not flattery. Doesn't give it to you. The gospel
is not flattering men. It is an offense to the human
condition. And as I said, we'll talk about
that later. Here's my third, I'm gonna try to get to this
briefly. Popularity with men is not even a part of our everyday
walk. Think of that. This is our everyday
walk. Ephesians chapter six, I'm just
gonna read it, make a couple comments. Ephesians six, verse
five, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according
to the flesh, with fear and trembling. And this can apply to if you've
got a boss, you agree with this man or woman, I'm gonna do this
job for you, you're gonna pay me X amount of money. It applies
to that. According to the flesh, with
fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ,
not with eye service as men pleasers. but as the servants of Christ
doing the will of God from the heart. It does not tell you,
go up to your boss and say, well, I'm doing all this for Lord,
not for you. Well, you probably won't have your job long, you'll
have to have another one. You wanna be so foolish as to,
this ain't about look at me. This is about God puts you in
a position, fulfill that position, that place, and just do it to
the Lord. with good will, doing service
as to the Lord and not to men. So it applies even in our walk,
doesn't it? And you know, even the law says
you have to have at least what, two or three witnesses, right?
All right, well let's look at what our Lord himself said, Luke
chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, verse 13. No servant, that's why, remember,
it cannot be both. No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Now if our Lord said
it, then bless God it's so. No matter how much I try to convince
myself I can have it another way. And the Pharisees also, who were
covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he
said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men,
but God knoweth your hearts. For that, this is what an unregenerate
person cannot get, for that which is highly esteemed among men
is abomination in the law sight. You see, let's wind this up.
While the gospel of Christ is good news, it is never pleasant
news about fallen man. You hear what I said? The gospel is good news, but
it is never pleasant news about fallen man. The gospel is about
man's so utter ruin. and man so utter corruption that
only Christ in His person and His work and His action and His
faith is our only consolation. It's our only hope. It's even
our only motivation. Now bless God, if it takes something
more than Christ to motivate you, you just don't know Him.
And I can only be so blunt. I'm not even trying to be mean.
Joe, if the Christ hanging on that cross don't motivate you
to serve him, then you don't know him. Exactly. All right,
Joe, you come and we'll have the table.