Here in Hebrews chapter 13, beginning
in verse 7, it says, Remember them which have the rule over
you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God, whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday and today, and forever. Be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an
altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the For the
bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate, or outside the gate. Let us go forth
therefore unto him without the camp, outside the camp, bearing
his reproach. For here have we no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and
to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased." As we look in the Scripture and
throughout the Word of God, there is an order that is set forth,
and that order must not ever be disrupted. And the order is that
the Lord is the ruler over all things. And he is an omnipotent
ruler. He does not need any help in
that capacity. And so that in the church there is a hierarchy,
but it is a unilateral hierarchy. And that means that there is
not a delegation of authority. in the church, but there is one
authority and that is Jesus Christ. And so that when the Scriptures
say here, remember them which have the rule over you who have
spoken to you the Word of God, it defines what the rule is. It is not the rule, of course
what he is speaking about here is those who have spoken to you
the Word of God remember what they have said. It doesn't say
look at them and hold them up and believe that they are in
some place of a higher standard or they are in some place of
a subsidiary role of being a ruler
in the sense of a king, because that's never talk to us in the
Scripture. Those who are sent by the Lord
to be teachers of God's people, they can only teach what they've
been given. They can't figure it out themselves. And they certainly would never
have any ability or knowledge of the things of God if it wasn't
that God gave them to them. And so it doesn't make any difference
where a person might be among the saints of God. We're all
in the same situation because none of us are in a place of
hierarchy over the other. So when it says, Remember them
which have the rule over you, remember what it goes on to say
that the rule is. See, it's not a rulership. He
doesn't say, Remember the rulership. He says, Remember them that have
the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God. Now, that's the only rule that
we have or ruler that we have is the Word of God. So if I,
Paul said, or anyone else comes speaking to you any other message
than that which I have preached, let him be accursed. Because
the power of God is not in men. The Lord hasn't set up men to
be revered. Now, I know that it is a common
thing among most churches and in the mind of most people that
they are like, oh, this is God's man. You know, here He is. Now He's just God's man because
He's God's man. I'm telling you, there's nobody
that's God's man that's not speaking the truth of God. Because God
has sent His disciples into the world to tell the truth of the
Word of God. And so the rulership that He's
speaking about here is not resting in the standard standing of the
man, but in the standard of that which he is telling us. And so it does not make any difference
who it is that is speaking that Word that is true. Remember them
that have the rule over you, because what is the rule? It
is the Word of God. If they are not speaking the
Word of God, If they're speaking to us something other than what
the truth is, then by no means are we to follow it. Now some
would have us believe that we're supposed to just believe what
somebody says, but that's not what this says. It says, Remember
them which have the rule over you, as they who have spoken
unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow. Now if they're
not men of faith, why would you want to follow them? You know,
I mean, if they're coming and they're promoting some other
message than faith in Jesus Christ, that He is the faith of God's
elect, then what would we want to follow somebody like that?
So that's what he's saying here. Whose faith follow? What is that
faith? It's that faith that they have
preached unto you, which He defines in the next verse here, "...who
have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering
the end of their conversation." That is, the purpose of what
it is they are saying to you, or even better, what they are
demonstrating unto you, which is what he says in the next verse
here, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now brethren, that's the summation
and the total of everything that we would come preaching and teaching
unto the people of God. And that is a message worthy
of remembering. And it is that which rules over
us, not in the words of a man, but in the words of God, because
He said it and He has declared it. And so we are to pay heed
to that. Now, God raises up men and gives
them gifts according to the good pleasure of His will, and so
it would be foolish for us to neglect that or to cast aspersions
upon it or to reject it. And so what he's saying here,
as God sends the Word of God into your midst, remember it
and be thankful. I mean, are you not thankful
that the Lord sent the Apostle Paul to preach and teach the
Word of God? Now, what if the Apostle Paul
had come and he'd changed horses in the middle of the stream and
started preaching something else? Would we be going and following
the Apostle Paul? No. Why do we follow the Apostle
Paul? Not because he's the Apostle
Paul, but because he is preaching the truth of God. is what he's telling us here,
whose faith follow. Now, if we don't follow the faith
of Jesus Christ, then why would God's people be admonished to
follow us? That's what he says here. Considering
the end of their conversation, what is the end of their conversation?
What is the finality? What is the purpose of it? Usually
when the word end is in the scripture, it's speaking about what is the
purpose of it. You know, you've heard the phrase,
the end justifies the means. Well, what is the end? The end
is the purpose. So if you have a purpose, if
you believe the concept that the end justifies the means,
then whatever you've got to do to accomplish that end or purpose,
It's what you need to do. But we remember the end of the
conversation, the purpose of the life, the purpose of the
message, which is Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today, forever. Now how do we know that that
is what he's getting at? Because look at what he says
in the next verse. Be not carried away with different and strange
doctrines. Now, you know, if somebody comes
preaching a different and strange doctrine long enough, it becomes
something that's not different and strange, doesn't it? And
it becomes accepted. So how do we know what's different
and strange? Well, we have to have a standard
to go by, and it certainly can't be men, because men will tell
you all sorts of things. But I guarantee you one thing,
you go back to this book right here and it's not going to tell
you more than one thing. I mean, I might twist this and
turn it or tell you any sort of thing, but you see, this book
will always be correct. I might not be correct, but this
will be. And that's why we read about
the Bereans that Luke said these were more noble. than they of
Thessalonica. He said the Bereans were more
noble because they searched the Scriptures to see if these things
be so. Now one of the worst things that
happens among those that call themselves the followers of Christ
is that they grow complacent and they grow lazy. And they
just want somebody to just tell them, don't make me think, don't
make me search, don't make me struggle with this, just tell
me. And so they just willingly follow
and they give up that search. They give up that
desire to find out if these things be so. And so the challenge that
we set forth before the people of God is prove whether or not
these things are so. Don't just believe it because
somebody says it. I mean, just because, well, he
is the preacher and it must be true. No, it must not be true.
There are a thousand preachers out there today and you better
be careful if you think all of them are telling you the truth
because they all are not saying the same thing. And so what is
the truth? The truth is found right here. And the truth will always be
centered in Christ. Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday,
today, and forever. Don't be carried about with strange
doctrines. What's a strange doctrine? It's
anything that departs from that. If something sounds strange,
it'll sound strange to you because it's not Christ. Somebody says,
oh, that's okay, that grace is good. It's good to preach grace,
but... Brethren, but is associated with
a strange doctrine. That's a strange and different
doctrine when somebody says grace, but... See, blood and grace don't
go hand in hand. It's grace. It's God's grace.
It's the mercy of God. It's the goodness of God. It's
the work of God. It's the faith of God. It's that
which the Lord has accomplished in our behalf. Not at all anything
that we're going to accomplish in His behalf. Now, we know that
the Spirit of God works in those who are His both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. There is a work of God in the
soul of man. But that is not the message that
sums up the totality of the gospel, because the totality of the gospel
is summed up in Christ. Because it's not only what Christ
does in us, but it's what Christ has done for us. And so at the
end of the day, it's Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart
be established with grace. See, this is the standard and
the place upon which we we come that is grace, not meats. Now
what's he talking about with meats? Well, meats in many cases
in the Scripture is synonymous with the works of religion. Because
the Jews, remember the Lord gave to the Jews these dietary laws. Now they served a purpose. And
that purpose was to manifest the difference between God's
people and the people of the world. He said, I'm giving you
these things to set you apart. You don't eat swine flesh, he
said to them. Now why did they, you know there's
all kinds of theories out there as to why the Lord told them
not to eat swine. Now one of the things is that
they say, oh well you know it's an unhealthy meat. Have you ever
heard that? I mean, you hear people say that
all the time. Well swine, that's unclean meat. Well brethren, that's not what
the Lord said to Peter. He said the Lord has made all
these things clean. It's not unclean. That's not
why the Lord told them not to eat swine's flesh. He told them
not to eat that because He would make a difference between that
people which was His and the people in the world. Now He did
that to manifest a greater difference. I mean the Lord A swine is no
different than a cow or anything else as far as the creation of
God is concerned. And so meats are not the thing,
but you see men like stuff like that. Oh, well, we don't do this,
or we do that, or this, that, or the other. And so what he's
talking about, about meats, are things that people latch hold
of and hold on to, whether it's days, times, seasons. Habits? It doesn't make any difference.
All of these things are things that people like to give as distinctions,
that things they say, oh, well, we're a people, you know, we
believe in this, and we don't do these things, we wouldn't
eat that, or we would go here, or we would observe this day,
or whatever it may be. But so he says here, it is good
the heart be established with grace, Not with meats. Not with the symbols of religion. You know, there are many practices
of religion that people like. And I know they've got symbolism
to them and they need them, but brethren, our hearts are not
to be established with such things as going around with some ashes
scraped off somewhere and pasted on your face. If somebody wants to do that,
that's fine, but dear brethren, this doesn't change what Paul
said, let your heart be established with grace. Not those things. If you do those things, do them.
If you do them for conscience sake, fine, but you better not
be taken up with them because those are not the things of which
the gospel is. That's just like a peripheral
thing. I mean, that's a personal preference. Do whatever you want
to do with it. It's just like somebody that says that you ought
to keep the Sabbath. Now some people believe in a
literal keeping of the Sabbath on Saturday who claim to be believers
in Christ. And that's fine. There's not
a thing in the world wrong with somebody who believes they ought
to keep the Sabbath day. I don't see how they can do it,
but if they want to do that and they believe they'll do that,
that's fine. But I'm telling you this, you better not let
your heart be established with that. You better not be holding
on to that as anything or trying to teach somebody else that they
need to do that. Because that's moving beyond
what he's saying right here. Now, it's okay for conscience
sake if a man do such a thing. I certainly am not going to oppose
him or ridicule him or anything else, but I'm not going to sit
idly by and let somebody say that a man must do those things in order to be numbered with
the people of God. Because you see, such as that
is to It's to let your heart be established with something
other than grace. Then there are those that say,
well, you know, it's not Saturday because the Lord rose on the
first day of the week, so somehow or other the Sabbath got changed
over to Sunday. So now we're going to keep Sunday
instead of Saturday. Well, that's okay again. If somebody,
for conscience's sake, wants to do that, that's fine. But it's not okay for somebody
to rest upon that and say, Oh, brother, we're keeping the Sabbath
and we're doing it in these external ways. Oh, you shouldn't. I've
heard of a fellow. I've never personally met him,
but Brother Don was telling me about a fellow that he knew,
but so much believed in the keeping of the Sabbath on what he calls
the Lord's Day because he believes Sunday had been changed to the
Sabbath. That he had a certain distance, he believed, now how
he determined it I don't know, that he could go on the Sabbath
day and still not violate the keeping of the Sabbath. And he
wouldn't even go beyond that, though it was just a little bit
further than that, to go over to a place and preach to the
gospel to some people that would have liked for him to do it because
it was too far for him to go on Sunday. Now brethren, that's
straining in an apse watering a camel, and it certainly strains
what's being said here. Let your heart be established
with grace. If you want to keep the day,
then do it as unto the Lord, but know that it has no bearing
or effect whatsoever. on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You're just doing that because you want to do it, because you
think you ought to do it, and that's fine. It's like women
that wear head coverings. I certainly am not opposed to
that. You know, I think it's a fine thing. It can be a mark
of humility, but it also can be a mark of pride if somebody
looks at it and says, well, brother, look at us. You know, we're established
in the gospel because we wear head coverings. Look at us. You know, we're doing this. Brethren,
let your heart be established with grace, not with meats. All
these things are meats. There are things that are external.
There are things that can be seen with the eyes. Because you
see, we're to serve God with that hidden man of the heart.
It's like when the Lord said to women, He said, let your women
not be those that are known for their outward apparel and their
planted hair and their makeup and jewels and all those things.
Now, some have taken that to mean that He was condemning those
things. That wasn't what he was saying
at all. He said, don't let that be the thing you're known by.
He didn't say don't have that. He said, don't let that be the
thing you're known by, but let the thing that you're known by
be that you serve God with the hidden man of the heart. You
know, that you adorn yourselves not outwardly, but inwardly. You see, that's for the heart
to be established with grace. Because these external things,
these meats and whatever, they're immaterial. They pass away. When you die, it doesn't matter
what you've got on, does it? You know, have you ever heard
anybody go by and see somebody in a casket and say, man, you
know, that necklace really made them look good. That's all this
flesh is. It's passing away. It's nothing.
If you want to wear a necklace, wear a necklace. You know, if
you don't want to wear one, don't wear one. But don't look at it
as a thing that will establish you before God, because these
things are nothing. Let your heart be established
with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have
been occupied therein. Because you know why? because
their eyes get occupied with something other than Christ. Oh, we believe what the Father...
But brother, I noticed the other day that you didn't have on the
right kind of garment, or you didn't do things just a certain
way, or your hairstyle was wrong. You know, all these different
things that people look at, these are not those things. They've
not profited them. Because you see, a man that keeps
the Sabbath and becomes occupied with it, you can't be occupied
but with one thing. You can't be occupied with two
things. To be occupied means you've got your eye on it. You
know, the optic nerve, something that's ocular is something that's
seen with the eyes. And so you can't be occupied. That means your eye cannot be
on more than one thing at a time. You're going to be looking at
one thing. That's why the Scripture says, Let your eye be single. Let it be looking at one thing.
You're not looking over here at this and looking over here
at that. Rather, our focus is on one thing, Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. It's never going to be different.
I mean, the Lord's not going to, you know, fifty years from
now, there's not going to be a different message that the
gospel is centered on. It's always going to be Christ.
That's always what it is. Do not be turned aside with drivers
and strange doctrines which have not profited them that have been
occupied therein with these meats and different things that turn
the eyes away. We have an altar. Well, they
have no right to eat what is served at the tabernacle. Now
he is using an illustration here of the tabernacle and the priest
that worked in the making the offerings, they ate of the offerings
that were given. Now, as part of that offering,
some of it was burned before the Lord, but the parts that
were left over belonged to the priest, and they could eat those
things. Well, see, they were eating of
those things that were offered in this tabernacle. He said, we have an altar to
eat of that those that eat from the tabernacle do not have any
right to eat. Now what is he saying? He is
saying that if a man is caught up in any other thing other than
Jesus Christ, he does not have the right to eat. That is, he
is eating at some other table because there is only one item
on the menu at the altar. of the Lord Jesus Christ and
it's Him. He's the only thing. I mean,
it's not all this other stuff. And so he said they don't have
it. We have an altar, which our altar is Christ. He is the offering
and He is the mercy seat. He's the Lamb and He is the altar. And so we have an altar where
they have no right to eat which serves the tabernacle. That is,
those that serve external things. They do not have any place with
Christ. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. I mean, here he is using
the illustration. He says they take those things
and then they burn them outside the camp. He says this. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered outside the gates." That is, he wasn't in Jerusalem. He didn't go into Jerusalem and
there make an offering for sin. Where did he make the offering
for sin? Outside the gates. He was outside the city. Oh,
they didn't want the city defiled with his blood, did they? Oh
no, not our highly religious place. Take him out there to
the place of the skull, crucify him. You know, put him out there.
No, don't just kill him right here inside the city. Well, that would defile it. Isn't
that how men of religion think? Dear brethren, we want to be
covered in the blood of Christ. and nothing else. We're not interested
in what defiles the temple. What we're interested in is anything
that would defile Christ, anything that would make Christ secondary,
anything that would put Christ in a co-equal place. Have you
ever seen anybody that's got a sign on the front of their
car that says, God is my co-pilot? That's the wrong thing. There
ain't but one seed in the plane we're talking about. I mean,
you've got a pilot and you've got passengers. There are no
co-pilots. There's nothing that goes along
with it. It's Christ and Christ alone. He went outside the camp and
He says, therefore, let us go forth to Him outside the camp. We won't go where He is. See,
we're not interested in satisfying the religious whims of men. and
making everybody happy in the realm that they want to go in.
Brethren, we want to go where Christ is for here, that is,
in the city, speaking of where the tabernacle is, where the
temple is. He says we don't have a continuing
city in the religion of men, but we have one. city which is
to come, that city of God. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. So we don't have
to wait to certain times and seasons and days, but let us
offer sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. That's the sacrifices
that God's pleased with, a broken and a contrite heart, a thankful
spirit, those who come to the Lord. And they just want to give
Him praise. They just want to fall on their
faces and give Him thanks. Now brethren, that's the sacrifice
with which is well-pleasing in the sight of God, giving thanks
unto the Lord. Not riding herd or looking to
see if we've measured up. You're never going to measure
up. You can't measure up. If you're looking to measure
up, you're going to be constantly disappointed. Brethren, our measuring
stick is Christ. And when you measure yourself
against Christ, you'll always come up lacking, very short. But if that's your measuring
stick and you know that He is that One who is the sacrifice
for your sins, and He has said that I have stood in your place,
in your room, in your stead as your substitute, then, dear brethren,
we have a sacrifice which is well-pleasing in the sight of
God. I don't want another one. I'm
not looking for some kind of sacrifice other than Christ Jesus
the Lord. And that is, dear brethren, the
message of the gospel. And anything else is meats. Everything else is meats. You
know, whatever you need to do for conscience sake, do it. But
don't ever, don't ever, don't ever compromise or come to the
place where you believe that such things as you can perform
in your flesh somehow or other will enhance your standing with
God, because it will not. It is Christ and Christ alone.
May we be established with grace, not with means which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. And I would
venture to say, sadly, that most of those that call themselves
Christians in the present day are occupied with many things
other than Christ. May we be not caught up in that,
but may Christ alone be that which we desire, and that one
to whom we seek, that one who is our example, that one who
is our guide, that one who is our director, and that one to
whom He alone we will give praise forever.