All right, let's begin our service,
opening our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. So happy to have some visitors
here this morning from Lexington and from College Grove. You all
be sure to make them feel welcome. We're so delighted you all are
here. Hebrews chapter 13, we'll read
the first nine verses. Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable and all
in the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content
with such things as you have, for He has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake so that we may boldly say, the Lord is
my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 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. And be not carried about with
diverse and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein." We'll end
our reading there. All right. Also, let me just
send the bulletin just to make sure you've seen this. Next Sunday, we're going to have
a church dinner in Blaine Collins' honor. Blaine has joined the
Air National Guard, and we're just busting our buttons. We're
so proud of him. Before he goes off to boot camp and gets his
head shaved and all those things, we're going and have a dinner
in his honor. So we'll have that next Sunday
after the service, all right? Let's stand together as Mike
leads us in our call to worship. H to the bull. Approach my soul, the mercy seat. Where God will hear our prayer,
There humbly fall before His feet, For none can perish there. Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh. Thou callest burdened souls to
Thee, and such, O Lord, am I. O wondrous love to bleed and
die, to bear the cross That guilty sinner such as I
Might plead thy gracious name. The hearing ear, the seeing eye,
Thank you, you may be seated. Turn now in our great hymns of
faith to 283. 283, this song was mentioned in the
scripture that was read earlier. Oh, how sweet the glorious mercy
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Jesus to save the sinful, heal
the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest,
glory to His name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His name! He to pardon ne'er repeater Ever
needst thou fear. He who came to faithless Thomas
All thy doubt will clear. Let the love disciple on his
bosom rest. Bidst thee still with love fast
tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name! He who, mid the raging billow,
Walked upon the sea, Still can hush our wildest tempest, wept and prayed in anguish in
Gethsemane Drinks with us, each cup of trembling in our agony. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His
name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never,
Glory to His name. As of old He walked obey us,
With them to abide. So through all life's way He
walketh, Ever near our side. Soon again shall we behold Him,
Hey, sun-lord, the day, But to still be this same Jesus as He
went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. I guess we got another song. I need to look at my schedule
here. I would have thought that. Number 355. I guess I've just
done it the way I feel. I'm tired and ready to sit down. You all know that feel. That's a great song. From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes, There is a calm, a sure refrain. Tis found beneath the mercy seat. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. A place, then, oh,
besides for sweet It is the blood of mercy seen. There is a scene where spirits
blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend, Though sundered
far, by faith they meet. Around one common Merci, si. Ah, whither could we flee for
aid When tempted, desolate, dismayed, Or how the hosts of hell defeat
That suffering saint, O mercy, see? Ah, there on eagle wings we soar,
And sin and sense molest no more, And heaven comes down our souls
to free, While glory crowns the mercy seat. Now it's time for me to sit down.
If you would please open your Bibles
to 2 Timothy chapter 2. We'll read a portion of 2 Timothy
chapter 2 starting at verse 10. Therefore, I endure all things
for the elect sakes, that they may also obtain salvation, which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying,
for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If
we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he
will also deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himself. Of these things, put them in
remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth, but shun provane and vain babblings, for they
will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as stuff
to canker, of whom is Hominius and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. the Lord know them
that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. Let's thank God for his word,
and let's bow in prayer, please. Our great God and holy heavenly
Father, thank you for the service that we've had this morning,
our Sunday school lesson, Thankful for the gospel of your son and
our Lord Jesus Christ. Thankful that you provided this
place where we can come from our lives and our jobs and our
homes and the weeks that we've had. We can come here each weekend
and each Wednesday evening to hear the gospel preached. Cause
us this morning to hear the message prepared. Give us minds and hearts
to receive the message and feed on our Lord Jesus Christ. We
pray that his work and his name be exalted in this service this
morning. We ask that you be with Frank, our pastor, as he stands
to open your word. Father, leave him not alone,
but use these men that you've raised up to teach us more of
our Savior. Cause us to hear it, to worship
our Savior in spirit and in truth. Father, we thank you for those
that are continuing to go through difficult times, trials you sent
our way. We know they're from you. We
pray that you give them grace for the hour. Bring them through it, because
only you can. Father, we pray for all of your preachers around
the country and this globe that stand to preach this morning.
Let the gospel run well today. Father, we pray that you keep
this place here for many years. Take not the gospel away from
us, because it tells us to have a place to have a worship for
years to come. Pray that you increase our faith
in Christ as we go about out of this place and into our jobs,
workplace tomorrow. Keep us anchored on Christ. Cause
Him to be our only hope and salvation. Thank You for His broken body
and shed blood to come for our sins. Each day, Father, increase our
faith in Him. We can do nothing without You,
and we're thankful for what You've done for us in Christ. Again,
Father, we ask for an hour of worship this morning. Let Christ's
name and work be exalted in this place. He's thankfully asking
for a hand in Christ's name. Jesus, keep me near the cross
There's a precious fountain Free to flow, a healing stream Hosed from Calvary's mountains. Sing it with me. Soul scout mine, rest beyond
the river. Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy bound me There the bright and morning star Sheds
its beams around me Be my glory never, Till my raptured
soul shall find rest beyond. the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring his sins before me. Help me walk from day to day
With His shadows for me Ever, till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the river. the cross, I'll watch and wait,
hoping, trusting, ever, till I reach the golden strand. Just beyond the river be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond All right, let's open our Bibles again,
if you would, Hebrews chapter 13. I titled the message this morning,
Remember Those Who Rule. Our text begins with verse 7,
which 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. In verse 17, which says, Obey
them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for
they watch for your souls, as they that must give account.
They may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable
for you. Now, I approach every message
very prayerfully and carefully, and this one may be a little
more so. It's not because I'm not sure
of the truth of the passage, it's not because I'm not sure
of the message of Christ from the passage. If that were so,
I'd skip it and come back to it later. I feel some hesitancy in how
to approach this message because I do not want to give the impression
to any of you that I am in any way being self-serving in preaching
it. But I do want to preach this
very boldly and clearly because this is how God speaks to his
people. How God instructs his people is through his word, through
the preaching of his word. The meaning of the two verses
I read to you is unmistakable, isn't it? Church is to obey them
which have the rule over you. And that means the pastor. The
pastor has the rule of the church. The pastor rules the doctrine
that is preached in the church. The pastor rules the worship
service, how it is we conduct the worship service, how we do
things involved with the ministry of the church. The pastor has
the rules to who teaches and who performs various functions
that are required in the church and the worship service. The
pastor is the captain of the ship. And if this ship is going
to sail smoothly, the crew, the congregation, has to obey and
follow the captain. And if you do not think that
a man is worthy of your obedience and your trust, he shouldn't
be the pastor in the first place. Now, I know that that scares
the flesh to death. to be in submission to a man,
to obey and to follow a man. But that should not scare a believer
whose pastor preaches the gospel. You can be confident in obeying
and following God's pastor for several reasons. First, this,
God's pastors do not rule the church arbitrarily for their
own benefit. God's pastors rule and they do
it prayerfully, they do it carefully, and they do it faithfully for
your benefit. Not for theirs, for your benefit.
God's pastor is ruling, as the writer here says, he watches
for your soul. He watches for your soul. For
your soul. Not something that will benefit
him in any way, but for your soul. Number two, you don't have
to be concerned about this for a believer, if your pastor is
God's pastor, because God's pastors do not rule the church by their
own will or their own ideas. God's pastors rule by the will
of God and by the word of God, by preaching the word of God.
Now, this is just so if you're going to hear from God, you're
going to hear from a man. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. God uses men to preach his word. and we're told to submit to it,
submit, because it'll be profitable for your soul. All right, thirdly,
God's pastor is to rule the church like a loving father, like the
head of a home who rules his family, like a husband is the
head of his wife and rules the home. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
four. Now, a loving father rules the
home in love. He rules the home for the good
of everyone in the family. A loving father has an important
role in the home. He is to provide for his family.
He is to protect his family. He is to teach his family and
he is to love his family, to give them what they need. First
Corinthians chapter four, verse 15. Listen what the apostle Paul
says here. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ,
and everybody in Corinth, boy, they thought they were an instructor,
they thought they were a theologian, they ought to be listened to.
He says, though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have
you not many fathers? Many fathers. For in Christ Jesus
I have begotten you through the gospel, wherefore I beseech you,
be ye followers of me. Now I ask you, How can you not
follow a man who loves you like that? How can you not? And if you don't, this is the
warning from God's word. You made him rule in grief, in
grief, like a, like a father watching his rebellious children
who won't obey him, who won't listen to his instruction, who
won't, who won't take what he gives them out of love for them
to help them. And that's not profitable for
you. All right. Fourthly, We are to obey and
to follow our pastors for this reason. You don't have to be
scared. If he's leading you to Christ, that's his function is
to lead you to Christ. Look at first Corinthians chapter
11. First Corinthians 11 verse one. Be ye followers of me. We're
to be followers of our pastor. But look what he says next. Even
as I also am of Christ. We're to follow the man who's
following Christ. That's how he'll lead us to Christ.
That's profitable for our soul. Look over at 1 Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1. When you follow your pastor,
really what you're doing is you're following the Lord. First Thessalonians
chapter one, verse five. Well, verse four, he says, knowing
brethren, beloved, your election of God here. So I know that for
our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power
and in the Holy ghost and in much assurance, as you know,
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And you became
followers of us and of the Lord. having received the word of much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. To follow and obey your
pastor is to follow the Lord. Now, the word rule that the writer
here in Hebrews uses, it means authority and it means leader. The pastor is to use his authority
to lead you to Christ. That's the pastor's role. The
marginal reading says that God's pastors are guides. They're guides. And you are to obey them. And
a person might think, well, I'm not going to be a follower of
any man. I'm not going to obey any man. I don't care who he
is. You've heard people say that.
Well, to those who think that, I say to you, do so at your own
peril. Do so at your own peril. Brother Henry said, you listen
to me. And don't listen to me if you
want. Go to hell if you want. That's what he said. I was talking
to Todd one day. Todd said, Henry said, I said,
I remember him saying, he said, I'm not going to say that. I said,
yeah, I mean, Henry said he can say, well, I'll tell you why he said
that. This is why he said that. God's pastors are guides. That's
what the word means. They're guides pointing you to
Christ. They're guides who are pointing
you to the way of salvation, to the way of righteousness,
the way of peace with God. Now suppose you're driving down
the road one night and you see a sign. And that sign is meant
to be your guide, and you're meant to obey it. You know, they
don't put up those signs as suggestions. You're meant to obey this sign.
And this sign says, turn around. The bridge has collapsed ahead.
And you say, I'm not going to obey that. I don't want to do
what I want to do. I don't care what he says. Go away if you want. No, the sign says, this way,
the bridge is out. This way, there's safety. And
you say, I'm not going to obey. I'm going to go the way I want.
You're going to die in a car wreck. You're going to go off
the bridge. See, if you choose not to obey the rule, if you
choose not to obey the guide that's been given you, you're
not going to go to Christ. You're going to go some other
way. God's pastors are guides who are pointing you to Christ.
You don't have to be afraid of their rule, do you? And fifth,
you can feel confident following God's pastor because he must
give an account. He knows it. The writer there
says that they watch for your souls as they that must give
account. Now I must give account. I must
give account to God. How I handled his word. I must
give an account to God. How I preached his gospel. How
I studied and prayed and prepared. I've got to give an account to
that. I've got to give an account to God. How I preached his sheep. How I led his sheep. How I fed
his sheep. Now, God loves his sheep. He
sent his son to die for him. This is serious business. I've
got to give an account to that. And you rest assured, I take
that very, very seriously. And there is also a sense in
which I must give an account to you. You know, I am responsible
to preach Christ to you. And it's my responsibility not
to let anything get in the way of that. It's my responsibility. And when you come to die, I've
been responsible, I'm responsible to you. Did I tell you the truth
or not? I don't know when the next person
is going to be on their deathbed, but I got no time to play no
games. I'm responsible to you. Did I
tell you the truth? I take that responsibility very,
very seriously because I love you. I care for you. And I care
for your souls more than you know. And I tell you all this so that
you can identify the man who is God's pastor. You can tell
when somebody's got your best interest at heart or not. And
you can tell if somebody's just trying to build a following,
if they're trying to say things in such a way that they won't
run anybody off and they're afraid to tell people the plain, simple,
hard truth. You can tell if somebody's got
his own agenda trying to build a ministry for himself, or if
he's got your soul at heart, you can tell. Now, I've said
all that, and that's good instruction for God's church, and it's true.
But I haven't preached the gospel yet. What I want to do with the
rest of my time this morning is to tell you what does the
rule of a pastor look like by preaching the gospel to you,
by telling you about the gospel that God's pastors preach, because
this is their authority, and this is the gospel that God's
people obey and follow. Number one, back in our text,
Hebrews 13, God's pastor rules by preaching the word of God.
Verse seven says, remember them which have the rule over you,
who have spoken unto you the word of God. Now the word of
God is God's written word, but it's also Christ, the incarnate
word, and it's very clear from what the writer says here, that
he intends for us to mean Christ the incarnate Word, because verse
8 he says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and
forever. He means for us to mean here Christ the incarnate Word.
The authority of God's pastor comes from the Word that we preach,
the Christ that we preach. And you can feel confident following
and obeying God's preachers, because they're not preaching
their ideas. They're preaching God's message that's taken straight
from God's Word. You know, I go verse by verse
through the Word of God, not picking places here and there
and yonder to preach, but going verse by verse through the Word
of God. So you know this message is straight from the Word of
God. Paul told Timothy, Timothy always preached the Word, always
preached the Word, be instant in season and out of season.
I don't care what people want to hear. Timothy preached the
Word. The message of God's Word is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
incarnate Word. The message of God's Word is
Christ is all. That's the message of God's Word.
And you haven't seen the true meaning of any verse of scripture
until you see it, how it's telling you Christ is all. That's so. Everything God has for a sinner
is found in Christ. Everything. All of salvation
is found in Christ. It is all Christ. And the it there is everything
spiritual. Everything spiritual is in Christ. And I want to show you that in
Ephesians chapter one. We could look at many different
passages of scripture. I'll just as briefly as I can
look at a few verses here in Ephesians chapter one to show
you it's all in Christ. And you go through the first
chapter of the book of Ephesians and just circle or underline
how many times it says in Christ, in Him, His, Him, His. It's all
in everything. It's in Christ. First verse three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, where? In Christ. Every spiritual blessing is found
in Christ. Grace. That's found in Christ
and only in Christ. What is grace? Grace is God giving
us what we do not deserve. Do you know why God can give
grace to his people? Because he gives them what Christ
deserves. It's all in Christ. Mercy is found in Christ. What's mercy? Mercy is God not
giving us what we do deserve. Well, you know why God can be
merciful to his people, not give them what they deserve? Because
he gave Christ what they deserve. Mercy is in Christ. Forgiveness
of sin, that's a blessing. Where is it found? in Christ. It's found in Christ because
Christ paid for the sin of his people with his by his death
as their substitute. Righteousness is found in Christ
because Christ obeyed the law for his people. Sanctification
or holiness is found in Christ when he gives us a new nature
in the new birth, which is his nature. Peace with God found
in Christ because Christ bought it with his blood. His blood
took away that which made God angry. So there's peace. Adoption
into God's family. That's in Christ. We're joint
heirs with Christ. See, it's all in Christ. We have
all this through union with Christ. Every reason for salvation is
found in Christ, and not one of those reasons is found in
us. It's all in Christ. All right, verse four. According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. God's
election of a people is found in Christ. God elected a people
before the foundation of the world. He elected those people
to save and he put them in Christ. God's people have always been
in Christ and they always will be in Christ. God didn't choose
a people because they were holy and better than other people.
No, they were sinful. But God chose them anyway to
make them holy. Why was he going to do that?
in Christ, by putting them in Christ. That's the only way their
salvation can be sure. Verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, how? By Jesus Christ, to himself
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Now God predestinated his people
to be made just like Christ. And that's what salvation is
all about. Predestination. God predestinated
his people to be made just like his son. God foreordained the
salvation of his people by what Christ would do for them, how
he would make them what he is. And God did all that according
to his good pleasure, to his will, not our will, but his will.
Salvation is a choice. It is a choice. It's a choice
that God made. It's not our choice of God. It's
God's choice of us. God's choice to make his people
just like his son. That's a pretty good choice,
isn't it? I like that. Tell me more about that. I like
that. And those people that God elected, every last one of them
should be saved because Christ redeemed them. Verse seven. In
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace. Redemption can
only be in Christ. The cost of redemption is so
high, it can only be paid by the blood of God's Son. Only
the blood of Christ can pay. It's all in Christ. That price
is too high for us to pay with our sinful works. I mean, how
foolish is that to think we can pay the price of redemption with
our worthless works? No, redemption can only be bought
by the blood of Christ. It's in Him. And God arranged
this salvation for this reason, so that Christ would get all
the glory. Verse 12, that, here's why God
did all this, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ. The message of the whole Bible
is the revelation of Christ and his glory. That's the message
of the whole Bible. Now you look to him and you will
be saved. And this gospel, this gospel
that I preach, is the gospel that every saved person believes.
I don't care where you find them. Verse 13. In whom you also trusted. When? After that you heard the
word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now you who
believe Christ, when did you believe? I mean, you probably
don't know, some people do, a few people know the exact moment,
but you know there was a time you did not believe and there
was a time you did. What happened? You heard the gospel. You heard
the gospel of Christ and God gave you faith to believe it.
When you heard the gospel that it's all Christ and nothing but
Christ, that's when you believed. Because he's the only thing worth
believing. Now that's the message that God's pastors preach. And
to not obey. And to not submit to that kind
of preaching is to not submit and to refuse to obey God. Because
this is His message. The word remember in our text.
It means to be mindful of. It means to know the man. It
means to be mindful of his deeds or of his needs. But most importantly,
it means this. Remember and store up what he
preaches. like you're storing up treasure
for your soul. And that'll be easy to do if
God shows us Christ in the message, because that's what he's preaching.
That's where his authority comes from. All right, number two in
our text here, Hebrews 13. God's pastor rules by preaching
salvation that is by grace through faith. He says, remember them
who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word
of God, whose faith follow. Now God's preachers clearly and
boldly preach this. Without apology, salvation is
by grace through faith. And I'll tell you what that means.
Salvation is by grace through faith. This is what that means.
Salvation in no part is due to any of your works. Nothing about
salvation has anything to do with what you've done or haven't
done. Before conversion or after conversion. It's not of works,
it's by grace through faith. That truth is so important, the
Apostle Paul wrote an entire letter to the church at Rome
to say salvation is by faith, not by works, by faith. Paul
said in Romans that all men without exception, whether you're Jew
or Gentile, whether you're religious or heathen, whether you're rich
or poor, whether you're black or white, whether you're yellow
or red, doesn't matter. All men without exception are
dead in sin. When Adam fell, we died. When Adam sinned, we sinned in
him, and we died, and we've been dead ever since. And a dead man
can't do anything to make himself have life. He's dead. He can't
do anything. I take that back. There's one
thing a dead man can do. Stink. Stink. And we do that
real well, don't we? But we can't do anything to make
ourselves have life. Look at Romans chapter 3. The
only way we can be made righteous, the only way we can be given
spiritual life is through faith in Christ, being joined to Christ,
the second Adam. Romans chapter three, verse 19. Now we know that what things
ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. All the law can do is show us
how sinful we are. But now, the righteousness of
God, without the law, without your obedience to the law, is
manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. Unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there's no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his
grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith, through faith
in His blood, to declare His righteousness, not your righteousness,
His righteousness, for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
them which believe in Jesus. It's excluded by what law? Of works? No, by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude a man
is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. All our
deeds of the law don't contribute to righteousness at all. All
our deeds of the law do is contribute to our sin debt. How are we going
to be made righteous? Through faith in Christ. He obeyed
the law for us and his death put our sin away. That faith
in him being joined to Christ by faith, that's how a sinner
is made righteous. Romans 5 verse 1. Therefore being
justified, how? By faith. We're justified by
Christ, it's received through faith. We're justified not by
words, by faith. That's how we have peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, that cannot be made more
clear. Righteousness and salvation can only be found in It's who
Christ is and what Christ has accomplished for his people.
It can't be by our sinful words. I mean, how can we think righteousness
can come from our sinful words? That's like thinking I can be
made clean by washing in dirty water. It can't be. It can only
be by faith. And that's the message that all
of God's pastors preach. They're not trying to talk you
into doing something. They're preaching salvation in Christ,
by faith in Christ. This is what they preach. This
is what they believe. And this is what they live. They
live a life of faith. They're not perfect men by any
stretch of the imagination. Not at all. I wouldn't want to
hear a perfect man preach, would you? Because I just, I can't,
I can't rise to his stand. I don't want to hear an imperfect
man preach and tell me about salvation by grace. That's through
faith in Christ. Now that man's not perfect, but
he is faithful. God's pastors are faithful. Now
you obey and you submit to his rule. Quit trying to make yourself
more savable by what you do. Just quit everything you're doing
and trust Christ alone. Look at Romans chapter 10. Now
you submit. Quit. Just quit everything you're
doing that makes you better than somebody else, makes you more
close to God than somebody else is. You just quit it and submit.
Submit and be saved. Don't submit and be damned. Romans
10 verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is they might be saved for I bear them
record. They have zeal of God. Oh, they're
very religious, but it's not according to knowledge for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not. What's the word submitted. They haven't submitted themselves.
unto the righteousness of God. Paul's countrymen were lost and
they were going to hell. How does he know that? They wouldn't
submit. They wouldn't submit to the message
that he preached. They would not submit themselves
to the righteousness of Christ. They're going about trying to
establish their own righteousness because they're ignorant. They
don't know anything about God's righteousness. They don't know
how it is in Christ. And they refuse to submit? They
refused to quit trying to add their own works in there somewhere.
They just got to have them. They just got to. I mean, they
finally had to say, well, all right, you know, boys, this message,
the grace you're preaching makes sense, but now it's still got
to be circumcised. We've got to tell everybody that's going
to believe on Christ, you've got to be circumcised too. They couldn't let it go,
could they? They could not submit. And unless
the Lord ever changed that, they died and went to hell. They died
in their sin. Now you submit. You submit and
be saved. You submit because that's what's
best for your soul. And refuse to submit and you'll
be damned. Because refusing to submit is
refusing to submit to God. It's not refusing to submit to
some man. It's refusing to submit to God and His message. All right,
thirdly, back in our text, Hebrews chapter 13. The goal of God's
pastor is for you to know Christ. I told you that in the lesson
this morning about the apostles that the Lord called. Several
of them, the only thing we ever know about them is their name.
We don't know one thing they ever did. We don't know one message
they ever preached. We don't know one letter they
ever wrote. We don't know. All we know is their name. And
they're fine with that. They're fine with that because
they don't want you to know their name. They want you to know the
name of Christ. And God's pastor, he rules. And
He guides by pointing you to Christ so you'll know Him. That
is His goal for you. I want a lot of things for the
people of this congregation. I want you to have a good and
happy life. I want you to enjoy these things. But I'm telling you, my goal
for you is that you know Christ. In the verse 7, the writer says,
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Jesus Christ. This is the end, the goal of
their conversation. Jesus Christ. The same yesterday
and today and forever. Now the end of our conversation,
of our speaking, means the goal of our preaching. And the goal
of our preaching is that you know Christ. The goal of our
preaching is not that you learn to act better or that you learn
the right form of this, that or the other. That's not really
going to do you any good. The goal of our preaching is
that you know Christ. Why wouldn't you submit to that?
Why wouldn't you submit to the rule of someone who's doing everything
he possibly can do so that you'll know Christ and be saved? We
don't want you just to know any Jesus. We want you to know the
Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Savior. There are other Jesuses
out there, aren't they? False Jesuses. God's preacher
wants you to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the great I am. I am. The one that spoke to Moses from
the burning bush that said, I am. It's not, well, Moses, I did
things this way yesterday, and I'm doing this way today. I'm going to do something else
different tomorrow. No, this is Christ. I am, who dwells outside
of time, who's always the same because He always is. You know,
saying I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever doesn't just
mean that God's eternal. It means that He is. He always
just is, and He never changes. Well, by our reckoning of time,
what was Christ yesterday? Before the world was created,
what was Christ then? Well, He was the surety for His
people. The father said, I've elected a people. I'm going to
elect a people to save. But who will save them? Who will
redeem them? Who will bring them home? And
the Lord Jesus Christ stood and said, Father, I will. I'll redeem
them. I'll bring them home. I'll be
surety. I'll pay their debt. And the father is the one who
first ever trusted in Christ. He trusted his son to do what
he promised and to redeem his people from their sin and bring
them all the way to glory. Well, then those people will
always be. The father said, I'll accept him. I trust you. I'll
accept them for your sake in you. Well, then they'll always
be accepted in Christ because Christ never changes. He's still
the surety for his people. Now you submit to believing,
trusting and rest in him. And when I say rest in him, I
mean, quit trying to make yourself more savable or more saved and
rest in Christ. It's all in him. Well, what was
Christ yesterday? in ancient times, during the
time of the Old Testament, during the time of the Mosaic law. Well,
Christ was that Passover lamb. Christ, our Passover, sacrificed
for us. And you know, he's still the
same today. So hide in him. This is still just as true today
as when God first said it. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. I know there's already been death
in this house. Christ died. I'll pass over you. What was Christ yesterday? When
Aaron dressed up in all his fine robes and went in on the day
of atonement. Well, I'll tell you, he was, Christ was the priesthood.
He was the one who offered the sacrifice. This is the same thing's
true today. Nothing's changed. Hide in Christ. By one offering,
he hath perfected forever then their sanctified. Now you hide
in him. Hide in him. What was Christ yesterday? He
was the Sabbath. You know, the Lord gave the law
of the Sabbath and told everybody you've got to rest. You've got
to take a day off. You've got to rest. You can do
no work. And they could not do it. Well, I tell you what, Christ
is our Sabbath. And the same thing is true today.
And you come to Him. You come to Him. And you'll find rest
for your soul. You come to Christ and rest in
Him. You know what you'll find? There's no law to keep. There's
no law to keep. Christ already kept it. Now you come have rest
in Him. Well, that's what He was yesterday. What about our
reckoning of time today? What is he today? He's still
everything that you need. He's prophet, priest, and king.
There's three offices in ancient Israel. No man could ever hold
all three at the same time, but Christ did. Prophet, he's priest,
and he's king. He's all we need. It's all him. May you come to him. Today, today
is the day of salvation. Today is the day that Christ
is being preached. Today is the day that Christ
is walking amongst His people where two or three are gathered
together in His name to worship Him. Now, you come to Him today. I mean, right now, where you
sit in your heart, you bow to Christ. You come to Him today
if you will hear His voice. Don't harden your heart. Don't
harden your heart. Don't be like Pharaoh and harden
your heart. Submit and obey. What is it to obey the gospel?
It's to quit all my work and trust Christ. I submit, obey,
and you'll be saved today. See, everything about us is changing. It's so fickle. And we need to
change. We need to change. But Christ
never changes because he doesn't need to. He's perfect. And he
will save you and he will keep Just as surely today as he saved
every Old Testament saint in the past, just as surely as he
saved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he'll save and keep you. And
in eternity, by what we count as tomorrow, what will Christ
be then in eternity? Christ will be all. He'll be
all. Scripture says there's not even
going to be a son in glory because Christ lightens it. He's all.
In eternity, Christ will still be our Passover Lamb, sacrificed
for us, and the end that loved us and watched us in His birth.
He was sacrificed for us. He'll still be our High Priest.
He'll still be the way to God. He'll still be our Sabbath rest.
He'll still be our Savior. He'll still be our surety. And
we're just all going to be standing around just beholding His glory
with our mouths hanging open like we cannot believe it. There's
going to be silence. And then there's going to be
singing. And what are we going to sing? Tomorrow, throughout
eternity, he will be all. He's the same yesterday, today
and forever. Now, why would you not want to
submit the care of your soul to him? Why would you not? Then
fourthly, God's pastor rules by continuing to faithfully preach
the gospel. Verse 9, the writer says, be
not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, for it's
a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with
means which have not profited them, which have been occupied
therein. Now, the unregenerate person
will probably get tired rather quickly of hearing God's pastor
preach, because God's pastor has the same message every time
he preaches, same message from a different verse every time
he preaches. But God's people love it. God's pastor has one
message to preach, and it's Christ. That's the message that saves
God's people. That's the message that feeds
God's people. That's the message that comforts God's people. That's
the message that keeps God's people from going off after strange
doctrines. The writer here mentions strange
doctrines. What is a strange doctrine? Well, it's any message
that's not Christ's. It's strange to Christ alone.
These doctrines are strange to God's word. They're not found
in God's word. There might be a verse plucked out, but it doesn't.
And they say, this is what that verse means, but it doesn't agree
with the rest of the scripture. It's strange to the word of God.
It's strange to the character of God. You know, this message
that God loves everybody and wants to save everybody? That's
strange to the character that God described in this book, isn't
it? It's strange. It's strange. Strange doctrines are strange
to sovereign grace. You know, every time the word
doctrines, plural, is used in scripture, it always refers to
a false gospel. False prophets preach doctrines.
They preach doctrines. They give you many different
things to do. Do this, do that, look here,
do this. It can be good things. You ought
not lie. You ought to be honest. You ought
to be giving. I mean, you ought to do those
things. But that's not your salvation. No, your salvation is not even
believing Christ, plus your good Christian walk. It's Christ alone. And these doctrines, they're
strange. They give you the apostle here
or the writer here says, consider mirrors, consider considering
the end of their conversation. These false prophets who preach
doctrines, they give you several things to consider. They're entertaining
you by giving you several different things to consider. But the gospel
is the doctrine singular, the doctrine of Christ. I know we
talk about the doctrines of grace, but the doc, what we call the
doctrines of grace is one doctrine. It's the doctrine of Christ in
all his different facets, the glory of his different facets
and consistent doctrinal preaching, consistently preaching the doctrine
of Christ. People say, I don't like doctrinal
preaching, buddy. I do. I love the doctrinal preaching.
Consistent doctrinal preaching protects God's people from leaving
Christ alone. Consistent preaching of the doctrine
of Christ keeps people focused on Christ. It keeps them from
being apostate and leaving that preaching because God's preacher
gives you one thing to consider, Christ. See the difference? Why would you not want to submit
and obey that kind of preaching? God's in people say, Oh, you
got to tell me how to walk. You got to tell me how to do
this. You got to me. You look to Christ. You're not a wall. I mean, you
just, your sole focus is on Christ. You'll know what to do. That's
silly. God's preacher and deal with
those things. He deals with the heart. He deals with the heart. The reformed folks, they preach
to the head. I met some reformed people and
boy, they're smart. I mean, they're too smart for me to understand
what in this world they're talking about. It might be impressive,
but I don't know. Pentecost is a preach to the emotions. I'm not an overly emotional person,
so I don't really understand all that either. But grace. Christ. Is preached to the heart. It's preached to the heart. I
don't understand everything I read in this book, but it speaks to
my heart. Comforts my heart, establishes
my heart. The writer says it's a good thing
that your heart be established. Not your body be established
with meats. You know, meats, it's just different
kinds of works of religion. You know, the people of that
day said, oh, you can eat this meat, but you can't eat that.
You can eat cow, but you can't eat pork. You can't eat this,
you can't eat that. You can't eat meat offered to Islam. All that's
outward. That's going out in the sewer
anyway. That's just religious works and doings that haven't
profited anybody at any time ever that did them. Ever. What
will profit your heart? Grace. Oh, that profits you,
that saves, that keeps, that feeds. We need to be established
on Christ because He's our only hope. And the only way our hearts
can be established so that we don't move away from Christ is
if our pastor will have the courage to preach doctrinal message and
lay the foundation of Christ and Christ alone. And if that
happens, we'll be built on Christ and we won't leave Him. Now,
why wouldn't you want to submit to a man? whose only hope for
you is to see you built on Christ and build gold and silver and
precious stones, not wooden and stubble. Why would you not want
to? All right, lastly, now the pastor's responsibility is to
rule. Your responsibility is to obey and submit and to pray
for him. Verse 18, Hebrews 13 says this,
pray for us, pray for us. For we trust we have a good conscience
in all things, willing to live honestly. The writer here says
the same thing that the Apostle Paul said. He speaks for every
preacher when he says, Brethren, pray for us. Brethren, pray for
us. I ask you all the time to pray
for me. No man is sufficient for these things. Pray for us. Pray that God would give us utterance.
Pray that God would give us his message for his people in that
hour. When you come here on Wednesday
night, you need God's message for you in that hour, don't you?
I beg of you, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, pray for me, that
God will give it to me. Because I won't have it if He
doesn't give it. And then pray that He'll enable us to preach
it by the power of His Spirit and not by the weakness of our
human flesh and the nothingness of our intellect. Pray that God
will give us the message and enable us to preach it. Pray
that the Lord give us wisdom to lead His people right. Pray
the Lord give us a heart to lead His people right. And pray that
God will make us faithful. God keep us faithful. As I pray
for you, I begin my day in the study every day praying for you.
Praying that God will bless you. Praying that God will keep you.
I beg of you that you pray for me too. That the Lord bless me
and keep me. Amen. That's submitting. our pastor. I pray God will bless
that to your hearts in His glory. Let's bow together. Our Father, we bow before you. We bow before your throne of
grace and we submit. Father, we submit to your will. As the leper of old, we say,
Lord, if you will, you can make us whole. As the poor Syrophoenician
woman cried, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. We're just dogs.
Dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Lord,
help us. We wait. We wait on thee. Father, would
you bless your word? Would you bless your word to
your glory? Would you bless your word to the hearts of your people? Give us hearts that love thee,
that believe you, that rest in Christ. Give us a heart that
has a love and care for one another. Pray for one another. Help one
another. Lord, I beg of thee that you
bless this ministry. Bless your servants everywhere
that they're found. Father, for your glory, let there
be a place on this earth where your glory is known, where your
glory of saving and keeping, redeeming your people through
your sovereign mercy in your Son. Let that message be known,
Father, for your glory, for the good of your people, for the
good of your lost sheep. Let there be a place where your
gospel is preached, where you bless it, Father, we pray. Father,
bless us, save us, hear us, hear us and see us only in our Lord
Jesus Christ. It's in His blessed name, for
His glory, we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Mike, you come
lead us in a song, 242, Capra, 242. I'm going to change
the last selection. 242 will stand as we sing. First
and last verse. How that my bondage, sorrow,
and night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come, Into Thy freedom, gladness,
and light. Jesus, I come to Thee, Out of
my sickness into Thy health, Out of my woe and into Thy will. out of my sin and into thyself. Jesus, I come to thee. Let's sing this third verse too,
could we? Okay. Third verse. I'd like to
come out of my arrogant pride. That's what I want. Let's sing
that verse too, okay? Okay. Third verse. Out of unrest and
arrogant pride, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come, Into Thy blessed
will to abide. Jesus, I come to Thee, Out of
myself to dwell in Thy love, Out of despair into raptures
above, Hooray, on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come into the joy and light
of thy home. Jesus, I come to thee out of
the depths of whose untold, into the peace of thy sheltering fold. Ever thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to thee.