Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 12. This is not going to be a regular
message with points and sub points and so on and so forth. I just
want to talk to you this morning and the best I can speak to you.
from my heart. There's a little group of people,
and I won't wear you with their names and places, but a few years back they came to
me and talked to me about forming a small church different ones
that were interested in it called me and talked to me and oh, how
hungry they were to hear and how thankful they were that it
seemed like the Lord was working among them. And these things worked out and
a pastor was called and they began the business that we're
engaged in here. congregation of God's elect,
ministering to them, so forth. And then I got word a few days
ago that a good many of that group
were dissatisfied with what they were hearing. Their pastor's been here on several
occasions and I've listened to his messages and listened to
him from time to time. I've never heard him preach anything
except Christ. He don't have years and years and years experience,
but he has the experience that he has and he's been well taught
and a man of good reputation. I like his personality. He got
a good personality. I trust him enough to let him
stay in my home when he comes here. And I think for the most part
it's just a little bit of personality conflict or whatever, but they
want to destroy this work that God has done. And that's just beyond my conception.
I just can't. Couldn't get it off my mind. And so I wanted to say some things
to you and to reaffirm to you what a precious, precious thing
this is that we have. And the Lord's blessed it. He's blessed it. We've got young
men and women in this church. They were toddlers, but they
were just young kids when I got here. I baptized several of them,
several of them. The book of Hebrews is given
through the Apostle Paul to the Jews to enlighten them as to the reality
of the law. What these things that God has
preserved and ordained in Holy Scripture, the reality of what they're all
about, the law and the priesthood and
the holy days and the sacrifices, and to show them that all these
things were a shadow, that's what he calls the law, a shadow
of good things to come. Patterns of things in the heavens.
Figures for the time then present. Pictures of the coming Redeemer
and the redemption that he would accomplish. And the theme of
this book is something better. Now I experienced a thing similar
to the Jews when I was in religion. It's all about law. It's all
about works. It's all about holy days. It's
all about those things. Tithing. You would think of all
the things in the scripture, their major thing wouldn't be
tithing, but tithing is. If you sign a pledge card, you're
gonna sign a card saying that you will tithe. If you don't,
they'll done you. The Jews were like that. That
was much like their religion. These things were owed, they
were bills. I told this congregation one time, If our offerings couldn't
be public in some way, then let's get them out of worship. If it's gonna be a bill like
a phone bill, we'll just send it in the mail. You owe me so
much. But if it's a part of worship, then we need to set this giving
aside and to think on these things in the light of what God's given
us, in the light of his grace, and give accordingly. How much
did God love you, Clay? Huh? Could you ever give enough,
too much? Huh? Can't do it, can you? That's
why we don't need law. One of the last things he tells
us here, let us have grace. Grace that we may serve God. And only grace can do it. I've
never, as far as I know, I've never brought a message here
on giving, never. But this is one of the givingest
churches that I know anything about. They'll give and give
and give and give. Our members are slowly dying
off. Support is slowly going down,
but the bank account stays the same. Grace, grace. Paul wants to tell his kinsmen. He'd had enough of that. He was
so sick of that. Every day, he'd gather up this
luggage that he didn't even know he had, and he'd haul it out
to the dung heap and throw it on the dung heap. All of his
lineage and everything that he'd hoped in back under that religion,
he'd take it out daily and throw it on the dung heap. Had no use
for it. Why? Because he saw something
better. And he sat down and he wrote
this book to his kinsmen whom he loved. In one spot, and I
only know of two men in all the scripture who said this, Moses
was one and Paul the Apostle was the other, that they would be willing, willing,
that their name be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life for
their kinsmen. Now that's saying something.
And he knew what he was saying. Oh, this book, he sat down and
he penciled this book in and he said, this is, it's something
better. Something better. He's better
than the angels. Which of the angels did God say
sit here on my right hand? None of them. But he said that
to the song. He's better than the angels.
He's better than all the old priests. He's a priest after
the order of Melchizedek. He had no beginning and no end.
He's better than the ceremonies, better than the ordinances. His
covenant is a better covenant based on better promises. Something
better. I think that's what I'll title
the message this morning, something better. I want to talk to you this morning
about the great privileges we have to assemble ourselves together
unhindered. Ain't nobody out there with signs
protesting our gathering this morning. I didn't have anybody
stop me on the way up here and say, I hope you ain't going up
that little Grace Church up there. No, nobody said anything to me.
I come up here unhindered. I was able to study this week
unhindered. great privileges that we have
to assemble ourselves together unhindered and unmolested towards
the true and living God. And there was a day when we were,
as the Jews of old, held in bondage, in captivity. That's the scriptural
term for it. You ever think about that in
your past? You was in captivity. You didn't even know it. Some
of those young Jews born under Babylonian rule, they didn't
know that was captivity. That's all they ever knew. They
grew up in it, and that's us. We grew up in it, didn't know
any different. We walked according to the course
of this world, Paul said in Ephesians 2. Every son of Adam that's born
into this world, he comes forth from the womb speaking lies.
He goes astray as soon as he'd be born. Just as soon as he's
born, he goes astray. Bible said he is of a few days
and full of trouble, trouble. And at his best state, been some
great men, men of renown, but the Bible said man at his best
state, he's nothing, he's vanity. That's the course of this world.
And then Paul adds in Ephesians 2 that we also walk according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. And I'll remind you that whenever
Satan or satanic forces are mentioned in the scripture, it's always
in the realm of religion. Religion. You won't find Satan's
name attached to immoral living. I'll tell you what you'll find
there. Flesh. Flesh. They don't have to do anything
to get you to act immoral. You're born immoral. That which
is flesh is flesh. Well, what's it going to be down
the road? Flesh. Well, what's it going to be after
it goes to church for 30 years? Flesh. And all its desires is contrary
to the spirit. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary,
the one to the other. You didn't have that when you
was in the world. But then you come to know Christ.
And now all of a sudden there's a battle. There's things going
on inside sometimes just wants to rip your heart out. There's
a battle. These things are contrary, the
one to the other. Oh, how my spirit wants to stand
up here and just tell you about Christ. Just go on and on and
on and point to you how magnificent, how wonderful. His name should
be called wonderful. What else would you call him?
Is there anything about Christ that's not wonderful? Even in
his agony, it was wonderful. Oh, we walked according to the prince
of the power of the air. He come along and dangled that
carrot of religion in front of us and we chased it and pulled
his wagon. That's exactly what we did. We served him. Didn't know we were serving him,
but we served him. We thought we were serving God. I did. Played
my guitar and sang. Woke on occasion. I thought I was serving God.
I didn't know God. I didn't know Him. Christ looked at those Pharisees.
My soul, was there anybody more religious than a Pharisee? You could talk about any book
in the Old Testament, he could quote it to you. And if you read
it wrong, he said, no, the punctuation mark ain't there, it's here.
You're quoting it wrong. He knew this book forward and
backward. The scribes were those who transcribed the scriptures
by hand. They knew it. They knew where
every jot and tittle, they knew everything in it. Our Lord looked at him and said,
you are of your father, the devil. That's a hard pill to swallow,
ain't it? But you'll swallow it. You'll swallow it. Oh, Satan himself, scripture
said, is transformed into an angel of light. He ain't a drunken
bartender, he's an angel of light. And therefore, no big thing if
his ministers, whose ministers? His ministers, do likewise. You know, religion is not called
anti-world, it's called anti-Christ, because it's totally contrary
to Christ. It's after the working of Satan,
the scripture said, with all power and signs and lying wonders. He said all of our behavior in
time past is of the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. So that we see that we were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. And this is the
condition in which God found us, sinners all, bankrupt beggars,
enemies of God. I can't preach man as low as
he is. I don't have the words. I can't
preach God as high as he is and I can't preach man as low as
he is. I don't have the terms to tell you what you are before
God. You're a wiggling maggot. You know what maggots do? They
feed on death. They feed on rotten flesh. That's us. That's the natural
man. That's what we are in our daddy
Adam. We've inherited this. This is
what we are. This is what we do. I can't even
conceive how God can look on man and tolerate him at all except
to know that he's determined to save some by his son. And that's the only reason they're
still allowed to crawl around on the face of this earth. That's
where God found us. That's what we are. That's what
this flesh is. And oh, when he found us. when
he found us. Convinced us of our sin, then
we cried out to God. Then we cried out for mercy and
grace. We didn't cry out and start saying,
now, here's what I'm gonna do, God. If you save me, I'm gonna,
no. No, that ain't how you talk. You remember? Oh, you cried out
for mercy. Have mercy on me, the sinner. I don't know about anybody else,
but I'm a sinner. Have mercy on me. I ain't got anything to offer. He said, they're done righteous.
No, not one. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. What'd he say next? They're all
gone astray. They're not of any profit. I
had nothing of value in you. You got nothing to offer God. One thing I can say, that's too
many. That's too many. You don't have
anything to say. We're maggots. We're just nothing
before him. And he, oh, here you are. You're down on your knees, and
you're just You're ruined, you're without hope, you're a bankrupt
beggar, you're starving to death, you have nothing to offer, no. And then he shows you Christ. My soul. Can it be? Isn't that what that
hymn writer wrote? Can it be? That I should have an interest
in him? Can it be? Think about old Mephibosheth.
He was the last of Saul's relatives. David had slayed all the rest
of them. He knew they were enemies of him. Mephibosheth wasn't any
different. The only thing that Mephibosheth
had going for him is Jonathan made a covenant for him. And
David agreed to it. And he said, as long as I live.
I don't gotta leave him, I'll show mercy to him. And all the
rest of them had been slain, and here comes Mephibosheth,
and they bring him in. Had to carry him in, he couldn't
walk. He ruined by the fall, crippled. Here he is, and they
carry him in. And he thinks the king is gonna
look at him, wanted a personal voice in his condemnation. And
he brings him in there to David, and David said, you take him
out, you put the best robes on him, And you bring him in here
and sit him down at my table. Huh? Is that what God did to you when
you was a sinner and you was begging for mercy? He said, here,
put my robes on you. Now, you sit right here at my
table. Do you know that's where you're at this morning, at his
table? You're eating what He served up for you. Oh, my soul, can you imagine
Mephibosheth sitting there at that table still in wonder that
he's not dead? Got nothing to offer. He's lame.
He can't walk. He can't do it. He had no dishes.
He couldn't do anything. He just sit there. Just sit there. And here comes the servants,
and they're laying things out before him. And he don't know
what to do. And he eats and gets him another
bite. Can you imagine that old Mephibosheth
saying, well, that's pretty good stuff, but you could have put
a little bit more seasoning in the mashed potatoes. Huh? Ain't that what's going on in
these churches that upset with the preacher and upset with his
preaching and upset with his personality and all these piddly? We're maggots. We're Mephibosheth. He brought us in and set us down
at his table. And we're going to pick on what
it tastes like, my soul. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve him. Oh. Oh. This is our condition. But God intervened. He wasn't
pleased to let us go on in our sinful rebellion. He intervened.
He stepped in. He arrested the sinner. He said,
that's far enough. That's far enough. Oh, He intervenes in time. But
He intervenes in time because He intervened in eternity. ability to even conceive eternity
past. As far back as your mind can
go, it goes that much further. And He intervened in eternity
past. God's going to create a people.
He's going to create them through His Son. But for some, for some,
He's going to make a covenant of grace, just like was made
for old Mephibosheth. And he's going to point, Christ
is the surety of that. And none of them going to perish.
There are none of them going to perish. A fellow told me one time, he said, it's not God's will for anybody
to perish. It says that in scripture. I said, that ain't what it says.
Oh, yes, it is. I said, well, show me the passage.
He turned over to it, and he got real quiet. And I said, let
me tell you what he said. He's not willing that any of
us should perish. Any of those of his elect, any
of those given to Christ, he's not willing that any should perish.
And if he's not willing for them to perish, they're not going
to perish. But that all should come to repentance. You mean
God purposed that way back yonder in eternity? I'm going to tell
you something. What God purposed back yonder,
it's going to come to pass. It's going to come to pass for
every child of God. He's going to bring you to repentance.
He's going to bring you to your knees. He's going to show you
what you are. Take away all your abilities. You ain't going to
have any ability to do anything. You're going to be wondering
how it is you're even uttering words of prayer. And if he hadn't
given you them, you wouldn't utter them. What's he doing? It's God who
worketh in you, both to will. Whose will? Your will. Your will
and his will gonna line up. And you're gonna call on him.
And oh, my soul, how gracious is he gonna be? For Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. Pointing him as our head. Then
when the fullness of the time was come, he sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. What adoption? That adoption
he predestinated in Christ before the foundation of the world. We cannot, in this old nature,
produce a righteousness acceptable to God, and they could not pay
their sin debt, they could not, as sinners, satisfy divine justice,
and they could not perceive the redemptive glory of God. There's no way. But our great
Lord and Savior, by his life, death, and resurrection, by his
present reign and glory, He accomplished our redemption, sat down on the
right hand of God to ensure that every chosen heir of God receive
his full inheritance. And he's going to receive it.
He's going to receive it. And to accomplish this, our God
ordained the means to bring it to pass. He's from the beginning. He's chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
Whereunto he called you by our gospel. Now we went full circle,
and now we're back around where I started my subject. We're here in the assembly of
God. This is where God calls sinners, right here. This is where he calls you. He
called you by our gospel, Paul said. Called you to do what? To obtain the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. To see that you have part in
it. that His glory is the glory in
your accomplished redemption. His glory is that glory whereby
He saved your soul. This is all to Him, to Him. Every soul for whom Christ died
and rose and intercedes for in glory shall be brought to believe
in and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in John 6, 37,
all that the Father hath given me shall come to me. How many of them? Every one of
them. Ain't you glad? Oh, my soul. Isaiah said all his children
shall be taught of the Lord. And he reminds those Jews of
that because they murmured at him because he said he come down
from heaven. He said don't murmur. No man can come to me except
my Father draw him. It's written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has
heard and has learned of the Father, he comes to me. How God
teach people, through his pastors, evangelists. Huh? Ain't that how it works? That's
exactly how it works. He can't hear without a preacher.
Preacher can't preach except he be sent. Christ knows his
sheep. He knows their names. They're
written on his shoulder to bear them up before the Lord. They're
written on his heart. And they hear his voice. He told
those Jews, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. If you
were of my sheep, you'd hear my voice, just like I told you,
my sheep hear my voice. And this coming here in Hebrews
12, 18 is a coming to worship our God. It's a coming in regard
of His calling. It's a soul made willing in the
day of His power. And it's not as that coming of
religion, that coming to the law, that coming to condemnation,
that mountain that shook and burned and smoked and even Moses
was shaking in his boots when he looked at it. And the people
said, you go up and represent us. We don't want any part or
lot with that. But you're not coming to that,
he said, in Hebrews 12, 22. You're coming to Mount Zion,
under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
That's the church. That's all God's elect. How do
we come before them? Because we come to Christ and
they're in Him. When you come to Christ, you
come before the whole of God's elect. They're all in Him. God
put them in Him. And then He said, you're coming
not just to Him and to this, but you're coming to an innumerable
company of angels. Here's a whole race of creatures
solely created for the benefit of God's elect. Isn't that what
Scripture said? They're created ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
This whole race of creatures owe their existence to God because
God has created them to minister to His elect. And we come to
Christ and He's made all these things. These things are made
for Him. And we come to Him, we come before everything that's
in Him. We come before this innumerable
company of angels. Why? Because it's part of your
inheritance. When you come to Him, everything
that God has for sinners is in Him. Angels, men, means, it's
all in Him. We come to the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn which are written in heaven and to
God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And my friend, when we come to
God, we come to Christ. And when we come to Him, we come
to all that's in Him and by Him and for Him. And we come to all
who are represented by Him. We come to God, the judge of
all and the spirits of just men made perfect. And when I think
of what I am in the flesh and of my natural state and birth
and relationship, oh, this old contemptible nature,
and the course of life, and I think upon such high privileges, how
humbled I am. You humbled? I'll tell you if
you're not, here's why, we didn't prepare ourselves. You got to
look on these things and be reminded of these things, and that's why
it's not weary for me to preach to you every week and sometimes
tell you the same thing, no, no, no. It's needful for you,
needful for you. And it's needful for me. And I see it, and I look at myself,
and I see this bankrupt banker. And God made him rich. Down there in Corinth, arguing
and debating, and it's something what we do. Even saved men, isn't
it something what we do? We sit around, well I was saved
under Henry Mahan. Henry Mahan didn't save anybody. God used him and is still using
him. But he didn't save anybody. If
we saved at all, we saved in Christ. God saved. and saved us by His grace. But
they down there, and they said, well, I heard Apollos. And the other one said, well,
I saved under the Apostle Paul. And when Paul got done straightening
them out, you know what he told them? He said, don't you know
that the world is yours? You don't realize what you have
in Christ. The world is yours. You know
God's using everything out here. He's working everything like
a bunch of cogs and wheels and we don't understand it. We can't
perceive it. But He's using everything out
there for your good and His glory. The world is yours. Don't you know you're going to
sit and judge angels? He took a bankrupt beggar and
made him rich in Christ, rich beyond his wildest conception. Oh, my soul. Can such a one as
me really come to Mount Zion, to the church of the living God,
right into the presence and glory of God and be heard? Can a sinner such as I come into
the presence of Jesus, the Mediator, and find favor and blessing and
reconciliation before God? And what of the love and kindness
and grace of God that privileged me to be here this morning, to
know what I know? I don't know much, but I know
something. And what I know, I know by grace. God gave it to me. You can't
preach what you don't know. And I think of myself and I say with
my fibby ship, who am I that you should show such mercy to
such a dead dog as I am? And in the light of these things,
I think my heart would be so overwhelmed with gratitude that I couldn't speak at all.
Want to see how much better it is than when the Lord found me. I think my mouth would be stopped,
and I'd be unable to speak at all. Hymn writer said, oh, to grace,
how great a debtor. Daily, I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. What I have this morning is so
precious. So precious. I have Christ. I have his gospel. I have the grace of God. It's
so precious. Pray for it. If it's precious
to you, don't set it aside. Pray for it. Take advantage of it. Never forsake
it. Defend it, preserve it, as long
as you can. As long as you can. Don't treat these things like
anything else in this world. It's not only a privilege, it's
a necessity. What would you do if God didn't
send you a preacher? What would your kids do? They're just going to grow up
and never hear anything. They're just going to grow up
and do whatever they want to do and have no sense. No sense of anything. Why? Because they haven't been taught. Don't treat these things like
anything else in this world. And then the apostle leaves us
with this warning. He said, see that you refuse
not him that speaketh. Now I know that he's talking
about God from heaven speaking, but when he talks about him speaking,
that's a big area. He told those 70s, he said, now
you go out and speak, and he that heareth you, heareth me.
You mean when they preach, God preached? That's exactly what
I mean. He that heareth you, heareth me. If they despise you,
that means they despise me. Don't refuse him that speaketh,
For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven. Christ speaks both without sound
and with it. His blood speaks better things
than that of Abel, don't it? His blood didn't make no sound.
Oh, yes, it did. It's still speaking then. Still
speaking. He speaks both with sound and
without. He speaks both with means and
without means. He speaks from heaven. And his
blood sprinkled by the Spirit upon our guilty consciences speaks
without sound, speaks of a better sacrifice. But it also speaks
with sound in them that represent him who are called ambassadors. Has God sent you an ambassador?
then don't refuse to hear it. It's just simple as that. Don't
refuse to hear it. If preaching's just a fleshly
exercise or optional thing, then there's no problem. But if God
actually has ambassadors and uses them, then we better take advantage
of it, haven't we? Listen to what God says here
by James. Of his own will, God's will,
of his own will, begat he us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore,
for this reason, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. And we're to lay aside ever all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with
meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls. My friend, worship is not a sacrifice. Most men treat it that way. Well,
it's Sunday. I have to go to church. It's
not a sacrifice. It's a privilege. And we're to
count it as such. And if we count it that way,
then let us prepare for it and ask God to bless it and expect
his presence and spirit. If sinners are to be saved, Christ
must speak. And if he speaks, it'll be through
a man chosen, sent to you from heaven. What a precious thing
we have. And so I say something and it
rubs you a little wrong, my personality or whatever, or my grammar ain't
just so-so. Did I ever tell you that story
about Henry and that woman who got him back by the door? He
finished preaching, and this woman stopped him back by the
door and had a big frown on her face. He was greeting everybody
as they left, and she kind of waited around so she'd be the
last one. When she got up there, she said,
I got a bone to pick with you over your message. He said, oh? He said, what's that? He said,
when you were talking about that high priest back there, she said,
you used the word britches. Britches is not a proper term,
trousers. And he said, well, let me ask
you something. He said, what did I say before I said britches?
Well, she said, I don't recall. Well, he said, what did I say
after I said britches? She said, I can't think right
now what it was. Well, he said, if I was you,
I'd go home and thank God for britches. If it wasn't for britches,
you wouldn't have got anything. Can you overlook some little
flaws? You know, like my fibby chef,
he ain't gonna complain about the mashed potatoes he's sittin'
at the king's table. My soul, who cares how much salt
and potatoes I'm eatin' at the king's table? Be like that woman,
the Lord said, it's not meat to give the children's
bread to dogs. How many people go out the doors,
the Lord said that to you this morning? But she didn't. She said, yeah, but the master's
dogs, they get the scraps under the table, and they're happy
to get them. My little scamp, I can give him
a piece of anything, and he just tickled to death to get it, no
matter what it is. Are we? Are we? If we know who we are
and who he is, oh, it'd be all right. Just give me some scraps.
But don't cut me off. Just give me some scraps. Oh, our great God. How little we think on these
great privileges that you've given us. Help us, Lord, to think on these
things daily, continually. Pray for this work that you began.
And we pray for that church. Oh,
I pray for that church and their pastor that you'll preserve him. Preserve that work in that place. I ask you for Christ's sake.
Amen.