Take your Bibles now and turn
back with me to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Last week we talked about this
question. The disciples of John the Baptist
came to our Lord and they questioned their behavior. It was different
from theirs. It wasn't normal. You know, we've
all had ideas because we were all raised in some kind of religion,
or most of us was. Some of us may be Catholic, or
Nazarene, or Baptist, or Methodist, or Church of Christ, or whatever
it was, some Pentecostal church, or whatever. Whatever it is. And whatever it is we grew up
in is what seems normal to us. And we go somewhere else or see
someone else do something different and we get inquisitive. Why do
they act like that? Why do they say what they say?
Why do they do what they do? And that's what they came and
asked our Lord. In chapter 12 of Matthew, you
don't have to turn over there, you can look at it a little later
if you want to, but the Pharisees questioned the behavior of the
disciples. You see, they watched them and
they walked through this patch of corn on the Sabbath day. It
was forbidden for the Jews to do anything on the Sabbath day.
They didn't pick corn, they didn't work, toil, do anything. They
wouldn't lift up a hammer. They wouldn't do anything on
the Sabbath day. But here went the disciples of Christ. This
man who claimed to be the Messiah of Israel, the promised one of
Israel, his disciples walked through the corn and picked corn
on the Sabbath and ate it. And they said, why do they do
that? Why do they do that? And then over in chapter 15 of
Matthew, the scribes, they were watching. Everybody watched his
disciples. Everybody watched him because
he claimed to be the Messiah. They had good reason to watch
him. But they watched him more out of curiosity and more out
of spite than they did to really know him as the Messiah. But
anyway, they watched him and they watched his disciples and
his disciples said down to Eden they didn't wash their hands.
And they said, why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the
elders? Why do they do contrary to things
that Israel's been doing for a hundred years. Why do they
do that? Why don't they just fall in line
and do like we do? Why do they act different? Well, on all three occasions,
he points to himself. He points to himself. As to Why
do they not fast? It's because the bridegroom is
here. Everything his disciples do is
based on that relationship, and that's what I tried to show you.
Faith brings you into a relationship with Christ. And apart from that
relationship, faith is of no good to you. It doesn't do you
any good. Now, I know that faith, strictly
speaking, is believing God. I know that. I'm not ignorant
of the Scriptures. But the Word of God is where
faith finds the bridegroom. You're not going to find him
out here on the lake. You're not going to find the
bridegroom at the party somewhere. You're not going to find him
down here in the average church. You're going to find him in the
Word of God. That's where you're going to find him. That's where
he's revealed, in the Word of God. You're not going to find
him anywhere else. Somebody said, well, the Lord
spoke to me. No, He didn't. I have no doubt somebody spoke
to you, but it wasn't the Lord. The Lord speaks in him, and he
speaks through his Word. Let me show you something over
here in John chapter 5 before we go on into this lesson this
morning. The words of this book, this
is the Word of God. We believe this to be the inspired
Word of God, just as though God penned it yesterday. We believe
this to be the Word of God. But the words of this book are
of no value to us whatsoever if they don't bring us into a
vital union with Christ. The Jews knew the Scriptures.
Satan quoted the Scriptures, didn't he? When he tempted our Lord, he
said, it is written. He said it twice. The Jews were
forever telling him what was written in the Scriptures. And
our Lord told him, he said, yeah, but I'm why they were written.
He did this that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Over and
over and over you read it. He went here that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled. And here in John chapter 5, the
Lord's talking about the ministry of John the Baptist. And he's
addressing these scribes and Pharisees. Here in John chapter
5, let's pick up here in verse 35. The Lord tells him he was
a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season,
for a little while, you were willing to rejoice in his light.
But he said, I have greater witness than that of John, for the works
which the Father, now listen, hath given me to finish. The
same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent
me. What work Did the Father give
Him to finish the work of redemption, the work of righteousness, the
work of reconciliation, the work of substitution? These are the
works. This is, wish you not that I be about my Father's business.
That's what He told His parents when He was 12 years old. I'm not here for the same reason
you're here. I'm here to do the will of the
Father. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him
that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but raise it up in the last day." You see what he is
saying? Listen to this, verse 37, And
the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of
me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his
shape. Now that ought to be enough to
us about visions and voices and all this kind of tommy rot. And
you had not His Word abiding in you. Now wait a minute, they
knew His Word, didn't they? They carried it under their arm
everywhere they went. A scribe was a man whose sole
purpose in this world was to transcribe the Scripture by hand. Russell, he knew every period,
every comma, He knew what was supposed to be capitalized and
what wasn't. Not one jot, not one tittle,
that's what that word means, jot and tittle. It means one
little period, one little comma, one little emphasis. Not one
thing is going to depart from this until all be fulfilled.
That was their job. And our Lord said, you have not
the Word of God abiding in you. Well, what do you mean? They
memorized it. You can talk about Isaiah. Isaiah was one of their great,
great, great grandfathers. They could tell you all about
Isaiah. They could tell you things about Isaiah that's not in this
book. They knew Isaiah. They knew Jeremiah. They knew
these prophets. These prophets, they were their
fathers. You see what I'm saying? And
he told them, he said, you don't have the Word of God abiding
in you. It's not abiding in you. For whom he sent. Uh-oh. Him you believe not. There's
no relationship established. There's no hope found. There's
no rejoicing in me. You won't receive me. How can
you know my Father and you won't receive His Son? You see what
he's telling them? The Father sent Him to finish
the work. The Father testified of this at His baptism. This
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. The Father testified at His baptism. He testified by His miracles
that He had done among them. He testified by the work in which
He was engaged. But they rejected the Word of
God. And this is what I want you to see in their rejection
of Christ. You can't have the Word of God
and not have Christ. It's just another religious relic.
I'm telling you the truth. I go down here, we passed the
First Baptist Church, I guess it is, over there in Taylor this
morning. We went by, everybody in the
parking lot had a Bible, walking into the building, had a Bible.
No doubt in my mind they're going to stand up this morning and
read out the same as I have to you. But that word doesn't abide
in them because they reject the Son of God. You see what he's
telling They're rejecting the Son of God. He said, you search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
You carry them around. You're careful to read them on
the Sabbath. You commit them to memory. In them you think
you have eternal life. You think in the doing of this
that you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. And here's the problem. You will
not come to me that you might have life. See that there in
John chapter 5. You won't come to me. Alright, let's go back to Matthew
chapter 9 and look at verses 16 and 17. See if the Lord will be pleased to
show us His Son. Now, if you've been following
close in these previous messages, You know that there are parallel
accounts of this in Mark chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 5. That's
where you find the other two gospel accounts, the gospel according
to Mark chapter 2 and the gospel according to Luke chapter 5.
And both Mark and Luke, the word also is found in the text. Before he gets into this thing
about patching the old garment or pouring the new wine into
the old bottles, before he gets into any of that, he inserts
this little word, also. What's he doing? He's tying this
story into his statement that he made about the bridegroom.
That's what he's doing. He's tying this story. Well,
in the book of Luke, in chapter 5, we find a little more information
about this. Luke calls them parables. You
know what a parable is. That's an earthly story with
a spiritual application. That's what a parable is. Why
speakest thou in parables? Because it's given unto you to
know the things of the kingdom of God, but unto them it's not
given. It's an earthly story. But it
has a spiritual application. It has a spiritual meaning. And
Luke says these things are parables. Now, having read all three accounts,
two words seem to float to the top to me when I read these things. Two words. I just keep seeing
them over and over and over and over. There are two words that
just keep being repeated by the Lord time and again. Two words
that he uses to describe the experience of every true believer,
because that's what he's about to do. Two words that sum up
the believer's conduct, that give all the reasons why they
act the way they act and do the things that they do. Two words
that define his appearance on this earth and the work he came
to do. Two words that sum up his ministry
and that of every preacher of every age. Two words. Listen
to them. Don't miss them. Old and new. Old and new. There's an old garment
and there's an old bottle. And there's a new cloth and there's
a new bottle. Old and new. Now he's not talking
here about wine and bottles. He's not talking here about patching
up an old quilt. He's talking here about spiritual
matters. He's talking here about the actions,
the conduct, the attitude, the faith of true believers. That's
what he's talking about. And he gives these two parables,
old and new. And he says, no man, look here
in verse 16, no man putteth a piece of new cloth
onto an old garment. For that which is put in to fill
it, to fill it up, taketh from the garment, and the rent is
made worse. Neither do men put new wine into
old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runs out,
and the bottles perish. But they put new wine into new
bottles, and both are preserved. Now let's look at these two words,
old and new, and let me see if I can show you three or four
things. First of all, and the primary lesson given here is
about the old man and the new man. There's an old man and there's
a new man. You find that throughout the
Scripture. There's an old man. This is absolutely necessary
to faith. You'll never come to seek Christ,
rest in Christ, find peace for your souls until he shows you
the old man. You have to discover in the Word
of God what you are. I can't convince you of it. Your
husband can't convince you of it. Your neighbor can't convince
you of it. I don't care who it is. Your closest friend can't
convince you of it. Only God can convince you of
this. There's an old man and a new man. Let me show you something
over here in John chapter 3. Man fell in the garden. That's
where the trouble began. That's where the old man was
born in the garden. God created in the garden a man,
a perfect man. He was a man created in the image
of God and in the midst of the garden. God set a tree. Why would He do that? He set
one tree. He said, of everything in the
garden you can freely eat. Everything in here. It's all
good for you. You can eat everything. But as
a sign of my authority, I'm putting one tree right here. You don't
eat of this tree. Why would He do that? Because
He's going to declare to those two people that He's God. That's why. He's God. Why do
you preach that way? Because He's God. He's God. You see, it's God with whom we
have to do. God. That's what He was declaring
to Adam and Eve. There's a tree here, and this
is a sign of my authority, and the fruit on this tree is forbidden. But He took it anyway. By his
own free will, by his own choice, by his own actions, he walked
over there, plucked that fruit, Winston, and ate it. And God
cursed him for it. God kicked him out of the garden.
Get out! Get out! It says in Adam, all
died. Ain't that what Scripture says?
All died. What do you mean all died? By
the offense of one, Romans chapter 5, Judgment came upon all men
to condemnation. By one man, Romans chapter 5,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men for all who sinned. And I know this is a strange
doctrine in this age. I never heard anything about
this until I was 22 years old. Been to church all my life. My
dad used to carry me out to the old mission churches and set
me on a feed sack and let me listen to him preach to the winos.
And not one time did I ever hear any preacher in that church ever
talk about the fall of man. Man totally depraved. He's cursed
of God. He'd been booted out of the garden.
Get out! You've got no part here. You've
got no blessing here. You've got no nothing here. Get
out! Get out! Man stood in the garden, now
listen to me, in his father Adam. And all that Adam can produce
is another Adam. You read Genesis chapter 1, chapter
2, and chapter 3 and see how many times in there it says,
after their kind, after their kind. And in them shall be a
seed producing fruit after their kind. You don't go out here and
plant wheat and expect strawberries to come up. Ain't going to happen,
is it? The only thing that's going to come up is what you
planted. You plant corn, you expect corn. You see that little
package you bought down at the hardware, John, that says peas,
and you put them in, you ain't expecting green beans to come
up. You're expecting peas to come up. Why? Because the only
thing they can produce is after their kind. Now, he said, let
us make man in our image. But he failed. And he lost that
image. He lost that character. He lost
that mind and spirit of God. He lost that for which he was
created. And now all he can produce is
more of the same. David said, I come forth from
the womb speaking lies. I didn't learn to do it. I was
born with it. It's in me. In sin did my mother
conceive me. Sinners. Sinners and Adam cursed
in the garden. He lost the value of his person.
That's what he lost, and that's what man lost in the garden,
the value of his person, the goodness of his character. God
looked on everything he created, Winston, and he said, it's good.
Let me tell you something, when God says something's good, he's
talking about God good. He ain't talking about, well,
it's pretty good. It's good. There wasn't any flaws
in it. There wasn't any condemnation
in it. There wasn't any corruptibleness about it. It was perfect. It
was in His image. It showed Him. It was a reflection
of Him. And He lost it in the garden
in the fall. He lost it. He lost the value
of His person. He doesn't need a patch job.
He needs a new nature. You see what I'm saying? To ever stand before God with
any hope of blessing and favor, we must stand in a nature and
a character of which God can be satisfied, of which God will
approve. Salvation is a new man, Christ
the Lord. A man who was tempted in all
points like as we are yet without sin. And that manger, and we're
going to hear about it over and over on the news, and they come
out and celebrate this time of year and talk about the birth
of Christ. The significant thing about the birth of Christ is
that it interrupted the fall. He's not a son of Adam. He's
the Son of God. He doesn't have that nature,
that inherited nature, that fallen nature, Awful spirit and hatred
to God. He doesn't have those things.
He's a new man. That holy thing, he said, which
is in you shall be called the Son of the Highest. God and man
in one person restored the value of his person. Here's the image
of God. It's in him. It's in the new
man. You see what He's telling them?
There's an old man and there's a new man. This is not a patch
job. I'm not here to patch it up.
You can't fix it. It's gone. It's destroyed. It's
over. Quit looking to it. Quit looking
at the behavior. Quit looking at these things.
Salvation ain't in those things. Salvation's in a new man. And
I'm He. I'm Him. It's a new man. There's a new
man and there's an old man. That old man's fallen and depraved.
You can't fix him up. You can't reform him. I don't
care how you dress him up. He's still just a fallen son
of Adam. That's all he is. That which is flesh, he said,
is flesh. It will always be flesh. He'll
never be anything else. And in Adam all die. In Christ,
in Christ, listen to me, shall all be made alive. There's an
old man. And there's a new man. And then
secondly, there's an old religion and a new one. That old religion
goes back to the garden. What's the first thing our parents
did when they fell? What's the very first thing they
did, Russell? They got them together and they
said, what are we going to do? And I don't know. I don't know,
but we got to hide our nakedness, we got to hide our shame, else
when God looks at us, He's going to know exactly what we did.
So they went over there to that little fig tree and got some
leaves off there and took a vine or something and sewed them together
and made themselves aprons, what it says, aprons. Now there's
two problems with how they solved this dilemma, two problems. Number
one, They didn't follow. They didn't follow the instruction
of God. They didn't wait for God to say
what must be done. They didn't own up to their sin.
They didn't wait on God to come down in the cool of the day and
throw themselves on His mercy. They didn't wait for God to tell
them what they had to do. They got together and decided
what they were going to do on their own. And they said, I know
what we're going to do. We're going to make an apron.
Well, that's the first thing. They didn't follow the instructions
of God. Sin is against God. In order
to be redeemed, you've got to satisfy God. He's the offended
party. You've got to satisfy Him, not
you. That conscience, all your conscience
can ever do for you is declare you guilt. Read Romans chapter
3. All the law can ever do for you is to declare unto you that
you're guilty. Paul said, we know what things
soever the law saith. It saith to them that are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world
become guilty before God. Guilty. That's all your conscience
can do. You're guilty. You're guilty.
Yeah, but I go to church. You're guilty. Yeah, but I give. Guilty. So I give a little more.
Guilty. So I walk a little straighter.
Guilty. So I dress a little different.
Guilty. That's all I can tell you is
guilty, guilty, guilty. Until finally your conscience
is seared with a hot iron and you go away thinking you justified
before God. They didn't wait on any instruction
from God. They just got together and said,
here's what seems right to us. We're just going to make some
aprons and put them on. Well, there's another problem
with an apron. You ladies wear aprons, it only covers the part
you can see when you're facing one another. It only covers half
your nakedness. Doesn't it? And the part it leaves
exposed is the part that declares what you really are. Now that's
the truth. That's the truth. It doesn't
cover your nakedness. God can see you. He said, I don't
see as a man sees. Man looks on the outward countenance.
That's how man sees. That's where these questions
come from. Because he sees. He looks with
these eyes and all he can see is the outward parts of a man. He sees his conduct and his behavior. He hears what he says with his
ears and sees what he sees with his eyes. But he said, God looks
on the heart. And out of the heart perceives.
All these evil things that defile a man. Salvation is not a patch
job. It's not a reformation of character.
It's a new creation. He's not going to pour into this
old body the new wine of His person. But He's going to pour it in
His Son. That's where the life is. It's in Him. That old religion, you can see
it in the sons of these two. God came to them and showed them
the way of redemption. He got rid of them fig leaf aprons
and He covered them, it says, with coats. Went all the way
around. A covering. Covered their whole
body with skins from an animal whose blood was shed as a substitute. You see it at the altar of Abel
and Cain. Both of them come. One of them
came by the instruction of God, brought a lamb, killed it, put
it on the altar in faith, looking to Christ. The other one came
same as the Athmanib did the first time they came. He came
with his own inventions and what seemed right to him and the work
of his hands and he put it out there and God spit on it. And
he's been spitting on it ever since. Oh, religion looks to itself
what seems right to men, what men think is right, what men
decide to do, and what men agree with one another as to what the
situation is. Faith finds all its answers,
now listen, all its answers in Christ. What's the question? Christ is
the answer. He's the answer. I don't have
to be a master of theology because I know the master of theology.
The answer is in Him. He made unto us. God made Him,
John, to be unto us wisdom. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. What does it require of you to
be saved? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And it's all in Him. It's all
in Him. Faith looks to Christ alone.
All religion likes to mix the things of God with the things
of men. You know it and I know it. Where did they ever come
up with the idea of a priest? They carried it over from the
Old Testament. That's how they did it. Where did they come up
with these ideas of candles and all these things? Out of the
old sanctuary where the candles were. In it was a candlestick. Where did they come up with this
idea of all these things? The showbread, and the arcs,
and the altars, and the washings. They all carried over. They mixed.
They took the things of God that they didn't understand, pointed
them to Christ. Paul said the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. It taught us. of Christ. It taught
us what He was going to do and when He was going to come and
what He was going to do when He got here and where He was
going. It taught us the whole thing. It brought us to Christ
to be justified by faith. You read the New Testament, there
was no New Testament. These men were the New Testament.
All they had was the Old Testament. It was the schoolmaster. It's
how faith was established, how Christ was established. But they old religion, it likes
to take these things and mix them with the things of God.
It's a carry over. In Galatians chapter 2 verse
20 it says, I am crucified with Christ. This is the Apostle Paul.
I've got no reason to doubt this man's faith. He set apart in
the Word of God as one of the greatest of the Apostles. And
he said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith, that is the faithfulness of the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I don't frustrate
the grace of God if righteousness come by the law. Christ died
in vain. Now that's how serious it is.
If you can be redeemed by things that you do, It makes the death
of Christ of no value. You see what he's saying? It's
vain. It was just vain. God killed His Son for no reason. If you can be redeemed by the
law. Old religion is a bondage. It's a slave to a fallen nature. It's in bondage to the law that
is accursed to all, cursed is everyone who continues not in
all things written in the book of the law to do. And in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 3, Paul said, for I testify again to every
man that so much is circumcised. that he's a debtor to do the
whole law. Now, I'm telling you, I don't
care what it is. Well, I just believe we ought
to keep the Sabbath. Then you have to keep the whole law. You
can't have one part of it, Glenn. You've got to have the whole
thing. If you reach out and take one thing, even something so
small as circumcision, just the cutting back of the foreskin
of an eight-year-old male, Just that one little thing. You bring
Him up here. You circumcise Him before the
church as a mark, as a mark of His identification with the covenant. Paul said, you just put yourself
liable to do the whole law. I'm telling you the truth. It's
all in Christ. It's all in Christ. All of it. Well, I just think we've got
to keep the law for righteousness. You're too late. The law has
to be kept from beginning to end, from birth to death, continually. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not, he said, in all things written in the book of the law to do. He said, Christ has become no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
you've fallen, you've disqualified yourself from grace. He said
over in Romans chapter 11, if it's by grace, then it's no longer
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
You see what he's saying here in Galatians? You disqualify
by the meaning of the word grace if it means anything at all. If it's of grace, then it can't
be of works. Otherwise, work is no more work. And then he says in verse 5,
of Galatians 5, he said, for we through the Spirit wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ, circumcision
doesn't avail anything or uncircumcision, but by faith that worketh by
love. You see what he's talking about?
He's talking about this union with Christ, the new religion.
That's all it declares. That's all it does. That's its
function. That's the whole of it. We come
here this morning. I have one purpose on my mind.
It's to point you to Christ. In Him is life. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God,
whatever else that you have, you don't have life. There's
an old religion and there's a new one. And there's an old nature
and there's a new one. Being born of God is not the
eradication of the old nature. It's still here, Winston. Cross
me and I'll show you. It's still here. Catch me when
I'm not on guard. You're going to learn. That old
nature is still here. Take something away from you
that you don't want to get rid of. Watch what happens. That
old nature is there. And he rears his ugly head. Over
in Romans chapter 7, that's where Paul describes this. He says
in verse 18, For I know that is in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. Do we know that? Do we know that? Then why do
we pamper it so? Why does it move us so? Man, I hurt that finger and I
guard that thing. I hide it behind my back so I
don't bump it. Man, I pamper this flesh. I worry
about it. I worry about heart attacks and
weight and this and that and the next thing. In my flesh,
He said, dwelleth no good thing. Ain't nothing good in it. Ain't
nothing good in it. For to will, he said, is present.
But how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the
good that I would, I don't do. But the evil that I would not,
that's what I do. Now, if I do that I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. That
sin hasn't went anywhere. It's still there. That old man
is still there. He's still there. Verse 22, I
delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another
law, another principle in my members warring against the law
of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members. Oh, he said, wretched man that
I am. Not that I was. He knew what
he was. He talked about that too back
in Galatians chapter 1. But this ain't about what he
was, this is about what he is. And he said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind of Christ,
where did that come from? How come you weren't born with
it? Where did you get it? He came
unto His own, His own received Him not. He came into the world
that He created with His own hands and for His own purpose,
and they wouldn't have anything to do with Him. They didn't recognize
Him. How come you have the mind of Christ? Because He'd give
it to you by His grace. He'd give it to you by His grace.
He'd give you a new birth. That old nature couldn't comprehend.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
they're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually understood. There's got to be a new birth.
Nicodemus said, we know this. He said, you don't know anything.
Except you be born again, you can't even perceive the Kingdom
of God. There's no need to go any further. There's no need
for this discussion to go on. It takes a new birth. It takes a new nature created after Christ. The new nature longs for the
old to be gone. That's what it does. It sees
it. It recognizes it. He prayed about
it while ago. God forgive us of our slothfulness
when we read the Scripture. We don't read the Scriptures
like we ought to. We don't read the Scriptures telling ourselves
that this is the Word of God, this is the Word of redemption,
this is where our Savior, where our Bridegroom is to be found.
We don't do that. Maybe once a day we might take
a peek in there and see what's going on. You take more care
for the old rug on the porch than you do for the Word of God.
Am I telling you the truth or not? It's a constant warfare, a constant
argument, a constant, constant enemy. Never able to drop your
guard or turn your back. Paul said the weapons, now listen
to me, the weapons of this warfare, and it's a warfare. We fight
against it. We resist it. We don't want it.
We may be overcome by it. We may submit to it and do it,
but we don't like it. There was a time when we liked
it. And that's why I had you turn over there to John. And
we'll get there in just a minute. But the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds. These strongholds of the old
religion, the strongholds of the old man who thinks, and it
seems to me, and all them things that he learns in religion by
which the God of this world deceives him. These weapons are mighty
through God to the pulling down of those strongholds. I can't
pull them down. Listen, casting down imaginations. You can read about this 1 Corinthians
10. And every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. It brings every thought
back to here. His obedience. His obedience. That's where the hope is. That's
where the hope is. There's an old man and there's
a new man, an old Adam and a second Adam. One who's natural and the
other spiritual. One who's sown in corruption,
the other raised in corruption. One sown in dishonor, the other
in honor. As the one is earthy, so are
they also that are earthy. As the one is heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, so we're going to bear the image of the heavenly.
Old and new. And somehow I've lost my reference
in John, so I'm just going to turn over and read it to you.
He says over here in John chapter 3, listen to this, verse 19. This
is the condemnation. This is the judgment. That light has come into the
world. Christ. And men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. That's why. There's an old religion. It consists
of ceremonies and laws and statutes, old tradition, days and fastings
and feastings. And there's a new one that looks
to Christ alone. finds him to be made of God unto
them, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And there's an old nature and a new one, one that craves this
world and the things of this world, one that wants everything
it sees. You go down there and you've
got a good tractor. That thing works perfect. You
can fire right up. You've had it for 25 years. You
know everything about it, it's always been faithful to you,
but you drive down there, John, and you look over in that parking
lot, and here's a big brand new shiny red Kubota. And you want
it. Why? Why? You see what I mean? It wants everything it sees.
It's got a nice home, but it wants a new one. It's got a good
stove, but I want a new one. You got a good TV, but you want
a new one. It just wants. It wants everything
it sees. It's never satisfied. You could
give it the world and want another one. What in the world are men doing
in outer space? Why in the world do they want
to go somewhere else? Because they're not satisfied
with this world. They want another one, and another
one, and another one, and another one. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
1. There is an old world and there is a new one. Peter says, the believer is looking for and sees himself
headlong running toward it, the coming of the day of God.
He sees it like a flooded river. Man, you watch that water. Way
it go. We had that rain the other day
and I was really fooled. I thought that little ditch by
my house run to the left. It don't. It runs to the right.
And it runs. Man, I'm standing there and that
water was just going by. The believer sees these things
in this world carrying him headlong at a full run to the day of God. Judgment is coming. Noah preached
it like it was going to fall the next day. Judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. Now listen. This is over in 2
Peter 3, verse 12. Wherein the heavens, being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. And in spite of all these things,
according to the promise of God, the believer looks for new heavens
and a new earth. He doesn't have any hope in this
one. No hope. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. The believer is not afraid of
depressions or impressions or compressions or any other kind
of impressions. He's not afraid of global warming
or shortages. There's going to be a shortage
of gas in the world going to hell. It's already gone. It's already gone. The believer
is not afraid of plagues. He's not afraid of anything else.
To live, Paul said, is Christ. To die is gain. It's gain. He sees this world and this flesh
and these worldly relationships for what they are. They're just
temporary. It's just temporary. He knows
his life is but a vapor. Don't you listen to this over
here in Hebrews chapter 1. You read through this whole chapter,
you find out that there was a day when God spoke, back in verse
1, unto our fathers through the prophets. And He did it in various
ways and different means. Dreams and visions out of a fiery
pillar, all this out of a bush that burnt and wasn't consumed.
He spoke to them in all kinds of ways and over different periods
of time. But in these last days, He spoke
to us in Christ. And He's the heir of all things.
He's the Son of God. He's more excellent than the
angels by His name. He's more excellent than the
angels in His nature. He's more excellent than the
angels in His mission and in His character especially. And
here in verse 9, He said, Because thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou,
Lord, in the beginning, at the very dawn of creation, at the
very outset of civilization, has laid the foundation of the
earth. What foundation? The foundation
of righteousness. This whole outfit is going to
stand or fall by righteousness. And God cursed it in the garden,
didn't He? In the beginning, He said, you've laid the foundation.
This One who loves righteousness, He laid the foundation. And He
didn't change it. Oh, but man is going to be cursed.
Man is going to be lost. The creation of God is going
to be lost. Lost or not, it's going to stand
on this foundation. You see what He said? And the
heavens, what are they? Even the angels are judged up
there. He said, I saw Satan fall like
lightning. Why? Because he sinned. Even
the heavens are going to stand by this righteousness. This foundation
is not just for the earth. It's for everything that is.
It's for the universe. It's for the heavens. It's for
the earth. And in the beginning he established these things.
And he said, They shall, listen to this, verse 11, they shall
perish, but thou remainest, and they shall all wax old after
the death of garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up. He ain't going to patch it up.
He's going to fold it up. He's going to lay it aside. You
see what he's saying? That's what he's saying to those
folks. There's an old and there's a new. And I ain't talking about
patching up the old. I'm talking about folding it
up and moving it out of the way. There was a day when the old
had a usefulness. It had a purpose. It had a reason. But now it's old. It's waxed
old. And he said, I'm going to fold
it up. I'm going to lay it aside. He said, nevertheless, he's the
same. The only thing that ain't going
to be folded up is Christ. Ain't that where you want to
be? That's where I want to be. I want to be in Him. Now listen
to this over in 1 John 2 and I'll close. 1 John 2 verse 15. He said, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, all of it, the whole shooting match, all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life, it's not of the Father, it's of the
world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof But He, that is Christ, that doeth the will
of God, abideth forever. The only thing going to be left
standing, Russell, in that day is Him and those in Him. Look to Him. Oh, our Father, cause these hearts to receive
Your Son. and to bow to your word, apply
it to our hearts and our minds. Give us that faith without which
we're going to perish. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Give us that faith, we pray for
Christ's sake. Amen.