obscene. My subject this evening is matters
of tremendous importance. These are indeed matters of tremendous
importance. I hope that you will listen carefully
and that God the Holy Spirit will give me your attention as
I endeavor to preach to you. My text is Mark chapter 9, verses
30 through 37. Let's read the passage together,
and then I will give you these three matters of tremendous importance. They departed thence, and passed
through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know
it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of
Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill And
after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they
understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. And he
came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them,
what was it that you disputed among yourselves, by the way?
And they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed
among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down
and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire
to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set
him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in
his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of
such children in my name receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive
me receiveth not me, but him that sent me." All right, first
I want you to understand, here is the greatest of all doctrines.
The doctrine taught in verses 31 and 32 is the doctrine of
substitutionary atonement. the blessed gospel doctrine of
satisfaction, the satisfaction of divine justice by the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sinner's substitute, by him laying
down his life in our place, in our room, and in our stead, because
of our sins, so that God might be just and the justifier of
the ungodly. Now, this doctrine is the universal
theme of Holy Scripture. It is the message of Scripture. I can't stress that sufficiently.
The message of Holy Scripture is one and that message is Christ,
Christ crucified, Christ crucified as the sinner's substitute, as
the savior of God's elect, as the surety of the covenant. This
is the doctrine that God's servants are sent to proclaim. It is the
message every man called of God to preach is sent of God to preach
every time he preaches. This is the message which the
Lord God uses by which he reveals himself to sinners, by which
he makes himself known in saving mercy, by which God is pleased
to edify and comfort and strengthen, reprove, rebuke and correct,
inspire, encourage and challenge the hearts of chosen sinners
as we live in this world and seek to honor him in all things. Now, let's read together again,
verses 30, 31, and 32. And notice the words I want to
emphasize. They departed thence and passed
through Galilee, and look at this, and he would not that any
man should know it, for he taught his disciples. Now, let those
things sink in pretty good. And said unto them, The Son of
Man is not shall be, but is delivered into the hands of men, and they
shall kill him. And after that he is killed,
that is after justice has been satisfied, after the penalty
for sin has been paid, and God is honored in all things by the
sacrifice of his Son, he shall rise the third day. But they
understood not to say it. They understood not to say it,
and were afraid to ask it. Now there are three things in
these three verses. I'm sure you get them. And be sure you
understand these things whenever you think about the substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ. First is the sovereignty of God. Now the sovereignty of God is
revealed in this text in two ways. First, in the fact that
the Lord God hides the gospel from some and reveals it to others
as he will. And it is also revealed that
God is sovereign in the fact that Jesus Christ was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to be sacrificed
as our substitute. Notice first in verse 30, our
Lord Jesus, we are told, would pass through Galilee again, and
as he did, he would not that any man should know it, for he
taught his disciples. The master taught the gospel
doctrine concerning his sin, atoning death to his chosen disciples
alone. He did not want these in Galilee
to know he was passing through, and he did not want these in
Galilee to hear him again. Why? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ
had done many wonderful works there, many miracles there, but
they would not believe. And now he would pass them by
in utter judgment and reprobation and leave them to himself. and
in secrecy he would teach his disciples the things he would
have them to know. As always, God hides the gospel
from some and reveals it to others, and he does so exactly according
to his will. Turn to Matthew chapter 11, if
you will. Matthew, the eleventh chapter. Look at verse At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto them. That's God's doing. He hides
the gospel from some, and he reveals it to others. I've said
to you many times, the scriptures were written and are written
deliberately by inspiration, by plan and purpose from God
himself, so as to confuse those who will not bow to the revelation
of God. So that men who will not bow
to the revelation of God, who must have all things demonstrated
and proved to them, and they're too smart to sit down and receive
things by faith, God says, all right, stumble over this, and
leaves them to stumble while he reveals the truth to babe. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. How do you explain these things?
That's the way God wants it. That's all. That's the way God
has purposed it. That's all. That's the way God
has arranged it. That's all. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things, our Savior
says, are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth
the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save
the Son. and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him." Now, these Galileans had had many mighty
displays of our Savior's divinity, of his claim as Messiah, of his
claim as being the Son of God, and they had seen him prove it,
demonstrate it clearly many, many times, and yet they believed
not. The Lord Jesus had crossed their path and they despised
the light that God had given them, therefore God takes the
light away from them. And when the Lord Jesus goes
through Galilee now, he would not have any man to know it.
He said, don't you tell anybody I'm around. Don't say a word
to anybody. These folks are left in their
darkness. There's a lesson there, a lesson that needs to be heard
and understood, heard and understood again and again, repeated clearly. Do not trifle with God Almighty. Do not trifle with the things
of God. I do not find in this book anywhere
at any time, you read the four Gospels, read them carefully.
I don't find anywhere at any time where the Son of God crossed
the sinner's path more than one time. I don't ever find it. He
doesn't play games with you. He does not play games with your
soul. And he will not allow you to play games with him. It will
not happen. Those who reject the light shall
have the light taken from them, and the light given them shall
be darkness, utter darkness and confusion. Turn to Proverbs chapter
one. Let me read to you this word
from Christ who is our wisdom, and made of God unto us wisdom. The Lord Jesus speaks personally
here in Proverbs chapter one. In verse 23, turn you at my reproof. Turn you. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit
unto you. What a prophet. I've already
declared to you that God saves sinners through the substitutionary
sacrifice of his Son. And in the hearing of that word,
the Lord God calls you. He says, turn. He said, you turn
and as you turn, I will pour out my spirit unto you. That's his promise. Now, I have
no question. I know, I'm fully aware that
if you turn, it's because he has poured out his spirit unto
you. But this is his promise. If you turn, I'll pour out my
spirit unto you. Now read on. I will make known
my word. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. I'll show you what this book's all about. Verse 24. Because I called and you refused. I stretched out my hand and no
man regarded. But you said it not, all my counsel
and would none of my reproof. You hear the word of God. You've
been convinced that this is the word of God, the truth of God.
You set it aside. God says, all right, verse 26,
I'll laugh at your calamity. I'll mock when your fear comes. When your fear comes as a desolation
and your destruction comes as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish come upon you, then shall they call on me, but I will not
answer. They shall seek me early, but
shall not find me. You mean it's possible for men
and women to Seek the Lord and not find him. Yeah. Even it is
possible for men and women to call on him and not obtain mercy.
Oh, yeah. That's what he's saying right
here. Those who are left to themselves cannot repent. Esau tried and
went to hell anyhow. You cannot trifle with God and
get by. No. When your fear cometh, verse
27, as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call
on me. But I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but shall not find me. For that they hated
knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would
none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore, this is my judgment. They shall eat the fruit of their
own way, and be filled with their own devices. All right, you want
me to leave you alone? I'll leave you alone. I'll leave
you alone. And when God leaves you alone,
you're left alone. The wise man said in Proverbs
29.1, he that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly
be destroyed, and that without remedy. So the sovereignty of
God is seen in the fact that our God reveals the gospel to
some and hides it from others. And if you have hearing ears
and seeing eyes and a believing heart, it's because God gave
you those things. And don't ever, ever, ever cease
to praise him for it. And then the glorious sovereignty
of our God is also displayed in the suffering and death of
his dear son. Our Savior said, the son of man
is delivered into the hands of men. He spoke of this as something
already done because he was delivered into the hands of men by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God from eternity and now
the time was about to come when he would be delivered into their
hands by God's providence and this was no accident. This was
not something that that took God by surprise. This is the
thing for which God had created the world to begin with This
is the purpose for which all things existed. This is the crucial
stage of time. This is the pivotal point in
history when Jesus Christ must be delivered to be crucified
and slain as the sinner's substitute. And so the Son of God came here
in time to fulfill the purpose of God in eternity and the agreement
of the covenant as our surety. This was the mission upon which
he was sent into the world. And then the substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ. is here described in very simple
terms. The son of man must be killed. Now this is of a matter
of immense importance. The sin atoning sacrifice of
Christ apparently was not yet understood by these disciples.
Though he spoke often about it, they had certain religious prejudices. They had certain preconceived
notions that they just simply couldn't let go of. And we're
We're pretty much like them. The disciples were convinced
when Messiah came that he would establish a kingdom in Israel
and that he would cause the Jews to rule over everybody and that
this kingdom would be a great, glorious, pompous thing on this
earth. And so that's what they expected.
They knew him to be the Messiah. And when he talked to them about
his death, that dumb-puzzled them. It just didn't fit with
all their religious training, with all their religious misconceptions
about things. And so they pushed aside his
doctrine and made room only for their preconceived notions. Children of God don't be so foolish. When you come to the Word of
God, put your notions and your ideas and your religious customs
and your religious opinions all to the test of Holy Scripture
and see what does the Scripture say. Don't try to mold the Scriptures
to your opinion about things. This matter of Christ's death
was something that these men were for now blinded to, even
this glorious, glorious gospel doctrine of substitution. And
glorious it is. Substitution is the sum and substance
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He hath redeemed us from the
curse of the Being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Look in Romans chapter 5 and
verse 6. The Apostle Paul is describing
for us the wonder of Christ's grace and mercy, his love and
goodness in dying for us. Here in the fifth chapter of
Romans, as he describes it and describes those for whom he died,
listen to how he speaks. Verse six, when we were yet without
strength, when we had no strength to pay for our sins, no strength
to satisfy the justice of God, no strength to perform righteousness
in the eyes of God, in due time, at the time appointed of God
from eternity, Christ died for the ungodly. That's us. He died for the ungodly. For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended
his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Oh, what glorious good news the
gospel declares. Jesus Christ died for sinners. Jesus Christ came here to put
away sin for sinners. He sacrificed himself for the
ungodly, that he might make those who are themselves unjust just
before God. Substitution, then, is the only
remedy for sin. It's the only hope for sinners.
Substitution is the means by which God's glory is revealed
in the face of Jesus Christ. It is the joy of redeemed sinners.
We declare before God our astonishment and amazement and say, thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable gift. We're constantly amazed
at His love in sacrificing His Son for us, amazed at His Son
in laying down His life for us. Substitution is the motive for
all worship. All service to Christ, all devotion. That's the thing that motivates
God's people. And that's the thing that causes
our hearts to be inspired to obedience to Him. It is substitution. That is the rallying point for
all true believers. This is the thing that brings
us together. All believers are united in this. We look to Christ
alone for everything before God Almighty. That's what knits us
together. We're one in Him because we're
all sinners redeemed by His blood, robed in His righteousness, saved
by His grace. And then our text speaks also
of the satisfaction of divine justice. You say, well, where
is that? After he is killed, Son of Man
will rise from the dead in three days. You see, his resurrection
from the dead is the declaration that justice has been satisfied.
When the Lord Jesus bared our sin in his own body on the tree,
he was slain under the sword of justice. He was buried and
being buried as a dead corpse, he carries our sin symbolically
into the tomb in death. But on the third day, The apostle
Paul tells us he was justified in the Spirit. How could he be
justified? He was raised from the dead and
declared to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection
from the dead because our sins which had been imputed to Him
were now gone. He had put them away. And we,
having been slain under the justice of God in Him, have our sins
put away. And we've been raised up together
with Him on that third day. And that's the declaration of
our justification. Justice is satisfied. Now I remind
you of these three aspects of Christ's death. Always when you
think about the death of Christ, think of these three things.
Sovereignty, substitution, and satisfaction. Jesus Christ died
according to God's sovereign will as the substitute for his
people and satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. But the
disciples couldn't understand that. They just couldn't see
it. Their minds were blinded to it. And they didn't even ask them
a question about it because they understood they didn't understand.
They were embarrassed. They just let it pass in one
ear and out the other. Now, look at verses 33 and 34.
Here's the greatest of all deceivers. Substitution is the greatest
of all doctrines. Pride is the greatest of all
deceivers. He came to Capernaum, and being
in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves, by the way? The disciples seemed never quite
to have lived with the awareness that the Lord Jesus observes
everything. Neither do we. We just, somehow
we kind of miss that. We got it doctrinally, we got
it up here, but we go about our lives and seem to live without
the awareness that he observes everything. While they were Passing
down the road, walking along, the disciples were fussing with
each other. They were arguing with each other. Now remember, he's been talking
to them about his sacrifice. He'd been talking to them about
his death as their substitute. James had been talking to them
about dying, bearing their sins in his body on the cursed tree
under the wrath of God for them. and they're walking along behind
him, wouldn't even ask him about that. That subject was so unimportant
to them at the time because they were discussing important things. They had big business on their
mind. They were involved in a dispute, a dispute about who should be
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now Bobbie, I know you're a good
fella and all that, but you really think you deserve the place of
glory right here? Don't you think maybe that ought
to be reserved for someone else? Now I wouldn't dare say for me,
but that's what I mean. Don't you really think that it's
a place that really ought to be reserved for someone a little
bit better than you? And the disciples were fussing
about that all down the road. And fussing about it as though
they didn't know the Master knew. He says, why were you disputing
among yourselves by the way? And now they were embarrassed
again. They held their peace. For by the way they disputed
among themselves who should be the greatest. What a strange Sad, sad thing
to see. These simple fishermen. I mean,
nobodies, from nowhere. These fellas, their names weren't
on any social register. They were not the kind of fellas
that would get a solicitation when they moved to town to join
the country club. They were just, they were nobodies. and they
had been brought into the kingdom of God. And now these nobodies
who had been graced of God, who had been blessed of God, chosen
and called of God Almighty into his kingdom by his grace, are
fussing about who's going to be great. The thing they were discussing
was both in opposition to the grace of God, and in direct opposition
to the teaching of the Scripture, which denied the idea of any
superiority between believers. These brethren were divided because
each one had a secret longing for preference and preeminence. And I'm going to tell you something,
when all the marbles are out, When you get to where the rubber
hits the road, Ron Wood, if anything ever divides you and me, it'll
be because one of us or both of us has a secret bond for preference
and preeminence. That's exactly right. If we believe
the gospel of God's grace, if we're both saved by God's grace,
we both know the Lord Jesus. If we both seek his honor and
his glory, and yet there's somehow something that divides us, it'll
be this thing called pride. senseless, godless, filthy pride. The sad fact is we're all proud,
self-righteous Pharisees by nature. We all like to think far more
highly of ourselves than we ought, and we do. We all think we deserve
something better than we get. better treatment, better possession,
better position, better rank. We're all easily deceived by
this thing called pride. It's the greatest of all deceivers.
The scriptures warn us constantly about it. There's nothing we
more abhor in others and nothing we more carefully nurture in
ourselves than pride. Isn't that amazing? There's absolutely nothing
that we find more repugnant than a demonstration of pride by men.
And there's absolutely nothing that by nature we do more to
carefully nourish in ourselves than pride. Nothing. Let me talk to you about this
thing of pride in plain terms. It's a very old sin. It was the
destroyer of Lucifer and the destroyer of Adam and the destroyer
of the human race. It was pride that drove Adam
from the garden, pride that caused Adam to look upon God as having
kept something from him, as having robbed him of something that
he deserved. It was pride that ruined our race and pride that
keeps us as sinners from the Savior right now. Pride is a
very blinding sin. These disciples could not understand
the glorious gospel document of substitutionary redemption
because they were occupied with their own visions of grandeur
in the kingdom of God. They were, you know, oh, what's
it going to be like when all those Gentiles are bound and
scraping before us? What's it going to be like when
we're made to rule over the nations and one of us is going to stand
up dominant above the other? Man, we're going to be somebody
then. And the Lord Jesus speaks to them about the wonders of
redemption. And it's to them a mundane thing
not worth even asking a question. What are you talking about? This religious pride that overcomes
men so that they think themselves to be theologians and masters
of the scriptures, you know, and they start studying and dig
and discuss and debate and dig and discuss and debate over everything
under the sun, you know, questions about everything. I get so, y'all
forgive me if I seem to get disgusted sometimes, It's not an appearance. I do get disgusted sometimes.
I prepare and try to seek a message
from God and preach to men about the glory of redemption, the
glory of God's grace, the glory of God's dear Son, the glorious
experiences of grace and the glorious goodness of God to sinners.
And, you know, somebody walk out the door, Now, I've had this
happen repeatedly. I've had it happen all over the
world. I walk out the door, man, broken hearted, crushed with
a sense of his sin, concern for his soul. Talk to him and another
one comes out, just a sinner saved by God's grace overjoyed,
just speaking praise to the Savior. And then some imaginary Theologian comes up. And he says, you know why you
were preaching? This verse caught my eye here. So what does this
mean? I want to kick him and put him
on the floor and say, sit down, shut up and listen. Just shut
up and listen. You just you're trifling with
God. You're trifling with the things
of God. I don't care whether he's a preacher or who he is.
These things are too important. Pride's blinding, though. Well, we've got the answers to
that. Jesus died. So what? That's the attitude. What? Father, that's everything. That's
everything. Pride is a very subtle sin. Where
it's the strongest, it's the least detective. It rules. multitudes without
notice, and usually it tries to wear the garb of humility.
It, you know, it comes along with him so, you know, so sweet,
so godly, and so submissive, and so quiet. The pride of thine heart hath
deceived thee. Pride was so Robinson How often
many women miss the blessings of God because they secretly
nurture their pride. How often they just cling to
their pride. These disciples were listening
to the Son of God expand the gospel of his free grace, expand
the gospel of redeeming love, and they missed the blessing
of the exposition. They couldn't hear it. because
of their proud disputes. Pride is a great dividing sin
as well. The fact is, the cause of all
strife, all strife between brethren, the cause of all contention between
brethren, the cause of all division between brethren, is pride. No other basis, just none other. All our hurt feelings are just
injured pride. That's all it is, Ron. All gossip, you know, the love
of talking about people. Gossip. You ladies don't have a corner
on this stuff. Men, just as guilty as women are, love to talk about
people. You know, we're talking, we don't
ever say that. Let's talk about James today.
You know, you know, Brother James, you know, I think, what do you
think? And for you know, Brother James
has been roasted pretty good. And all it is, just that's all
stupid, senseless, godless pride. All of it. Turn to Proverbs 13.
Let me show you. Proverbs 13, verse 10. But Brother Don, don't you think
people ought to be more sensitive to my feelings? That's what I was talking about.
Pride. Oscar, we ought to be more sensitive
to one another's feelings. We ought, you and I ought to
be sensitive to their feelings, regardless of their being sensitive
to our feelings. Do you understand that? That's
the teaching of Scripture. But don't you think people ought
to treat me better? That's what I'm talking about.
Pride. But I don't deserve this. That's what I'm talking about.
Pride. Proverbs 13, 10. Only. I ought to underscore these
three words. Only by pride. Only by pride. Only by pride. cometh contention. In Proverbs 28 verse 25, he that
is of a proud heart stirreth up strife. Proud, arrogant men are so presumptuously
arrogant, they think that they've got to know everything about
everything going on, they just keep things stirring, just keep
everything agitated. Someone once said, I don't know
who it was, but said, great minds discuss great ideas and great
principles. Little minds talk about people.
And that's pretty accurate. Great minds discuss great ideas,
great principles. Little minds don't have anything
to do except talk about people. And I'm telling you, if you get together
and you talk about people, you've got a little mind. You've got
a little character. You've got a big problem called
pride. Pride. Pride is a soul-ruining
sin as well. In Proverbs 16, 18, pride goes
before destruction and a heart is spirit before a fall. The
wise man said again, a man's pride shall bring him low. And
I'll tell you why. Pride will keep you from repentance. It'll keep you from trusting
Christ. Pride will. It'll rob you of peace personally. It'll rob you of peace with one
another as well. Because pride won't let you say,
I'm sorry. Won't let you do it. I know a family right now A woman
nearly in the grave. She's got brothers and sisters.
More than likely, she and they are going to go to hell. Just simply because the two blooming
proud to say, I'm sorry. They're going to go to hell without
speaking to one another in their last days. Mother and her children. I personally know mother and
her children. They're religious folks. But the woman, she messed
up pretty good. And she's so arrogant, so proud,
so proud, she just won't say, I'm sorry. And consequently,
she spends her days bemoaning the fact that her kids have nothing
to do with her, won't come see her, won't visit her, won't come
around. They just don't care for me.
You don't know what your children are going to do when you get
older. Well, maybe you ought to have paid attention when you
were younger. It's pride. Pride destroys brotherly love. It builds fences rather than
tearing them down. It promotes self and seeks to
pull others down. Pride makes men and women malicious,
uncaring, insensitive to the feelings of others, and self-centered,
unforgiving, unbending, unyielding. Critical, volatile, hot-tempered,
proud people. Proud. I'm not going to have
anybody treat me that way. I'm not going to have anybody
deal with me that way. Well, what about what you're
doing? How's that going to affect Sally?
Well, Sally gets upset. She's going to feel sad. That's
what I'm talking about. Pride. Pride. Our attitude ought
to be, our attitude ought to be, I pray God give me this attitude. Let me do nothing to in any way
cause offense, hurt to my brother and my sister.
And let me not take offense. We so quickly, so easily are
offended at things that, and they're always insignificant.
Meaningless thing, meaningless. We just, we get so upset because
we think we ought to get better treatment than we get. Ever beware
of pride. Nothing is more deceitful, nothing
more disruptive, nothing more unbecoming, men and women, who
belong to the Son of God. If we've been redeemed by God's
Son, saved by God's grace, called by His Spirit, May the heirs
of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ, oh, we ought to walk
before God and one another with humility, gratitude, and love. Now thirdly, here's the greatest
of all deeds. Look at verse 35. He sat down and called the twelve,
and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, The same
shall be last of all and servant of all. This is our Lord's standard of
true greatness. The world looks upon greatness
as ruling over others. The Son of God describes greatness
as serving others. We're told that David was a great
king in Israel. But God gives us the secret to
David's greatness. It was not his power. It was
not his riches. It was not the expanse of his
kingdom. It was not his abilities as a warrior. It was not his
abilities as a statesman. What was it? David served his
generation by the will of God. There's his greatness. There's
his greatness. If you and I would seek greatness
before God, Let us seek not honor, attention, and power, but humility,
love, and our place of service in the kingdom of Christ. Far
too often I fear that men, especially young men, confuse a carnal ambition for
a call to the ministry. Many want to preach because they
They see that this is the place of preeminence where men look
at you and you have influence and you direct folks and they
pay attention to you. Believe me, that's a joke. But
this is not the idea. This is not the idea. God's servants
are men who labor in the Word. Who labor in the Word. They take
the business of preaching seriously. They addict themselves to the
ministry of the gospel, to the service of men's souls, and seek
to serve Christ by faithfully serving the souls of men. There's
a huge difference. Huge difference between that
and seeking a place of prominence and preeminence. Empty boast of orthodoxy, shows
of religion, you know, the religiosity and all, things folks look at
and say, oh he's so zealous, he's so excited about things
of God. Those things are really just
a mockery. If your religion doesn't involve
serving God's people. That's exactly right. Turn to
James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Verse 25. Whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty. Now that word law in the scriptures
sometimes refers to the Ten Commandments. It sometimes refers to the ceremonial
law. It sometimes refers to the whole
written word of God as here. It sometimes refers to the whole
will of God revealed in scripture. And so the word law here is talking
about the revelation of God in scripture. Whoso looketh into
the perfect law of liberty. and continueth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed." If any man among you seem to be religious,
you have folks who, boy, they sure seem to be religious. And
most folks who seem to be religious want you to see that they seem
to be religious. But James says, now don't be
too quick to judge by outward appearance. If any man seems
to be religious and bridleth not his tongue. So if I think
something, I say that. Well, that's who he's talking
about. Bridleth not his tongue. Well, I've got to write to my
opinion. That's who he's talking about. Bridleth not his tongue. Let me tell you what I think
about Brother Campbell. Let me tell you. You know what
I think about Brother Fortner? Tribal is not his tongue. Listen.
But deceiveth his own heart. That means religion is a joke.
It's a joke. I don't care how doctrinally
orthodox he is. I don't care how much money he gives. I don't
care how often he goes to church. I don't care how much he reads
his Bible. His religion is a joke. Just a joke. A mockery. A mockery
to God and a mockery to his own soul. He don't. and undefiled before God is this,
to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep
himself unspotted from the world. Jane, what are you talking about?
Pure religion serves God's people. That's exactly what it says.
Pure religion lays out a man's life in devoted service promoting
one another and promoting good for one another. People who are
willing to be last of all, least of all, and servants of all for
Christ's sake. I'll tell you what, they're as
scarce as heaps. As scarce as heaps. But these are the people who
do good. who break down prejudices, whom
God uses to build his kingdom. Now, just to make sure we don't
miss the meaning of his instruction, our Lord illustrates what he's
saying here in verses 36 and 37. He took a child and set it
in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in
his arms, he said unto Whosoever shall receive one of such children
in my name receiveth me, and whosoever shall receive me receiveth
not me, but him that sent me." Now, these are the two things
he's telling us. Believers are often compared to little children. Now, sometimes folks draw all
kinds of silly unbiblical doctrines and unbiblical notions from the
fact that the Lord Jesus brought children and said suffer the
little children to come to me and forbid them not. In those
passages as this one, our Lord is simply using a little child
to be a portrait, a picture, a symbol, a representation of
the character of a true believer. True believers are like little
children before God, like little children. A little child is easily
taught. You take a little child, hasn't
been confused with bad learning, and you teach them. That little Alexis, she's just
learning so fast. Learning so fast. Because she's
a little child, taught so easy. It's a little harder to teach.
A little bit harder to teach them, because they're not little
children. They won't shut up and listen. Now, forgive me,
Jenny, that's just the way it is. They won't shut up and listen. They won't do it. I got my opinion
about things. Lexus, honey, this is good for
you. Okay, if you say so. Honey, this
is right. until somebody comes along and
tells her different. That's all. Little child's easily taught.
Children are not easily offended. You know, they get their feelings
hurt just like anybody else does. But I tell you what I've discovered. I've never seen little children
nearly, nearly as easily offended. has grown men. Never. I've never observed a
four-year-old child take offense at things I've seen 40-year-old
men take offense at. If you discussed it with a child,
they'd laugh. You're not serious. You're not serious. No. They're
not easily offended. And when they are offended, they're
quick to forgive. You see two kids They'd be playing
and one of them would get upset and the other one would walk
off and go over there and pass about five seconds and realize
it's not doing any good so they come back over and play again.
I'm not doing anything over there except hurting myself. He's having
a good time. I'm enjoying it. Not grown men. Little children are so trusty. Oh, every father fondly remembers
just the sweet trust of a child. A little girl, yours, Emma, man
alive, you wait till the first thunderstorm comes and she's
old enough to run and jump on your chest and hug you as if
you control the thunderstorm. And you lay there and hold her
just like you control her. And you remember it with fondness
because she trusts you. That's the character. I don't
believe that. He's easily taught. Not easily
offended. Quickly forgives and trusts. And unless children are taught
otherwise, I'll tell you what you'll almost always see them
willing to do. They'll share about anything. They'll just
share anything. Unless mom and daddy come along
and say, now, you know, don't share that with that boy over
there. He's not like you. But you better stay away from
them. They're a little dirty. She doesn't
dress as pretty as you. He's not from our side of town.
Y'all stay away from him. Mama and daddy do that. Otherwise,
kids, man, you put them in a room together and they'll share bubblegum
and lollipops and sandwiches and drinks and clothes and everything
else. They just take it. It's fine. What I need it for,
I'm not using it right now, just have fun. And believers, like
little children, share everything, everything. And then our Lord
would have us to understand that anything done for one of God's
children is considered by him as being
done for him. man offers as much as a cup of
cold water in the name of a disciple, you'll not lose his reward. He that receives you, this is
what our Lord said, Father. He that receives you, receives
me. He that despises you, despises
me. In the day of judgment, he will
say, I was hungry. and you visited me, or you gave
me the drink and I was in prison and you visited me and I was
sick and you came to me and I was naked and you clothed me." And
the believer says, but when? Well, you remember when you sent that card to Brother Montgomery?
Do you remember that? Remember when you thought to
call that That dear sister who was going through so much trouble. But you remember when you came
over and visited this couple and you didn't know it. Oh, but
they needed you. That was me you visited. That
was me you called. That was me you came by. That
was me you cared for. I was hungry, naked. Thirsty,
sick, in prison. You didn't do any of these things
for me. When? When you despised my people? Neglected my people? Cared not for my people? That
was me you despised. Me you neglected. Me you cared
not for. I know that we don't really believe
those things. If we did, we'd be more thoughtful,
more caring about one another. We'd be far more guarded in our
attitudes toward one another. Because this, you see, is true
godliness. It's what it's all about. People
talk about good works and, you know, they like to strut their
stuff and show you how good they are. in Scripture, always have a connection
with love, kindness, goodness to one another. Always. Always. Children of God, oh, if I could give you a word to
apply always, everywhere, in all things. Just one word. Love
one another. Love one another. Love one another. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples, because you love each other. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you lead
us in the hymn, and Bob and Buddy will come serve the Lord's table,
and Ron, if you and Bobby will assist them, I'd appreciate it.