I want to read this morning verse
8 and 9. Our text will be primarily the
9th verse of this chapter, but let me read verse 8. I always
love to read this verse of Scripture, and I certainly have the opportunity
to do it here, so I'll take advantage of that. Verse 8 and 9. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Be not carried
about with different and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing
that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which
have not profited them that have been occupied therein. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
Father, in that name which is above every name, that name that
we love to speak, that name that we love to worship, we call upon
you this morning in the dear and lovely name of Jesus Christ
our Lord. We do thank you that he is the
same He's the same today as He was yesterday. We thank You for
this truth of Holy Scripture that we know that He never changes,
that He is immutable. Christ was the appointed and
the anointed Savior of men, of the elect from the foundation
of the world, and Christ is our Savior today. And we praise You
for Father, we ask a blessing today upon these that have gathered
here. We pray for their spiritual lives,
that they would be encouraged today, they would be strengthened,
they would be blessed. I pray that your hand would be
in our midst, encouraging and strengthening our souls today. Lord, we do pray for those that
were not able to be here today. We ask for their encouragement,
and pray that thou would undertake for them. Thou dost know how
to raise children. And Lord, we commit them into
your hand and we pray that you will exercise your wisdom in
dealing with everyone who is a member of this church that
is not able to be here today. Encourage each one of them and
bless them, meet their needs, and may their souls be profited.
There are those today that long to be here, desire with all their
hearts to be here, and if they had not been hindered, they would
have been in our fellowship today. Do thou bless them in particular. And Lord, we do ask that you
would undertake for those that have asked an interest in our
prayers, some from near, others from far, We do pray that thou
will undertake these are serious and difficult days for many of
your dear children and I pray that thou will greatly intervene
in our day. I pray that the great blessing
of the Holy Spirit would come upon your people today and their
burdens would be lifted and they would be encouraged in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I do pray as Mike did, I pray
for the salvation of our children and pray that you will undertake
all the children we have here in this assembly and what their
lives will mean. Lord, to this city and the surrounding
area in years to come, oh may Christ be revealed in their lives. May the glory of the gospel of
salvation by grace always be expounded and preached, Lord,
in this area. We do pray now that you would
Undertake, Lord, for our needs. Thou knowest what they are, both
physical and spiritual and materially. We just pray that Thou will undertake
for us. We do know that this church here,
the Lord has desires, and the people here have desires, and
there's things that we would long to do. And Thou knowest
our hearts. There's nothing that is in our
hearts that is hid from Thee. And I do pray that thou will
be pleased, Lord, to loose the money that's held by the misers
and by the drunkards and the dope addicts of this world. Loose
it to thy church and to your people that they would have the
means, Lord, to do those things that they ought to do, the things
that would bring glory and honor and praise under your worthy
name. We pray for your intervention
and we ask Lord for now that you'll bless the word and give
us liberty to preach the word, liberty to set forth your truth.
We pray it in Jesus name, Amen. In verse 9 Paul says, Be not
carried about with different and strange doctrines For it
is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not
with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied
therein." I believe that this is a very important message this
morning. I do hope that the Lord will
be pleased to own this message and to use it I do not want to
be offensive. I am not a hateful person. I attempt to be as loving and
kind as I know how to be to everyone around. I do know that sometimes
we are moved upon by the Spirit of God maybe to deal with text
of scripture that might become very offensive to some if they
were expounded clearly. Now you can read them sometimes
and people say, well that's all right, it's all right preacher,
wasn't anything offensive there, and that's because they didn't
understand what you were reading and it had never been expounded
to them. But today as we expound upon
this verse of scripture, I hope that all of you will take it
to heart But don't anyone think that I'm aiming just at you.
I do think that this is a very important message. Now, this
text begins with a warning. It begins with a caution against
false doctrine, false teaching. Now, Paul addressed this warning
to the Hebrew Christians. Now, I believe and I certainly
cannot understand how that anyone could miss seeing this, that
when Paul here, and I believe Paul is the writer, Timothy might
have done the actual writing, but Paul done the speaking, and
Timothy wrote down what he had to say. It was written by Timothy
maybe, but Paul, it's Paul's epistle to the Hebrew Christians. I'm sure that what he had reference
to was being carried about with different and strange doctrines
concerning Jesus Christ and his place in the scheme of eternal
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ and his
being all in all. Now he mentioned in verse 8 that
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and then
immediately says, be not carried about with different and strange
doctrines. Don't be carried about by different
doctrines, strange doctrines, other than what we've preached
to you and expounded to you concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then,
it is a warning, I believe, just as much needed today, as it was
1,800 or 1,900 years ago when these words were penned down
and sent to the Hebrew Christians. Never do I think that there was
a time when it is so important for God-called preachers, those
whom God has laid hold of and put in the ministry, to cry aloud
be not carried about with different and strange doctrines contrary
to the Bible on the subject of Jesus Christ and his truth. Now then, the old enemy, the
devil, and we know that the devil is a roaring lion going about
seeking whomever he might devour. And he has no more subtle device
for damning and ruining the souls of men than that of spreading
false teaching or false doctrine. The devil is a murderer. And
he's a liar from the beginning, and he never ceases to go to
and fro in the earth seeking somebody that he might ruin or
destroy by filling their heads and hearts. And beloved, there's
plenty of this around with false teaching. There's plenty of false
teaching. The devil doesn't have any trouble
finding some to fill people's heads and hearts with that will
damn their souls to all eternity. Outside the church, men of this
world are in his grasp. They are in the devil's grasp.
They have been taken captive by him at his will, and they
are unable to escape his chains. I know many that are in the chains
of the devil. The whole world, the Bible says,
lies in the lap of the wicked one. I know young men, I know
one man in particular that's not but 36, 37 years old, who
can buy and sell everybody in this building here probably twice
over and maybe not miss the money when he does it, and yet he has
so many DUIs He is an alcoholic and a dopehead and he's not able
to drive himself around the city in which he lives. He's got to
have somebody else to pick him up at his door and drive him
around because he can't be trusted out in society. I say to you
that this man, and he's been prayed for, and he's been mentioned
before the throne of God by his mother and others, But this individual
is caught up by the devil and he's in the chains and the grip
of the devil and he's not able to escape. He can't get away
from it. He just uses his means and very
freely uses his means to continue in his habits. I prayed for him
myself. and prayed that the Lord would
undertake for him. Now inside the church, not only
outside the church, but inside the church, the devil sows heresies
and he propagates errors inside the church, and he fosters departures
from the faith. Satan is the author of all of
this departure from the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He cannot stop the flow of the living water. And I praise God
for that. He cannot stop the flow of the
living water. So he seeks to adulterate and
to corrupt the good seed of the Word of God. He is called Apollyon
in the scripture and that means the destroyer. And the Holy Spirit
has raised up a standard against the devil and against his work
in the church. And that is the Word of God.
That is the Word of God. The Word of God is the standard
which the Lord has raised up against Satan. The Word expounded
The Word unfolded, the Word explained, the Word opened up, the Word
preached, the Word made clear to the mind and applied to the
heart. This is the chosen weapon by which the devil must be confronted
and confounded in every day. It's by the Word of God. by the
plain preaching and the expounding of the Word of God. Now this
word was the sword which the Lord Jesus Christ used when he
was tempted by the devil. You remember our Lord Jesus was
tempted with real temptation by the devil when he was here
in this world. Now in every assault of the devil
upon him, he replied to him, it is written It is written,
our Lord Jesus Christ used the Word, which is the sword of the
Spirit, in dealing with the devil in the days of his temptation.
So the Bible, faithfully and freely expounded, is the safeguard
of the Lord's Church. If this church is going to be
kept from unsound doctrine, which leads to unsound practice, it
will only be as the Word of God is preached and faithfully declared
and expounded in your hearing. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy
4 and 2, he said, preach the Word. He said, Be instant in
season and out of season, reprove and rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. Now Brother Barnard said, it
is high time that we preachers quit bragging about the fact
that we're not theologians and find out what the Bible has to
say and stand up and say it. And I say amen to that. I say
amen to that because it's exactly the truth. Now we're living in
a day when a preacher or anybody else for as that's concerned
cannot say that one doctrine is true and another is false
without being branded as a narrow-minded bigot or an uncharitable person. If you dare say that what a man
believes is wrong, then there's something wrong with you. A man
can believe anything he wants to, whether it's according to
the Bible or contrary to the Bible, and it's alright with
this generation. But beloved, listen to me. I
believe that we must stand up and say what true doctrine is
and preach true doctrine and stand for true doctrine or else
we're going to fall for some of this stuff that's going around
and bring misery into our lives. Now the scripture was not written
in vain. I say that, and I mean this,
that the Word of God was not written in vain. If you believe
what the Word of God says, and stand for the Word, and preach
the Word, then it will accomplish what God sent it to accomplish,
and it will preserve His Church, and it will sustain the hearts
of His people, and it will establish His people. Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds out of the
mouth of God. It's not enough to give this
generation a good job, to give them a good roof over their heads,
and to give them a little spending money in their pockets. to keep
food in their bellies, that's not enough. Jesus says that's
not enough. He says man will not live by
bread alone, he's got to have the Word of God. He must have,
he must hear the Word of the Lord. Job said in Job 23 and
12, he said, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food. And so, beloved, we ought to
do likewise. Job said, when I took a look at the Word of God, I
esteemed it more necessary to my life than my necessary food,
the food that was set on the table before me every day. Well, now we have in this text
this morning three things that I want to talk about. The first
is the warning that is given here. which is, be not carried
about with different and strange doctrines. And the second thing
is Paul's prescription to an established heart, which is,
it is good that the heart be established with grace and not
with meats. And the third thing that we have
is an instructive fact, a fact which is meats, have not profited
them which have been occupied therein. May the Spirit of God
help us as we attempt to talk about these things. First then,
we have the warning. Be not carried about with different
and strange doctrines. Now these words of Paul are not
hard to be understood. They're words that are very simple.
They're not hard to be understood. He just simply said, be not tossed
to and fro by every false teaching that you hear. like ships without
compass or rudder are blown about in the wind. He said just don't
be moved about by everything that you hear. False and strange
doctrines will arise as long as we live in this world. Now
if that was not so, and as long as the world stands, false doctrine
will be in the world. If that were not so, I would
question the veracity of the Bible because the Bible indicates
that it will be so. Now, these false doctrines, they
exist now. Remember this and be not carried
away, Paul would say, that these false ideas about Jesus Christ
and about the truth of Him being all in all and the sinner's salvation
is very prevalent in our day. Remember this and don't be moved
away by what you hear. Paul's warning is not the only
one that we find in the Scripture. The warning here of Paul in the
book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 9, is not the only one
that you will find in the Bible about this subject that we're
talking about. In the Sermon on the Mount, the
Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7 and 15, He said, Beware of false
prophets which come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves. In Paul's last address to the
Ephesian elders, he warned them in Acts chapter 20 verse 20,
or verse 30 it is, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things to draw away disciples after them. And in
2 Corinthians 11 and 3 he says, I fear less by any means as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Beloved, the
truth of the gospel, it is indeed simple and it becomes simple
to the heart that has it revealed therein. And Paul here said,
I'm afraid that Satan is going to come, and he's going to move
you away through his subtlety, and he's going to corrupt you
from the simplicity that is in Christ. That Christ is the Savior,
that you can't be saved any other way. He's the door. And by Him,
if any man enters in, he is saved. And that Jesus said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto the Father
except by Me. I'm the one mediator between
God and man. I am that mediator, Jesus Christ. And Paul said, I'm afraid that
you're going to be corrupted and moved away from that simplicity
that is in Jesus Christ. And in Galatians 1.6 he said,
I marvel, he spoke these words to believers, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ into another gospel. O foolish Galatians, these are
quotes from the book of Galatians, who have bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Having begun in the
Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? How turn you again
to weak and beggarly elements? Ye observe days and months and
times and years, and he said, I am afraid of you. Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free, made
us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage. In Ephesians 4 and 14, be no
more children, Paul said, tossed to and fro and carried about
with every wind of doctrine. Almost exactly what he was telling
the Hebrew Christians. Colossians 2 and 8, beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions
of men. 1 Timothy 4 and 1, the Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith. There shall be false teachers
among you who privately shall bring in damnable heresies. Peter
said in 2 Peter 2 and 1. 1 John 4 and 1, believe not every
spirit. Many false prophets are gone
out into the world. Jude 1 verses 3 and 4, content
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, for
their certain men crept in unawares. Beloved Mark, well, these texts
of scriptures, these things were written for our learning and
for our spiritual profit. These texts show me something
here that really just dawned on me like a flash of light hitting
me. show me that the early churches were not models of perfection
and purity. And I know that for years maybe
I thought otherwise, that the early churches were models of
perfection and purity, but it was not so. And really to think
otherwise is observed because it's apparent by all of these
warnings that the writers of Scripture gave to those to whom
they were writing that there was something not right, that
there was trouble, that there was problems in the churches,
and that we needed to be aware of these things. There were abundant
errors both in doctrine and practice even in Paul's day and certainly,
certainly there is in our day. To tell me not to warn The people
of God, of the church, in our day of different and strange
doctrines is senseless and unreasonable. We must warn people where we
see that people are going astray. Surely the dumb dog and the sleeping
shepherd are the best allies of the wolf and the thief and
the robber. And we don't want to be a dumb
shepherd. We don't want to be blind to what's going on. We
want to read these scriptures, know the message of them, and
warn the people of our day. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4 and
5, If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things,
thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ. So in our day,
by the pen, and by the tongue, and by the press, and by the
pulpit, we are continually, incessantly being seduced to leave the truth
for error and heresy. And we need to know that. We
need to feel that. Now if we pretend to be just
ignorant of this, The danger becomes so much more real, it
becomes so much more great, so much more unmistakable. Never was it more timely to say,
be not carried about with different and strange doctrines. It is
timely. Now, hear me out here, and I
recognize this is one of the things that makes people feel
that some of these exponents of false teaching that they must
be right. And that is because they have
an undeniable zeal and they have an enthusiasm that makes you
feel that, well, maybe they're right because, you know, they
just got their hearts in it. And it just seems that they're
just completely caught up all together with the thing they're
trying to teach. And they're giving over to it.
They just seem to be completely obsessed with it. There's also
a great appearance of learning. and theological knowledge in
some of these people that are the exponents of false truth
or false religion and are trying to pervert the truth of the gospel. We must not forget that Satan
is, the Bible says, often transformed into an angel of light himself. We must remember that. That Satan
himself sometimes, it appears that he is a bearer of truth. And we know these people use
a lot of half-truths, and we know that they quote Scripture,
parts of Scripture, but they are not messengers of the full
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only safeguard that
we have is the Bible. I can't stress that enough. The
Bible read, the Bible prayed over, the Bible studied, the
Bible preached. is the only safeguard we have
against error. Jesus said in John 5 and 39,
he said, you search the scripture. Now ignorance of the Bible, brother,
sister, is the root of all error. It's the root of it. Just remember
that. If you want to stay out of error
and heresy, then become a reader, a study of the Word of God. The
Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abide. We just
sang that earlier in the song this morning. The Word of God,
we have it, and we need to read it, to study it, and to look
it over, and to fill our hearts with it. The knowledge of the
Bible is the best antidote against ancient or modern heresies. And I think that that's enough
may be said about this warning that Paul gave this morning.
I warn you, be not carried about with different and strange doctrines.
Now the second thing we have here in our text is Paul's prescription
for an established heart or for spiritual health. Now there are
two words in this second part of our text here this morning
which require, I think, a little explanation which will help you
to understand what it is that Paul is teaching here. And these
two words are grace and meats. grace and meets. A right understanding
of these words is absolutely essential to a proper use of
the Apostle's advice here. If we're going to receive his
prescription and if we're going to apply it, we've got to understand
the meaning of these words. Now we're going to take them
backward as to the way they appear in the text. First of all, meets. Now, let's say a little bit about
meats and so you'll be able to identify something of what we're
talking about here today. In the Old Testament Some meats
were called clean, and others were called unclean. Some animals
were clean animals, and they could be eaten, and other animals
were unclean. They could not be eaten by the
Jewish people. And to eat certain kinds of flesh under Jewish law
made a Jew ceremonially unholy before God, and no strict Jew
would ever touch or eat that kind of food on any account of
an animal that was unclean that the ceremonial Levitical law
specified as being unclean. Well, let me ask you some questions. Now, were these distinctions
between these unclean animals and clean animals Were they to
be kept up after Christ ascended into heaven, or were they done
away by the gospel? That's a question. Just think
about it a little bit. Is this distinction still to
be kept up, the distinction between unclean and clean animals, after
Christ ascended into heaven, or was that done away with by
the gospel? Were Gentile or heathen converts
under any obligation to the Levitical law about food. Were Jewish Christians obliged
to be as strict about the meats they ate as they were before
Christ died and before the veil of the temple was rent in twain? Were they obliged to be as strict?
Now, was the ceremonial law about meats entirely done away with,
or was it partially done away with, or was it altogether done
away with in Jesus Christ as he came into this world, lived
his life, and died on the cross? Was the conscience of a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ to be troubled with? Was he to be troubled
with fear, lest his food should defile him? Is it in our day
and time should we be troubled with fear lest if we eat bacon
it will defile us? If we eat ham, it will defile
us. You see, under the old Levitical law, a man could not eat ham,
he could not eat bacon, he could not eat swine, he couldn't eat
hog flesh, because it would defile him. But is that the case in
our day? Well, what did Paul, and I want
to call him Enlightened Paul on this occasion, what did he
have to say about this? Alright, listen to what he had
to say. First of all, in Romans 14 and 14, he says, I know and
am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean
of itself. In 1 Corinthians 8 and 8, he
said, Meet, he says, commends us not to God. For neither if
we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not The kingdom of
God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. Let no man, in Colossians 2 and
16, judge you in meat and drink. Let no man tell you what you
can drink, what you can eat. Let no man judge you in this,
or in respect to a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the
Sabbath days. Now, listen to this statement
by Bishop Riles. He said, nothing shows the fallen
nature of man so clearly as the readiness of morbid and scrupulous
consciences to turn trifles into serious things. Now let me read
that one more time. Nothing shows the fallen nature
of man so clearly as the readiness of morbid and scrupulous consciences
to turn trifles into serious things. Now follow with me. Meats, the term meats. Now this
was clearly understood in the days of the apostles. This term
meets what it referred to, what it denoted. Now listen to this.
Meets denote anything added to the gospel as a thing of primary
importance. Now just think with me. It denotes anything that a man
would add to the gospel as of primary importance. It's necessary
for a Gentile believer to be circumcised in order to be saved. That's a meat. That's adding
something to the gospel as a primary thing. Okay? By meats, Paul means
ceremonial observances. either wholly invented by man
or else built on mosaic precepts which have been abrogated, meaning
done away with, and superseded by the gospel. Now that's a very
important statement. Let me give it to you again.
By meats. This term, meats. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats. by means, Paul's
means, ceremonial observances either wholly invented by man
or else built on mosaic precepts which have been abrogated, as
I said the word means done away with, and superseded by the gospel. It was an expression, means,
that the apostles used and it was expression that the early
church understood. Now the word grace, on the other
hand, denotes or is a comprehensive description of the whole gospel
of Jesus Christ. It is a good thing that the heart
be established with grace. Grace is the main feature of
the gospel. Grace is the fountain of life
from which our salvation flows. Grace is the agency through which
our spiritual life is kept up in us. Are we justified? Well, it is by grace. Are we
called? It is by grace. Are we forgiven? It is through the riches of his
grace. Do we have a good hope? It is
through the grace of God. Do we believe? If we do, we believe
through grace. Are we one of God's elect? It
is by the election of grace. If we are, Paul says in Romans,
we are not under the law, but under grace. That's Romans 6,
14b. And then in Hebrews chapter 10
and verse 14, I want to quote this, but then I'll say a little
more about it after a while. For by one offering, we have
been perfected forever. Those that have been sanctified
unto him have been perfected forever by his one offering.
Now Paul lays down in our text this great principle. when he
said that it's a good thing that the heart be established with
grace and not with meats. He lays down this principle that
it is by grace and not meats that the heart of the believers
must be established, must be established. If you ever want
to grow up in the Lord, if you ever want to be strong in the
Lord, if you ever want to have any rest in your soul, if you
ever want to be at peace, if you ever want to really know
the foundation upon which you stand and know the solidity of
it, then your heart must be established with grace and not with means. Now what I want to do in my ministry
is to establish the hearts of the people to whom I preach.
This, beloved, is the need of the hour. I don't know whether
you would agree with me or not, but I think this is the urgent,
the desperate need of the hour is for men and women to be established
in their hearts in the doctrines of grace. Now we have much indwelling
sin in us. Mike mentioned that in his prayers.
Our faith is sometimes very feeble, our hope is very dim, and our
consolations are very small. We're not at ease. Most of us
are not at ease. Is there anybody here that just
says, well, I'm just laid back in the Lord. I'm at ease in the
Lord. Now, and it seems that we never
are going to attain, at least to some of us, that we're never
going to attain to the joy and peace that comes by believing. We've been told that there is
joy and peace in believing, but we wonder if we're going to ever
attain that. Well, the enemy suggests some
shortcut road to spiritual happiness and health and to being established. The enemy comes along and he
finds you in that state. He finds you unhappy, and He
finds you discontented, and He finds you bankrupt as you are
in the flesh, and you not having the hope and the desires and
the comforts that you want and desire to have as a believer
in this world. And the enemy comes and he's
got some quack medicine for you. He's got something for you and
He shows you some addition to the gospel, some man-made device,
some exaggeration of a truth, some flesh-satisfying invention,
some improvement on the old path of free grace, and He says you
do this and you will be established. Just do this! and you'll be established. And he has a lot of vulnerable
people, people that are just standing around looking for somebody,
some Pharisee to come along and dispense to them a little bit
of something, tell them something that they can do in order for
them to be what they should be. For an example, and I'm going
to be plain right here, for an example he says just wear a hat.
If a woman will just wear a hat in the service, why, she'll just
feel closer to God. And she'll just feel like, you
know, that she's a little more spiritual. And not only that,
but everybody else, the women that don't wear them, she'll
just feel like she's just about a foot and a half taller spiritually
than they are. So just wear a hat. Now beloved,
now listen to me, I've got nothing against a woman wearing a hat.
As far as that's concerned, I think women wearing hats, personally,
I think they're nice. And I think they look good. I
really do. I think they look good. But I certainly believe
that if anybody thinks, any woman thinks, that wearing a hat on
her head is going to get her somewhere or another, cause God
to favor her more, or cause God to look upon her in a way that
he doesn't look on other women, that that's a perversion of the
gospel. You've got a gospel of meats and not of grace. That's
exactly what it is. Well, and then you've got to
wear drab clothes. If you just wear drab clothes,
don't get too flashy. If you get too flashy, you're
going to be looking like, you know, it's just, well, we're
not going to be able to tell the difference between you and
a lady of the world. And so don't wear too flashy
clothes. Wear them drab clothes and look like, you know, something
from way back. That's what the devil will tell
you to do. And just stand out from other people. That's what
you have in the Mennonite society, and that's what you have among
the Amish and all of that. That's all it is, is the devil
telling them, all you got to do is just look different. If
you look different, you're going to look downright religious,
and everybody's going to think you're something that you're
not. You don't have a thing in the world to do what you're on
the inside. Just make sure when you go out in public, and listen,
don't drive a red car. Don't drive a red car. Don't
drive a two-tone car. Because if you do, why you're
not going to be, you know, I mean the Lord just couldn't look on
you with favor if you drive a red car. And some men and I, they
wouldn't even wave to me, and I got an old 73 Lincoln that's
red, they wouldn't even wave to me when I got that car. Oh
no, they just would not. Just turn their head and go on
down the road. Well, and then just wear longer
sleeves to your dresses. And then, don't cut your hair. If you don't cut your hair, the
women don't cut their hair, well then they're just more spiritual. They're just bound to be more
spiritual. And the Lord will surely favor
them above other women. Now this is all quack medicine
that we're talking about. And not only that, but then to
the men, you cut your hair. You see to it you cut your hair.
You don't let it get very long because if you do, you're going
to be the most unspiritual thing around. And I've heard all of
that argument. I believe in just, you know,
I believe in moderation. I believe in, myself personally,
you know, you know how I am. I mean, I just believe in walking
down the middle of the road. I don't want to get in a ditch
on one side or the other. I don't want to do that. I want
to stand where I'm supposed to stand and walk down the middle
of the road. But salvation is by grace. And sanctification
is by the same grace that saves you. And you cannot be sanctified
by changing your clothes and starting to wear some garments
that you haven't been wearing, or you cannot take off some that
you have been wearing and come closer to God. You can't do that.
It won't work. So the devil and his instruments,
they go out and they beguile unstable souls, and they lead
them into misery, and they lead them into bondage for years.
Hard establishment does not come by joining this or that organization
that promises you that if you'll just join them and be a part
of them that you'll be established. And it does not come from doing
this or that. Not needs, Paul said, but by
grace. The heart will be established.
Other things have a show of wisdom, perhaps, and give temporary satisfaction
to the flesh, Galatians 2 and 23. But they leave you an unhappy
soul, nothing bettered and rather worse off. It's quack medicine. But what we need is a clear knowledge
of the divine scheme of grace. We need to understand the place
of grace in the eternal purposes of God is what we need. We need to understand the application
of the grace of God to the elect by the redeeming work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we need if we want
to establish our hearts. We need a firmer grasp of the
doctrines of grace, of God's free love in Jesus Christ. We need to understand more fully
Christ's full and complete satisfaction for sin. Hebrews 10 and 14, I
quoted a few minutes ago, there where Paul talked about the The
one offering. Hebrews 10 and 14. Let me just
find that for you here. For by one offering. That's by
the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ. That's by Christ
hanging on the cross. He has perfected forever them
that are set apart in God's predestination and electing grace. He has perfected
forever them that God has pointed out with His finger by the one
offering. Now you don't get any better
off than that. And you let a legalist try to improve on perfection
if he can. I tell you, you don't get any
better off than being perfect in Jesus Christ. Now then, we
need to understand justification by faith better. And how that we're justified
freely. You know what it says, Romans
5 and 1, being justified freely. By His grace. No, that's not
Romans 5 and 1. That is Romans 3 and 24, I believe
it is. Carl, look that up and see if
that's not Romans 3 and 24. Romans 5 and 1, it says, Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Read it, Carl. Yes. Okay, so then the justification,
we need to understand that it's free. That it's free, that we
didn't work for it. And in Romans chapter 4 and verse
5, But to him that worketh not, but to him that believeth on
him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Your faith. is counted for the
righteousness you don't have. And that's how you're saved before
God. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, we need
to know His offices, we need to know His sympathy, we need
to know His power toward us. This, this, this, my friend,
is the secret of heart establishment among God's children in the camp
of the saved. This is the secret of it. Now
this is the old path of peace. This is the true panacea for
restless hearts. This is it. Grace. The grace
of God. Now this may seem, and it does,
and I've been told this, just too simple, preacher. Just too
simple. It's too easy, preacher. It's
too cheap, preacher. It's too commonplace. It's too
plain. It's just too plain. It won't work. We just, that
just don't, that just don't give us enough to do and we just,
we just can't, that's not, that's not enough. But all the wisdom
of man, now you listen to me, all the wisdom of man or of this
world can never show a poor sinner a better road to rest and peace
than this, grace, the grace of God. There is no other road to
rest and peace for a poor sinner. All this other stuff is a road
that's going to lead you into more misery and bondage at all
times. There are so many unestablished,
unsettled, professing believers in this world that's wondering
about and tossed to and fro for want of this pure truth and prescription. They just need it. Grace Paul
said, not meats establish the heart. Now there have been some
recently that have turned away from us because grace was not
enough for them. And they turned away from us
because they said that they were not ready yet to turn loose of
the law, whatever that means. They were not ready yet to turn
loose of the law. Now my friend, listen to me.
I have never turned loose of the law, as far as what the Word
of God has to say. I'm not turning loose of it. I just simply believe what the
Bible says about it, that in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ that the law was fulfilled. And Paul said, those of you that
desire to be under the law, have you heard what the law says?
Now listen, it says if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing. He said if you attempt to be
justified on the basis of law-keeping, you've fallen from grace. There
isn't but one way to be saved, and that is by grace, through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and any other way is to go back
into bondage. Back, I say, into bondage. Now
listen, if they're God's children, and you mark my words, if they're
God's children, they'll be back. The day will come when they'll
be back. Now we may be, for a while, man or woman, may be amused,
may be excited, or may be kept quiet for a time, our self-righteousness
and pride fed by religious meats for a little while, but mark
my words, Unless our religion be one in which grace is all,
we shall never be established. They'll be back if they belong
to the Lord. They'll be back. There's only
one place to go, and that's back to Jesus Christ. Listen to me. A religion of meats will not
establish you. Note briefly the third thing.
And Paul, here is the fact that's set forth by Paul, the instructive
fact, and get it, get it this morning. Meats have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. Now that's a fact. Now
you hear me out. I believe that Paul had some
people in mind when he spoke these words. Maybe the Judaizing
teachers, those that had tried to hoodwink the Galatians and
get them back under the law and back under bondage. Maybe he
had those in mind over in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts
that were going around teaching that you had to be circumcised,
that Gentile believers had to be circumcised according to the
manner of Moses in order to be saved. Maybe he had that in mind.
But he had some people in mind. Well, what he means is, when
he says that meats have not profited them that have been occupied
therein, that they have got no good from their notions. That's
just plain. They haven't got any good from
their notions that if they just add something to the gospel,
they'll be established. They haven't got any good out
of it. They have not been more inwardly happy, they have not
been more outwardly holy, and they have not been generally
more useful. That's what he's saying. By saying
that they've not been profitable, or that this never profited them.
Now man made additions to the gospel of Christ, however ably
defended, and there are some fellows among the reformed Baptists
And there's a lot of them that talk like Englishmen. They've
never been to England, but they talk like Englishmen. Reformed
Baptists. I don't know of any reason why
a Baptist needs to be reformed. A true Baptist, he doesn't need
to be reformed. You can tell them I said it if you want to.
The true Baptists, they never needed any reforming. No, they
didn't. They were straight to begin with.
And true Baptists have always been straight. Now, here's what
I'm trying to say. Man-made additions to the gospel,
however ably defended and supported, do no good to those that adopt
them. It doesn't matter about how much
money they got. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter about their buildings and how nice their buildings
are. It doesn't matter. That doesn't
matter. It has not profited them to add meats to grace. It's been a no profit, Paul said.
No profit. They confer no inward increase,
inward comfort. They bring no growth of real
holiness. They give no enlarged usefulness
to the church. And so Paul calmly and quietly,
but firmly, decidedly, unflinchingly, gives this assertion. He makes
this assertion and he says that meets have not profited them
that have been occupied therein." He said that's it, that's a fact.
It never, never profited them. So I say to you this morning,
never leave the religion of free grace for meat's religion. Don't do it. Because it's not
going to profit you any. You're wasting your time. You're
spinning your wheels. And you're not going to get anywhere
as far as heart establishment is concerned. You're not going
to get anywhere spiritually by doing it. Now, Paul said, I am
what I am by the grace of God. I want you to close. I want you
to turn with me to Romans 13. Romans chapter 13. and I want
to read to you a few verses here beginning with verse 8 and I'll
read down through verse 10 Romans chapter 13 verse 8 through 10
Oh no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth
another now you listen carefully to the scripture he that loveth
another hath fulfilled the law for this thou shalt not commit
adultery Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. And if
there be any other commandment. And somebody says well now this
is talking about the second table of the law. What about the first
table of the law preacher? And if there be any other commandment. which takes in the first table
of the law, along with the second table of the law, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely. It's all put into this
one package. And here it is. Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Somebody, a lady
that came here for a few services, she said, Can't you just give
us something to do? Just something to do. Just like
to have something to do that would make us, you know, feel
more religious, I guess, or closer to God, or something like that.
Well, here it is. This is your lifelong assignment. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Now that's your lifelong assignment. If you ever get that down and
you're successful as loving your neighbor as yourself, then you
come back and I'll give you something else. Now that's it. But you know one of the things
that's very conspicuous to me, obvious to me, that people that
advocate the legalist, people that advocate you doing this,
doing that, doing something else, that seems to be, this business
of loving your neighbor, seems to me to be the very thing that
is just conspicuously absent. It's just not there. They bite
and devour one another. They eat up one another. They're
always after somebody. Always arguing and disputing
with one another. No liberty and freedom and no
fellowship among the people. Just biting and devouring. Everybody's
a watchdog. Watching everybody else. Looking
to see what somebody else is doing. Trying to spy out, see
if somebody's doing something in town they ought not be doing.
Or see if somebody's wearing something. Or see if somebody's
got something in the house they ought not have. Watchdogs is
what they are. They're so far away from what
the scripture teaches. I don't even know how far away
they are, except to say that they're so far away I don't
want any part of it. Well, he said, it's all comprehended,
namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. Whatever
you would do for yourself, Then you just do it for your neighbor
too. Be willing to do it. Love your neighbors yourself.
Look out for him like you look out for yourself. Look out for
your neighbor. I don't even know how to expound
that. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
I'm going to work on it. I've been thinking a lot about
that. Maybe I'll preach a sermon on it sometime. But that's it
right there. That's to fulfill the law. If
you can do that, then you, as far as God's concerned, you fulfill
the law. Love your neighbors yourself. Well, may the Lord bless you
this morning. It's a good thing for the heart to be established
with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have
been occupied therewith or been involved with. It's a good thing. Establish that heart with grace. Well, may the Lord bless you.
I encourage you.