I'm going to bring a message
tonight that I've wanted to bring for many years. Thought about
it and just haven't got around to it and I'm getting around
to it tonight. The inspiration came from reading
that passage of scripture that I've just read about those people
who suppose that gain is godliness. They make a supposition. And
they think that Gain is godliness. Now what does that mean? That
means they serve God for gain. They serve God for personal advantage. They serve God for how they believe
it will benefit them. Supposing that gain is godliness.
Now godliness is great gain, isn't it? Godliness with contentment
is great gain. We just read that. What a blessing,
what a gain it is for the Lord to do something for you. For
you to be someone who is devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is your all. He really is your Lord. He's
your master. Isn't that great gain? What could
be better than that? It's great gain to have godliness. That's devotion to God. That's
what happens when the Lord does something for you. But to serve
God supposedly for gain is wrong. But notice these people made
a supposition. They supposed that gain was godliness. Now I've entitled this message,
Suppositions. Suppositions. What is a supposition? Well,
it is to believe or accept something as true without proof of it being
true. And the supposition is not necessarily
a bad thing. Really everything we believe
is based upon supposition. Here's my supposition. The Bible. is the inspired, infallible Word
of God. Can I prove that to you? No. Do I even feel a burden of need
to? No. I know it's the Word of God. Now, I can't prove it, but I
know that this book is the Word of God. It's the inspired revelation
of God. Now, everything that we believe
is based upon that presupposition, isn't it? We have a presupposition
that the Bible is the word of God. I can't prove that to you.
I feel no need to, but I know it is. You see a supposition
is not necessarily a bad thing. Everything we believe comes out
of that presupposition. I believe that God is. I believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ, even right now, is seated at the right
hand of the Father, ruling and reigning. I believe he controls
every thought that passes through my mind, every thought that passes
through your mind, that he's the first cause behind all things,
that he controls everything. Can I prove that to you? No.
And once again, I don't feel any need to. I know He is and
I can't prove it, but I believe it with all my heart. I believe
Jesus Christ is Lord and He owns everything. And everybody in
this room and everybody outside of this room is in His hand right
now. Now, can I prove that to you?
No. Do I feel a need to? No. why there's a sense in which
faith is believing a supposition. How so? Well, listen to this
scripture. Whom, having not seen, you love. You know, I do love him and I've
never seen him. Who though now you see him not,
yet believing, you rejoice with joy, unspeakable and full of
glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your
souls. Now, Jesus Christ is my all,
and I can't even prove to you that he's alive, but I know he
is. Suppositions are good things,
aren't they? I'm thankful for these suppositions. You know,
I can't give you proof, tangible proof, that I'm justified. And
yet, I claim to be somebody that stands before God without guilt.
Now, you can't look at me and say, well, yeah, I see you are.
No, you can't see that. But... I believe I am. I believe
I'm sanctified. I believe God has set me apart
to be holy. I believe He chose me before
time began. I believe He made me holy on the cross. He made
me holy in the new birth when He gave me a new nature. I believe
all that. Now, I can't prove it to you,
but I know it's so. I believe this supposition. Now, believing a supposition
is a good thing if it's a true supposition, isn't it? It's got
to be true, though. But it's equally true that we
can believe suppositions that are false, that are wrong. For instance, most people, most
about everybody, just they make this pre supposition. God loves
everybody. God wants to save everybody.
Christ died for everybody. Christ offers Himself to everybody,
but it's up to you to accept Him as your personal Savior as
to whether or not you'll be saved. People just presume that to be
so. They make that presupposition,
and it's not so. It's not even found in the Scripture.
There's nothing in the Scripture that would defend that position. It's a presupposition that is
wrong. Now, how many times have you
supposed something to be true that wasn't true and how much
trouble it got you in because of a supposition you made that
was not true. How many times have people either
made suppositions about you that were not true or receive suppositions
from others about you that were not true. And look at the problems
and even the pain that it's brought in your life because of those
suppositions that were wrong suppositions. You know, in reality,
I got to thinking about this. Every time we set in judgment
on anybody, We're making suppositions about them that we really can't
prove to be true. That's why the Lord said judge
not at all. We don't really know the facts.
Now I'm sure that the most horrible supposition somebody could make
is to suppose themselves to be saved. How many people have supposed
themselves to be saved? They were sure for heaven as
if they were already there and they die and they wake up in
hell. Can you imagine what a horrible
thing that would be? I can't even stand to think about
something like that. What a supposition. Would you turn with me for a
moment? We're going to get back to supposing that gain is godliness,
but turn with me to Luke chapter two. I want us to look at some
suppositions people make. A supposition is something you
believe to be true and received to be true. Although you can't
prove it's true, but you believe it is. And that, that. My, can I prove to you that the
Bible is the inspired word of God? No, I can't, but I believe
it is. That's a true supposition. A true supposition is good. A
false supposition is bad. Now look here at Luke chapter
two, beginning in verse 42. And when he was 12 years old,
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, they went up to Jerusalem. This is the only event that's
were given of his boyhood, of his growing up. This is the only
one. 30 years of obscurity, but this is the one thing God the
Holy Spirit is pleased to give us about his youth. And when
he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom
of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the
days as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew
not But they supposing him to have
been in the company when today's journey that entire day, they supposed
he was with them and they made a wrong supposition and they
sought him among their kin, folks and acquaintance. They went back
to Jerusalem to find him. They believed all was well. They
supposed him to be in their company and they went a day's journey
without him. Now, here's the point I want
to make to myself and to you. I don't want to merely suppose
we have his presence. I don't want to merely presume
that we have his presence. Now we know he's omnipresent. You remember when the Lord, while
he was sitting on earth, standing on earth, talking to Nicodemus,
speaking of himself, he talked about the son of man who's in
heaven. Now he said that while he was standing there on earth
to Nicodemus, even the son of man who is in heaven, Jesus Christ
as God is omnipresent. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. Um, He promised where two or three
are gathered together in his name. There he is in the midst
of them. He promises to be here tonight,
right now in what we're doing. He's promised his presence. I believe it, but I don't want
to presume his presence. I don't want to go a day's journey
like Mary and Joseph, thinking I had His presence. And isn't
His presence everything? I mean, what more do you, if
He's with you, what more do you want? If you've got Him with
you, you can't ask for anything else. Oh, what a blessed promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. We count on the promise of his
presence, but I don't want to suppose I have his presence and
merely presume I have his presence. Turn back with me to the song
of Solomon. I hope the Lord uses this. This is a right after there's
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the song of Solomon right before the book
of Isaiah. Verse two, I sleep, this is the church,
the Shulamite speaking. I sleep, but my heart waketh. That's our state quite often,
isn't it? Sort of asleep, sort of awake,
kind of some in-between state. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew and my locks
with the drops of the night. He says, open to me. I want to
come in and sup with you and have communion with you and have
fellowship with you. and look at her response, I have
put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I've washed
my feet. How shall I defile them? I don't
want to get up. Then she goes on to say, my beloved
put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved
for him. I rose up sometime after that
he had Said what he said, to open to my beloved, and my hands
dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon
the handles of the lock where he had been. I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchmen that went about
the city found me. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I
charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that
you tell him that I'm sick of love." She lost the sensible
presence of her beloved, didn't she? She lost it. And what I
thought about, I thought, I wonder how many times this has happened
in the past. How many times somebody has taken for granted their spouse's
devotion and come home one day and found
them gone. Don't merely presume and suppose
his presence. Cry out for it. As the heart
panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God. I must have his presence. And I don't want to simply presume
and suppose that I have it like Mary and Joseph did. I must have
his presence. And that's what I'm at. Lord,
don't leave me alone. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to my own understanding. Don't leave me to my own will.
Grant me your presence. Turn with me to Luke chapter
13. There were present at that season.
This is the Lord Jesus beginning to speak. And he's speaking of
a current event that took place. There were president that season,
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood pilot had mingled
with their sacrifices. Now you think about these people,
they'd offered up a sacrifice and pilot had them put to death
in the very midst of it. And their blood was mixed up
with the blood of the sacrifices. Well, that's a, that's a horrible
thing to think about it. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose ye that these Galileans
were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things.
Is that what you suppose? They must've been extra bad for
the Lord to let that happen to them. I tell you nay, but except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Or he talks about another
current event, those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell
and slew them. Think ye that they were sinners
above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? You think they were worse and
the Lord was getting them? I tell you nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Notice that phrase, do
you think they were sinners above? Sinners above you. Sinners worse
than you. No, you're no different than
them. And except you repent, you're
going to perish just like they did. Do not make a wrong supposition
about yourself. Now, any supposition that I make
about myself, I'm talking about me where I'm not present tense
right now, the chief of sinners. Right now, the chief of sinners. Any supposition I make about
myself that is not that is a wrong supposition. It's just flat wrong. I'm just as bad as those people
that the tower fell upon them in and of myself. Now here's
the point. Do you know any time that I quit hearing the gospel
as a sinner, I quit hearing the gospel. It becomes academic. It becomes intellectual. But
when I hear as a sinner, oh, how differently I hear. What's
in it for me? How can my sins be forgiven?
How can I be accepted before a holy God? Oh, those questions
are always paramount when I hear as a sinner. But if I don't hear
as a sinner, it all becomes nothing more than academic. May the Lord
deliver us from thinking of ourselves anything other than seeing someone
else that perhaps is worse than us. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Now turn back to Matthew
chapter 20. I suppose this is, this is probably
one of my favorite parables. preached on it many times, love
to read it. For the kingdom of heaven, verse
one, is like unto a man that is an householder, which went
out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And
when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, that was their
wages, a full day's work, 12 hours work, one penny. And that was good wages. I mean,
we think of a penny and we think, man, you couldn't live off that,
but it was good money back then. And he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour, nine o'clock in the morning,
and saw others standing idle in the market. And he said to
them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, I'll
give you. And they went their way. Again,
he went out about the sixth, twelfth, ninth hour, three o'clock,
and did likewise. And about the 11th hour, 5 p.m.,
he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto
them, why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him,
because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. So when evening was come, 6 p.m.,
the lord of the vineyard saith unto his stewards, call the laborers.
and give them their hire beginning from the last until the first.
And when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they
received every man a penny. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more. Wouldn't you suppose
that? If that one fellow worked one
hour and you work 12 hours, wouldn't you suppose you would receive
more? As a matter of fact, you would
be angry. I would be angry that he would
give the one hour worker the same thing that he gave me. That's
just as natural. Is it at a supposition? We would
all make it. You'd make that supposition.
Wouldn't you? You know, you would verse 11. Verse 10, but when
the first came, they supposed that they should have received
more. And they likewise received every man a penny. They got the
same thing. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good man of the house. This isn't
fair. This is not right. We've worked 12 hours. They've
worked one hour, verse 12, saying these that have wrought but one
hour and thou has made them equal unto us, which have borne the
burden and the heat of the day. Now we see what they thought
about the service of their master. It was a burden. And we had to
go through this miserable 12 hours and you give them the same
thing as us. It's not right. We'd make the
same supposition. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? Is that what I said I'd give
you? Take that thine is and go thy way, and I'll give unto this
last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? Is thine I evil because I'm good,
because I'm gracious to this one hour worker and give him
the same thing as you, are you going to charge me with injustice?
So the last shall be first in the first last for many be called,
but few are chosen. Don't make a wrong supposition
regarding grace. The absolute freeness of it and
the absolute sovereignty of God's grace. He gives his rich grace
to that one hour worker. And he gives the same thing to
the 12 hour worker. It's all grace. And whatever
he does is right. And aren't you happy and thankful
that he gives the one hour worker the same thing because salvation
is all of grace. Don't you love the sovereignty
of grace? Can I not do what I will with my own? Don't you love the
freeness of grace? That one hour worker was given
the full day's wages. Now don't suppose anything else
about grace. It's free and God is sovereign
in the dispensation of it. And I tell you what, if we don't
make this wrong supposition about what we are as sinners, we won't
make a wrong supposition about grace, will we? We'll rejoice
in it. I turn to Luke chapter 12, verse
51. Suppose ye, here our Lord's using
that word, suppose ye that I'm come to give peace on earth. Do you think that I came to make
it where there will be no conflict in your life? Everything will
be easy. Everything will be hunky dory,
make everything peaceful and harmonious. Well, that is a wrong
supposition. That's a wrong supposition. From henceforth, there should
be five in one house divided three against two and two against
three. The father should be divided against the son, the son against
the father, the mother against the daughter and the daughter
against the mother, the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law and
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. I came to send
division. Now understand this, please listen
real carefully. The gospel of Jesus Christ divides. It divides. It doesn't put people
together, or it puts the people who believe it together, but
it puts people at odds. Don't think that I've come to
send peace on earth. Don't come to think that I've
made it easy for you, so everything will be downhill rolling. I didn't
come to send peace, but a sword. Now, a believer, now listen real
carefully, this is very important. A believer cannot tolerate a
false gospel. If you can tolerate a false gospel,
you're not a believer. A believer cannot tolerate a
false gospel, and here's why. All their hope is found in the
true gospel. And if you give any credence
to the false gospel, why, you're taking away their hope. We take
it very personally in that sense. A believer cannot tolerate a
false gospel, nor can an unbeliever tolerate the true gospel. And
the reason being is the same. The true gospel is taking away
what they're hoping in their works. So they can't tolerate
that. But Oh, beware of a religion
where there's no conflict. Beware of that. If I hadn't made
enemies over the gospel, then I have not told anybody the gospel
there is always has been, and always will be a division because
of him. That's just the truth. Acts chapter 16. I love this. Now, Paul and Silas
had been thrown into prison, their feet fast in stocks, and
we read in verse 25, and at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang
praises unto God. Wouldn't you love to bend in
on that and heard it? Their backs lacerated with whips
in that filthy, dirty place, in pain, with their feet in stalks. And they prayed and they sang
praises to God. And the prisoners heard them.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake. so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of
the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors
open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. Now I understand why he made
this supposition. I mean, if you were in prison and all of
a sudden there was an earthquake and your stocks were taken off
and the doors were open, you get out the door, wouldn't you
do it? I can imagine him making that supposition, but here's
a blessed thing to think about. Quite often, things are not as
bad as they appear. Matter of fact, they're never
bad. as long as the Lord's on the
throne. I mean, there may be horrible things going on, but
as long as the Lord's on the throne, things are not as bad. This fellow was ready to kill
himself. He was going to take a sword and kill himself. What
a horrible way to die. And he was just very soon. He
was going to hear the gospel and believe the Lord was going
to save him. But he supposed the prisoners
had fled. Our suppositions quite often
are wrong, aren't they? Acts 27. Verse 10, and he said, this is
Paul. And he said unto them, sirs,
I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage,
not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless,
the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more
than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the
haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to
depart. Thence also, if by any means
I might attain to Phinase, And there to winter, which is in
the haven of Crete, lies toward the southwest and northwest.
And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had
obtained their purpose, loose thence they sailed close by Crete. It seemed Providence was going
to make this easy. The wind was blowing in that
direction and they supposed that they'd obtained their purpose.
Evidently the Lord is in this because we can get to where we
want to go easy with the wind blowing this way. But you know
what happened there ended up being a two weeks of a storm
that was horrible when they went out. Now, here's the question. Do not think that because providence
seems to be smiling, that it means whatever it seems to be
opening up is the right thing. The question is, is it according
to obedience? That's the only question. Is
it in accordance to obedience to the scriptures, the right
thing to do? The path of least resistance is usually the wrong
path. Don't suppose that everything
being easy and in place, it is the Lord's will. They supposed
that they'd obtained their purpose. Everything looked good. You can't
tell what's right according to something like that. You tell
what's right according to what God's Word says. Acts chapter
7. This is the last one. This is Stephen talking about
Moses when he was defending one of
his brethren. You can read about it in Exodus chapter 2. and seeing one of them suffer
wrong. Somebody was mistreating one of the children of Israel.
He defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote
the Egyptian for he supposed his brethren would have understood
how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood
not. Now here's the point I want to
make out of that. Do not suppose that everybody
will understand or be in agreement with you on what you feel led
to do. They didn't, you know, Moses
supposed they'd understand, but they didn't. Now I may do things
that I feel led of the Lord to do that you do not understand
or even agree with. You may handle things in a way
that I do not agree with, but if you're doing what the Lord
would have you do, does it really matter whether or not I approve
of it? Really doesn't, does it? If you're doing what the Lord
would have you do, if I don't understand, so be it. Now that does not mean that We're
indifferent about our brother's thoughts about us. Anybody you
love, you want their approval. Like I want you to approve of
me. I really do. I love you. And if you love somebody,
you want their approval, don't you? If you love me, you want
my approval of you. There's no question about that. And to say we're indifferent
about something like that is totally wrong. But that being
said. I do greatly care what you think,
and I want your approval, but there's somebody's approval I
want more than yours. And there's somebody's approval
you want more than you want my approval. We want the Lord's
approval. And if somebody doesn't understand
what we're doing, that's okay. Moses thought they'd understand,
and they didn't. And then our text in 1 Timothy
6, 5, we read of those people who suppose that gain is godliness. It's not. You don't serve the
Lord for how you can be benefited from it. Now there's great gain
in godliness. There's no doubt about it. What
a blessing it is to serve the Lord. But if I'm serving the
Lord to make things better for myself, rather than doing it
because he's the Lord, it's ungodly. It's not godly at all. Now, I
hope this has given you some things to think about. Thank
God for the suppositions that are true. Aren't you thankful
for those? From the depths of my heart,
I thank the Lord for the supposition, the truth of the scripture. That's
a supposition I believe. I'm thankful for that. And I
ask the Lord to deliver me from suppositions that are false. May the Lord be our teacher.
And we're going to observe the Lord's table together. The Lord said this do in remembrance
of me, may the Lord give us grace to forget everything else. And
when we eat the bread, may we think of the wrath that he endured
as the center substitute as my substitute, my sin. My sin, my
evil, my perversity, my sin became His sin. He became guilty of
it and His body was broken, crushed under the wrath of God. And when
we take the wine, we think of the forgiveness He procured. When we drink the wine, we think
of when He said it is finished because of the shedding of His
blood. All my sin was put away and I now stand before God without
guilt. Now, who should take the Lord's
table? There's warning. Remember where it says, if you
eat or drink the body unworthily, you're guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord. If you take the Lord's table
unworthily, that scares me. I don't want to do that to you.
Who should take the Lord's table? Everybody who sees that the broken
body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is everything
in their salvation. Do you see that? then you're
commanded to celebrate the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ. And what a blessed thing it is
to be able to do that. May the Lord enable us truly
to do this in remembrance of Him.