Now this morning I want you to
take your Bible one more time and turn to Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, the Lord here
in verse 39, He spake a parable unto them, unto those who came
to hear the Lord Jesus Christ. This parable that he gives actually
has four parts to it. And I'm going to bring a different
message from each of these four parts from this one parable given
in four parts. So I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse 39, the Lord spake a parable,
a parable unto them. The Lord often, many times, taught
his disciples and others using what we know as a parable. A parable is a earthly story
or illustration that teaches a spiritual and valuable lesson
unto those that are blessed to hear it. Now we read just a moment
ago from Matthew chapter 13, the Lord spake a parable unto
them, a man went forth to sow seed. That was an earthly story
that presents a valuable and spiritual lesson. You remember
the disciples asked the question, Lord, why speakest thou unto
them in parables? And he answered this way, Because
it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven." The kingdom of heaven is salvation in Christ. It's
given to you to know the mystery of salvation that's revealed
in Christ to them It's not given. Here again we see the sovereign
purpose and the sovereign mercy of God. He will have mercy on
whom He will have mercy. Now back in Luke chapter 6, within
this one parable, the Lord gives us here four different parts. Each of these parts contain a
warning and a promise. A warning, lest we presume, and
a promise, lest we despair. They each contain a most important
lesson to be learned. I want to be a learner of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you? I want to be a disciple
that is one who is taught of the Lord. Don't you? And I'll
show you the reason why that's important. Turn to John chapter
6. John chapter 6. I want to be
a disciple of the Lord. One who sits at His feet and
one who learns of Him, who learns about Him. And here's why that's
so important. In John chapter 6, notice it
is written, Verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which sent me draw him. I'll raise him up at the last
day. It is written in the prophet, they shall all be taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father,
he says, they come to me. I want to be a disciple of the
Lord. I want to learn of him. Now don't turn to this one because
you're familiar with this scripture. But let me just read it to you
from Matthew chapter 11. He said, "...all things 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 to He to Whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him." Salvation is the sovereign revelation of
God the Holy Spirit concerning the gospel of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then He says here in verse
28 of Matthew 11, "...Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you,
and learn of Me." For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest for your soul. You shall find salvation in Christ. For my yoke is easy. And my burden
is light, he says, come unto me. All ye that labor and are
heavy laden, I will give you rest. Now look back at Luke chapter
6. Let me give you these four parts
and we'll come back and look at the first part. Here's the
four parts of this one parable. The danger of listening to and
following false prophets and false doctrine, and then we see
the blessing of following the true Christ of God. The second
part of this parable, the danger of self-righteousness and hypocrisy,
and the blessedness of self-judgment and self-condemnation. We'll
look at that next week. And then thirdly, we see here
in this one parable, the danger of a deceived heart. and then
the blessedness of having a new heart revealed and given in Christ
Jesus. Here's the fourth part. Now see,
it's going to take a month or so to get through this. The fourth
part is this, the danger of hearing the word of the Lord and not
receiving it and obeying it and then the blessing of receiving
the Word of God, the blessing of believing the Word of God,
and resting in the Word of the Lord. Now, let's consider this
first part of this one parable in verse 39 and verse 40. Let's read this one more time. He spake a parable unto them,
Can the blind lead the blind? A blind man can lead a blind
man, but there's consequences to that. Shall they not both get in trouble
and fall into the ditch? Verse 40 goes with this first
part. The disciple or the student is
not above his teacher. Master there, the word is teacher.
The student is not above his teacher, but everyone that is
perfect shall be as his master. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, here
we see the danger of listening to and following false teachers,
false doctrine, and then the blessing of following the true
master, The true teaching of the Good Shepherd. You remember
Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall
not want. He lead me in green pasture of
His true Word, and that causes me to rest in Him. Now the Lord here in verse 39,
He spake a parable unto them. The Lord here had a direct reference
to the Pharisees, the religious leaders in his day who taught
false doctrine, false teaching on the way of salvation. They
taught salvation by the works of the law or by the traditions
of men rather than the grace of God alone, rather than the
Lord Jesus Christ alone, rather than faith alone. Our Lord clearly
rebuked the Pharisees for their false teaching. If you turn back
to the book of Matthew, and find chapter 15, Matthew chapter 15,
verse 7, he says, well, he said, you hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, this people draw nigh
unto me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines." Notice that word is plural. As I pointed
out in my Bible lesson this morning, the doctrine of Christ is always
singular. They teach for doctrines, the
commandments of men. Read on now, Matthew 15, He called
the multitude and said to them, Hear and understand, it's not
that which goeth into the mouth that defile a man, but that which
comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. They were concerned
about eating without washing their hands. Now read on, Then
came His disciples and said to Him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees
were offended after they heard this, saying, Now look at verse
13, you see the Lord used this saying more than one time. He
answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath
not planted shall be rooted up. He said, let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. You see, the Lord repeated Himself.
It is always right and proper to repeat something that is true.
School teachers use this over and over, don't they? They repeat
the same truth over and over and over again. I heard one time
that you have to hear something at least seven times before you
can retain it. The Lord repeatedly, repeatedly
warned about false teachers leading people astray. The Lord had the
greatest and most frequent The Lord had the greatest and most
frequent warnings about blind guides, false prophets, and the
judgment that fell upon them and their followers. Turn back
to the book of Matthew and find this time Matthew chapter 7.
He had the strongest rebuke. Many times he said unto them,
woe unto them, woe unto them, woe unto you. Matthew 23 is full of those woes
and woes, but in Matthew chapter 7, notice verse 21. Lord, Lord shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of
my father, which is in heaven, what is the will of the father
was to believe Christ. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have
cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful work. Then
I will profess unto them. I never knew you depart from
me. Ye that work iniquity, sin, iniquity. Now, If we study this morning
from our Bible lesson, and I won't have you turn and read it again,
but I'll just turn and read it to remind you. We had a warning
about those who come preaching another doctrine. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him good day, Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is a partaker of his evil deeds." Now here's the warning for us.
If we follow those who are blind, that is, false teachers and false
preachers, we will end up in the same ditch as they're headed
for, because it's a ditch of destruction and eternal ruin
and the eternal wrath of God. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now listen
to me carefully. It is impossible to learn the
truth while listening to lies. Now you think about that. Does
God use the lives of men to teach sinners the truth? No, sir. It
is impossible to believe the truth while you hang on to a
lie or a refuge of lies. Our Lord said in John chapter
8, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. If the teacher is teaching a
student in the classroom a lie, a falsehood, fiction instead
of fact, what will the student learn? If you have a teacher
over here in the school, and that teacher is teaching fiction,
she's teaching history, and she's not teaching the truth, what
will the students believe? They'll believe exactly the lie
that she is telling. That's exactly what the Lord
is teaching here. The student cannot rise above
the falsehood. The student will embrace the
lie because the student thinks the teacher knows the truth. But if the teacher is deceived,
the student will be deceived. Now here's the illustration for
us. The teacher or preacher who does
not know the way of salvation in Christ alone, who does not
know how sinners are justified by His grace alone, cannot lead
and tell those sinners the way of true salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is impossible. A false teacher
cannot preach or tell what he does not know. He's going to
tell what he knows. And if all he teaches is salvation
that's dependent upon the creature rather than the Creator, rather
than the Christ of God, he's never going to lead any man to
believe the truth when he teaches nothing but a lie. If the preacher is in error,
those who hear and follow him will embrace the same lie and
be damned the same way. You cannot be in false religion,
man-centered, free will, works religion and practice it and
know the true and living God. Now, I've been there, I've done
that. God delivered me from that by
His grace. You see, eternal life, hold your
place there in John 6, eternal life as it's described in the
Word of God, turn to John 17. You see, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is the Word of
what? Truth. The truth about sin, the
truth about God, the truth about how God saves sinners. In John
17, Verse 2, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him,
and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God, Jesus Christ. Who is he? He's the Sovereign
Christ, the Almighty Christ, the Eternal Christ, whom thou
hast sent I've glorified thee on the earth. I've finished the
work you gave me to do. You cannot be in false religion
and practice that false religion and know the true and living
God. You cannot believe in free will works religion and still
say you believe in salvation by the sovereign grace of God.
Now a lot of people try to do that, but it just cannot be done. Salvation is not by man's free
will. Salvation does not depend upon
you. Salvation depends upon Christ. Now here's a scripture from Romans
chapter 9. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Free
will works religion is the lie of the devil. Salvation is all
of God's grace. But often times they say, well
we see, okay, How did the Lord deal with those who said, oh,
we see? Turn to John chapter 9. They said, are we blind? John
chapter 9 verse 38, he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped
him. The Lord had just given sight
to a blind man. And then in verse 39, the Pharisees
were asking that blind man, well, how did you see? Who made you
to see? And he said, well, The Lord made
me to see. Look at verse 39. For judgment
I am coming to the world that they which see not might see. That blind men might see. And
that they which see might be made blind. Judicially blind. Oh, we see. No you don't. You're
blind. You think you see. And some of
the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said
unto him, Are we also blind? Are we blind? Look what he says
here. The Lord said in verse 41, The
Lord said unto them, If you were blind, that is, if you were really
a sinner in need of mercy, you should have no sin. But now you
say, You see. Oh, we see. Therefore, he said, ye are yet
remain in your sin. Now, there's the warning. Now, where's the blessing? Look
back at Luke chapter 6. There's the warning. Don't follow
the blind man. Follow the true shepherd, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Can the blind lead the blind?
Shall they not both fall into the ditch? Well, yes they will.
Verse 40, the disciple is not above his master. The student
is not above the teacher. But everyone that is perfect
shall be as his master. Now there's the blessing. There's
the blessing. Look at this little word here
in verse 40, B-U-T. You know, in Scripture, that
is a big word. It's a very big word. If you
look over here in Ephesians chapter 2, you remember? Ephesians chapter
2, when he talks about, we were dead in trespasses and in sin,
and we walked according to the course of this world, Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 2. among whom also we all had our
conversation in the lusts, in the times past, in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. But God,
but God, now who made you to differ? who gave you eyes to
see. Our Lord said, blessed are your
eyes for they see, your ears for they hear. But God who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ.
For by grace are you saved, and has raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenlies places in Christ that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace
and his kindness toward us through Christ for by grace Are you saved
through faith and that not of yourself? It is a gift of God
the sovereign gift of God look back at Luke 6 verse 40, but
everyone that is Perfect that word perfect can also be rendered
mended made whole, complete, shall be as His Master." Now,
who has made us whole? Who has made us complete? In
Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily and we stand
complete in Christ, in Him. If we are blessed to hear and
follow the Master, you know, many times in Scripture the Lord
Jesus Christ is called Master, isn't He? Master. He's the Master
Teacher. If we're blessed to hear and
to follow the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of salvation,
who is perfect in all His ways, in all His truth, you shall be
as the Master Teacher, as the Lord Himself, perfect, complete,
mended, and made whole in Him. Now let me show you something
very, very interesting. Turn back to Luke, or rather,
John 17, one more time. John 17, one more time. This
same word, perfect, here is used in reference to the Lord Jesus
Christ and that eternal blessed union that we have in Him. In
John 17, verse 17, Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Their truth, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art
in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that Thou hast sent me, verse 22, John 17, and
the glory which Thou gavest me, I've given them, that they may
be one, even as we are one, now look at verse 23 carefully, underscore
this word, I in them, Christ in you is a hope of glory, Thou
in me, You've seen the Father, you've seen the Son, that they
may be made perfect in one." We are what? We're made perfect
in one. That which is true of the head
is true of the body. That the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over
here to John, 1 John. 1 John. Verse John chapter 4, look at
verse 17 very carefully. Herein is our love made perfect. There's that word again, perfect.
That we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as He is, Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He is, so are
we in this world right now. Now we are predestinated to be
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, but how does
God see us right now? In Christ. In Christ. Look back to the text now. The
disciples not above his master, but everyone that is perfect
shall be as his master. I'm saying that the sinner justified
in the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect before God in Christ. Matter of fact, it says that
he's able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. I want to follow
him, don't you? I want to be found in him, don't
you? Now, we confess by nature, and
by birth, we are all born spiritually blind, ignorant to the things
of God, not knowing the way of truth and the way of God. Let me show you that in the book
of Ephesians, if you'll turn there. Ephesians chapter 4, we'll
start there. Ephesians chapter 4. He says
in verse 18, verse 17, let's start there. This I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, the
hardness of their heart. That's us by nature. Look back
one page, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12. He said that at that time
you were without Christ, being Gentiles in the flesh, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this
world. But now, there's that word again, but now, in Christ
Jesus, you who were sometimes before offer made nigh by the
blood of Christ, He is our peace. Ephesians chapter 1, turn there,
verse 17. Paul said, I cease not to pray
for you. Verse 17, Ephesians 1, that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him, the eyes of your understanding being opened or enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is exceeding
greatness of His power, to us who believe according to the
working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in heavenly places, far above all principality, might,
dominion, and power. Every name that is named, not
only in this world, but that which is also to come. He raised
us from the dead. By nature we're blind and dead
in sin. The Lord must give us life and
light that we might see. life and light that we might
see. Thank God in the gospel He said, I've commanded the light
to shine in the darkness, to shine in your dead heart, that
you might see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ to another blind Pharisee? Turn to John chapter
3. Here was a man who was raised
in religion, who read the Word, read the Law of God, a man who
everyone thought had understanding, and he came to the Lord Jesus
Christ by night, probably ashamed and embarrassed to seek out the
Lord of glory. In John chapter 3, and our Lord
says unto him in verse 3, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man is born again, born from above, he cannot see. You see, God has to give us light,
and eyes, and life, and understanding, and light. And Nicodemus said,
well, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter in the
second time into his mother's womb and be born? And the Lord
said, truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,
that which is born of the flesh, his flesh, That which is born
of spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you,
you must be born again. You cannot see. You cannot believe the gospel.
And then verse 8, he talks about the sovereignty, the Spirit of
God. The wind bloweth where it will. Thou hearest the sound
thereof. You cannot tell from whence it
come or where there it goes. So is everyone that is born by
the Spirit of God. When the Lord is pleased to send
His truth and reveal the gospel to us and raise us from the dead,
He does it with the word of truth. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth. We do, when the Lord raises us
from the dead, thy people shall be willing in a day of His power.
We do and we'll resolve in our hearts to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is light and who is life. Now I'll read this scripture
to you in John chapter 8 verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto
them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that follows
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Our Lord said again in John chapter
10, He said, My sheep will hear My voice, a stranger they will
not follow. My sheep hear My voice, I know
them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. What I'm saying is this, the
Lord Jesus Christ, He is our Savior, and He is salvation. Salvation in a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. The Lord
said in John 10, he said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved. Christ is the door. Every other
door is destruction. He said, I am the door. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He said, I am the way. Every other way is the way
of death. There is a way that seems right
unto men, the end thereof is death. The Lord Jesus in John
14 said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the
Father but by and through me. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth of God, sent from God. Everything else, is a lie. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
true God and He is eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ is life
Himself. Everything else is death. He
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Whatever else you have, if you
do not have the Lord Jesus Christ by the way of saving faith, you
do not have life. The Lord Jesus Christ in scripture
is called our altar, our sacrifice for sin. Everything else is idolatry. Be done with it. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Christ is our salvation alone. Everything else is condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else
apart from Him is condemnation. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
all of our righteousness that justifies us before God. Everything
else is filthy rags. God says your righteousness that
you produce of your hands, your morality, the best you have,
the best you can bring. It's vanity, filthy rags. Paul
called it dumb. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ alone is our righteousness. You remember the message from
Thursday evening by Brother Fortner. But of Him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He's all of our salvation. Anything
and everything that God has for any guilty sinner is found in
Christ. Where do you want to be found
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back? Some say, well, I want
to be in church. Some say, well, I want to be
in the pulpit. Some say, well, I want to be on my knees. I want
to be found in Him. in Christ. Everything else is
sinking sand. Christ alone is our complete
righteousness. Christ alone is our complete
redemption. Everything else is total ruin. We have redemption in Him. One more verse and I'll be through. Ephesians chapter 1. Here's what I'm trying to say.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, verse 3 rather, Ephesians 1 verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
Now, one more verse, "...in whom we have redemption." We have
redemption, we are redeemed, With the precious blood of Christ,
that is the price that God demanded for our ransom, that sets us
free, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Oh, to win Christ
and be found in Him. You see the blessing in that
verse, that everyone that is perfect shall be as his master,
as he is, so are we in this world. May God bless his truth.