All Dogs Go to Heaven

Q: What does the Bible say about tradition and God's commandments?

The Bible teaches that God's commandments should take precedence over traditions. In Matthew 15, Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their adherence to traditions that contradict God's commandments. He points out that they honor their traditions above the Word of God, effectively nullifying His commandments. For instance, they allowed individuals to bypass the biblical mandate to honor their parents by declaring their money as a 'gift to God,' which Jesus denounces as hypocrisy. Thus, the heart of the matter lies in prioritizing God's commands over man-made traditions.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

God's sovereignty is grounded in His ability to show mercy to whom He wills, as revealed in Scripture. In the sermon, it is emphasized that God's sovereignty means He decides whom to save and show mercy to. This is illustrated through the story of the Gentile woman who persists in seeking help from Jesus despite initial silence and the declaration that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus later affirms her faith, indicating that true seekers will encounter His sovereignty, reflecting the biblical truth that God is in ultimate control over salvation. Scriptures such as Romans 9:15 remind us that God has the authority to show mercy to whom He chooses.

Q: Why is understanding the heart important for Christians?

Understanding the heart is vital as it is the source of both righteousness and defilement. In Matthew 15, Jesus teaches that it is not what goes into a person's mouth that defiles them but what comes out of their heart. The heart is where evil thoughts and intentions originate, leading to sin such as murder, adultery, and false witness. This underscores the necessity for Christians to cultivate a pure heart, as emphasized in Scriptures like Proverbs 4:23, which instructs to keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. Transformation comes from God giving us a new heart, a central tenet in reformed theology.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, generally where the Master was, there were three groups of people. Nearly always he was accompanied
by his disciples. These were the men to whom he
had revealed himself. those whom the Father had given
him. They were generally with him
wherever the Master was, they were there. And then generally
around him somewhere were these religious people, scribes and
Pharisees and Sadducees and folks that were zealous for the traditions
and for the law and for the customs of their fathers. They were generally
there. And then, out here on the outskirts,
usually there was a multitude of people, a crowd of people. He was generally followed by
a crowd of people. And on this occasion, here in
Matthew 15, Evidently his disciples, the master and his disciples,
had dined. They had eaten bread. They had
eaten something. And it was a super tradition
with the scribes and Pharisees to wash their hands always before
eating. It was a ritual. It was a tradition.
It had developed into a violation of religious principles if you
didn't do it. That's how important it was.
to them. They made everything having to
do with establishing a holiness, a righteousness. Like people
today, if you don't go around saying, well, praise the Lord
or hallelujah, you're not religious. If you don't do this, that or
the other. They've made even returning thanks at the table
to be a ritual. If you don't do it at a certain
time, then you're not in connection with God and all these things.
So they came charging up to our Lord. after the disciples had
eaten and the Master had evidently eaten with them, and they came
rushing up and they said, verse 2 of Matthew 15, why do your
disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? They wash not
their hands before they eat. Well, our Master, and I'm trying
to learn from the Lord, I hope all of us are, to exercise some
patience and some compassion, some kindness in regard to these
religious hypocrites. But our Master said to them in
verse 3, he answered and said to them, why do you transgress
the commandments of God by your tradition? Why do you transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition? You put tradition
before the Word of God. You put custom before the Word
of God. You put your ways before God's ways. And I'll give you
an example, he said. Now watch this. For God commanded,
saying in His Word, honor your father and mother, respect your
father and mother. And this is what he's implying. If your father and mother is
in need, is in need, you help them. If
they need food, lodging, if they need help, you help them, you
honor them, you respect them, your father and mother. And he
that curses his father and mother, he that doesn't care for his
father and mother, he that doesn't care for his father and mother,
let him die the death. A man that has no respect for his mother
and father and doesn't care whether they have the essentials material
things and physical things and doesn't pay them the proper respect,
why, he's under the judgment of God. Now watch verse 5, but
you say, you religious fellows say this, it's what you say. Well, whosoever shall say to
his father and mother, it's a gift. Another scripture says it's Corban,
C-O-R-B-A-N. By whatever you might profit
by me, this is a gift." Now here's what they're saying. Here's a man's father and mother
who don't have enough to eat, don't have a place to live, and
they come to their son or to their daughter and they say,
we don't have food on the table, we can't meet our rent money
and this sort of thing. Now, the Pharisees taught the
people this is the way around that. See, there's an Old Testament
commandment. If you set aside your money for
sacred purposes, you say, this belongs to God, I've given this
to God, I will this to God. When I die, God's going to get
it, going to give it to the temple, to the tabernacle, this, that,
the other. So, it's already been designated for sacred use, so
you can't have it. See what they're doing? The Pharisees
are giving them a way around the Word of God, saying that
this, what I have, I can't share it with you because I've already
given it to God. It's carp and it's a gift to
God. It's for sacred purposes. See that? That's what he's saying.
So they're always looking for a way around the Word of God.
And verse 6, And this man honors not his father and mother. You
say he'll be free because he's got a reason. He's justified
because he's willed this to God. looking for a way around the
commandment of God. Thus have you made the commandment
of God of non-effect by your traditions. And then our Lord
got so plain, He said, you hypocrites, you hypocrites, instead of teaching
the Word of God as it is, instead of obeying the Word of God as
it is, instead of following the Word of God, the gospel, the
truth as it is, you look for a way around it. Always a way
around to justify what you want to do, what you want to believe. I've had so many people, when
you preach a sermon on God's sovereignty or election, they'll
run over and grab up a verse over here. God's not willing
that any should perish. He tasted death for every man. You know, they'll run and pick
up one over here. Just a way to get around what this is saying.
Let's deal with what this is saying. No, they find a way around
it, you know. And they justify themselves.
And Christ called them hypocrites. He said in verse 8, you draw
near unto me with your mouths and you honor me with your lips.
You say praise the Lord and hallelujah and glory to God and Jesus is
Lord and all these things with your mouths and with your lips.
But I know where your heart is. It's far from me. It's a long
ways from there. And in vain you worship me. You
worship God in vain. You notice, teaching for doctrines
and commandments of men. Our Lord showed His feelings about those religious
hypocrites, those traditionalists and folks that followed their
custom He compromised the Word of God to defend their position. And then he turned and addressed
the crowd of people, the multitude. He addressed the multitude. I
feel like the preachers aren't going to hear. They're not going
to hear. They're not going to change.
You see, it's like a man standing right out here in the parking
lot of this church, right out here a few years ago. There was
an elderly Methodist preacher. who lived in this community several
years ago, and he walked up on the parking lot. And I was standing
out there doing something. And he said, he said, I've been
hearing you on the radio. And he said, you're preaching
the truth. But he said, I can't come out
there at your church. He said, you see, I draw annuity,
retirement from this denomination. And I'm afraid it might be endangered
if I lined up with you. These preachers, these Pharisees,
these covetous men with their comfortable living and luxurious
way of life, they're not going to hear the
truth. They're not going to hear it. They're not going to preach
it. You write that down. They're not going to hear it.
And they're not going to put you. They've got their traditions,
they've got their customs, they're settled in their ways. It costs
too much to turn back. It costs too much. They're not
going to do it. It's like I read about one of
the popes. I read in a book, History of the Popes of the Catholic
Church. One of the popes made this statement.
I forget his name. But he said, when I was a priest,
I had some hope of being saved. When I became a Cardinal, most
of that hope was gone. Now that I'm Pope, I have no
hope of ever seeing God. You get buried. You beware of that. You beware
of a way of life, a way of worship, a way of religion, or a way of
thinking, or a way of living. or a style of living and get
yourself so bound in a position that you can't, can't do what
you know you ought to do or say what you know you ought to say.
That's dangerous. Free. God, He said don't be the
servants of men. You said He set us free. Free
from bondage, free from sin, free from this world. free from
ourselves, free from any position. If your occupation keeps you
from worshiping God, quit. If your circle of friends keep
you from being what you ought to be in the kingdom of God,
be done with them. If the place where you live is
not conducive to walking with God, move. Be better What shall
it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? What
do you give in exchange for your soul? I'll give up every friend
I've got, every relative I've got, and every suit I've got,
and every bite of food I've got. That's what I'll give in exchange
for my soul. That's exactly right. And these Pharisees were locked
in. And preachers today, John, are locked in. They're locked
in pulpits. They're locked in denominations.
They're locked in salaries. They're locked in a status, they're
locked in a style of living, and they can't worship God even
if God appeared to them. They can't do it, not going to.
So he turned to the multitude. He just turned his back on these
scribes. He turned to the multitude and
he said to the multitude, you hear and you understand. You
understand. It's not that which goeth into
a man's mouth that defiles him. These Pharisees had talked about,
touch not, taste not, handle not, drink not, wash your hand,
do all these things. And Christ is saying to the people,
He said, these fellows are lying. They're lying. It's not what
you put in your mouth. Now, what you put in your mouth
can ruin your liver, but it can't touch your soul. What you put
in your mouth can corrupt your lungs. What you put in your mouth
can cause you to die. That's right. But what you put
in your mouth can't reach your soul, it can't defile you. It
can't have anything to do with your relationship with God. It's
not that which a man puts in his mouth that defiles him, it's
what comes out of his mouth that defiles him. That's the problem. And boy, the disciples, here
they are. Here's his inner circle. He turned away from that bunch
of hypocrites. He addressed the multitude. Disciples came on
and said, you offended them. Now you've done it. Now you've
done it. You've upset Dr. So and Sound
and Brush. You've upset Professor Tinkler
and Semble. You've upset the Pharisees. They
were offended. You crossed their grain. You
offended them. Now you've done it. Don't you
know that they were offended by your saying? And our Lord
turned to them and He said, Verse 13, ever plant, they shall be
like trees planted by the rivers of living water. Ever plant that
my heavenly Father didn't plant shall be rooted up. Ever tear,
ever wild vine will be rooted up. Leave them alone. That's what I said, leave them
alone. Somebody said, well, I'm going
to stay in this church in the hopes I'll change it. You're not going
to change it. Well, I'm going to stay with
this preacher. He might someday see. Not until he loses his job. Not long as he's got a retirement
waiting on him. No, sir. No, sir. You leave him alone. I'll tell you why my Lord said
they're blind leaders of the blind. They're blind people leading
blind people, and that's a catastrophe. Because when the blind lead the
blind, you know what's going to happen to all of them? They're
all going to fall into the ditch. Not only the leader, but the
folks he's taken with him. And then verse 15, Peter said
to him, listen, he said, Lord, Peter said, declare unto us this
parable. Oh, this is what's sad. Our Lord
had been with them so long, and he said, are you also yet... How long have we been here? Are you yet without understanding? Isn't that sad? That just breaks
my heart. How long does a man have to preach
something for somebody to hear it? How long? Are you yet without understanding? Don't you know, haven't you learned
this yet? Haven't you learned that conviction
is a hard work? That repentance is a hard work?
that faith's a hard work, that a relationship with God is a
hard work, that out of the heart, man believeth unto righteousness.
With the heart, confession is made unto salvation. With the
heart, we know God. He's given us a new heart. Oh, don't you understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly? The
kingdom is God's not meat and drink, not do's and don'ts. There's certain meets and drinks
and do's and don'ts that are advisable and recommendable,
but not essential to the salvation of a sinner's soul. Don't you
understand that? Is that not clear? Don't you know that yet? Don't
you understand that yet, that what you put in your mouth goes
in your belly and it's digested and it's cast out in the commode?
That's what he's saying. But those attitudes and that
spirit and that nature and that rebellion
and that pride and that envy and that jealousy that lives
in your heart and has its root in your nature and your soul
and that speaks through your mouth, that's what's defiling
you, he said. That's the problem. That's the
problem. Verse 20, these are the things
that defile a man. Out of the heart proceeds those
evil thoughts about God and about truth, those murders, hatred
for people, evangelism, those adulteries, lust and fornication,
those thefts, those false witnesses, gossip, false accusation, blasphemies. using the name of God in vain.
These are the things that defile a man. Eat with unwashing hands. Go through the motions. Go down
the aisle. Shake the preacher's hand. Wash
your hand. Be baptized. Go through all these
things. It won't help you because God
has got to give us a new heart. And you know something? This
story is told over in Mark. Turn over there a minute to the
book of Mark. To the book of Mark. Turn over to chapter 7
of Mark. And he said all these things
here in Mark. Look at Mark 7. You got it? Verse
23. Mark 7, 23. All these evil things
come from within and defile a man. You got it there? You see it?
Mark 7, 23. And in verse 24, And from thence he arose, and
went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered in a house
and would have no man know it, but he could not be hid. He just
went and hid himself. Surrounded by this religion,
this tradition, and the disciples, the poor disciples that just
couldn't, etc., and scratched their heads, you know, at him,
wondering what he was going to say next. And finally he just
went over here, turned back to Matthew 15, and withdrew himself
and hid himself. And didn't anybody know where
he was? Nobody. Don't you feel like sometimes
going hiding? Just surrounded by all this religion
and phoniness and doubts And no positive declaration or confession
or commitment on the part of so few just feel like going somewhere
and going in and shutting the door and just don't come out
anymore. Just be done with it all. And our Lord wouldn't just
shut the door. But thank God, he wasn't hidden
from one. He wasn't hidden from one. It
may be he's withdrawn from our generation. I don't know. We've
got so much hypocrisy and tradition and custom and materialism and
division and all these things. I don't know. He may have already
hid himself. He may have. I don't know. But
I know one from whom he cannot be hid. I know one. And maybe there's some here.
Here's one. This woman came, verse 22, there's
a woman, a determined woman, and she came out of the same
coast and she cried to him, have mercy on me, O Lord, thy son
of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. You know
something? She knew who he was. Jim, she
knew who he was. How did I know she knew? She
first called him Lord, O Lord. That's the language of worship.
That's the language of the public and in the temple. Lord, be merciful. That's the language of the thief
on the cross. Lord, remember me. That's the language of worship
of the leper who's Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
No man can call him Lord, but Lord. And secondly, she said,
have mercy. She knew his teaching. I'll have
mercy and not sacrifice. She didn't bring anything. She
came asking for mercy. And thirdly, I know she knew
who he was because she called him the son of David. The son
of David. That's what Bartimaeus called
him. You remember that time he asked the Pharisees, who's the
Christ? They said he's the son of David. This woman knew. Gentile
woman. And she came in there and she
said, Lord, son of David, mercy. But what's the next line? He
answered her, not a word. Not a word. This bunch of Pharisees, he'd
always spoke to them. Religious hypocrite. He has poor
disciples. Are you yet without understanding?
And he went in, hid himself, and here comes this woman. And
she says, Son of David, Lord, have mercy on me. And he just
looked at her and didn't say a word. Maybe
she'll go away, like the others. Will you also go away? You know,
patience doesn't live in a proud heart. The only people who hang around
the gospel are those with a need. Because the gospel is offensive.
They hang around. You couldn't run them off. He
couldn't run her off. He didn't say a word. Not a word. Evidently, she turned to the
disciples because the next word said his disciples came to him
and said, send her away. She's crying after us. She wouldn't
leave. She wouldn't leave the house.
And then our Lord said this. Now, this was a Gentile woman.
And He spoke this to the disciples. She heard Him. He turned to the
disciples and He said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Now, let me tell you something.
Every true God seeker, every true person seeking God is going
to run into two things. This woman did. Here she comes.
He hid himself, and she came in, and she said, have mercy
on me, thy son of David. And he never answered her a word.
And then she turned to the disciples, and the disciples turned to him,
and he said, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And every one of us is going to face two things. First, because
of our sins, we're going to face the silence of God. That's right. God's not going to be spoken
to nor speak to us except through a mediator. We're going to face
the silence of God. He didn't answer. Secondly, we're
going to face the sovereignty of God. He'll show mercy to whom
He will. A man's going to face those two
things. He's going to face the silence of God because he's a
rat, he's a rebel, he's a reprobate. God's not speaking to you and
me. He can't be approached by any man. And if he is approached
and he does approach, it will be because he will and not because
you will. I'm telling the truth. He let
her know. And something we've got to learn
two things. He let her know. First, she said, have mercy.
And he never said a word. He doesn't have to. And secondly,
he told his disciples, I'll save whom I will. I'll show mercy
to whom I will. He told Moses that, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now that's the God of the Bible.
But this person wouldn't go away. And true seekers won't go away. Because Peter said, to whom shall
we go? I told a preacher recently in a
letter, preach the grace of God. God's sheep will come hear you,
because they can't hear it anywhere else. You want the sheep of God to
come to heal you? You don't have to hide dollar
bills in the song books. You don't have to send a fleet
of buses out, the McDonald bus and the burger bus and the Kentucky
Fried Chicken bus. Preach the gospel! They'll come. A sheep will go a long ways for
a mess of clover. That's exactly right. And she
hung around. And then she said, verse 25,
it says, she came and worshipped him saying, Lord, Lord, help
me, help me. And then he spoke again. Verse
26, it's not right to take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. You know what he's saying? He's
saying, let the children first be fed. It's not right to take
the children's bread and throw it down to a bunch of dogs. Who
was this woman? She was a Gentile. And the Jews
called the Gentiles dogs. Now you think about this. You
think about this. This is a needy woman. Her daughter
was grievously ill and dying. She knew who this man is, Jesus
Christ, son of David, Lord. She knew no one else could help
her. And she came to him. And she met his silence. And then she met his sovereignty.
I'll do what I will, when I will, for whom I will. And then she
met his appraisal of her dog. Now what's she going to do? Well,
I'll tell you what she did and whatever dog will do. Because
dogs know they're dogs. Dogs know what they are. You
won't offend a dog by calling him dog. I knew a fellow one
time that called his dog dog. I knew a fellow one time that
didn't call his dog anything. His dog was born without legs,
and he just didn't give him a name. So I said, what's his name? He
said, I didn't give him a name. He couldn't come if I called
him. But a dog's a dog. And he said
it's not right to give what's meant for the children to a bunch
of dogs. How's she going to handle this? That's true. That's true. How refreshing it'd
be to preach the grace of God and have somebody say, that's
true. Praise God, that's true. That's true. Tell me what they
are and say, that's true. Who God is, that's true. Who
Christ is, that's true. That's true, Lord. That's true. But I'm not asking for the children's
bread. I don't claim to be a child.
I claim to be a dog. But I'll tell you this, she said,
I'm not an unknown dog. I'm not an unowned dog. I'm your
dog. You know what she said? I'm your
dog. She said, that's true, but the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from there. M-A-S-T-E-R, master's table. You know, so many times, we generally had a dog in our
home when our children were growing up, a dog around the house, you
know, and sometimes Doc would let them in and we'd be sitting
at the table He's sitting down there, you know, on his back
legs, looking up at you, and you take a piece of meat. You
ever do that, Eddie? Take a piece of meat and hand
it to the dog. A piece of bread and give it to the dog. Boy,
he's just so glad to get a crumb, isn't he? He just wags his tail,
you know. He's a dog, he knows it. He's
nothing but a dog. You're not going to offend him.
Dog? Dog, you want a crumb? Yeah. I'll just take a crumb.
Just whatever you throw down here. You can throw it on the
floor if you want to. I'll still eat it. What you don't want, I'll eat.
You know, you cut your steak and there's that old fatty piece.
You throw that to the dog. You can't offend the dog. Are
you hearing me? You can't offend the dog. You
can give him the leavings and the leftovers and the old fatty
piece and he'll wag his tail and lick your hand. You can smack
him. He'll come back and lick your hand, because he's a dog. Oh, if I could get this across
to me and this whole cotton-picking religious world that's going
to hell so fast. Barnard said they're kicking
up dust in the devil's face. Every dog's going to heaven. All dogs go to heaven, but there are not many dogs. That's true, Lord. That's true. You just call me anything you
want to, but brush me off some crumbs, and I'll take them. And then the Master said, Oh
woman, great is thy gift. The greatest I've had. And I
see all these Jewish doctors and Pharisees and lawyers and
scribes. Nothing for them. And I see them
sitting in this house, and this poor little old Gentile dog came
in. And our Master said, Great is
your failure. Be it unto you as you will. And all that came about when
he had brought out of her what she really thought about herself
and about him and about his mercies. I'm a dog, you're my Lord, and
I'll take what you're pleased to give me. I'll take it and
give thanks. Is there a dog here? And I saw
that sign, all dogs go to heaven. I said, they sure do, they sure
do, by His grace. All right, let's sing number
118, when I survey the wondrous cross, number 118.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

What does the Bible say about tradition and God's commandments?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is understanding the heart important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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All Dogs Go to Heaven

What does the Bible say about tradition and God's commandments?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is understanding the heart important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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