Matthew 15, verses 1 and 2. Then came to Jesus scribes and
Pharisees. You know who these men were.
The scribes were the men who wrote the scriptures. They interpreted
the scriptures. They inscribed them on the particular
paper that they used in that day. And the Pharisees were the
teachers of scripture. They were the men who officiated
around the temple and the synagogue, and they were the very religious
people and leaders of their day. So they came to the Lord Jesus,
saying, Why do your disciples transgress or sin against the
tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. They were in the Old Testament
And that's what these men were referring to, the Old Testament
ceremonies, the Old Testament laws, and the Old Testament rituals
and requirements. There were in the Old Testament
certain washings and certain cleansing ceremonies connected
with the temple, connected with the sacrifices and holy things. In other words, the high priest,
before he went into the Holy of Holies, had to go through
certain, not only the sacrifices, slaying the animal, getting the
blood in the basin, burning its carcass, but he had to go through
certain washings. His clothes had to be washed.
His body had to be washed with pure water. And then two or three
times he would wash his hands and wash his feet. This type
of washing was connected with the picture of Christ or with
the type of Christ. These washings and ceremonies
were connected with the gospel. They were not to be violated
any more than the Holy of Holies was to be violated, or the candlestick
was allowed to burn out, or the incense was to go without burning. These washings and these ceremonies
and these rituals, which had to do with the sacrifices and
temple worship, they were essential, and they were not to be violated.
There were also other rules given to the people regarding hygiene,
cleanliness. Certain things given to them,
things to eat and things to do in reference to their bodies,
in reference to cleanliness for their health, for their general
welfare. There were washings that were
given to the people for their general welfare, the washing
of hands before you eat. It was given not only in this
ceremony, but it was given as a general principle of cleanliness
and good health and taking care to not catch germs and diseases. But these elders, these scribes
and Pharisees, had made some of these rules and instructions
a part of righteousness or a part of acceptance with God. For example,
the washing of the hands before eating was turned into a religious
requirement for righteousness, for acceptance with God. It became
a part of their worship. And it was so strictly enforced
that one of them was in prison one time, and he chose rather
to die than to eat without washing his hands. They'd bring him food,
and he wouldn't eat. He chose to die rather than eat
without washing his hands. That's how it was a part of his
spiritual belief. It was part of his righteousness.
It was a part of his acceptance with God, he thought. He could
not come to God if he ate with unwashing hands. So they finally
brought him some water to drink. And what did he do with it? He
washed his hands in it, yes. He washed his hands in it. And
this is what the Pharisees taught. Listen to this. without washing his hands is
guilty of death and shall be excommunicated from the synagogue. And that's what brought them
to the disciples. That is whether your hands were
dirty or not. You had to go through this ceremony because this was
a part of being religious. This was a part of coming to
God. This was a part of being accepted. This was a part of
righteousness to go through these certain ceremonies. And the disciples,
the Lord's disciples, were eating without washing their hands,
and the Pharisees were astounded. And that's why they asked the
Lord this. Look, your disciples eat without washing their hands.
Now listen to the next line. But he answered, verse 3, and
said to them, Why, why do you also transgress the commandment
of God by your tradition? And then he gives them an example.
He said, God commanded, I'll paraphrase these next few lines,
because we must move along. He said, Almighty God commanded
you to honor your father and mother. In other words, he said,
if your father and mother is very old, and they're sick, and
they're not able to care for themselves, you're supposed to
provide them with housing, you're supposed to provide them with
food, you're supposed to provide them with clothes. God has commanded
that. Respect your mother and father
to honor your mother and father care for those of your own household
Paul said if any man cares not for those of his household. He's
worse than an infidel But what have you done? the Pharisees
said this suppose a man has a mother and father who is very poor and
Not able to care for themselves. Well, it falls his responsibility
by the law of God to take care of but if he doesn't want to
If he wants to get around caring for them, he can religiously.
Here's what he can do. He can take the money that he
was going to give to them and declare it to be a gift to the
temple, or a gift to these Pharisees to be used for sacred, they said,
purposes. And when his mother and father
came to him for help, son, we're hungry. Son, we don't have anything
to wear. We have no place to sleep. I'm sorry, the money that
I was going to give to you, I designated it to the temple. It's a gift. So you don't have any strings
on me, and the law of God cannot command me to do anything. The
money I was going to let you have, I gave it to God. He may
have much left over, but that which he designated for them
has been given to the temple, and he doesn't have to give it
to them. That's exactly what our Lord is saying to these Pharisees.
And then he replied to them, you've made, listen to this,
you hypocrites, verse 6, thus have you made the commandment
of God of no effect by your tradition. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah
the prophet prophesy of you saying, these people draw nigh unto me
with their lips, with their bodies. but not with their hearts. Their
hearts are far from me." You are teaching, verse 9, you are
teaching for doctrines, for righteousness, the commandments of men. This
is what you are teaching. You are teaching that the way
a man comes to God is by the commandments of men, by the traditions
of men, by the ordinances of men. And you have rejected the
commandments of God. And then he gave this story.
He said, and he called the people. I want you to get this picture.
Here, our Lord's disciples have eaten without washing their hands.
I'm going through this particular ceremony. And the Pharisees were
right on top of it. These religious men who said
you can't go to heaven if you do certain things, and you can't
go to heaven if you eat certain things, and you can't go to heaven
if you drink certain things, and you can't go to heaven if
you don't wash your hands, I know this law commands you to honor
your mother and father and to have love, but if you want to
get around love, you can get around love this way, and you
can get around love that way, and you can get around faith
this way. And Christ said you've taken the commandments of men
and made them the doctrines of God. You're a hypocrite. You
approach God with your lips, but your hearts are not with
God. They're not united to God. They know not God. And when he
shut those Pharisees up, he called the people. He called the people.
He called the multitude and he said, you listen to me and you
understand what I'm saying. You listen to me and you understand
what I'm saying. Now why didn't he say this to the Pharisees?
They were bound by their tradition, they were bound by their rules
of meat and drink and do's and don'ts for righteousness. But
he said to the multitude, he said to the people, it isn't
that which goeth into the mouth that defileth a man. In other words, and boy, you
just think what he was saying to these religious men, what
he was saying in their presence. They said there were certain
meats you could eat and certain meats you couldn't eat. They
said there were certain days you could eat these things on,
certain days you couldn't eat them on. Penalty of excommunication,
death, and damnation. They said you could eat, but
you couldn't eat without washing your hands. If you did, it was
in view of damnation. And our Lord said, it's not that
which goeth in the mouth that defile it. Listen to me, there
isn't anything on this earth materially that I can put in
my mouth that can defile my soul. Not one blessed thing. Carbolic
acid or dread devil lye, or anything else. It can do a lot of damage
to my body now, eat my stomach out. But in no way it can touch
my soul. That's what he said, no way.
These folks, while they were so wrapped up in traditions,
they were so wrapped up in the diet and the style of dress and
meats and drinks and rituals and ordinances, and they had
made these things the basis of righteousness. They had made
these things the basis of acceptance with God. And Christ, he just
turned away from these religious men, these leaders, and he just
said, away with you! And he said to the multitude,
listen to me! It's not that which goeth into the mouth that defileth
a man, it's what comes out of his heart that defiles him. That's
where his trouble is. These men are so careful not
to eat certain things, and drink certain things, and do certain
things, and there are quieted sepulchres on the outside. They
look religious, and they look moral, and they look clean, and
they look godly, and they look pious. On the inside, they're
full of dead men's bones. Their hearts are wicked. So he laid this thing out just
as plain. He said, disregard all of their
ceremonies, disregard all of their rituals, disregard all
of their washings, disregard all of their diets, as a means
of acceptance with God. There is not anything a man can
put in his mouth that defiles him. It's that which comes out
of his heart. Now watch it. Then his disciples came running
up to him and they said, Lord, you've offended. You've offended
the Pharisees. You've offended the committee
of religious people that is out to close the movies and shut
down the dance and do away with the drink and do away with the
gambling and do away with this, that. You've offended them, because
they are just convinced that that's where salvation is. They
are dead convinced, and you've offended them. And the Lord said, listen to
it, he said, every plant which my heavenly Father didn't plant
is going to be rooted up. In other words, every person
who is not saved by grace, called by grace, redeemed by grace,
and by the act and power of God, is going to be rooted up anyway.
It's going to be like the tares, he's going to be gathered and
thrown into the fire. So you just leave them alone.
You just leave these ritualists and these legalists and these
separationists and these ceremonialists, you just leave them alone. Because
they're blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead
the blind, they're both going to fall into the ditch. So the
disciples came up, and remember, these disciples were raised in
this sort of religion. They were raised in the religion
of do's and don'ts. They were raised in the religion
of legalism. They were raised in the religion
of washings and ceremonies. They were raised in the religion
of this, that and the other, the disciple that the scribes
and Pharisees had handed down. And they didn't understand what
the Lord was saying either. And so they came to him, verse
15, they said, teach us this parable. And the Lord Jesus I'm sure this was an exclamation
of surprise. Are you also yet without understanding? Haven't you heard what I've been
saying? Hasn't it dawned on you what
I've been teaching? The characteristic of faith,
the vital living union with God, the heart, a new heart, a new
that salvation is not in work, salvation is not in deeds, salvation
is not in laws and ceremonies and ordinances, salvation is
not in bodily exercise, it's in a heart relationship with
the living God. Don't you understand? And then
he taught them. He said, don't you understand
that whatever enters in at the mouth, say I eat pork on Friday, or say I drink something, eat,
drink, Anything like that. Say certain clothes that I wear.
I wear a black suit instead of this red, white and blue suit. How does that have anything to
do with my heart? How does it in any way? How does
this pork or ham or fish or meat or drink, how does it in any
way affect my heart? Or my relationship with God?
What could the God of glory care about? A pig? Or a cow? Or a fish? or beans or anything,
what could the Lord of glory care about these things? Whether
I drink a cup of coffee or a Coca-Cola or a glass of wine, what could
he care? What effect does it have on my
relationship with God? Don't you know that it just goes
into the belly? That's where material things,
they go into the belly. And certain juices or acids churn
them up, and they go to different parts of the body, and then they
go out into the draft, and into the sewer, and into the river.
But I tell you, a part of me that lives on, that's his heart,
his heart, his inner man, his inner man. For out of the heart,
those things which proceed out of the mouth, those things that
come out of the mouth, those words. I was talking to a certain person
this week. This person's very religious,
very indoctrinated, very moral. I'm sure this person has certain
rules and regulations by which they would abide, and with unbending
determination. And I was inquiring about her
and her family, her children, fine, lovely, just everything
lovely, you know. And I said, well, I called the
name of another young lady who lives in that community, and
I said, how's so-and-so? She'd been married three or four
times. That came out of the heart. Now,
if I'd asked her about her daughter, her daughter had been married
three or four times, I'd have said, how's your daughter? She's
doing well, thank you. She's married to a nice man now. You know she's had some trouble,
and he didn't treat her right. But when I asked her about this
other, she'd been married three or four times. That came out
of the heart. That's what sends you to hell. That's the kind
of spirit. And you can wash your hands until
you wash the skin off, and you won't get that out. And you can
sign all the pledge cards you want to, and you won't uproot
that old evil wicked spirit. And you can go through all the
washings and baptisms and ordinances and do lollies of religion, and
you won't get that old ruse of evil and hatred out of your heart.
That's what Christ is saying. It's not what you put in your
mouth that defiles you. That's not your trouble at all.
Now, that gives a man something to do to be saved. That gives
him a little refuge. And when he said that, what comes
out of the heart? Look at verse 19. Out of the
heart proceeds evil thoughts. Brethren, these evil thoughts
are thoughts of hatred and malice and bigotry and prejudice and
jealousy and envy and hate and misunderstanding and reading
between the lines and all of these things, evil thoughts,
blasphemies, murders come out of the heart, adulteries come
out of the heart, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemy. These are the things that defile
a man, but to eat or to drink with unwashing hands never did
defile anybody. I'm watching a television program
this week, and I want you to get a hold of the pew you're
sitting on. Oh, hang on just a minute, I might take you for
a little ride right now. Don't prejudge this before you
give it some thought. But there was a man on television,
he upset Doris, but he was He was blasphemous. And he really
was. He was profane. He was a comedian,
and he was talking about heaven and hell. And he said, who's
going to heaven? Good people. Who's going to hell? Bad people. What do good people
do? Nothing. What do bad people do? He said, well, they gamble. Now,
these are the four words he used. They gamble. They drink. They dance, they believe in sex. He said, who wants to go to heaven?
They don't do nothing up there but sit around and look at each
other, or maybe study the stars. He said, down there in hell,
they're dancing, and gambling, and drinking, and so forth. And
when he got to where Doris was upset about it, I said, now wait
a minute, let's think a minute. He summed up what the average
person believes about heaven and hell. Now, I want you to
think about it. He summed up what the average
preacher is preaching this morning. He summed up what that man out
yonder thinks that salvation is. That's right, isn't it? That's
exactly what me and Eddie, you work with, and others think salvation
is. It's these do's or don'ts. Now, wait a minute. Listen to
him. Where in the Bible does he condemn dancing? David danced
before the Ark. There's a time to weep, a time
to dance, a time to laugh. I don't find anywhere in here.
Now, evil dancing, lustful dancing, and this sort of thing. But I
don't see where anybody's going to hell for dancing. I can't
find that in the Word of God. I can't even find where drinking
is condemned in God's Word. Drunkenness is. But I cannot find in the Word
of God where A commandment is laid down that a person cannot
partake in any way of intoxicating drink. I'd be glad to read it
if you'd show it to me. And I know what the Church Covenant
says, but I know what God's Word says. I know what God's Word
says. Temperance is taught in the Word
of God. Temperance in all things. Temperance in dancing, temperance
in sex, temperance in drinking. And here's another thing. You
know, I looked through the whole Bible in concordance yesterday
trying to find gambling and I can't find it? You know, that poor
fellow, I want some way, I want some way to, am I shocking you? Our Lord shocked these Pharisees.
He shocked the boots off of them. He offended them. Am I offending
you? You see, this is what they thought, this is what, you've
been thrown a curve, boy, and you struck out swinging at it.
The religious leaders of this day are just like Cecil, the
Pharisees of old. They got salvation in things. Now, some of these things are
right. There were certain washings and ceremonies that were right
in connection with the gospel. There were certain washings which
were right in connection with eating. A man is not supposed
to sit down and eat with dirty hands. for his health's sake
and for his general welfare. A mother is not to cook the meal
with filthy hands for the sake of her family, but not for the
sake of their salvation. Salvation in Christ is in the
blood. It's in a heart relationship
with God. And I can clean up this shell
out here and still my heart be filled with hatred and envy and
jealousy and lust and pride and anger and all these things. And
no matter how clean I am and how moral I am and how straight-laced
I am, God looks on the heart. And I can stand and sing, Oh
how I love Jesus and oh how I hate drunks. Some of the meanest people on
this earth are some of the most separated people. They are so pious and mean. And
what disturbs me, turn to Colossians chapter 2. You say, Preacher,
you're giving people an open door just to do what they please. I do what I please. I'm pleased
to serve the Lord. I'm pleased to love his Word.
I'm pleased to love his people. Don't you do what you please?
Are you here out of a sense of duty this morning? Because you
want to be. If that's what you want to do,
are you walking with Christ because you're afraid not to, or because
you love Christ? Are you staying out of the dens
and dives of this world because you're afraid you'll go to hell
if you don't stay out of them? Those are the kind of people
you want to associate with, go right ahead, they're your people.
But a man whose heart loves Christ loves the people of God. He chooses
the companionship of believers, because that's what he pleases
to do, John. God's changed his pleas, God's
changed his want, God's changed his nature. This is where he
wants to be. These are the people with whom
he wants to be. This is the kind of life he wants to live. He
doesn't want to live in sin. He doesn't want to live in drunkenness. He doesn't want to live with
evil comrades and companions. He wants to be holy. Look at
Colossians 2 verse 20. Therefore, if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments, elements of the world, wise though living
in the world, you subject ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle
not, which are to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines." All these things are going to perish, but attitude
and motive and spirit lives on. That's the reason Paul wrote
If I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have
not love, I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I may
bestow my goods to feed the poor and have not love, it profiteth
me nothing. I may have faith to move mountains
and have not love, I'm nothing. I may give my body to be burned
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. I tell you, if a preacher dares
to stand today and declare that righteousness and salvation and
eternal life is not in dos and don'ts and rules and regulations
and statutes and laws and laws of diet and laws of conduct and
laws of this, that and the other, but salvation is in Christ alone.
Now, he's going to offend the Pharisee. He's going to offend
the Pharisee. And then the multitude are going
to come to him and say, we don't understand, what are you teaching,
what are you saying? And our Lord taught them. So
we face two things. I face two things. Whether to
offend the false religionists and therefore free men from the
bondage of self-righteousness to a heart knowledge of Christ,
or to continue for the sake of approval and peace a totally
false concept of holiness and acceptance with God. And I'm
not going to continue. I'm going to free men. Set them
free. Turn to Romans 10. I want to
give you three things and I'll quit. Three things in Romans
10. In Romans 10, these are the three
things. First of all, this thing of salvation,
the whole of salvation. And when I say salvation, I mean
acceptance with God, I mean righteous living, I mean redemption, sanctification,
everything. It's all a heart work. It's a
heart work. That's where it takes place.
Now, listen, in Romans 10, verses 9 and 10. That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, or the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, for with the heart My friends, God requires
soul worship, soul worship. And what do men present him?
Bodily abstinences, bodily worship, dress codes, and food and meat
diets. God commands us to give him our
hearts. He said, My son, give me thine
heart. What are we giving? We give him
our hands, we give him our feet, we give him our lips. God demands
our thoughts and our love. What are we presenting? Our voices,
our activities, our ceremonies and our programs. God says cleanse
first that which is within. The inner man, the inner nature,
the inner heart, cleansed first that which is within by the blood
of Christ, by the washing of regeneration, by the renewing
of the Holy Spirit. We ignore that and go to work
on the flesh. If I can just get this done and
that done and the other done, God will be pleased. But here it says, with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. With the heart, with the heart. You see, conviction of sin is
a heart work. In Acts chapter 2, they were
pricked in their hearts. That's where conviction takes
place. It's a heart conviction. And then repentance is a heart
work. My son, keep thy heart out of it of the issues of life.
And then faith is a heart work. We believe with all of our hearts.
that Christ came into the world, that Christ was made in the likeness
of flesh, that Christ obeyed the law, that our substitute
went to the cross and died for our sins, was buried and rose
again, and he ascended to the right hand of God. I've never
seen that. I've never heard that. I believe it in my heart. I'm
fully persuaded in my heart that Jesus Christ is the refuge from
sin. He's the foundation of every
believer. He's the Redeemer of God's sheep.
And then righteousness is from the heart. It's an imputed righteousness
and an imparted righteousness. And it does not consist in material
substance nor physical action. Turn with me to Matthew 22. Matthew
22, verse 35. Matthew 22, 35. Now this is the
first thing. that I'm setting forth, that
salvation is a hard work. Let that be understood. Let that
be our foundation. Salvation is a hard work, a hard
work. It's not the mechanics or the
rituals of outward ceremony or show. I may, if I get down here
like this and bow my head and tears begin to fall, everybody
out there say, well, oh bless his heart, he's really crazy.
I might be a big hypocrite in this. And I may be standing right here
looking out over this congregation, my heart broken for you, and
really weeping and praying. You say, why doesn't he get on
his knees and pray instead of standing around looking at everybody?
You thoroughly, totally misjudged it. And see, God knows the difference. Because God doesn't look on the
outward. He said bodily exercise profiteth little. So you may
see a dear lady come into church on Sunday morning with a great
big Bible, you know, and her Sunday school literature sticking
out everywhere, and leading two or three people by the hand,
and going to the house of God. And she may be the biggest hypocrite
in your city. Her heart may be filled with
prejudice, it may be filled with resentment, it may be filled
with jealousy. I'll tell you one thing, watch
and see if her husband's going along with her, or her husband
and his wife. Sometimes they'll give you a
clue, not all the time, but sometimes. Sometimes she's a devil at home.
She looks so pious going to church. But you may see another young
person and you look at that outward shell and you say, too much makeup
or too much jewelry. Or look at her hairdo. She's
a hussy. Now hold on there. Hold on just a minute. You might
have the wrong hussy. Now that's the truth. I'm telling
the truth. I'm just telling it like it is. Because you're looking
on the shell. God looks on the heart. That
little girl may be the dearest girl in this town. She may be
the most godly woman in this city, she may be God's messenger
to this generation. But no, we've got this thing,
we've got it down into the outward appearance, and the do's and
don'ts. And God says you justify yourselves
before men, but God looks on your heart, and that which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. Look at
Matthew 22 if you will. Matthew 22, verse 35. Then one
of them, being a lawyer, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,
tempting him, saying, Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? Which is the most important law of all? Take the
laws and tell us which is the greatest law, which is most important.
And our Lord said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart with all our soul, with all our mind. This is the
first and great commandment, and the second is likened to
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And on these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Want to go
to work? Go to work right there. Go to
work right there. Because that brings me to my
second point. A right ordering of the heart and a right love for Christ in
one another will result in a right ordering of the conduct. Now,
if a while ago I upset you and you thought the pastor was opening
the gates for all manner of transgression, this will close the gate right
here. He didn't open the gate for anybody that knows the word
of God and knows Christ, but there may be some who misunderstood.
But I'm saying this, when my heart is right with God and men,
my conduct will be right. That's right, that's the truth.
Turn to John 14. John 14. But here's the tragic
thing. Your conduct can be above reproach
while your heart's wicked. You see that? You may be accepted
by men, rejected by God. You may be praised by men and
despised by God. You may be under the approval
of men. and rejected, and under the damnation
of God. Because your outward conduct
may be so above reproach that men, that's all they can see.
And they approve of you, and they elate you, and they exalt
you, and they give you authority. They did the Pharisees. But the
Lord may put you in hell, because he looks on your heart. So your
outward conduct may be above reproaching the eyes of men while
your heart is despised in the sight of God, but if your heart
is right in God's sight, I guarantee you this conduct over here will
be representative of the Lord of glory, if your heart is right. You can have a commendable outward
conduct and a wicked heart, but you can't have a righteous heart
without having commendable conduct. Look at John 14. This is, Spurgeon
said, the chapter of ifs. There are seven ifs in this chapter.
The Lord Jesus said in verse 2, If it were not so, I would
have told you. And he says down here in verse
7, If you had known me, you would have known my Father. And he
says in verse 14, Verse 3, he said, If I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. Verse 14, If you ask anything
in my name, I'll do it. Now, these last three are the
ones I want you to note. Verse 15, If you love me, you'll
keep my commandments. If you love me. If you love me. Look at verse 23, If a man love
me, he'll keep my words. Look at verse 28, the middle
of the verse, If you love me, you would rejoice. Brother J.,
I'm willing, as pastor of a church, and as the, I believe God's made
me a spiritual leader to some, I'm willing, for what I know
about the word of God, what I know about salvation, eternal life,
condemnation, I'm willing to base everything that a man believes
everything he does, everything he thinks, every relationship
he has concerning the Lord of glory on this one foundation.
If you love me, if you love me, I'm with you. If you love Christ,
if you love me. If love is genuine and strong,
he said, Peter, watch it now, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Paul said, The
love of Christ constraineth me. If love is true and genuine,
love for Christ, love for Christ and love for his people. Now,
you can't love God and hate your brother. John said that. He said, You hate your brother
and you say you love God? You're a liar. The truth of God
is not in you. If you love God, you love the
things of God, the people of God. You love all men. You can't
hate no God. Christ can't sit on the throne
in your heart and it be a habitation of hatred, a den of iniquity. No way for Christ to live where
filth lives. So if love is strong and genuine
and continual, there's no sacrifice too severe and there's no cost
too great. All right, the last thing. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7. Are you with me?
Salvation, redemption is a heart work. It's something that goes
on in the heart, in the soul of a man, in the innermost being. There's a new creation, a new
creature. When God saved me, I still was nearsighted. I was
nearsighted before he saved me, and nearsighted after he saved
me. When God saved me, I was hard
of hearing, and Jane was still hard of hearing. Hard of hearing
it too. I beat you to it. When God saved me, I was a man,
I'm a man still. But God gave me a new heart,
which you can't see, and he can, and a new attitude and a new
spirit. I still have the flesh, I still
have a conflict and a battle and a warfare with it. The things
that appeal to a natural man appeal to a spiritual man, not
on the same basis, not for the same reason, but they're people.
The trials and challenges that a redeemed woman has are the
same challenges and desires and so forth that an unredeemed woman
has. What will a saved man do? Anything a lost man will do,
except for the grace of God. But there's a new nature. There's
a spiritual man. There's a man that loves Christ.
There's a man that delights in Christ. There's a man that delights
in the things of Christ. There's a new nature and a new
spirit. There's a certain way in which
sin is appealing, but it's not appealing. There's a certain
way in which certain things are attractive, but they're not attractive.
There's a certain way in which certain companionships you just
don't care for, certain things you don't have any interest in,
certain blasphemies that just upset you and trouble you. That's
the spiritual man. But we're still in the world.
We're still here. You men still got to go to work
in the morning. You've still got to go. I feel for you. See, I get up, Jay and I come
over here. The atmosphere is different. He's here. We love
each other. We love Christ. We talk about
it. I'll get something and come in there and tell him what. He'll
get something in the Word and come show me, you know. We open
the mail, we're eating the television, listening. You've got to go out
there in the morning where it's grit and grime and greed and
everything else. And boy, you know it. And some
of you don't have happy home lives, happy marriages. You've
got to stay there, though, haven't you? Let's read this scripture
here. 1 Corinthians 7, and they that use this world
as not abusing it. Use this world, but not abusing
this world. Listen, I can't get out of this
world. Somebody sang a song, stop the
world and let me off. There's no way. You've got to
stay on. You've got to stay on. And you've
got to use this world. And God has ordained that certain
things be used, the things of this world. But it's not abusing
them. There's certain marriage, jobs, money. I've got to have
money. We've got to buy food, we've
got to buy clothes, we've got to buy different things, we've
got to have hospitalization, we've got to have all these different
things. There's monies involved in our lives. Eat and drink, all of these things are part
of life, so we use them, we use them. Everything is ordained
of God for our good and is to be used with thanksgiving and
prayer and temperately and so forth. If Christ dwells in your
heart, and the Spirit of God dwells in your heart. Your relationship
to the fashions and things and relationships of this world will
be dictated by the presence of Christ. And you don't abuse these
things. A man that abuses these things,
an immoderate, intemperate, loose-living individual, shows that his priorities
are all wrong, that his values are all wrong. But when our priority
is Christ and when Christ is our Our thoughts are set on things
to boil. Then we use this world. You go
to your job tomorrow and work it. Do the best you can. Give
a full day's labor. Endure what you have to endure
and use it. It's not abusing it. And opportunities. You're going to have opportunities
to better yourselves and so forth. Can you use these things without
them becoming first? Without abusing them? Can you
use recognition without abusing it? There's some men that can't
take recognition. They get puffed up. But these
things are passing away. There's some men that can't stand
prosperity. They leave the gospel. They leave the gospel. They change
their friends. Some fellow, God blesses him,
prospers him, so he goes and joins the country club and runs
with a different crowd. And just because he gets disinterested
in the gospel, he can't run around with Joe Doe anymore because
Joe is beneath him. He used this world, but not abusing
it. See what I'm saying? Using it
and not abusing it. It's not that which goes into
the mouth. It's all the troubles down here already in me. And
I've got to get that straightened out, and only Christ can do it.
But let's do this if we can. Let's see if we can teach salvation
where it is, in Christ, and use this world as God has given it
and as God has ordained it, and not abusing it. The privileges,
the blessings, the pleasures, the joys, without abusing them, getting
them out of place, getting things in the wrong place and the wrong
perspective.