Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/50275/if-thy-right-hand-offend-thee-quality-average/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] For the help of God, I will direct your attention to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 5, verse 30. [0:10] Matthew, chapter 5, verse 30. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. [0:24] For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. [0:39] And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. [1:01] The Lord Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, spoke solemnly and discriminatingly, and he spoke with much warning. [1:21] The people of whom he spoke, heard the truth, whether that truth was received into their heart or not. [1:35] By the grace of God, as truth is preached today, people may hear the word with their natural ear, and yet may not listen to it with their spiritual ear. [1:52] In consequence of this, there is no attention to that which is exhorted. Now, in the words of our text, we have a reference to the right hand. [2:09] The right hand. [2:39] In the words of our text, we read, we saw one that there was such that held an eye in their right hand. [2:51] Many people, alas, hold an eye in their right hand, and yet have no desire to cast it off, because it does not offend them. [3:07] This is exceedingly solemn, because we have the result of a lie being in our right hand, and not being cast out of. [3:23] That is, that it shall, with the whole body, be cast into hell. Very similarly, in the book of Psalms, we read of a falsehood being in the right hand. [3:43] This is mentioned in the 144th Psalm twice, just a few verses apart. It is therefore established that there is a deep significance in the falsehood being in our right hand, and the necessity for the whole matter. [4:12] Now, we must bring this matter to ourselves. It is pointless for us merely to discourse upon a subject for the tickling of the fancy, even for the attraction of the natural mind. [4:36] What is meaningful is the penetrating and powerful work of the Spirit of God, causing us to tremble at the Word. [4:51] Isaiah tells us about those that trembled at God's Word. Now, many words we read in the Scriptures, and we pass over them. [5:05] Can we recall the occasion and the time when our spirits trembled at the Word of God? Shall we tremble at this Word? [5:18] And if thy right hand offend thee, tremble at it because we may be afraid that our right hand does not offend us. [5:30] Now, this brings us to consider what we are holding in our right hand. Are we holding lies and falsehood? [5:42] Or, on the other hand, are we holding righteousness and truth? If our right hand holds lies and falsehood, then, if the grace of God is in our heart, we should be offended. [6:03] But are we offended? Do we solemnly tremble at a word like this? I dare say most of us have read this chapter in Matthew good many times. [6:15] But could we have said to be amongst those that tremble at his Word? That when we come to this verse, it is as though we take our right hand and we look at it, and we see what's in it, and we see what it's holding, and we see what its tendency is to grasp. [6:35] If thy right hand offend thee, now, of course, lies and falsehood will not offend the ungodly, will not offend that person who is dead in a profession, because there is no light and no life of fruit in their soul which will make them a bore of that which is evil, and a cleave to that which is good. [7:09] Now, what do we hold in our right hand? We shall confine our remarks this afternoon, principally, to the truth as it is in Jesus and that which is not the truth. [7:28] In other words, that which is of God and that which is of the flesh. The religion which comes as the result of our mental activity and the religion that comes as a result of the work of the Spirit upon our hearts. [7:53] If thy right hand offend thee, we shall discover whether we have the grace of God in our hearts, because the psalmist says, I hate every false way. [8:15] Our deceitful natures would not be able to say that, because there is a covering up, and there is a saying, well, it doesn't really matter. [8:27] Everybody else holds these kind of things. It will be no use your standing before God in the great day, holding a lie in your right hand, even if it is behind your back, and saying that you are holding the truth. [8:47] We read a solemn word in the epistles, holding the truth in unrighteousness. Holding the truth in unrighteousness. [9:00] Well, how do we understand a scripture like that? Well, to hold the truth in unrighteousness, may be said to hold it, as it were, in the letter, to regard the general trend of what we call Calvinistic truth even, and yet, to have no faith in our heart, a right hand, in a right way considered, is a hand of faith, and we may hold the truth, but if we do not hold the truth in faith, and if the truth does not cause our right hand to stretch out under God, then we shall surely be holding the truth in unrighteousness. [9:52] Has this point been brought home to us sometimes? And in consequence, can it be said that our right hand has offended us? [10:06] We've been looking at our right hand, and we've been greatly afraid that we've been holding the truth in unrighteousness. Then again, to hold the truth in unrighteousness is to hold the truth and yet have no love to it. [10:27] And hence, this being so, we are virtually holding in our right hand falsehood and lies. Have we loved the truth? [10:41] Why do the people of God love the truth? Well, they love the truth because the truth makes them free. They love the truth because it is the life of God to their souls. [10:57] They love the truth because it is pure and being born again in the spirit, they seek out the pure things and we read every word of God is pure. [11:11] Therefore, they are attracted to it. And if thy right hand offend thee, when will thy right hand defend thee, if we consider it as the possibility of our holding the truth in unrighteousness. [11:31] Now, I think it is important for us to consider it even in such a congregation as this. It is a great mistake for us to believe that because denominationally we are sadly based on our articles of faith, therefore, we can sit smugly in the capitals and in the churches and assume that we are holding the truth in righteousness. [12:05] However sadly based a church of God may be, in order to hold the truth in righteousness, it is necessary for us to receive the truth into our heart by faith and it is also necessary for us to love the truth. [12:28] And yet, such that are blessed with the grace of God to do this, may well find a hand, a right hand even, as it were in competition, produced from their common nature, which would seek to hold the truth in a way which does not require faith to be an exercise or love to be made known. [13:01] Now, does our right hand offend us sometimes, regardless we turn over the scriptures, we listen to discourses, and maybe we read writers on the subject of divine truth and doctrine, and then we receive it into our head. [13:27] Is it not holding the truth in our righteousness? Is it not holding the truth in such a way that it does not exercise our faith? it does not excite our love? [13:40] Oh, there is so much that may well make our spirits tremble when we consider the questions that are raised, the debates that are entered upon, all relative to the truth, and yet the truth is held in our righteousness. [14:01] Now, that is that there is no faith in gender, and there is no love excited, and if thy right hand offend thee. [14:14] Now, this is something which only you can feel, only I can feel. The reactions of any part of our body naturally can only be felt by the person themselves. [14:30] In the same way, any reaction spiritually considered can only be felt by individual souls. And so therefore, if thy right hand does offend thee, then who will feel the effect? [14:48] not the person sitting next to you, but you yourself will feel the effect of it. That is, holding the truth in unrighteousness, holding the truth in a way unacceptable to God, holding the truth in that way which has no faith in the holding of it, and no love in the holding of it. [15:15] Therefore, if thy right hand offend thee, how are we holding the truth? The truth as it is in Jesus. The truth itself, of course, is an extensive subject. [15:30] We may just touch upon one of two points. How do we hold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ? We may have read that excellent pretext by Dr. [15:48] Owen on the glory of Christ. Now, that man, he held the truth in faith, in righteousness, in love. He rejoiced in Christ. [16:00] He rejoiced in the glory of Christ. And if you have read it, now, this comes deeply to exercise our souls. Has it been with a right hand, with a lie in it? [16:15] A lie which has told us that, well, of course, that's wonderful truth, isn't it? And you know that, don't you? Now, the thing is that we don't know the experience of it, perhaps. [16:26] We've read about it, and we've absorbed it into our minds, things, but do we hold and lie in falsehood in our right hand? Are we deceiving ourselves? [16:40] If the right hand offend thee, oh, we may think upon it as to whether that which we hold in our right hand does offend us in respect to our Lord Jesus Christ. [16:54] Well, then, we may by comparison as we go along ask the question, well, what is it when our right hand will not be offended? [17:06] So, we will look at the person of Christ, the embodiment and fullness of the truth of God. What are our feelings concerning Jesus Christ? [17:20] Now, we may receive it in the letter that he is the eternal God, that he is the great savior, that he is the blessed son of God that came into the world to save sinners, that he humbled himself and made himself of no reputation. [17:47] If thy right hand offend thee, offend thee by holding the truth, the truth concerning the various offices of Jesus Christ, what is it that offends? [18:05] Well, this is that that offends, that we cannot feel the faith in exercise, and we cannot feel the love in exercise. [18:16] Now, to hold the truth in righteousness is to receive Christ into our hearts by faith, and also to love Christ from the very bottom of our hearts. [18:29] Why? Because he is a very real person. He has saved us from our sins. He has enlightened our minds and delivered us from ourselves. [18:44] We have seen his condescension, and we have believed it. The person of Christ has not been the subject of debate or argument, but the person of Christ has become to us the very fullness and glory of our salvation. [19:03] And in the inconsequence of this, we may say that our right hand is not offended. And yet, is there a right hand which we may sometimes feel is being put forth, claiming those things which may be put down as robbery? [19:26] No, you see, this is something that should offend us. There are robbers, you know, people that take the promises of God, and yet these promises have not been given. [19:39] There are those which will say all the promises of God are to the Lord's people. Now, that's perfectly true. They certainly are. [19:51] But, you know, we must bear this point in mind that we should not begin putting forth our hand to take that which has not been given. [20:05] we may indeed live in our home. And I do like that word of the father to the elder son, when he said, all that I have is thine. [20:25] And it's attracted me so much that as a father myself, I would like to feel the same. All that I have is thine. [20:41] Now, you see, does that mean that the son can immediately put forth his hand and then upon this and upon that and upon the other and say, well, I can take it, it's my father's and therefore it's mine. [20:57] Even in the natural course of things, we shall find it much more pleasant when our father gives us this. And then we shall know it's ours. [21:09] Now, the same thing may apply to all the promises of God which are in him, yeah, and in him, amen. When they're given to us, now, don't I right hand offend thee, has thy right hand been responsible for putting itself forth to take a promise which God has not given, to take a revelation which God has not communicated. [21:41] These may be such in thoughts as afternoon. It was ever bear in mind that the preacher is often a search of his time, often as searched by the preaching as other people may be. [21:58] One book minister I heard of recently in the course of his discourse, he says, well, friends, I'm preaching to myself, and if you like to listen, you can. And if thy right hand offend thee, say, so it is good for us to look at our right hand in respect to the most message and glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ. [22:24] We shall stand or fall on what we believe and how we love our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. We really don't love it of that loving of the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. [22:41] Do we therefore love Jesus Christ in this, in sincerity and in truth? Oh, what an opposition is this to holding the truth in unrighteousness in considering the Lord Jesus Christ merely as a person, the center of some interesting and intellectual discussion. [23:10] Sinners can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. And if thy right hand offends thee, and as I've already said, I cannot tell you whether your right hand offends you. [23:27] Neither can you tell me whether my right hand offends me. How shall we know that our right hand offends us? Well, it will be when the Spirit of God comes into our soul and whispers in our heart and says, and this is not right. [23:46] Oh, it is good for God to deal with your soul and mine, and when our right hand will put forth itself to cut hold of falsehood, that is, that which is in the letter only and not in the Spirit, then the Lord should speak to us and say, thy right hand is not right, it is holding the truth in unrighteousness. [24:10] Then it will offend us. Oh, then it will offend us. And it will offend us because God has spoken. In the 119th psalm, we find toward the end of that psalm the Lord speaking and saying, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. [24:45] Now the meaning of that, of course, is that nothing shall offend them in God's law or as to what God says. But we may well be offended in respect to that particular part of us that is affected. [25:03] Therefore, we should consider that even our right hand, that which stretches forth, that which holds, offends us. Because it is unproductive. [25:20] It is an offense to God. And therefore, it is an offense to us. If by right hand offend thee. And what is our feeling and our thinking about the trinity and unity and the unity and trinity? [25:40] Does that offend us? How shall we hold the truth in righteousness and not be offended? Not and say, well, I'm not offended. [25:50] because my right hand is holding on to the truth. It is holding on to the truth that I have tasted and handled and felt. It is holding on to the truth that I know is right. [26:03] It is holding on to the truth because I see that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were all concerned in my salvation. it is holding on to the truth because my faith beholds the glory of the Father, the glory of the Son, and the glory of the eternal Spirit in their different parts to be played in respect to my own salvation. [26:30] And oh, how I love the Father, how I love the Son, and how I love the Holy Ghost because of what they have done for my soul and the truth that has been communicated to me so that the words are clearly given to me that I shall lay hold of them. [26:54] It is good when God speaks to us and commands us to hold that fast which thou hast. [27:09] that we also read the exhortation of the Word of God which exhorts a person to hold fast to this and hold fast to that for this matter belonging unto me. [27:35] if thy right hand offend thee. There is much proof that we may go through in connection with the faith of the election of grace. [27:51] Do we hold the doctrine of grace or sometimes they refer to as the doctrines of grace in such a way that they do not offend us? [28:03] Now if they do not offend us they will be held in faith and they will be held in love. You will hold the doctrine of the election in faith and in love so that it does not become a dry doctrine it does not become a hard doctrine it does not become an unpleasant doctrine but it becomes a doctrine that your right hand grants hold on and loves and believes in and rejoices in. [28:32] And you see if faith is active then there will be two points two handmaids as it were accompanying faith and that is joy and peace. [28:45] If we hold the truth of election in righteousness and thereby not be offended we shall hold it in such a way that we shall be endeared to it. [28:59] Though God's election is of truth more comfort there I see till I am told by God's own health that he has chosen me. And that's when you'll love it and that's when your right hand will not offend you because the Lord hath spoken and he hath said I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine if thy right hand offend thee in respect to the doctrine of redemption it's impossible that any person within our denomination should be offended at the doctrine of redemption well some cross examination and some self examination may bring some of us to see the point you know we need a great deal of grace to be saved by grace to be willing to be saved by grace in our hearts there is a legality and in consequence we have a great deal of trouble because we hold the truth we hold the truth of redemption but how do we hold it in a legal spirit and therefore all the sweetness and all the blessedness is never discovered but to hold the truth in righteousness by reason of our great need for the [30:37] Lord to appear unto us as our Redeemer as the Lord himself who came down from heaven and earth to save us from ourselves to save us from our sins and to reveal himself to us as a person this is that wherein we shall be able to stretch forward our right hand and when we look at it when we examine it we shall not be offended by it we shall say yes yes I can hold this truth of redemption by Christ Jesus and if we consider a regeneration as an important truth do we hold it merely as a dogma as something which is spoken about emphasized or do we feel the necessity of it in our own hearts and therefore holding this truth in faith and in righteousness and in love do you know the doctrine of regeneration have you looked at that third chapter of [31:54] John sometimes and rejoiced in the glorious truth set forth there when the Lord said to Nicodemus ye must be born again and have you emphasized that before God ye must be born again and therefore I am anxious to have those clear and powerful evidences in my soul that I am born again born again of the spirit by right if I right hand offend thee now you see many people climb up over the book John Bunyan depicts this in the pilgrim's progress there were very few came in through the gate of regeneration you know it's not for me to bear judge of anything it is good for us to be persuaded in our own mind it is good for us to consider the whole matter did I come in and the wicked gate was I regenerated in the first place or did I climb up some other way and thus become a thief and robber and therefore we could look at this word if thy right hand offend thee well if we come in the wrong way we've got to go and start all over again now this may be alarming especially if the years are passing on in your life but let me say this the Lord is able to extend your life so that you will be able to go right back and come in at the wicked gate here is [33:47] John Newton with it Lord decide the doubtful case thou who are thy people's son shine upon thy word of grace everything thee begun let me love thee more and more you see the stretching forth of the right hand not unto ungodliness not unto mere doctrine but unto the reality of fruit let me love thee more and more if I love at all I pray if I have not loved before help me to begin today therefore we have the stretching forth of the right hand it may offend your natural mind it may crucify your flesh but you will not disturb your spiritual mind your right hand now made pure by the grace of God stretching up and stretching over to the importance of receiving the work of regeneration in a gracious experience in the soul and rejoicing with [35:03] Nicodemus as he eventually did in this great truth he must be born again and if thy right hand offend thee and so I speak of the sanctification of the soul and that sanctification as it is applied to life oh how often may we perhaps more clearly see thy right hand offendedly is there that which thy right hand stretches after sometimes you know when the buildings were going through vanity fair there were many temptations and there was every opportunity for the right hand to stretch forth but then there was a voice within which spoke to them and said buy the truth and said it not now this brings us to another one not only will our right hand hold and our right hand stretch forth or figure after him but our right hand will also be used to hold fast now the scripture says hold fast that which is good and there's something to go before that prove all things prove all things so we have to look what is in our right hand to see where it's worth holding now how do you know where it's worth holding [36:52] I believe you will know where it's worth holding because the enemy of your soul will try to snatch it from you and therefore you will have to hold the truth hold fast to the truth hold that fast that thou hast that no man take thy prayer but then in the Lord's teaching he says cut it off and cast it from thee we regard this as figurative angry how shall we cut it off and furthermore how shall we cast it from ourselves the thing which our natural hand as it were would stretch forth unto in opposition to the hand of faith and the hand of love how shall we cut it off God will enable us to cut it off and [37:57] God will enable us to cast it from us how do that well he will do it by bringing us to this point let all fruitless searches go which perplex and teach us we determine not to hurt because of Jesus treat all as deceitless which lead not to Christ now that's a very simple rule and we may be astonished sometimes how many deceitless there are in the world now it is a matter for your own soul's questioning when this comes up and that comes up and the other comes up is it leading me to [39:02] Christ if it isn't it is a deceiver and you'll have to let as many things go because they're not leading you to Christ so therefore you're holding it in your right hand something which is to be detrimental to your soul's good the word says the lord says cut it off and cast it from me maybe we can go to the 15th of John where we read about the vine and the father being the husband and the pruning and the cousin out of the dead bull and we are spiritual vines which you know sometimes are the cutting out of the dead wood but because the wood is dead we may not feel it very much but then there is the fruit now this is cutting back the live wood this is cutting back that wherein there is the sand there will be said to have some feeling respecting it now has [40:38] God as it were cut us back how does he cut back well he cuts back with his chasing hands everything that comes into your life and into mine is good and we should bear that in mine you see what does the right hand want to do sometimes well it wants to advance in Christian standing shall I say it wants to advance in Christian knowledge shall I say the right hand goes off and it may not offend you at first but subsequently God's life shines apart and God whispers in your ear now what are you holding in that hand is it Christ or is it something else no [41:40] Christ is the fullness and is to be distinguished even from holding the doctrine of Christ that's wonderful isn't he but it's Christ when the good hymn writer said thou oh Christ are all I want he did not want what we may call the doctrine of Christ he did not want to read the scripture right and beneficial as that may be but he wanted to hold Christ in his hands the right hand yeah the left hand of that good man Simeon did not offend him when they led by the spirit into the temple at that particular time when the Lord was taken up to his circumcised he took him up in his arms and he blessed God he said now let thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation and and that which his eyes saw his arms were very holy and he was not offended so if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee it is [42:55] God that work within you both the will and do of his good pleasure it's not for you to do it you will find you cannot do it you may attempt to do it but God will do it and God will do it effectively so God will bring you to hold the truth in righteousness in faith and in love and in living desire and in consequence anything else but that which faith may hold off will be cut off and furthermore it will be cast from thee there will be no difficulty in casting off and cutting off the dead bed of the proof when Christ is in our hearts by faith for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell this draws our attention to the seriousness of the whole matter do we ever consider the sedemity of our whole body being cast into hell the eye the hand the foot and everything else that is contained in the body that we ever consider the seriousness and the importance of that which is in our right hand is a dreadful and solemn thing to hold error and yet error and heresy abounds it's around about us today the preachers of the gospel need much grace that they may not even unwittingly propound that which is erroneous how will they be preserved well they will be preserved by the grace of [45:18] God in weighing the matter now does this bring me in faith and love to Christ however the imagination may bring to new thought if it doesn't bring us to Christ if it doesn't cause us to have faith in Christ if it doesn't cause us to love Christ then we may put it down as being a result of a deceived heart in the chapter we read we also could observe the effect of holding a knife in our right hand he feedeth on ashes a deceived heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor say is there not a lie by right hand deception is dreadful for us to consider god knows how many are deceived maybe some of us are greatly concerned sometimes as to whether we are deceived and we trust we may not be deceived but can we leave the matter just in the air and say well I hope I shall be deceived we have heard some people at the prayer meetings pray something like this if I am deceived undeceived me [46:47] I can think of nothing more solid than for a person to come down to their dying day and to enter into the presence of God and then to hear those words I never knew you the person deceived all through the night they've been calling on the name of the Lord at least they've said Lord Lord they've been deceiving themselves their right eye has been deceived and their right hand has held that which has deceived them too they've had no ability to deliver themselves from their right hand's power it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish now this may mean sometimes a cutting off and a can't do a way it may mean a crucifixion of the flesh and that will be painful won't be easy for you to give up some things some of you may be brought along and as you look over the years maybe you are brought up on concrete you are brought up on what we call free fear our mechanism wasn't easy to get back was it and yet you held it in your right hand and it didn't offend you either indeed it pleased you and yet had the [48:22] Lord not opened your eyes and made you willing to move your grip on error and thereby I would be willing to cut off that right hand as it were and cast it from me or did it realizing that it is profitable to thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell the Lord Jesus was not one of those people that did not mention hell if he mentioned it it was because he knew there was such a place if people do not mention it we may well ask ourselves the question is it because they do not believe there is such a place some professed to ministers [49:22] I am not referring to our nomination at the moment they are bold enough to wait so there is no devil to save heart what a lie they are holding in their right hand and with that one lie their whole body will perish perish but it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not in that thy whole body should be cast into hell it is profitable for thee to feel the prunest knife cutting this off and cutting that off and making it abhorrent you know we shall not cast anything away until it is abhorrent to us but if it is abhorrent to us then we shall cast it away now my mind goes to Job where he said wherefore I abhor myself and repent in just an act now the word here is if [50:29] I write hand of hand there but Job came to the point where not only his right hand offended him but all of him offended him and he was willing to cast it all away and what was the purpose well it made room for Christ it made room for salvation it made room for that cry give me Christ or else I die does our right hand uphold this falsehood of this lie holding ourselves the Pharisee prayed thus with himself and he said I thank God that was himself that I'm not like us enough for even as this public and I get tired of all that I possess and so he was holding a lie in his right hand as long as you cling to yourself as long as yourself means anything to you at all then when it is in your right hand that you're holding yourself as something when you should be holding yourself as nothing that will be a great day when that which you holding your right hand holding yourself in some screen holding yourself above that which it ought to be [52:03] I say that will be a great day when it will defend you and you're willing to cast it out now you see Paul he cast cut it off as it were he cast it out when he said oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death for it is profitable that not only one of my members should perish but the whole of my carnal cell should be cast away in order that I may find my all in Christ thou oh Christ art all I want for it is good for our right hand to stretch forth unto that truth we want this we want the other but are we willing to part with all now this is what real religion is all about to bring you and bring me to part with all now that doesn't necessarily mean that we've got to be cast into the open field and to have no to be deprived of the comfort that [53:15] God has been pleased to give us in this life but it means principally to part with yourself and that will be the hardest thing of all but when you part with yourself and therefore cast your whole soul upon the Lord for salvation will then you will be in the hands of God and your right hand having held yourself so tightly for so long will be offended so I can hold it no longer and if this hand wants to hold to myself it must be cut off and it must be cast away and all that I might have in its place the right hand of faith which will cling to Christ which will seek which will cling to all that is set before me in his death that will cling to the truth in righteousness in such a way that [54:15] I shall be able to say I'm Christ the solid rock I'm stand all other ground is sinking sand love to song all to all r