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Reasons to Take up This Study, Part 2
In 'Reasons to Take up This Study, Part 2,' Pastor Albert N. Martin continues his exposition on the necessity of self-examination, building on the question 'Are you for real?' He argues that believers must scrutinize their faith due to three factors: the peculiar vulnerability to deception created by contemporary societal conditions (where open confession is easy but godliness is difficult), the generally low state of piety within the evangelical church (leading to self-delusion through comparison with others), and the specific dangers facing Trinity Baptist Church (its esteem, knowledge, and the challenges of second and third generations). Martin concludes by emphasizing that self-examination strengthens assurance for true believers and exposes self-deception for unbelievers while mercy is still available, urging all to pray for God to reveal their true spiritual state.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 9 sections · 71 min
- Introduction and Recap: Why Self-Examination is Necessary 0:02
- Reason 3: Vulnerability Due to Societal Circumstances 7:04
- Societal Vulnerability: Easy Confession, Abounding Iniquity 9:11
- Church Vulnerability: Low State of Piety and Self-Comparison 26:22
- Trinity Baptist Church's Specific Vulnerabilities: Esteem and Knowledge 41:11
- Trinity Baptist Church's Specific Vulnerabilities: Second and Third Generations 51:33
- Reason 4: Explicit Scriptural Commands for Self-Examination 60:17
- The Benefits of Self-Examination for Believers and Unbelievers 63:14
- Pastoral Plea and Concluding Prayer 66:11
Key Quotes
“He does not own anyone as his disciple whose attachment to him is not of such a nature that should martyrdom be the necessary consequence of confessing that. Attachment, if he's unworthy for martyrdom, Jesus said he's not worthy to be my disciple.”
“There aren't two standards of salvation. There aren't two standards of attachment to Christ. Either. Either the attachment to Christ is a saving attachment which has bound up in it the spirit of martyrdom, or it's a sham.”
“We have in society a situation in which it is easy to name the name of Christ, and yet terribly difficult. To maintain any semblance of that vital, vibrant godliness which is the mark of a vital attachment to Christ.”
“but they themselves measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves are without understanding as long as they take themselves as their measuring stick they're all right but he says in so do they are without understanding”
“because you say I am rich have gotten riches have needed nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”
“if I think that the knowledge in and of itself is equal to experience I know nothing as I ought to know my friend the devil is a far better theologian than you or I he is he could tie you in knots spewing his theology he's the devil still”
“you see all self deceived people will be undeceived someday either now while the door of mercy is open or in that day when the door of mercy is shut”
Applications
Believers
- Pray for those tender of conscience and weak in faith, that God would strengthen their faith and move them from fear and hesitancy to courage.
The unconverted
- For those present by constraint, without spiritual appetite, pray for God's surprising grace to show them their horrible state and draw them to Christ.
- For the self-deceived, pray for God to blast their pillbox of deception and bring them naked before Him, so they flee to Christ's righteousness.
- If you have only known outward conformity and knowledge without the internal work of the Holy Spirit, you are deceived.
- Pray for those who think all is well but lack the root of the matter, that God would give them grace to face their true state and convert them.
All listeners
- Mean what you have said unto God in worship and prayer.
- For those hungering and thirsting, expect God to fulfill His promise to fill them.
- Refuse to face the danger of self-deception at the peril of your never-dying soul.
- Do not deliberately avoid anyone who knows God better or is more zealous than you; instead, seek to learn from them.
- Get honest and ask why you have your present circle of friends.
- Examine if your friends draw you to greater conformity to Christ or leave you smug and self-satisfied.
- Parents, you have no choice but to impose God's rule on your children and household.
- Dare to pray: 'Oh God, if I'm not for real, show me now and make me for real.'
- Pray for conviction of reality, to see and deal with doubts, and to gain well-grounded assurance.
- Look straight into the mirror of God's word and be honest with what you see.
- Recognize that the pressure to self-examine is a merciful exercise of love and compassion for your soul.
- Pray for mercy on unconverted children and young people, that they would be brought to repentance and faith.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 106 paragraphs, roughly 71 minutes.
Introduction and Recap: Why Self-Examination is Necessary
The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, June 19, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Holy Father, searcher of all of our hearts,
acknowledge that we have sung very sobering things to you.
We have asked you to send us whatever in your providence you choose to send. If only our cold, dull hearts will be kindled to a white-hot flame of love for your dear Son.
O God, help us to mean what we have said unto you, the living God. As we now come again to the ministry of your word, we pray that the Holy Spirit would descend upon this place, on every one of our minds, and hearts, for those who have come hungering and thirsting, fulfill your promise to send them away filled. For those, our Father, who have come by the constraint of parents and loved ones, who, if they had their way, would not be found in this place tonight, would be out somewhere on a beach, on a ball court, before a television, who sit here with not a discernible gram of appetite for spiritual things, Lord, surprise them by your grace. Fall upon them in their spiritual deadness and blindness, and show them the horrible state they are in, and lovingly and powerfully draw them to the feet of Christ. Those who sit among us, self-deceived, in mercy, Lord, will you not blast the pillbox of deception in which they have hidden themselves? Bring them out naked and stripped before you,
and may they flee for that covering to be found only in the righteousness of your Son. Help us then, O God, as we once again traffic in holy things, that the Spirit himself may enable us to taste the powers of the world to come. As we open your word together, we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.
When I stood to preach this morning, I announced that we would be returning to our studies in 1 Corinthians 13 this evening, and I said that predicated on the assumption that I would be able to cover the material prepared for the morning message. However, when it was clear that I was not going to be able to complete the morning message, I had some encouragements from some of you, and in the theater, my own judgment, that given the fact that a number of you will be leaving for the Southern Conference, and the disruption of the going and coming throughout the summer months, that it would be best to complete this morning's message tonight, and then, God willing, either in connection with the communion meditation next Lord's Day, or the following Lord's Day, to return to our studies in 1 Corinthians 13, that we would be able to complete this morning's message tonight in 1 Corinthians 13 this evening. Now, there may be some here this evening who were not with us this morning, and for your sake, I will take a maximum of five minutes to try to set before you the introduction and the main headings of what we began to consider this morning.
I reminded you that some six Lord's Days ago, Pastor Hendricks brought us two very helpful biblical studies on the doctrine of self-examination, and as we have thought and prayed about the ministry of the summer months, I felt it would be good for us to consider that theme in a more amplified way for the next seven Lord's Day mornings, and I have chosen to do so under the general pressure of the question, are you for real? Acknowledging that that's bad English, but it's good contemporary English, very idiomatic, some would say an acceptable vulgarism, but nonetheless, that's the concern on my heart with respect to the whole matter of those of you who profess attachment to Christ, the question, are you for real? And in seeking to answer that question, of course, there is another question that immediately rises in the thoughtful mind, why should I subject my professed attachment to Christ to close and searching scrutiny from the Word of God? And I began to answer that question this morning,
setting before you two basic reasons as to why we ought seriously to engage ourselves in a biblical assessment of the issue of whether or not our professed attachment to Christ is the real thing. First of all, because deception in this most important issue in life is a real and a tragic possibility. We looked at three texts which clearly indicate that we are repeatedly warned against deception in the scriptures, and then secondly, that we are repeatedly informed that we are repeatedly warned against deception in the scriptures, that some have deceived themselves again, looking at three specific texts of scripture. And then the second reason why we ought to give ourselves to such a period of self-examination is not only because deception is a real and tragic possibility, but because the agents which promote deception are both constantly present and incessantly active. And those agents are, first, the arch-deceiver, the devil himself, secondly, that class of people
Reason 3: Vulnerability Due to Societal Circumstances
called false teachers, and thirdly, what Rutherford called the house devil within, the human heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now, tonight, I ask you to consider with me two more fundamental reasons as to why we should engage in this concentrated season of self-examination. And the third reason is this. Because the circumstances in which we find ourselves make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception. Because the circumstances in which we find ourselves make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception. I'm referring to those of us living here in this country at this time of human history and in the history of our church. And in opening up this line of thought, there are three categories of ourselves, which in my judgment make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception on this most crucial issue,
am I for real? Is my professed attachment to Christ the real thing? And I say we must be concerned to examine ourselves because the circumstances in which we find ourselves make us, make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception. And the three categories are the state of society in general, the state of the evangelical church in general, and the present state of Trinity Baptist Church in particular.
Societal Vulnerability: Easy Confession, Abounding Iniquity
And those three things together leave us peculiarly vulnerable to deception. First, then, the state of society in general. While we live in a society marked by abounding wickedness, shameless immorality, increasing secularism and irreligion, yet there are a number of factors that make it relatively easy for us to profess attachment to Christ and to carry out the activities that are generally associated with that profession. Regular church attendance, perhaps even carrying a Bible and having it sit on our desk in our place of business, passing out gospel literature, etc., etc. It is not unusual for a boxer at the end of a boxing match with his eyebrows blown out, loaded from the blows and his nose split open to say in very poor English when he's looking into the camera to give thanks for winning the fight, he gives thanks to his mother, thanks to his trainer, and thanks to Jesus Christ his Lord.
It happens. Not all the time, but enough that I'm aware of it and I don't watch boxing matches as a regular course of my life.
Miss America can give thanks to her parents, thanks to this, and thanks to Christ. Open confession of attachment to Jesus Christ in our society in spite of the abounding shameless immorality, lawlessness, and secularism is a relatively easy thing to do. But according to the Lord Jesus, and here I ask you to turn to Matthew 10 with me, according to, to our Lord Jesus, confession of Him is an essential element of saving attachment to Him. In Matthew chapter 10, our Lord speaking directly to the twelve as He commissions them, sending them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, says in Matthew chapter 10 that they are not to be afraid of those that oppose them and even threaten to kill them. And in the midst
of such a climate, verse 32, everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven. I came to send peace on the earth, I came not to send peace but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it.
And what is our Lord saying in this passage? Having indicated to these his followers that they would face hostility, verse 24, the disciple is not above his teacher or servant above his Lord. They're going to face opposition but they're not to be afraid of it, verse 26. They are not even to be afraid if that opposition seems to be pointing to martyrdom. Be not afraid, verse 28, of them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. And it is in that setting that he says, he that denies me before men I will deny before my father. In other words, Jesus is saying that where there is a saving attachment to his person there will be an open confession of it. That attachment even if the price to be paid is martyrdom. And anyone unwilling for martyrdom
as the necessary consequence of attachment to Christ is not worthy of Christ. He does not own anyone as his disciple whose attachment to him is not of such a nature that should martyrdom be the necessary consequence of confessing that. Attachment, if he's unworthy for martyrdom, Jesus said he's not worthy to be my disciple. You see that principle in the passage? Now that being so, it makes no difference if attachment to Christ and the confession of that attachment is in a relatively congenial climate. If it is a true confession of a real attachment to Christ, then it is not worthy of Christ. Though it is made in a context where martyrdom is not even threatened, let alone a real possibility, it doesn't lessen the fact that the principle of martyrdom is wrapped up in that saving confession and genuine attachment to Jesus Christ. However, when the martyr's sword is glistening in the noonday sun.
When the Saul of Tarsus is breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the church, people are far less likely to profess attachment to Christ when martyrdom is the order of the day following the heels of that confession of Christ. You follow me? So the real threat of martyrdom, or if I may change that, is the real threat of martyrdom. Especially when we consider the importance of corners and eyes. Jesus Christ has the stories of the one who believed in martyrdom to be Jesus Christ and whose veryoped素ture was to threaten Evangelical Christianity and his flock. This is Heaven dressed in red, graffiti of him. Yes, right, brilliant!
Then proud juxtaposed to Pardons in Psalm 2. The danger we are in in our society with regard to deception about whether or not we're the real thing, we can confess without any of martyrdom, without any real threat of imprisonment, without any real threat even of intense social ostracization. That my dear deception about our faith of heart, and in a period when the executioner's sword is sharp and dripping with blood, that's just a reality. It is a reality in the providence of God, we accept it as such, but if we do not recognize the inherent danger, then we leave ourselves vulnerable to a deception that goes on. At least.
In a period of martyrdom, the person who's made a hasty, unthought-of way is caused upon to reflect, am I prepared and necessary to be the next one who is grabbed and yanked out into a public place? To be shot to death, to have my head drop in the executioner's basket?
But you see, there aren't two standards of salvation. There aren't two standards of attachment to Christ. Either. Either the attachment to Christ is a saving attachment which has bound up in it the spirit of martyrdom, or it's a sham.
There are no standards of attachment to Christ.
Only one.
Because of this situation, the state of our society in general, it is so much easier to be deceived as to our true state of heart in the presence of the living God. But coupled with that part of the...
The state of society, namely, a climate relatively congenial to the open confession of Christ. You have, on the other hand, a society soaked in an escalating measure of blatant, shameless immorality, brutality, irreligion, idolatry, violence. We could go down through all of the commandments. And many of you, who haven't even seen your 30th birthday, could chronicle seeing this exponential depart from the norms of the segment of years ago. Things that would not have even been spoken in a news major network television, now become a subject of talk shows, hour after hour after hour, with people looking into the red eye of the camera that is activated, and shamelessly talking about the most...
The most base forms of human behavior without a blush upon their cheek. We have what the scripture calls in Matthew 24, 12, the state of abounding iniquity. And according to Matthew 24, 12, what happens in such a state? And because iniquity shall abound, the law brings together... ...that are not going...
...there are...
...with a mighty out...
...conjunction...
...conjunction...
...conjunction...
...conjunction...
...conjunction with the preaching...
...attended with the power of the Holy Ghost...
...things will not law...
...separate...
...and in many ways inconsistent...
...tracts...
...a relatively...
...climate in which to profess attachment to Christ...
...and on the other hand, a climate marked by abounding iniquity.
So what happens? We have in society a situation in which it is easy to name the name of Christ, and yet terribly difficult. To maintain any semblance of that vital, vibrant godliness which is the mark of a vital attachment to Christ. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.
Do you follow me? Am I making sense? Am I conveying something of the pastoral burden of my heart with reference to this issue as to why I feel...
...and my fellow elders feel...
...something of this pressure to lay before you the necessity of asking the question, am I in a climate where no exorcist has been listening in the noonday sun, where no fruit has been dragged out of prison or been found dead in an alley because some local religious leader has put a price upon my head, relatively easy to profess attachment to Christ, and to take that attachment to a climate which...
...like consistent, right-angled, reason-above-all, passionate attachment to the person of Christ.
And what's the result? We have in the best of our churches a lot of people who name his name, but a very low man.
He departs for the person and ways of Christ. A climate exceedingly fertile for self-discipline. And if you don't face that,
you may... ...you may refuse to face it to the peril of your never-dying soul.
It's relatively easy to shrug off by one of your pastors. It wouldn't be so easy if you knew you might run the risk of being arrested, committed to prison, and in a week's time be dead.
If that were a very real possibility, I wonder how many of you would be here tonight. Good question, isn't it? That's true of many of our brethren in many parts of the world.
It's true in many parts of China. It's true in many parts of the world where there is Islamic law governing the totality of the life of a given state.
Does Christ have two standards of attachment to him? Only one. He who does not love me more than father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life disciple. I say...
...the principle of...
...the principle of...
...the principle of...
...the principle of martyrdom is bound up in every saving attachment to Christ and therefore in every open confession of Christ.
But such a principle, untested and unproven, leaves the door open for many self-deceived people to appear to be respectable believers in the Lord Jesus.
Perhaps the best thing that could come to the professing church in America is a baptism of God. And so I say that element of our circumstances makes us peculiarly vulnerable to deception, the state of society in general, but then the state of the evangelical church in general.
Church Vulnerability: Low State of Piety and Self-Comparison
Where we have any sense of history and of what God is doing in other places in our own day, we must face the fact that there is a generally low state of individual and corporate piety. Do you know that in other parts of the world this week, believers, who must work to sustain themselves 12 hours a day, yet are meeting at 5 o'clock every morning, 5-6 days a week to pray?
Do you know that that's a fact? Do you know that when we meet here today, that there are parts of this world where believers gather and the word of God is ministered by one man after another for 2 and 3 hours at a stretch and the people are discontent? Do you know that when the 3 hours are over and they're not sitting on padded pews in air-conditioned buildings?
That's happening right now! ...and can so often become irritants to us.
And what happens when there's a general low state of individual and corporate piety will turn to 2 Corinthians 10-12. This text, to me, more than any other that I could think of in preparation for trying to drive people crazy. home this point came to my own mind and heart with freshness paul is having to defend himself against those who were seeking to neutralize his influence over the corinthians by pointing out what they perceive to be inconsistencies in his demeanor in his method and manner of ministry and as paul is defending himself that he might maintain his place of god-given influence with the corinthians is responding to some of their charges notice what some of the charges are or were second corinthians 10 10 for his letters they say are weighty and strong but his bodily presence is weak in his speech of no account yeah he's a good letter writer but he's a patsy in person that's what they were saying in contemporary idiom but now notice how paul responds in verse 12 for we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with
certain of them that commend themselves but they themselves measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves are without understanding as long as they take themselves as their measuring stick they're all right but he says in so do they are without understanding and in commenting on this verse faucet comments so perceptively now ask the corinthians to consider the character of the men who have been bringing these charges against him this he does in verses 12 to 18 he ironically confesses that he does not have the courage to class or compare himself with certain of those who make self-condemnation commendation unsupported by any corroborating evidence their title to fame but the self-satisfied are always the self-deluded for in adopting their own conduct as the standard of excellence they prove themselves to be devoid of spiritual understanding hence their fancied wisdom was in fact arrogant folly instead of the public standard they measure themselves by one made by themselves they do not compare themselves with others who excel them but with those who are just like them
hence their high self-esteem the one-eyed man easily becomes a king among the blind the one-eyed man easily becomes king among the blind you see the force of that little parabolic statement let me illustrate it this way suppose they were a community where as the result of some brutal act of some conquering tribal king in an area where they have tribes everyone had all of his fingers except this finger cut off thumb so that on the left and right hand everyone in that village had just one finger they get so accustomed to seeing one-fingered human beings they think one-fingered human beings are the norm lo and behold one day into the village comes a man that has this finger plus the thumb as a marvel why he is a super human being he has two digits on each hand and by comparing themselves among themselves and with this yet unnatural standards he can shrug his head and grow a few words and touch on the ground under his feet as he stands there at his feet as he does but to the other side he falls back to his feet with his head as he draws toward his head without their hands They think him to be some great one, when in reality he's still three digits shy of normalcy. There's a normal human hand as God designed it. They, comparing themselves by themselves, are without understanding.
You see, dear people, our great danger is, in terms of the state of the evangelical church in general, there is such a low level of piety, a low level of hunger, a low level of godly sobriety, a low level of pursuing holiness with diligence, a low level of heavenly-mindedness. I think of the editorial of our dear friend Morris Roberts of the Banner of Truth, Where Have All the Saints Gone? A haunting, penetrating essay, Where Have All the Saints Gone? And he writes, In the rites of days in the church of Christ, when it was natural when men and women gathered to share in their conversation, not in some forced, super-pious, artificial way, but out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth, speaking, they would share what God had shown them in His Word in recent days. They would show how in the crucible of life, God had made the promises of His own Holy Word precious, and how they, had discovered something new of Christ. But I fear, dear people, in too many of the members of this church, unless you knew that they were Christians by profession, were you to be a bug on the wall to pick up the conversation, you'd never know it.
If the world is all talking about the Knicks, they're talking about the Knicks. If the world is all absorbed with O.J.'s escapade, O.J.'s talk is well.
Conversation is worthy. I didn't say vile in, but it's worldly. As though they had no beautiful Christ who would ravish their heart. As though they had been communicated of theirs, and the living God with them.
When a bunch of pygmies all stand comparing their height with one another, they all look very normal.
That was the folly of these who were undermining the ministry of the Apostle themselves, by themselves. Comparings are without. Understandings come to the Word of God. See the standard of active and vital piety.
We must turn to the annals of church history, not as an infallible revelation, but as a confirming revelation of what the Spirit of God has done in the great epochs of His working. One of my prayers for some of you teenagers has been this, Oh God, come down and get hold of one high school young man, and give him a and make him sold out, because I saw God for half a dozen of us in high school. Nobody had for an hour. And I can remember the first time, after one of our prayer meetings, when someone just said, should we go out and have a hamburger?
We felt like someone was inviting us to a whorehouse. I'm telling you the truth. We said, a hamburger? Why do we want to go and mix with a bunch of worldlings, when we can be here with our Bibles?
Speaking of Christ. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong for Christians to go have a hamburger. Someone will go out, sure as shootin', and miss the whole point. Don't get hung on some...
No, the point I'm making, dear people, what are you measuring yourself by? What standard are you measuring yourself by? You can go out with a bunch of kids to Grand Rapids, and talk spiritual, and be pseudo-spi...
What are... With the un...
And nobody's shocked. Why? Comparing ourselves with ourselves. We are not wise.
I'm not schooled. I'm not schooled. That can muck about activities, and feel no twinge of conscience, as though that's normalcy. It isn't normalcy.
It's a sickening, or a revelation of a sickened state. We're in peculiar danger, because evangelical churches, in general, have gone around being nothing but one-fingered people. Occasionally someone with two fingers, and we think he or she is a marvel, when our Bible holds the record of people with five fingers on each hand. And it is such that we ought to emulate, as Paul said in Philippians 3, and in verse 17, Mark those which so walk, as you have had us for an example. Mark those who are of evaluation, and of emulation. As a young Christian, much good came to my life. Fine men that knew God in the way I didn't, and I'd latch on to them if they'd let me, and make a pest to myself.
I wanted to catch any little drop I could get, from a man that knew God in the way I didn't. Some of you deliberately avoid anyone, that knows God better than you do, that's more zealous for God than you are. You have deliberately, if you'll face it, you've deliberately chosen your friends, because they're right at your level or a little lower, and there's nothing about them to challenge you, to go higher. Get honest.
Ask yourself. Do a little self-examination. Why do I have the present circle of friends I have? Is it because in them there is more of Christ than I see in myself?
More of zeal for His kingdom than I see in myself? More carefulness to guard word and speech, than I see in myself? And draw me to greater conformity to Christ? Or does it leave me more smug and more satisfied, and more self-deceived with where I am?
Those are searching questions, aren't they? But you better ask them. I better ask them. Every one of us better ask them.
Trinity Baptist Church's Specific Vulnerabilities: Esteem and Knowledge
And then the third strand of this matter of our circumstances, that leave us peculiarly vulnerable to deception. The first, state of society in general. Secondly, the state of the evangelical church in general. But then thirdly, the present state of Trinity Church in particular.
I believe we are at a stage in our life as a church, where we've never been more vulnerable for damning self-deception to take root in the largest number of men and women and boys and girls. And I've chosen those words very carefully. I did not say, we are. I said, I believe.
It is my judgement that we have never been in a state as a church where the possibility of damning deception is more. You say, why pastor? I answer, number one, our position of esteem and influence to which God in mercy has brought a bunch of unworthy sinners. While I'm fully aware that this very day there are many who would vilify and slander us and say all kinds of strange things about us, yet in some limited circles we are looked upon as an example of what a church ought to be by the grace of God. And in some limited circles God is giving us, given us influence for the spread of the gospel, for the establishment of men and churches in the truths that we hold dear. That great stream of historic Biblical Christianity rooted in the Bible, brought out of the rubble of ignorance and medieval superstition and wonderfully codified in the great confessions. And by the grace of God we've seen even in recent days our own confession of faith translated into Urdu
now circulating among Pakistanis and other Urdu speaking people. It's a wonderful privilege. I say not as a matter of pride but I trust sober self-assessment God has granted as a church some position of esteem and influence. You see dear people that is a place of tremendous danger.
When God was speaking to Israel read the details of it in Deuteronomy. He says when you come into the land and I bless you and you are settled and you are able to conquer your enemies and I establish you in the land then He says beware, beware, beware. God says you're now in your greatest place of danger. When the Amalekites and the Hittites are there armed to the teeth and ready to squash you and you go forth feeling you have no strength against them and you cry to Jehovah and He is with you and you conquer in His name.
You're not in a great place of danger. When your enemies are beneath your feet and you grow fat and at ease in the land it's the spirit you see of the Laodicean church and I feel as a church we have never never been in greater danger of having the Lord say to us notice I didn't say He is saying to us I said I don't believe we've been in greater danger of having Him say to us unto the angel of the church at Laodicea write Revelation 3 and verse 14 These things saith the Amen the faithful and the true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot literally I am about to spew you out of my mouth and what is the concrete manifestation of this state of lukewarmness verse 17 because you say these are the words that are indicative of the state of your heart because you say I am rich have gotten riches have needed nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked and the Lord says I counsel you to buy of me and He gives His counsel and His reproof dear people when we are brought to some position of esteem and influence in the path of self-denial in the path of being thought strange and odd and despised then the very fruit of the obedience and the faith and the self-denial of some can produce a climate that can be our undoing it's a strange thing isn't it God promised the land God promised to be with Joshua in the conquest of the land and yet God knew that His very blessing could constitute the framework for their curse and that's the frightening history of church after church and there's nothing in the bible that says this church will be an exception and that's why I'm begging you entreating you in Christ's name ask the question am I free you see because I'm a part of a church that has been brought to some position of esteem and influence and I give my money to it and I know the people and I have not been my friend no you just may be a hanger-on
who shares in nothing of the spiritual life and vigor that in the blessing of God has brought that church to whatever place of esteem and influence God has graciously given then there is in addition to that our present deposit of knowledge God's goodness in gracing the church over the years with those who from the Sunday school upward have been able to teach us in the truth of God and we need to face the fact of the very principle that Paul underscored in first Corinthians chapter eight with regard to these Corinthians he says in verse one we that sorry we know that we all have knowledge taking up the subject of Christian liberty as it pertained to eating meat offered to idols in the context we know that we all have knowledge knowledge pops up but love edifies if any man thinks he knows anything he knows not yet as he ought to know but if any man loves God the same is known by him it seems that what Paul is saying is this if you think that your mere knowledge of the theological issues that go into a proper understanding of Christian liberty constitute you a man who's right with God
and pleases God you are utterly self deceived you know nothing if you think that mere knowledge knowledge acquired in such a way that you can sort out the delicate complex doctrine of Christian liberty that involves a knowledge of a lot of strands of biblical and theological truth and he says if you've got all that in place and thereby think know something you've been to something because you have that knowledge he said you know nothing yet as you ought to know but if the grace of love is in your heart in the context a love that is concerned about something more then I know what my liberties are a love that says I know what my brother's weaknesses are and I'm willing to forgo all my liberties for the edification of my brother so that I cause not my brother to stumble bring in the light of first Christ and I'm willing to forgo all my liberties that I might gain the conscience of the unconverted I'm willing to forgo all my liberties lest I create a snare to I'd buffet my body under subjection lest in preaching to others I myself should be a dachshund reprobate you see love love is an operative principle that takes me beyond the doctrine of love
that takes me beyond the doctrine of love that takes me beyond the doctrine of Christian liberty or any other doctrine if I think that the knowledge in and of itself is equal to experience I know nothing as I ought to know my friend the devil is a far better theologian than you or I he is he could tie you in knots spewing his theology he's the devil still many of you have been in a climate where unless you were half asleep you couldn't help but of this deposit of knowledge is not being manifest and finding expression in conduits of self giving love you're deceived if you think that knowledge equals grace for in the very chapter to which we hope to return if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I've become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal if I have the gift of prophecy and no mysteries and all and have not love
Trinity Baptist Church's Specific Vulnerabilities: Second and Third Generations
I'm nothing yes you may grasp intellectually the great and high mysteries of God's free sovereign electing grace and the glorious truth of giving to his son a people based upon nothing in them foreseen and the sending of his son to die for his people and the effectual calling of God and all the rest my friends listen to the word of God if there is not an active principle of love you know nothing as you ought to know and I say that's our great danger for God is not only granted to us in grace and he has granted it and could remove it tomorrow a position of esteem and influence that can be our snare if we assume that because we're part of we must be contributing to it in a vital and spiritual manner when in reality we may not our present deposit of knowledge and then another aspect of our present state that puts us in a peculiar position of danger is our problem with the second and the third generation and what is that problem that we can and must impart biblical knowledge
we can and must impart a framework of biblical morality and conduct this whole idea that we can't impose our way upon our children is nonsense we have no choice but to impose it upon them ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord of Abraham God spoke saying in Genesis 18 19 I have to the children after him as for me and Joshua said the young people and kids who are irritated that your mom and dad don't give you any slack my dear children they don't have any choice God's told them to impose his rule on their house and you're a part of that household like it or not that's reality why did you choose to be there no God put you there why did you choose to be there because he's God and you aren't that's just that simple and God did it for your good he could have put you in your home the only way you heard the name of Jesus was in a curse word where you woke up to a father and mother cursing one another and beating one another
or where you woke up in a home where you didn't have a mother because your father and mother divorced before you can remember and be brought up without a mother as was the case of my own dear wife and God's brought you into a home where you've got a mother and a father who say as for me and my house we'll serve the Lord and they're imposing graciously lovingly wise yes but at the end of the day it's not an open it's going to end the judicious wise loving administration of that rule through mom and dad and as a result of that you can acquire a knowledge of what's acceptable and unacceptable have a conscience that's conditioned coming to Sunday school sitting in church you pay attention because mom and dad make you they make you take notes question you about the message you've got to absorb something try as you will to push it out you can't help it then as you get older and realize that's my circle I feel uncomfortable outside of it you can begin to assume because that's the circle in which you feel somewhat comfortable in the circle where all your natural contacts are and there's nothing about the things you've heard that you disbelieve then you must have the realities
which those things are meant to be the womb out of which those realities are born into the heart that you see you've known nothing of the internal work of the Holy Spirit you've never known you've never known the Holy Ghost conviction of your sin though wonderfully preserved from an outward life of sin you've never seen your heart you've never come to the place where you realized it but for the grace of God how lecherous why you don't believe that because you've never seen your heart and all that you've heard of Christ you say I believe it you tip your hat to it but the Holy Ghost has never opened your eyes to see anything beautiful in Christ so beautiful that you're ready to be identified with him if you're called the latest names that they call weirdos I don't try to keep up with the names I stopped with geek I used to try to keep up with them there's a new one spawned every month you take the latest name they call me up you say I don't care if they invent a hundred new ones I've seen something in Christ that spoiled me forever let them make up a thousand names
and call me those names it makes no difference I've seen the glory of God in the face of Christ and he's captured my heart and I can say as a young person as a teenager for this person for this guy for this gal to live is Christ and to be mocked that's gain to be ostracized that's gain sure I feel it sure I feel it but I'd feel something far more keenly that's the loss of communion with Christ because when I go in my room and open my Bible and pray now I'm in touch with someone I'm in touch with God I'm in touch with God I'm not just doing what mom and dad tell me I'm doing now what I delight to do because there's someone there and he communes with me and I commune with him ever see a young guy and young gal head over heels with infatuation saying oh nuts I gotta go spend a half an hour with her that's the way my kids were you ever hear anyone goo goo ga ga quote in love saying oh nuts I gotta go out on a date with her no why because there's someone who's captured the heart and though we do not see our Lord Peter says whom having not seen you love and there is in love that affinity for its object
and some of us can remember who had only had dealings with prayer in a form imposed and thanked upon us when the Holy Ghost revealed Christ to us we knew what it was to go to this book and have God talk and when we prayed have communion with Jesus that was real it was foiled ain't been the same since high school classmates said oh Al you'll get over it in a few months 42 years later it's getting worse and worse for the path of the justice as the dawning of the day that shineth more and more unto the perfect day and the sun's getting high in my sky I see the face of my brother who's walked with God longer than I have glowing when I say these things you kids you know it's real you know we aren't a bunch of phonies oh yeah you can pick at our faults and there's plenty you can pick on but you know down underneath we're not just giving you a bunch of religious jive you know it's real and it can be real for you and we pray God it'll be real to you but if it doesn't become real you see the great danger the danger of you parents you're gonna face the strife and if I'm around as an elder I'm not looking forward
Reason 4: Explicit Scriptural Commands for Self-Examination
to it what's gonna happen you're gonna fall in love with somebody who's in the same category and they're gonna come to an elders who want to get married they don't dare make an open profession yet but they want all the benefits of that and then they say but if I don't make a profession how can I marry one who is you see the dangers we face of people taking up a profession in order to marry their kind just begin to think of all of the problems of the second and third generation dear people it is those things that concern me that we are more vulnerable now to deception about the great question do I have the real thing than you've ever been before and therefore a wholesome period of a few weeks intense self-examination is vital to our spiritual life as a church and then the fourth and final reason I just remind you of what Gary Pastor Hendricks gave us why should we engage our minds and hearts with the question am I for real not only because as we have studied or did study this morning in our first two reasons because deception is a frightening and tragic possibility secondly because deception and the agents of it are constantly present and incessantly
active thirdly because the circumstances of deception are constantly present and incessantly present the circumstances in which we find ourselves make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception but lastly we must engage in such a season because the scriptures explicitly command and warrant this kind of self-examination when Pastor Hendrick was here he spent the whole Sunday morning message opening up in context three texts of scripture second Corinthians thirteen five examine yourself prove yourselves whether you're in the faith or you're not your own selves how that Christ Jesus is in you except you be reprobates second Peter one ten wherefore give all diligence to make your calling and election sure then first John five eleven and twelve this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life verse thirteen these things have I written unto you the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and the things John wrote were among them the tests of eternal life and he expected his readers to evaluate themselves in the light of those tests if we say but this is what we do we lie
The Benefits of Self-Examination for Believers and Unbelievers
if this is true of us then we have reason to believe this is true of us hereby do we know that we have passed from death because we love the brethren he that saith but does not is there is that whole book of first John that is a manual of Godly self examination now as I conclude these two introductory studies I want to underscore what I trust is already evident to many of you as I said this morning at least implicitly the true child of God loses nothing through a period of intense self examination two things will happen if he prayerfully approaches that self examination determined to go as far as the Bible goes no further but not fall short of it two things will happen if he is a true believer he will have confirmed to his own heart with fresh assurance that he is indeed a child of God and those things which if not corrected he were a child of God or that are in him now that cause him to doubt as a true Christian having isolated them by the grace of God he will give all diligence to deal with those issues and as he does his assurance will be strengthened in the path of his heightened sanctification
no true believer can engage in prayerful Bible based spirit control self examination without those two things always happening his assurance is strengthened and his sanctification is increased but now if you are deceived what do you stand to gain my friend you stand to gain having your true state disclosed to your own heart while you still can do something about it while the door of mercy is still open far better to come now to the conclusion I do not have the real thing I am the gospel promises and a living Christ who bids me to come to him to have life saving life you see all self deceived people will be undeceived someday either now while the door of mercy is open or in that day when the door of mercy is shut think of the parable of the ten to go into the marriage feast they came to that conviction but they came too late the door was shut
Pastoral Plea and Concluding Prayer
the door was shut the door was shut Jesus in Luke 13 says many in that day will say Lord open to us and he rises up and shuts the door and he will say I never knew you my dear friends do not trust the light at times what I trust by the Spirit's help will be the laser beams of Holy Scripture searching the deepest recesses of your heart because it's ultimately for your soul's good and your eternal salvation will you dare pray in the coming days oh God if I'm not for real show me now and make me for real give me a conviction of that reality that I've never had before help me to see the things that would cause me to doubt that reality and to deal with them that by your grace I may have more well grounded assurance than ever that I am indeed a child of the living God now surely if you have any feel for what goes on in a pastor's heart I will take no pleasure in pressing
the biblical standard upon your conscience doing all I can to make sure you'll look straight into the mirror you won't do anything to cover one eye you won't do anything to distort the mirror to cloud it but you'll look into the mirror of God's word and be honest with what you see but do you see that what may appear like almost an unkind pressure upon your conscience is a merciful exercise of love and compassion and concern for your soul for the honor of Christ for the well being and usefulness of this congregation in this generation and if the Lord tarries for generations to come let us pray our Father we again acknowledge that we have been trafficking in very sobering issues and we pray that in these days you would spare us in your service spare us from the influence of our own deceitful hearts that we would be as honest with you and your word now as we must be in that day when we stand before you we pray that you would have mercy on the unconverted children and young
people amongst us those who sit here service by service we pray Lord that we may lift our eyes and look at them and bring them to repentance and faith we pray especially for those who sit amongst us thinking all is well who have a measure of knowledge and respectability and civility and are involved sufficiently in the life even of this church to be members in good standing But you know Lord the root of the matter is not in them We pray that you would give them grace to face their true state. Don't harden them, we pray, under the light of these coming messages if you spare us to deliver them. But, oh God, make them the means of their conversion. We pray for those who are tender of conscience and weak in faith, that the devil would not take the truth of your word to discourage or to cripple them, but that you will graciously, powerfully, so minister that their faith will be strengthened, that they will move from being a Mr. Fearing or a Mrs. Fearing and a Mr. and Mrs. Ready to Halt
to those who by your strength at least begin to approach becoming a Mr. and Mrs. Great Heart. Oh Lord, we believe you are able to do this, and therefore we commit your word to you and to your working, and all of our hearts dismiss us with your blessing, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is expounded to establish that open confession of Christ, even to the point of martyrdom, is a non-negotiable mark of genuine saving attachment.
This verse is used to explain how abounding iniquity in society leads to a cooling of love among many, making true godliness difficult to maintain.
Paul's argument against self-comparison is central to illustrating the danger of a low standard of piety within the church, leading to self-delusion.
The message to the Laodicean church serves as a stark warning against the dangers of lukewarmness and self-deception that can arise from a church's position of esteem and perceived self-sufficiency.
This passage is expounded to highlight the danger of mere intellectual knowledge without the operative principle of love, which can lead to self-deception.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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Matthew 24:12-13
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Scripture Shall Mold Our Faith and Practice, Part 2
Proverbs 23:23
layers Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church
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