What is the Straightened Way? Part 7

Introduction: The Question of Salvation and the Need for Self-Examination

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, September 18th, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn in the word of God this morning to Paul's letter to the Galatians, Galatians and chapter 5,

0:26 and follow please as I read verses 16 through 25. Galatians chapter 5, beginning the reading in verse 16.

1:09 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of which I forewarn you, I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Meekness, self-control, against such there is no law. And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lust thereof.

2:29 If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit, let us also walk. Now let us again ask for God's blessing. That His Spirit would attend the opening up and the application of His own holy word. Let us pray.

2:52 Our Father, we have sung together of the glorious light and truth that is to be found in Your holy word. And yet we acknowledge that like the blind and fanatical Saul of Tarsus, we can traffic in Your word and be utterly ignorant. Of the heart of its message. And we therefore plead that as we would turn to the scriptures, we may do so with present and copious supplies of the Holy Spirit, resting upon both preacher and listener alike.

3:32 That we may be given eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your law. That we may accurately know Your mind. That we may accurately know Your heart. That we may accurately know ourselves.

3:46 And that we may above all else come to know aright Your salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask these mercies in His name. Amen. Now if a man or woman, or a boy or a girl, made acutely aware of his or her condition as a hell-deserving sinner, were to make known to You, the Lord Jesus Christ, their awareness of that hell-deserving state, and out of a terror-stricken spirit were to cry out to You, What must I do to be saved? How would You answer that man or woman, that boy, that girl? Well, I trust Your answer would approximate that which Paul and Silas gave, to a man, who out of his acute sense of sin and impending wrath, cried out with that very same question, and was given this answer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

5:10 In other words, when needy sinners are looking for deliverance from sin, and its consequences, we must point them to Christ alone, as the object of their hope for deliverance. We must point them to the Christ of Scriptures, that Christ who is set before us in the uniqueness of His person as the God-man, and in the sufficiency of His work, as having lived a perfect life under the law, dying under the curse of the law, raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and reigning in power. Furthermore, we must tell them, as Paul and Silas told that jailer, that the only divinely appointed way by which to lay hold of this Savior, in the uniqueness of His person and the sufficiency of His work, is by faith alone. They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

6:36 Now I am aware with many of you that according to the Scriptures, sinners must repent if they are to be saved, they must hate and turn from their sins unto God. Yes, that is true. But nowhere is repentance ever described as that unique appropriating grace. It is by faith alone that Christ and His salvation are received.

7:08 Now without in any way qualifying, diluting, or negating the truths I have just uttered, truths that form the very heart of the biblical gospel, we must go on to say that both the Scriptures and human observation make it tragically clear that there are many who say that they have been saved from the guilt and the power of sin through faith in Jesus Christ, who yet manifest little or no evidence of the transforming power of Christ which always accompanies the conferral of the saving mercy of Christ. Christ never conveys His saving mercy upon a believing sinner without imparting His transforming power to the same believing sinner. Therefore it is the solemn duty of every man of God set apart to preach the whole counsel of God periodically to lead the professing people of God in a season of intense self-examination

8:36 by the standard of the Word of God. Therefore for eleven Lord's Days during the summer months and now just spilling over into the early fall, I have been setting before you week by week this all-important question, namely, are you for real? You name the name of Christ, you profess to be saved by faith in Christ, but the great question is, not is Christ the only Savior? Is Christ to be received by faith alone?

9:14 Those are unquestioned foundational truths. But the question is, are you for real? Not is He for real? Are His promises for real?

9:26 Are the provisions of the Gospel for real? The question is, are you for real? Do you really possess in Christ what you profess to have in Christ? And we are presently using Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14 as the framework to help us answer that question with the light of the Word of God.

Defining the Straitened Way: Gospel Holiness

9:56 In this passage, our Lord Jesus, in regal grace, speaks to His hearers and commands them, enter in by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And many are they that enter in thereby, for narrow is the gate, and straitened, compressed, restricted is the way that leads unto life, and few are they that find it. All who are for real, according to Jesus, all who will eventually enter into life in its consummate glory and bliss in the age to come, will enter it having come through what Jesus calls the narrow gate, and having walked upon the restricted or the compressed way, and having sought to establish from the Scriptures that the narrow gate is a picture of a true, thorough conversion, and what is involved in that conversion. We have been concentrating our attention for several weeks on precisely

11:23 what is that compressed, that restricted, that difficult, that straitened way which leads unto life. And in wrestling with the Biblical answer to that question, we have constantly had recourse to this very simple but crucial principle that whatever the way is, fundamentally it is this. The way is nothing more or less than an extension into every area of life for the entire duration of one's life of the basic principle of life, which is to say, that there are organic issues of life confronted and resolved at the gate. They are not only inseparable in terms of sequence, but there is an organic unity in terms of the issues that are confronted. And if indeed at that gate we renounce and repudiate all righteousness of our own as the ground of our acceptance with God, then the narrow way is living throughout the entirety of our lives in the faith of Christ crucified, risen and exalted and interceding

12:50 as the only ground of our acceptance with God all along the way. And if men abandon what they professed when they seem to enter through the gate and they begin to rest in Christ plus something else in the language of the very epistle from which we read, they have fallen from the principle of grace, they show that they never really came through the gate and they were never truly on the way. And if at the gate we must repudiate self-will and self-serving as the governing principle of life, then what is the narrow way but living a life in constant denial of self for the sake of Christ and to serve others? And then we have seen and are presently considering thirdly that if at the gate there is a repudiation of the mastery of sin and the practice of sin as a pattern of life, then surely the compressed and the narrow way is living out the reality of freedom from the dominion of sin and in the constant mortification of remaining sin. Or to state it positively, it is living under the reign of righteousness in increasing conformity to the image of Christ,

14:19 stated most simply, it is the way of gospel holiness. And then I sought to demonstrate that perspective right out of the Sermon on the Mount, looking at the major categories and specific statements within that sermon which surely describe the way that leads unto life as that restricted and compressed, that straightened way of gospel holiness. And then we began last week to consider the evidence of that, not from the Sermon on the Mount in particular, but from the rest of the New Testament in general. And I had hoped to lay before you three texts out of Romans. We looked at two, and I merely named the third, Romans chapter 2, 7 to 11, select portions from Romans 6, and Romans 8, 12 to 14. Now in seeking to give you several other samplings, and that's all it is, of the overarching emphasis of the remainder of the New Testament, I could well have chosen a passage such as 1 Corinthians 9 through 11, where Paul consciously, unrighteous that men are continually exposed to a spirit of deception says, do not be deceived. Don't you know that the unrighteous

15:45 shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Whatever anyone tells you, if you think you've come through the gate and are on the way, and you are living an unrighteous life, you are deceived if you think it will lead to life. For we could take Hebrews 12 and verse 14, follow after peace with all men and the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

16:17 The passage read in your hearing, 1 John 3, 1 through 10, 2 Corinthians 3, 18, many epitomizing texts, any one of which bears the entire weight of this perspective, that the way, that leads unto life, is the way of gospel holiness. But I want to bring two, and if I have the time, three texts before you this morning, as we leave this aspect of the way with our study this morning. And the first is the text read in your hearing, and we'll spend most of our time there, Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 to 25. Now remember what we're seeking to do, simply seeking to buttress the assertion that the way that compressed, that way which leads unto life, is the way of living out freedom from sin's dominion, and constantly mortifying remaining sin, the way of living under the reign of righteousness, and conformity to the image of Christ, the way of gospel holiness. And here is another watershed passage in the New Testament, which clearly teaches it.

Galatians 5:16-25: The General Setting and Initial Exhortation

17:44 Now as we turn to the passage, let me first of all say a brief word about the general setting of this passage. As many of you know, in this letter, Paul is seeking to expose and to demolish the influence of those false teachers, plaguing the churches of Galatia, commonly called the Judaizers. And these Judaizers were those who would not have agreed with my introductory sentiments, that you say to a sinner conscious of his hell deservingness, who asks, what must I do to be saved? You do not tell him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, full stop, but you say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, comma, and be circumcised, and keep the law of Moses in its entirety. And as these Judaizers had infected the churches, Paul writes this letter seeking to expose the fallacy of that which is no other gospel at all. And in the course of doing it, he demonstrates, and I wish we had the time, but I sow it as a seed for your own meditation, to demonstrate that it's only with the Biblical gospel of justification by faith alone that the Spirit is given as the Spirit of adoption

19:13 and of sanctifying grace. So this is why in this epistle he can move very naturally backwards and forwards from principles dealing with justification to principles dealing with sanctification. In chapter 3 and verse 1, Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? He said, In our preaching we placarded Christ crucified as the object of faith for needy sinners.

19:53 But now notice the next question. This only would I learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? You see, he assumes if they are true believers they have received the Holy Spirit and they received the Spirit when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

20:17 Not when they subjected themselves to human rituals, not when they subjected themselves to circumcision and the Mosaic law. He demonstrates further in this chapter, verse 13 and 14, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having been made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on the tree that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Just as surely as in other parts of the epistle he says we are justified by faith alone.

21:01 He says in every act of justifying faith the Spirit is received not as a subsequent experience. To separate the Spirit and Christ is to cut the Gospel in half. Christ died to remove the curse of a broken law. He died to procure the Spirit as divine donation and pure gift to every penitent believing sinner.

21:32 That is made clear throughout this epistle. And therefore, when he comes to chapter 5 encouraging on them not to abuse the liberty that he is seeking to demonstrate they have in Christ, he then comes to this paragraph that is now before us. And what is the main content of this passage? Well, it begins with the initial exhortation and promise of verse 16.

22:03 But I say walk by the Spirit exhortation, promise you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You Galatians who have truly believed on Christ unto eternal life you have received the Spirit as pure donation Spirit of adoption Spirit of sanctifying grace now walk by the Spirit that is frame your life in terms of submission to the Spirit dependence upon the Spirit live out your life in a manner that honors the person and presence and grace and power of the Spirit and the result is you will not be fulfilling the lust the desires of the flesh. So there is the initial exhortation. and promise. Then it follows or there follows then a description of an unavoidable conflict.

The Unavoidable Conflict and Fundamental Triumph

23:08 Verse 17 For the flesh is lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh for these are contrary to the one to the other that you may not do the things that you would. Here the Apostle gives a statement that brings this whole promise into a realm of realism. Is he saying that if you walk by the Spirit and the promise you shall not be fulfilling the lust of the flesh is he saying that there will be sinless perfection that there will be an attainment of such a relationship to God and the Holy Spirit that we are lifted above the consciousness of struggle and conflict? No, no such thing.

23:52 He says the flesh is constantly lusting against the Spirit indicating that in true believers who possess the Holy Spirit there is yet this element of the flesh to be reckoned with. That element which would move us away from what is pleasing unto God and the flesh is constantly lusting against the Spirit and the indwelling Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead who dwells in us is lusting against the remaining influence of the flesh and these are and it's a strong word in the Greek contrary the one to the other. There is an irreconcilable warfare going on within the breast of every true Christian. Now we must not view this as two equal and opposite powers for we know as we'll follow later in the passage whatever place the flesh has it does not dominate in the life of a true believer. Though it is resident it is not a part of the life of a true believer. Though it is resident it is not president.

24:58 Though it remains it does not reign. So we must not deduce from Paul's statement of this unavoidable conflict that we've got two equally sized pit bulls and whichever one you feed the meat and the one you feed bananas to it's the meat-eating pit bull that's going to take the other one in a battle. No no that teaching is not founded upon the word of God but on theological nonsense. But nonetheless we must say having given the exhortation followed with a promise there is an unavoidable conflict and there's a difference of opinion and I'll not trouble you if I were expounding Galatians I would do that.

25:42 He says that in this conflict you may not do the things that you would. In other words there will be a consciousness of that conflict and either this is a statement that the Spirit's grace and power will overcome the prevailing pressure of the flesh or that we will not do the things that we would if left to ourselves or it may mean that the impress of the Spirit moving us in the direction of holiness and total conformity to Christ that we will to experience Romans 7 we're not able fully to perform because of this contrary element. Well the conflict is real. Then we have thirdly an affirmation of a fundamental triumph of God in spite of this reality of the conflict if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. If you are led by the Spirit if the Spirit of God has come to take up his residence in you and has established his sovereignty within you and that we'll see is true of every believer you are not under the law that is a system where to be a holy man or woman you need to submit to rituals that are done away in Christ the keeping of days and ceremonies that are done away in Christ nor

27:12 are you subject to the moral law without power you are not left as a man devoid of the power to live the life to which God calls you. That's an absolute fundamental triumph. Then there comes in verses 19 and following a description of the contrasting patterns of life. Having set the general principles now he's going to descend into more particulars.

Contrasting Patterns of Life: Works of the Flesh vs. Fruit of the Spirit

27:46 He's going to get out of the realm of reality stated in broad principles into particulars. Now the works of the flesh are not perfect but they are of the most important and most important parts of the world. The work of the flesh is the most important part of the world. And the work of the flesh is the most important part of the world.

28:31 The flesh the commentator says is never made more manifest than it is by the besmirching and degrading sins of the flesh. Any society that begins by regarding them with indifference very shortly becomes enslaved by them. The words of the pagan world as in regard to sexual relationships. So when Paul wrote and said now the works of the flesh are manifest they are fully made known they are all about you and manifest. He focuses first of all upon these sexual desires and then on the spiritual desires of the flesh and then on the spiritual desires of the flesh. He also focuses on the physical desires of the flesh. The soul is the soul of the flesh.

29:56 The soul of the flesh is being controlled by the one true and living God. And then the Greek word is the one from which we get pharmaceutical referring to the potions and the drugs that will be used in conjunction with false religions so that man's reversion to the new age and to claiming direct intercourse with the spirit world apart from Christ and the Bible and the gospel. No new thing under the sun. It was true then. And so the works of the flesh are seen not only in sexual immorality but in false religions and all that surrounds them. And then the third category are what Hendrickson calls the sins of ill will and

30:59 comments very perceptively the largest group affords mournful proof of the depravity of the human heart. Lightfoot sees an ascending scale in the arrangement of these violations of brotherly love. Enmities lead to strife which finds expression in the outbreaks of jealousies, outbursts of anger, unscrupulous intriguing actions. These in turn lead to the point where the contending parties separate and form either temporary divisions or permanent parties. And the final envyings is a grosser breach of charity than any hitherto mentioned the wish to deprive another of what he possesses. These sins of interpersonal relationships. Now, those are the sins of interpersonal relationships. Now, those are the sins of interpersonal relationships.

31:52 Now, those are the sins of interpersonal relationships. Now, those are the sins of interpersonal relationships. Notice they are all traced back to the flesh. Human nature as it is conceived in the womb. Human nature as it comes forth from the womb. Human nature as it develops apart from the intervention of the Spirit of God in regenerating grace or in some measure of common grace restraining its outbursts. This is the flesh. The work, not the soothsaying, is the work of God. And this earth is the blood of Christ,uit, and works of the flesh are manifested now in contrast he says verse 22 but the fruit singular the works of the flesh plural all of these various works of the flesh are but the fruit of the spirit where

32:43 the spirit is present he by his presence creates these graces in the heart of everyone in whom he dwells the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness meekness self-control graces that in the very real sense are in part a description of the very character of the lord jesus graces that form the very stuff of being conformed to the image of jesus christ and because it is not my purpose to expound them i'm simply passing over them showing that after he sets before us this initial exhortation and promise apprises us of the reality of the conflict within gives this statement of deliverance and conquest in verse 18 he then sets before us this marked contrast between that which the flesh produces and that which the spirit produces then notice the concluding affirmation in verse 24 and here's the crunch of the whole passage in terms of our

The Concluding Affirmation: Crucifying the Flesh

34:10 purpose for using it at this point in our study and having set forth this contrast against the backdrop of the general principles opened up in the preceding verses and they that are of christ jesus that is they who belong to christ those who are for real those whom christ possesses as his own and therefore in those who truly possess christ as their own notice and they that are of christ jesus without exception he doesn't put in a parenthetical statement and they that are of christ jesus parenthesis and who have learned the secret of the spirit filled life end of parenthesis or they that have gone on from being mere christians and have had the baptism in the holy ghost and have spoken in tongues end of parenthesis no they that are without exception what have they done look at the text they have done the same thing they have done the same thing

35:33 they have crucified the flesh with the affections or passions and the lusts thereof now friends i didn't write this i didn't conceive it the holy ghost has declared that every true christian has undergone a dealing with sin that finds no less an analogy than that of handing over a condemned despised outcast criminal to be hung up on a tree and executed now the verb here is in the active this is not exactly the same as romans 6 where we are said to have been crucified with christ something has been done to us this is they that are of christ they have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof and if that means anything it means that coming through the gate they repudiated from the heart the mastery of sin and the deliberate willful practice of sin

36:55 as a way of life and their posture toward it is that it is nailed to a cross and while hanging there and perhaps the imagery is that of gradual death here though it is not in romans 6 and while it cries to be taken down and strives to have mercy shown to it we say no as surely it was as it was my sin that put my savior on the cross out of love for him and out of regard for the ugliness of sin in the light of his blood shedding and the shrouded Crowded heavens and the cry of dereliction. I care not what my sins cry for. For mercy, for pity, for indulgence. I consign them to the cross because they took my Savior to the cross.

37:55 And he who says, my sins are pardoned by Christ's cross, but cannot say, my sins are consigned to the cross because of his cross, is no Christian.

38:12 Do you see it? They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh.

38:23 Lest we deceive ourselves and say, oh yeah, in some general way I consign the flesh with its passions and its lusts. The passion and lust is dear as right hand and right eye. Here's the parallel concept in the words of Jesus. You're ready to hack it off, to gouge it out.

38:47 Now will it be without conflict? No. You see, he's already given us the qualifying statement in verse 17. Paul is not forgotten in verse 24 what he wrote in verse 17, nor is he intending to cancel it.

39:01 But what he is saying is this, that those who are of Christ Jesus are not in this state where the flesh dominates with its works, but they are in this realm where the Spirit is dominant with his fruit. And they have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. And if any one or any combination of the works of the flesh are dominant, listen carefully, you have no biblical grounds to say you are of Christ Jesus. For this passage says, and Paul must have felt it important, he says, when I was there or in previous interactions, I forewarned men, and now I'm again, those who practice such things, those in whom any or one or more or combination of these things are a way of life, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn't say they'll lose a few rewards and be ashamed for 30 seconds when Jesus comes. That isn't what it says. It says they who practice such things shall not inherit, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

40:26 It doesn't say those who practice the first category shall not inherit. Most would be agreed, although alas, there are fewer and fewer, that willful, deliberate abandonment to sexual immorality will take you to hell. Whether it's bisexual, homosexual, auto-eroticism, or anything in between, or bestiality, it makes no difference. And at least many would still agree that that's not true.

40:54 And at least many would still agree that that's not true. That's true. But what about the next two categories? False religions.

41:02 Who is this idol? Who is the big celestial blob of unprincipled gush called God? Who wouldn't hurt a flea? Who's nothing but one big blob of unconditional love?

41:14 You got a problem? Just snuggle up to him and snuggle on his breast long enough and he'll just stroke all your problems away. No cross. No substitutionary bloodletting.

41:26 No broken blood. No broken blood. No law. No sinner who must take his place as self-condemned in his own conscience as he is condemned before the law of God.

41:36 People, stay away with all those theological concepts. Just snuggle up to lovey-dovey God and all will be well. My friends, that God's a knight. He only exists in your mind.

41:47 And what about these categories of the sins of interpersonal relationships? You mean a man will not enter the kingdom of God who is given over to enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger? Those sins practiced as a way of life will take you to hell? Yes, they will.

42:19 Their practice may be limited to the four walls of your home. They may be limited to the place where you work. But if in any way this can be called a way of life, the outcropping of these things are not the occasion of constant humiliation before God. And grief and repentance and fleeing again to Christ and to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness.

42:45 A true believer may have to confess a hundred times a day at some stage in his Christian life the rising up of sinful anger. But if he is a true Christian, the Spirit is lusting against that outcropping of the flesh. And therefore the Spirit will lead him to self-loathing and to repentance and to a fresh application to the blood of Christ and to the joy of forgiveness. It's not negating the reality of the warfare.

43:20 But those who practice as a way of life, who practice with impunity, who practice with no grief, no pain, oh yes, they studiously avoid adultery, fornication, sexual uncleanness, such as would bring them under the frown of almost any decent man. Let alone Christians. But there isn't the same jealous guarding of the heart and the outcroppings of the flesh. The mark of a true Christian is they have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

43:57 They've taken the posture of all-out irreconcilable, non-negotiable warfare with the flesh in all of its manifestations. Is that you? Now I didn't say you are successful equally in every area of that warfare. Didn't say that.

44:21 You're very conscious of your remaining flesh warring against the Spirit and your ability to know the triumphs of grace varies in one area and another. I'm fully aware of that. But my question is this. Have you crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts?

44:42 Do you regard it all as worthy of being handed over to death? And is your prayer at the outcropping of those things, Oh God, nail them to the cross of your Son? I've consigned them to death in the death of your Son. Someone who said, It is only the one who died for sin that can enable us to die to sin.

The Capstone Exhortation: Walking in Step with the Spirit

45:12 And then he gives the capstone exhortation in verse 25. Look at it. Here's the capstone exhortation. He began by saying, Walk by the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

45:26 Now here's the capstone exhortation. If we live by the Spirit, that is not the if of doubt or uncertainty, but if, that is, since we have life by the Spirit, since we are spiritually alive, because of the indwelling of the Spirit who has united us to Christ and being of Christ, we have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof, by the Spirit let us also walk. And a different word for walk is used here, has more the connotation of military marching. Let us fall in line and keep in step with the Spirit.

46:09 Beautiful imagery. The Holy Spirit, has led us by the preaching of the law and the gospel to see ourselves as helpless, hopeless, hell-deserving sinners. And that same Spirit has brought us through the proclamation of Christ, crucified, buried and risen, to see the beauty of Christ and to see the worth of Christ and has enabled us to cast ourselves upon Christ as He's offered in the gospel if the Spirit has brought us to use our imagery through the gate, renouncing our own righteousness, casting ourselves solely upon the righteousness of God in Christ. If the Spirit has brought us through the gate, renouncing self-will and self-serving as a way of life, if He has brought us to renounce the sins that were taking us to hell, the sins that opened up the wounds and caused the groans and pressed out the sweat drops of blood from the brow of my Savior, if the Spirit has done all of that, keep in step with Him because He will never leave you in any other path than that into which He pointed you at the gate. You see, the Holy Ghost doesn't point you to Christ and His righteousness at the gate and then point you to Jewish ceremonies and point you to keeping days

47:37 and months and special feasts as He says in chapter 4 and verse 8. You Galatians, Christ Jesus crucified was placarded before you and when you believed, the Spirit pointed you to Christ crucified as the sufficient and only ground of your hope. Now keep in step with the Spirit. Continually go to Christ as your life, as your strength, as your all.

48:07 Did the Spirit bring you to see that the life you lived wrapped up in yourself, wrapped up in the works of the flesh would bring upon you the wrath of God? Yes. And did the Spirit show you the loathsomeness of your sin in the light of God's holiness and in the light of Christ's cross? Yes.

48:30 Then keep in step with the Spirit because He'll never tell you anything different about your sin. It's even now more loathsome because when you sin as a Christian now, you not only sin against the authority of God and the God of law and sin against the wounds of Christ, you sin against the privilege of knowing the peace of forgiveness, the joy of sins forgiven. You sin against the light and privilege of having the Spirit indwell you to make real the things of Christ and be to you what He described in chapter 4, the Spirit of adoption, enabling you to call God with the deepest intimacy, Abba, Father. Keep in step with the Spirit. The Spirit has brought you to own your sin, to own Christ alone as the hope of salvation, to repudiate yourself and sin. If you now have life by that Spirit, you keep in step with the Spirit. Our responsibility, you see, having come through the gate to use our Lord's imagery, is to walk upon the way.

49:45 And if anything proposes itself to us contrary to that, we are to repudiate it. Let us not become vain, glorious, provoking one another, envying one another. Yes, the possibility is there because the flesh yet remains, though it does not reign, and there will be this consciousness of warfare but let us not get out of step with the Spirit and revert to the works of the flesh. Let us not get out of step with the Spirit and turn aside from Christ alone as the object of our faith for acceptance before God.

50:29 Let us not get out of step with the Spirit who always points us to Christ and the righteousness that is in Him. The righteousness in Him, received by faith alone, that points us to that Christ whom He has revealed through the Gospel as the object of our love and we now have a faith which He mentions in this very epistle that works by love. You see how this closely reasoned passage set in its context does indeed underscore the description we have given of the narrow way, the compressed way, I'm sorry, the restricted way, we have said that that way is the way of living in the reality of sin's dominion being broken and in the reality of the constant mortification of sin. It's the way of living under the reign of righteousness and increasing conformity to the image of Christ. It's the way of Gospel holiness. It does not earn us life because on that way we are the first to confess there's nothing we do that could add one thread to the robe of the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Conclusion: The Mark of a True Christian and Final Exhortation

51:54 But as surely as every true believer has that as his confession he can also say there is not one thread of any sin which I regard worthy of being cherished to my breast. I've consigned them all to death upon the cross. They that are of Christ's side, the flesh with the passions and the lust thereof. It seems to me at this stage in my life as I look back over the years and see so many who seem to begin well but have fallen upon the way and have watched one movement become a religious fad and shoot its wad and pass off into the horizon and another one take its place that it seems to me there are precious few people that are willing to hold in a death grip both of these biblical truths. When I ask the question what must I do to be saved? The answer is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Period.

53:05 Full stop. Go out of yourself and into Christ in the uniqueness of His person and the perfection of His work. And when I ask the question how may I know that I am saved? The answer of the Bible is in part I must be able to demonstrate from the word of God that my life bears the mark of someone who is on that restricted compressed way which alone leads to life.

53:40 My traveling on the way doesn't earn me life. I travel on it because I've received life by the grace of God at the gate. And that life is sustained by the same Savior and the same Spirit all along the way. But to say that that life was imparted and that that life will be consummated while I take a detour around the compressed way is to deceive myself that I can think I got through the gate and I'll enter life by some other path than the restricted way.

54:25 If there were no other passage but Galatians 5 16 to 25 I'd rest my case there. But that is only one of many. We could consider had we time but we don't. Colossians 3 the second passage the simple proposition of the Apostle in that passage the heart of it is this you have put off the old man and have put on the new.

54:58 It doesn't say you ought to you may eventually you have put off you have put on and all of his exhortations to mortify remaining sin and to put on additional graces rest upon the foundation they have put off they have put on. 2 Timothy 2 19 marvelous text Paul has been warning Timothy of certain errors to which he might be subject in trying to show how dangerous these errors are. He names certain men who in biding these errors have not only made shipwreck concerning the faith themselves but lead have led others astray and it's as though Timothy says Paul if that's so what hope is there? And he says nevertheless the foundation of God stands firm having this seal the Lord knows them that are his. The Lord has had his love upon them eternity he loved them when he sent his son to be incarnate for them he loved them when his son lived the life they should have lived when he died the death they dare not die when he rose from the dead they rose in him and with him and at the right hand of the Father he has them upon his heart and he will have them there until he brings them all home safely to himself I will that they who thou hast given me be with me where I am this foundation stands sure the Lord knows them that are his

56:27 ah but the last part of the verse says this and let everyone who names the name of Christ continually be departing from iniquity from unrighteousness is a better translation let everyone who names the name of Christ who says I'm known by him yes I'm one of those who is secure in him he says then matter and manifest the reality of your union with him by a lifestyle marked by departing from iniquity not whining about it because your conscience bothers you I have people say well I must be a Christian my conscience bothers me when I sin no that just shows you're a human being who has not been abandoned by God Romans 2 says pagans who have never even seen the pages of a Bible have a conscience that accuses them this notion is the proof you're Christian what do you do when conscience bothers do you forsake the iniquity that's the issue and have you forsaken it do you give all the credit to Christ and to the power of his grace that you are able to do so and when you fall do you confess it and ask God to pick yourself up and give you strength that the next time you face it you'll be an overcomer and when you overcome where you once fell do you give

57:55 all the credit to God and to Christ and to the Spirit that's the mark of a true Christian dear people if you're going to see me in heaven you know why you'll see me there not because I've preached for 40 plus years no not because others have come to know Christ through my preaching no it will not be for anything other than this by the grace of God in Christ God got me through the gate put me on the way and kept me there till he took me home now if along the way it was the will of God that I should minister to others that's incidental who is getting through the gate and on the way leads to life and if you end up in heaven it will be for the same reason the grace of God arrested you in your native blindness and spiritual death and brought you through the narrow gate and that grace that brought you through the gate sustained and kept and preserved and checked and restrained at times picked you up as the scriptures says the righteous

59:25 falls seven times but he does not utterly fall the Lord picks him up again and at last we'll be in a place where there's no more flesh lusting against the spirit no more spirit lusting against the spirit when the renovating work of the spirit extends to every if I may use the terminology I don't know how else to use it every atom of my soul and every particle of my body and my entire redeemed humanity will be resplendent with the power of redemptive and restorative grace that will have made me into the very image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with him forever oh dear people are you for real are you for real are you for real are you for real question are you for real come on be honest in the theater of your own heart as honest now as you'll have to be in the day of judgment if you're for real then Galatians 5 verse 24 describes you they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof you sat there increasingly under the word and have had to say I

60:53 wonder if the root of the matter is in me my friend cherish those doubts that are produced by the preaching of the word cherish them go to God with them ask God to help you to know your true state and give God no rest until you can say by the grace of God I am for real in the light of the word of God and in the light of what God has wrought in me there's no answer for who I am but that God has united me to his son cleansed and washed me and renewed me by the power of his grace and of his spirit and has planted my feet on the way that leads unto life let us pray our father we thank you for your holy word we thank you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for his mighty saving power we thank you that he is not a savior who has only the power to provide for men a just pardon but the power to break the bondage of our sins that he himself declared whom the

62:22 sun sets free is free indeed and how we plead this morning that you will seal your word to the heart of God and to the hearts of your true people giving them a new level of unshakable assurance that they are indeed your own and for those our father who have precious little biblical grounds for the measure of assurance that they now possess shake that unfounded or ill grounded assurance oh God we pray that we may be a bedrock of biblical reality and of a true saving union with your son oh Lord seal your word we pray that it may be a saver of life unto life for any among us who are conscious that in seeing those works of the flesh described they were as it were in Christ and give them no rest until they flee to him seal then your word to our prophet and to your glory we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen