Bad Record and a Bad Heart

The Greatest Two-Fold Problem: A Bad Record and a Bad Heart

0:17 I want to speak to you this morning on a very vital issue. In fact, there is no more vital issue that any man or woman in this building can consider.

0:27 And to introduce the subject about which I wish to speak, I want to ask you a very personal and very practical question. And this is the question.

0:36 What do you feel is the greatest problem you've ever had to wrestle with?

0:42 As you look back over your life, what is the greatest problem that you've ever confronted which has captured the attention of your mind, which has been the focus of thoughtful consideration, perhaps has been the occasion of sweat and tears and mental agony? What is the greatest problem you've ever confronted?

1:06 Now, just sit and think for a moment.

1:17 Let me carry the question on. What do you think is the greatest problem that any man or woman can confront? If I were to give you paper and pencil and ask you this morning, what is the greatest, without any degree of...

1:39 reticence, without any hesitation, I'm convinced there is one great and tremendous problem that is the greatest problem of every creature who is the son of Adam.

1:52 Do you know what it is? And I want to speak to you about that this morning. The greatest two-fold problem that any man or woman, fellow or girl, can ever confront. And listen to me.

2:04 If you live and die, never having been gripped by the magnitude of this problem, listen to me, it were better for you that you had never been born.

2:17 Hear me. If the problems we're going to deal with this morning have never been such as to grip your mind and to cause the deepest, most intense agony of mind and soul, and if you go to your grave having never been gripped and perplexed by this problem, it were better for you that you'd never been born.

2:40 And thank God I can also say if you have come to grips with this problem and have found God's love for you, God's answer to this problem, you know more than the most brilliant physicist who's come to grips with the problems of God's created universe and Einstein who's come to grips with the problems of this, the laws that govern our universe, a Newton, any of these great physicists and scientists. Listen, dear one, you make them appear as a dunce if God has given you the answer to this problem. Do you know what the problem is? I'm going to state it and then I'm going to show you from the scriptures what the problem is and what the answer is.

3:24 And, beloved, I'm just not preaching the sermon. Every once in a while I must remind you of this. I'm not doing this because it's Sunday morning and part of my pay involves preaching, so I've had to conjure up something to occupy 45 minutes. Beloved, I'd tell you this if I was sitting in your living room today.

3:38 As a layman, I'm not just being preachy this morning. If you've never confronted this problem, better for you that you've never been born. If you die having this problem, you've never confronted it. Do you know what the problem is?

3:54 It's a two-fold problem. It's the problem of a bad record in heaven and the problem of a bad heart here on earth. And that two-fold problem is the greatest problem that any human being can ever have.

The Problem of a Bad Record in Heaven

4:14 For God has moved from eternity in the greatest works He has ever done to the solving of that problem for a great multitude, which no man can do. And so, first of all, there is the problem of a bad record in heaven. Have you ever been struck with the terrible fact that you have a terrible record in the presence of a holy God? For the Scripture says that as creatures born in God's moral universe, we, along with the angels, are accountable to this God who made us.

4:53 We did not choose to be accountable to Him. He chose to create us, and He made us accountable to Himself. For the Scripture says, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

5:07 When you are born in this country and live in this country, it's not a matter of choice as to whether or not you will be accountable to the laws of this country. By the fact that you were born here, you become immediately subject to the laws and disciplines as well as the privileges of this country. And you and I, as creatures created by God, made in the image of God, are therefore accountable to God. Whether we wish to be or not is not the issue.

5:34 For me to go out and smack my car into a telephone pole and throw a brick into the front window of a store in Caldwell and to kick somebody in the shins and then be hauled into court and say, look, I never signed up and said I was accountable to these laws. It wouldn't get me off. Sir, if you're a citizen of this county and of this place, you are accountable whether you want to be or not. And I don't need, and God does not give me the prerogative to stand before Him and say, Lord, I'd like to sign a statement of accountability or I'd like to sign a waiver of accountability.

6:04 Lord, I don't want to be accountable to you. No such thing in the court of God. You and I are accountable to Him. And this God deals with His universe as a judge.

6:15 He deals with it in other ways, but I want us to think particularly this God. The Scripture says, His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, beholding the evil and the good. And as the old Negro spiritual says, my God is writing all the time, time, time. It's true.

6:33 It's a word picture. God doesn't have to write to remember. But when we open our Bibles and read of the great day of judgment, we read these words. The books shall be opened and the dead shall be judged out of those things that are written in the books, every man according to his deeds.

6:53 And this God to whom we are accountable, who knows the thoughts and the intents of the heart, who understands, and knows our words afar off, this God is recording every deviation in thought, in word, in deed, in attitude from the holy law which He has imposed upon His creatures.

7:16 That holy law which commands us to love Him with the whole heart, to have no other gods before Him, to take not His name in vain, to keep His Sabbaths holy, to honor all God-appointed government, father, mother, or who else it be, to steal not, to lie not, to commit adultery not. That God has and is recording every deviation from that law in motive, in thought, in word, and in deed. For the Scripture says we shall be judged according to our works, every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account of the day of judgment, that He will judge the secrets of men's hearts. As we read in Romans chapter 2.

8:01 Beloved, you and I are accountable to that God. That God whose eye searches the depths of our beings, who knows us all together. That God is keeping a record of all that we have done. And the Scripture says that you and I are under the condemnation of that holy law.

8:20 For in a way that is a mystery to us, we were involved in what happened in the garden when our first parents sinned. For the Scripture says by one man condemnation came upon all. And we stand condemned because of our actual transgressions of that holy law. And the record, beloved, is bad.

8:39 Now I ask you this morning, has the problem of a bad record in heaven ever become to you the greatest problem that you've ever wrestled with?

8:51 Has the thought that a holy God to whom you are accountable and who knows every thought, every motive, every word, every deed, every deviation from His law, has this thought ever rested upon you with such weight and magnitude until you felt you'd rather have the world come crashing upon your head than stand before that holy God and face the record of your sins? Has that ever become the greatest problem in life to you? Beloved, listen to me. If it hasn't, listen to me.

9:21 If it hasn't, and if it doesn't before you die,

9:26 better it were that you had never been born. For when you go to the judgment, you'll face that record. With every deviation from the holy law of God in thought, in word, in deed. And when Almighty God who plumbs the depths of the heart and knows all the circumstances of the life opens the books and says, Sinner, this is your life.

9:56 What will you say before that ineffably holy God? Young person, what will you say when the filthy stories told without the knowledge of mom and dad and pastor are laid before you? What will you say, husband, when all the lustful burnings of your heart, unknown to pastor and wife and friends, are laid bare before the eye of God? What will you say, young people, when every cheating, every bit of deception, every bit of lying to mom and dad and teacher and friends and playmates is laid before your gaze?

10:32 Beloved, listen.

10:35 Then you'll have a problem, but it'll be too late to do anything about it.

10:40 This problem of a bad record in heaven must, either become a terrifying problem now or it will be a terrifying problem then. But it'll be an unsolvable problem then. My Bible says, When our Lord judges men out of the books, he shall say to them, Depart from me, I never need you.

11:04 That's one problem. The problem of a bad record in heaven. And what makes it so bad is that we can't do anything to change that record.

11:13 You see, God isn't going to go on a vacation and leave the records to be tampered with.

11:20 He's not going to leave the records. He's going to leave the records to be tampered with.

11:23 You and I can't sneak into the courts of heaven and change the records. You and I have no power to lower the standards of God and pay Him off.

11:33 No bribing of the court of heaven. You don't bribe God with external morality and say, well, I don't do this and don't do that, therefore that'll cancel what I do do. No, dear ones. You can't bribe the court of heaven with morality.

11:46 You can't coerce the court of heaven with religiosity and say, well, I go to church and I hear sound preaching and I love to hear the gospel, no, you don't bribe the court of heaven by this. Beloved, the court of heaven says sin must be paid for. The wages of sin is death. The law must be satisfied.

12:05 Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Now, has that problem ever gripped you? We have visitors here among us this morning. We thank God for your presence.

12:18 Have some of you who've been here almost every Sunday since I've been here and for years previous to that. Some of you I know are acquaintances with the substance of the gospel. Some of you who've come among us may not be, but beloved, as a minister of the gospel, regardless of your background, I declare on the basis of this book, if that problem's never gripped you and crushed you and caused you to be perplexed and filled with anxiety, you're in a terrible state this morning for the wrath of a holy God hangs above your head because of a broken law and you're ignorant of it and only a heartbeat keeps you out of hell. Only one thing can change that law.

13:03 If God, by His sovereign purpose, is pleased to work out a plan whereby He may punish sin and yet release the sinner, God in grace has done that in His beloved Son, as we'll see in a moment. But that law which condemns us and that record which stands against us cannot be changed by us. That's problem number one. Problem number two is the problem of a bad heart here on earth.

The Problem of a Bad Heart on Earth

13:32 For I not only have a bad record, but I have a bad record because I've got a bad heart. When I say the heart, I don't mean that muscle that pumps the blood through my physical frame, but the seat of what I am. The scripture says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. When a situation is desperate, it's out of hand, isn't it?

13:54 You wives, you know what it's like to get in a desperate situation. You know what it is, don't you? Here you've got something that should come out of the oven and just as you're about to go get it, one of the kids slips and skins his knees and there's a kid who needs attention and is crying and another one out in the backyard who's got his finger pinched in the swing and there's something in the oven. You just don't have enough hands and feet to do it.

14:13 Your situation is desperate. It's out of hand. You can't handle it. God says the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

14:21 It's out of hand. Nothing I can do with it.

14:25 Jesus said in Mark 7, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed adulteries, fornication, evil thoughts, murders,

14:36 thefts, foolishness, wickedness, deceit, pride, all of these things Jesus said proceed from out of the heart of men. They're not created by environment.

14:54 That's the whole folly of all the attempts to better society by bettering environment. Beloved, the human heart is still the fountainhead of all forms of iniquity.

15:07 And the problem that you and I confront is the problem of iniquity. This incorrigible, sin-loving, God-hating heart of ours. And the scripture says that this heart is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God.

15:21 Neither indeed can it be. Romans 8, 7. Now this is a terrible problem. I've got a heart that is opposed to God and to holiness and to truth and to light and to purity.

15:32 How could God ever take people to heaven with hearts like that? Heaven's a place of light. God's a God of light. He couldn't do it.

15:40 For you and I to enter heaven, with unregenerate, unsanctified hearts, heaven would be the essence of hell. The pure light of heaven would be agony to our depraved and blackened.

15:56 And there's the great problem. How can this heart of mine be changed so that it will love what is pure and holy and will love the law of God and love the ways of God? Not just love to be religious and love to be nice, but a heart that from the depths of its being will long to be all that God purposes for His creatures. Now, has that problem ever gripped you?

16:18 And I've got news for you. That problem doesn't get solved by raising your hand and nodding to Jesus.

16:27 That problem doesn't get solved by lopping off some of the external sins of our lives and becoming good Orthodox, quote, Christians and coming to church and singing gospel hymns. Beloved, God's greatest miracle is that miracle by which He does something for that heart of a rebel sinner. His greatest miracle.

16:50 It didn't cost God a thing to make the world. See, just pray. He spoke, and out of the room of nothing were born the worlds and the galaxies. Beloved, it cost God to begin to move, to do something to change rebel hearts.

17:04 It cost heaven the presence of the Lord of glory. It cost the Lord of glory tasting hell upon the cross for His people.

17:15 Has that problem ever gripped you? How a holy God could ever take the likes of you with a heart like yours into heaven? Now, listen to me. If it hasn't gripped you, if you thought all your problem was that you'd done a few bad things and got a few check marks in the record book of heaven,

17:31 if it's never dawned on you, dear one, that the reason why you've got check marks in the book of heaven is because you've got a heart that longs to do the things that bring the check marks. We've been cursed in our generation by limiting the gospel as a message that says God will blot out the check marks and fit you for heaven. Listen, you're no more fit for heaven without a new heart than you're fit for heaven without a changed record.

17:57 If God were to blot out the record and not change our hearts, salvation would be a monstrosity of a thing and would turn heaven into hell in an instant of time.

18:10 Our problem is twofold. A bad record in heaven that we all have and a bad heart that we all have. We can't change the record. We're utterly powerless to change our own hearts for Jesus said, without me he can do nothing.

18:25 Nothing. The scripture says, can the leopard change his spots? And the obvious answer is no. Can the Ethiopian change his skin?

18:32 And the answer, is obviously no.

18:35 And God says, then can ye who are accustomed to doing evil do good? And the answer is obvious no. Oh, we can change some of our external habits. The man who curses may cease to curse and the man who chases another woman's wife may cease his chasing.

18:52 But beloved, he can't change the heart that moved him to chase that woman's wife. And if he doesn't chase her in action, he'll chase her in thought. And Jesus said to chase a woman in thought just to begin with. But don't.

19:05 The murderer may put up his gun and cease to blow the brains out of others. But he can't change the heart that pulled the trigger and God's word says whoso he is a murderer.

19:26 The person who has no interest in spiritual things and shows it by never coming to church may decide I've got to go to church and be a good man, a good woman. And he may bring his body to church. But listen, he has no power to change his heart so that he loves to sing the praises of God and loves to hear the word of God. It's all a bore and a task and a drudgery.

19:48 Can't change the heart. Can't do it.

19:53 That's the two-fold problem, the greatest problem that human beings can face. A bad record and a bad heart. And we can do nothing about it. And until those two thoughts have gripped you, I've got a bad record, I've got a bad heart, I can do nothing about it.

The Gospel: God's Two-Fold Solution in the New Covenant

20:10 Then the gospel is good news. For what is the gospel? You know what the gospel is? The gospel is the account of what God has done for us.

20:18 The gospel is the account of what God has done for us. What God has done in Jesus Christ to change the record and the hearts of a great multitude that no man can number who shall for all eternity marvel that the record was changed and their rebel hearts were changed by the infinite grace of God. Beloved, that's the gospel. That's the gospel.

20:45 And you remember that Jesus said when he was about to die, this cup is the new cup the new covenant in my blood which is shed for many. All that the Lord Jesus did in emptying himself of his glory and coming to earth as a true man, all that he did in his sinless life and all that he was about to do by his substitutionary death, he said all of it makes sense only in terms of one thing, the new covenant. Now what did God promise in the new covenant? Well, let's let the Holy Spirit tell us through his own word.

21:29 I've been quoting a number of scriptures but haven't asked you to turn but I might not lose your attention. For will you look closely at what God promises in the new covenant in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 7?

21:51 Or perhaps we could move down to verse 10, verses 7 to 9 are introductory. God says this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. Now notice. I will put my laws into their mind and will write them in their hearts and will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest.

22:20 Now notice. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. God says in the new covenant I will bring men to the place where their, their hearts will have my law written upon them where instead of being rebels they will be my willing subjects because they know me. And then he says I'll blot out their sins, I'll change the record.

22:46 Notice the same thing in Hebrews chapter 10, a more condensed account of the new covenant beginning with verse 15. Hebrews 10, 15. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is a witness to us for after he hath said before this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. God says two blessings in the new covenant.

23:16 I'll change the record. I'll blot out the sin. I'll remember the great mountain of iniquity against them. No more.

23:26 That's why Jesus shed his blood to ratify the new covenant to blot out the sins of his people forever. But beloved, that's only half of the new covenant. The second half is this, that by what he did in his death and resurrection he would now by his spirit apply to the hearts of men and he would make rebels into subjects. He would take those who want their own way and make them the people who want God's.

23:57 He'd give them a new heart. And beloved, we've been cursed for three generations. The concept of the gospel the gospel in America has been the gospel is Jesus died to change a record, period. No, he didn't.

24:14 He died to change the record that the Holy Ghost might be sent to change our hearts. And a changed record and a changed heart is the substance of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24:28 And I thrill and stand amazed at the privilege of declaring to men this glorious gospel that in Jesus, full and adequate provision has been made for the changing of the record and the changing of the heart of any who will come unto God by him.

24:51 That's why Jesus died, that by his blood the record might be changed. That's why he rose and sent the Spirit that by his power the heart might be changed. The blood and the Spirit, the cross and Pentecost, these are the inseparable environments of the gospel of Christ. And all who come by faith and see in Christ full provision for sin are also changed by the Spirit to bow to his yoke.

What the Gospel is NOT

25:32 What is my message to you this morning who've never seen this problem but who perhaps by the revelation of the Spirit have had your eyes opened and you see for the first time this is the great problem that you face. What's my message to you? Let me tell you what it's not. My message is not straighten up and begin to live good so your record won't get any worse.

25:59 Oh, what a terrible thing to call the gospel. For suppose you could straighten up, never get another blot on the record. The record still stands with the years of sin like a mountain of iniquity. And if you don't add one gram to that mountain, the mountain still stands and will crush you into judgment.

26:20 The gospel is not to tell men straighten up and live right.

26:26 That's not the gospel.

26:29 Neither is the gospel to tell men look, decide you're going to live for Jesus and begin to follow him. Decide with what? You've got a heart that hates his law. A heart that is a rebel against him.

26:42 What can that heart decide but to go on in rebellion against him? That's not the gospel. Tell men straighten up and live right so they're not going to be in trouble. That's not the gospel.

26:50 That's not the gospel. That's not the gospel. That's not the gospel. That's not the gospel.

26:50 The record will get cancelled. Tell men to just roll up their sleeves and decide for Jesus so that they can begin to be what God wants you to be. That's not the gospel. That's not what I exhort you to do this morning.

27:03 Nor is the gospel to tell people believe some facts about Jesus. Just believe that there on the cross 1900 years ago he died and if you'll nod to that fact all is well. That's not the appeal of the gospel. What is the appeal of the gospel?

The Appeal of the Gospel: Come to Jesus, Mediator of the New Covenant

27:17 Here it is, beloved. Listen to it. The scripture says in Hebrews 11 Ye are not come unto the mount that quaked with fire and the smoke Mount Sinai But he says Ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the heavenly Jerusalem and unto the company of the redeemed of God Now notice and unto Jesus the mediator of a new covenant Hear me now. How does this great problem of the bad record and the bad heart get solved?

27:48 It's got to be somehow when the blessings of the new covenant are applied to me. For the blessing of the new covenant is the blotting out of sin the changing of the heart. How do I get those blessings? How do I get those problems solved?

28:01 Listen, here it is. By coming to Jesus the author of the new covenant. By throwing yourself down before the Lord Jesus say nothing in my hands I pray. Lord Jesus my record is as bad as the book says it.

28:25 Lord I've sinned and thought and word and deed time without number. Oh God I deserve nothing but your wrath. But Jesus you're the mediator of the new covenant and you are offered to all men in the gospel. Lord Jesus I come to you and I plead the benefits of that new covenant.

28:45 I plead an interest in your blood. I plead the cleansing of that blood for you said come all that labor and are heavy laden and love Lord Jesus the thought of my bad record and my bad heart have caused me to bow over with the sense of guilt and hopelessness. Lord I'm laboring I'm heavy laden beneath the sense of my guilt and my depravity my bad record and my bad heart. Oh Lord Jesus you bid all that are laboring and heavy laden to come.

29:16 Lord I come to you not to an altar not to a preacher not to an inquiry room but I come to Jesus. Jesus.

29:28 He's the only one who can apply the benefits of the new covenant. Blot out the record come to him and say Lord Jesus what you said is true. I've got a wicked heart Lord. That's why I lust.

29:42 That's why I can't love you. Young people listen to me. That's why you have no real interest in the word of God and in the house of God and in the things of God. You've got a heart that is exposed to all that is spiritual and good.

29:57 Come to Jesus and tell him Lord nothing but a wicked heart. Lord out of this heart have proceeded evil thoughts. Out of this heart have proceeded pride foolishness sin. Lord Jesus you said that you died to ratify a covenant that would not only change the record but change the heart.

30:18 Lord Jesus change this heart of mine. Give me a new heart Lord. That's what God says in Ezekiel 36 where you have the most detailed account of the new covenant and after God says I'll take out the heart of stone I'll give a heart of flesh I'll blot out your sins then there's this wonderful word that says moreover for this thing will I be required of the house of Israel to do it for them. God says I do all of this but you must ask me plead with me throw yourself down before me and ask for a new heart and the promise of God is sure those that act receive those that see those that see those that see shall find God says you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Beloved that's the gospel that's the glorious good tidings that I hold before you today. Jesus the mediator of the new covenant who is able by the application of his sovereign power to change the record to change the rebel heart you must come to Jesus to see him to see him to see him to see him to see him to see dear ones this is the problem of the modern evangelistic invitation it gets people coming to an altar and thinking that coming to an altar they've got it

31:45 Christ is not a physical act coming to an inquiry room is but coming to Christ is not a physical act it's a moving out of the soul it may not be done it may not be done in three minutes it may but if God for reasons known only to him wants you to seek him for days and months and years who are we to do anything but fall down and plead for mercy who are we who are we to do anything but fall down and plead for mercy and keep on pleading until the Holy Spirit assures us that mercy has been conferred through the merits of Christ until we know that our hearts have been changed by the Spirit and right beloved I've given you in 32 minutes what it's taken God 12 long years to teach me is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ the gospel is not you've got some bad check marks believe Jesus died and you're all fixed up for heaven beloved if your heart hasn't been changed so that as you sit here today you can say with David

33:14 I delight to do thy will oh my God thy law is where within my heart the law is not just a code out here so that it's not that if I don't actually curse or swear I feel all is well no the true Christian because the law is upon his heart he's grieved not that he takes the Lord's name in vain by using the name of Christ or God in cursing but he's the one who realizes that that law demands that he hold that name in high and holy reverence and he's grieved when he hasn't held it high by his life or by his lips he's not content to merely say thou shalt not commit adultery if I don't chase another man's wife if I don't chase another woman's husband all is well no that law is in his heart and when he feels the strivings of lust he cries to God oh God cleanse my adulterous heart what a Christian does he's got a new heart he's not content when it says thou shalt not bear false witness he's not content that he doesn't just gossip about his neighbor for he knows the substance of the second table of the law is to love his neighbor as himself and when he's been selfish and cursed with self-interest in areas though no one else may detect it he goes down before God and says oh God forgive me I haven't loved my neighbor as myself do you know anything about what I'm talking about right now

34:41 beloved that's the fruit of the new heart the gospel is not just get your record changed oh but and here's the converse how could God ever move and change the heart by placing his own spirit within us as long as his law up in heaven said damn that sinner the wages of sin is death as long as that law said the wages of sin is death my bad record would hinder God from coming into my life how could God who as a judge must condemn me come and indwell me as a comforter he can't so if you say your heart has changed and you're a new creature and you do not gladly confess that the blood of Jesus is the only ground of your approach to God dear one you're just as deceived as the person who says his record is changed by the blood but whose heart is not changed for God never changes the heart of a sinner with whom he has a controversy God must first of all remove that controversy and he removes it by the merits and blood of his son and then he comes to dwell in us by his spirit I may just be thrilling my own soul this morning beloved but this is the most precious thing to me today that this is the gospel this is the save this is the salvation which God offers to all men and the gospel and says come to Jesus

A Debtor to Mercy Alone: The Fruit of a Changed Heart

36:10 look unto me the scripture says and be he saved and the word saved encompasses all that we've said this morning the record and the heart and now as I close the message I come right back where I started with two questions what is the greatest problem you've ever wrestled I'm asking you this morning dear friend visitor what is the greatest problem you've ever wrestled the greatest problem that's ever captured your mind and possessed your thoughts has it been the problem of your bad record before a holy God and your bad heart before a holy God beloved listen to me if you've never wrestled with that problem you better leave this building today and try to God that he'll show you how great the problem is now before you meet it in the day of justice if you've seen the problem and I I know I'm confident there's some of you here who've begun to see this problem how can you see this problem how can God do anything to a sinner like me but damn me how can he do anything beloved I have glorious news if you'll come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant he's promised

37:37 your sins and iniquities I will remember no more hallelujah oh beloved when I think of the mountain of my sin the mountain of my sin though I never chased around with harlots though I never ran around with a wild crowd it's not school though my life externally was a very respectable life beloved I know a little bit was in my heart and when I think this morning and my memory can look back not with any length of time for it would defile me but just to look for a moment unto the rock from whence I was hewn and unto the pit from whence I was digged to think of that mountain of iniquity that rises before my mind the sins of Al Martin rising up and crying for me out to God condemn that sinner to think that this morning I can face this God with the consciousness that he'll never remember against me one of those sins hallelujah hallelujah and when I think of this heart that had no longing for God and no hunger for holiness and no desire to please him that at least in some faint measure this morning longs for nothing more than to please the Lord Jesus I stand amazed to the miracle that God has solved the problem

39:06 in his son and by the spirit and that's my second and last question has God dealt with this problem in your life I'm not asking you if you tried to deal with it but has God dealt with it has God assured you that your sins have gone out through the merits of his son does your life demonstrate that God is giving you a new heart does your life if not seek him today cry to the Lord Jesus the mediator of the new covenant plead his mercy no one ever perished for lack of mercy at the feet of the mediator of the new covenant there's mercy there mercy as broad as the sin of man but listen mercy won't meet you anywhere else but at his feet if you hope for mercy from a loving God who's the heavenly father of you think all people and that mercy is not sought at the foot of the cross dear one your mercy will turn to judgment for there's mercy nowhere but broken at the foot of Christ the mediator of the new covenant and if you know that your records

Final Exhortation and Prayer

40:34 changed and your hearts been changed beloved you're a debtor to mercy alone of covenant mercy alone may God the Holy Spirit cause the word which I trust has been brought with at least some measure of depression and illumination of the spirit to fix itself and fasten itself until every one of you dear young people who's old enough to understand my words will know one thing if I go to death and the judgment without a changed record and a changed heart it were better for me that I were not born but may also leave knowing that there's hope for a changed record and a changed heart if you'll get through all your Sunday school classes and all the sermons and all the preaching if you'll get through to where you plead mercy before Christ every teenager every adult every friend every visitor every member of this church may you leave knowing that this is the great issue of time and of eternity let us pray oh blessed father be pleased to breathe even now in the closing moments of these service this service

42:01 that those who've begun to feel the weight of this problem shall be enabled to look unto Jesus the mediator of the new covenant looking unto him in repentance and faith shall find pardon and a new heart oh God may some look today Lord for your glory own the word and those of us who have looked may the Holy Spirit so clarify what you did in our hearts that our joy shall know no bounds and our joy and that our gratitude shall know no limit honor the word for the sake of thy dear son we ask in his name amen