The Response of Whole Man; Fruit

Introduction: The Necessity of Finishing the Gospel Series

0:01 Those who were here last Lord's Day morning will remember that I was almost apologetic in introducing the subject of the messages for last Lord's Day, which were based, those messages, upon the theme that I was asked to preach on out on the West Coast for that week of conference. And yet I was mildly and very discreetly rebuked by several of you, directly or indirectly, when you reminded me that perhaps truths that were old hat to some of us who've been together on the ground level of the years that I've been privileged to minister here are not old hat to some who've come amongst us over the past one, two, or three years. And I don't know when I have had so many individual people come to me and express verbally specific help through the ministry of last Lord's Day and then veiled in confusion. Encouragements to finish up the two points that were left uncovered. Well, I have read those veiled encouragements, and in the light of your very discretionous, if that's the right word, exhortations, I've decided to finish out the messages of last Lord's Day morning and evening

1:26 and enlarge upon those two points which I did preach on at some length on the West Coast but was not able to finish. And I'm very grateful to touch on here, and then this evening, God willing, begin our study on the New Testament Church offices. We will deal with the nature of those offices tonight, and then next Lord's Day morning, and the timing of this, I believe, is going to be better when the larger group is here. We will seek to expound the passages in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1, which deal with the biblical requirements for these particular offices, which we hope to describe tonight, and then set the requirements for them.

Recap: The Standard of the Biblical Gospel

2:03 So I will attempt now in the next five minutes to gather together about two hours of last week's study that we might complete the area of consideration. As a biblical basis for our study last week, I read to you from Galatians 1, verses 6 to 9, in which the Apostle said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Paul's love for the purity of the gospel causes him to break out into these strong negative words of pronouncing the curse of God, the anathema of God, upon anyone who would pervert or change or tamper with the apostolic gospel. And nothing is more basic for our own salvation,

3:26 for the health of the church, and for the church's ministry to the world, than an understanding, a spirit-wrought gospel, a grasp upon the nature and content of the biblical gospel. What is that gospel which Paul and the apostles preached, which, if perverted, renders a man open to this terrible, terrible curse of God upon his head?

3:51 It's that thing that ought to concern all of us, for in a very real sense, the greatest need in the church of Jesus Christ today is for a rediscovery of the biblical gospel, and after that discovery, an appropriation of it to the heart, and then a proclamation of that gospel by every legitimate biblical means to the ends of the earth. Now, we established last week that if we are to answer this question around which our messages last Sunday centered, and again this morning, namely, is the contemporary gospel, the gospel preached in evangelical circles, is it indeed the biblical and apostolic gospel? If we're to answer that question, there is only one way to do it. And that is to take the direction of Isaiah 8.20 to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And I hope you'll never forget the yellow line on the wall.

4:48 Even my son got that. On the way home, I usually quiz him to see how much he's learned from his daddy. And I said, what did you learn this morning, son? And he said, well, I learned about the yellow line on the wall.

4:59 And the yellow line on the wall, if we're going to decide if a man's seven feet, six, we take a ruler and we measure it up, draw the line and stand him up alongside of it and opinion and sentiment and all the rest do not affect one quarter of an inch, the man's actual height as compared with seven feet, six inches on the wall. And so we must, if we are to answer this basic question, is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, come to scripture and scripture alone? We must not tune ourselves, our ears to the voices of the multitudes. We must not go to the street and take a man on the street pole.

Recap: Three Prior Questions for the Contemporary Gospel

5:40 We must shut ourselves up with the word of God, seeing its absolute inflexible standard, put the contemporary gospel next to that standard, and then make our conclusion as to whether or not, excuse me, it is indeed the biblical gospel. Last week, we broke down that main question into three lesser questions. And then I want to say, I want to move into the two other questions, I hope, this morning. Is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, if it fails to build on a sound doctrine of God?

6:17 We saw in Acts 14 and in Acts 17 that the apostle Paul began his evangelism to pagans, not with Christ and the resurrection, but with the doctrine of God as creator and sovereign and sustainer of his universe. Is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, if it doesn't start there, I leave you to answer the question in the light of the very gospel that Paul preached at Lystra in Acts 14 and the gospel that he preached at Athens as recorded in Acts 17. Second question we asked and sought to answer last week was this. Is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, if it fails to make a proper use of the law of God?

6:59 And turning to Romans 7, Galatians 3, and Romans 1 to 3, we saw that the biblical gospel, preached by the apostle Paul, had as an integral part of its presentation a preachment of the holy law of God, that men might see themselves as rebels against their sovereign creator, that they might see the vileness of sin in the light of that relationship of the creature to the creator. And so I leave the answer to you. Is the contemporary gospel, the true biblical gospel, if it doesn't make that proper use? And then we concluded last week with the question, is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, if it fails to sound a clarion call to repentance? And we showed from Luke 24 that the only gospel authorized by Christ is a gospel of repentance. The only gospel preached by the apostles sounded a clear note of repentance, whether it's Peter preaching in the early chapters of Acts or Paul preaching in the latter chapters, repentance was a clear note. And as I was taking a shower this morning and turning over the review in my mind, a thought struck me that I'd never seen so clearly before.

8:14 It says in the Westminster Confession of Faith under the section on repentance, having defined repentance, it says, the duty whereof is to be preached as well as that of faith in Christ. Now when you preach something, you don't just mention it. To preach Christ is not to stand in this pulpit and say Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. I haven't preached Christ by simply mentioning his name.

8:38 To preach Christ is to take all of the biblical data about Christ, to tell you who he is, to tell you why he came, to tell you what he did. That is to preach Christ, isn't it? Well, the old writers of the Confession said it is the duty of gospel preachers to preach repentance. Well, what is it to preach repentance?

8:59 Simply mention the word repent once in a while? Of course not. Any more than you preach Christ, by saying the word Christ. It's to take all of the biblical data about repentance, the necessity of it, the nature of it, the fruits of it, the source of it, the essence of it, and to apply that to the consciences of men.

9:19 That and that alone is preaching repentance. And Jesus said, repentance unto remission of sins not was to be mentioned among all the nations, but he says in Luke 24, it's to be preached among all the nations. So I leave the question with you, is the contemporary gospel the biblical gospel if it fails to sound this clarion call to repentance? Now, the fourth question, is the contemporary gospel the biblical gospel if it fails to make clear that saving faith is the response of the whole man to the whole Christ?

Question 4: Saving Faith as the Response of the Whole Man to the Whole Christ

10:01 Now, the prevalent concept, the concept that is worked into the warp and whoop of most of the churches out of which many of us have come, in most of the Bible schools, which those of us who've attended Bible schools have attended, that is found breathing in the very atmosphere of evangelism over the radio, in our gospel tracks, in our gospel leaflets, is something like this.

10:27 Having presented the facts of the death and the resurrection of Christ, which are an essential part of the gospel, that's essential, 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel we preach unto you, as Paul says, comprised of these facts. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

10:46 Now, to that extent, the contemporary gospel is the biblical gospel when it zeroes in upon the facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the contemporary gospel, having presented those facts, then says now, accept the fact of his atonement. It may mention his resurrection, but generally doesn't. But if you will now believe that Christ did indeed die on the cross, either for your sins, or those who may be a little more theologically accurate would say for sinners, or for such as you, you will be saved.

11:24 So that when the duty of faith is laid upon the consciences of men, people get the impression that the faith of the Bible, the belief of the Bible, the trust of the Bible, is basically ascended, the ascent of the mind to this central fact of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, and the sufficiency of that atonement for them in their need. And whether you would ever sit down and write it in so many words, whether I were to go out and ask men to write it, and whether they could do this or not, the average person brought up in the climate of the contemporary gospel has, as his understanding of faith, that very thing that I've mentioned. Ascent of the mind to the faith, the central fact of the atonement as being sufficient for his need. And if he has that, he has faith in Jesus Christ. Now my question is, is that gospel that preaches that concept of faith, is that the biblical gospel? When it makes one department of man reacting to one aspect of the work of Christ, the very essence of saving faith, is that the biblical gospel?

12:38 Well, how are we going to answer? We've got to go to the Bible. To the line on the wall. To the law and to the testament.

12:46 And the first thing I want us to see from scripture this morning is that with but one or two exceptions, and here the word is directed to Christians, and as far as I know with no exceptions, when we find the gospel being preached to sinners, the atoning work of Jesus Christ is never made the object of faith. Never. You say, Pastor, what have you done? Have you become a modernist?

13:15 Have you become a modernist? You want to give us a crossless gospel? No. I just don't want to give you a personless cross.

The Object of Saving Faith: The Person of Christ

13:27 For the object of saving faith again and again in the preaching of the apostles was not the fact of the atonement, but was the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter is preaching in Acts 10 in the household of Cornelius, he says, By him therefore all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. When our Lord himself invites people to salvation, how does he do it? In terms of an invitation to his person.

14:01 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.

14:19 John says, As many as received him, not the fact of his atonement, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And then the classic verse, and I want you to turn to it, is in Acts chapter 16, where we find the apostle Paul preaching Christ, preaching faith, and by implication preaching repentance, this Philippian jailer, whose circumstances I trust we are familiar with, having beaten the servants of God and cast them into the prison, no doubt embellishing their descent with curses, now trembling at this terrible demonstration of the power of God, about to kill himself, and Paul cries out in verse 28 of Acts 16, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, the captor falling before his captives, and brought them out and says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, It is your duty to believe. They preach faith.

15:43 Here it is. Believe. Now we are going to deal with what that means later on. But now what did he make the object of that jailer man's faith? Here it is.

15:51 Believe, on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And then he just didn't preach believe. He took them into his home and told them what it meant. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house.

16:11 John 3.16 says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in the fact of his atonement shall have everlasting life. Whoso believeth on or into him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And so the Apostle Paul here makes the object of saving faith nothing less and nothing more than the Lord Jesus Christ in all the glory of his person and in all the perfection of his work.

16:42 Try to picture with this jailer what it meant to come with this sense knowing that this is God. And his question is, I must be saved. What must I do to enter into the salvation of this great God whose power I've seen and no doubt whose message I've heard at least some of it as Paul and Silas were singing psalms and praises to God at midnight. And they said to him in essence, Mr. Jailerman, if you're ever going to get saved, the first thing you've got to do is to remember you're going to reckon with somebody and that somebody is a Lord upon a throne. Mr. Jailerman, if you're ever going to get saved, you've got to have some dealings with a person who is a Lord. That's the first thing you've got to understand.

17:29 So immediately, though his understanding may have been very limited until he went into the house and Paul and his companions spoke unto them the word of the Lord and opened up the message of the gospel more fully, he went away from that jail knowing this much, if I ever get saved, I've got to get saved by dealing with a person and that person is first of all a Lord. And to this man the word kurios could mean but one thing, the word Lord means sovereign, a despot upon a throne, a king in a place of regal majesty and power and authority. It meant one thing, for they were accustomed to calling Caesar Lord, that one who held absolute sway in the Roman government, whose word was law down to the smallest province. And so he recognizes if he's ever going to get saved, he's got to reckon with a person and that person is a Lord. And then he says, Mr. jailer man, if you're ever going to get saved, you've got to deal with a person who is Jesus.

18:28 Now how much he knew about Jesus, I don't know at this point. I'm quite confident before verse 32 was completed, he knew a lot about Jesus, the wonderful story of his incarnation, how God in mercy sent his son who came in condescension, self-emptying, confined himself to the womb of the virgin, lived in humility and poverty and in weakness and died in utter disgrace. Jesus, that name which identifies the humble carpenter of Nazareth as the only savior of sinners, the name given to him in all of its rich significance at his very conception when Joseph troubled about the pregnancy of Mary and wondering what to do, the angel comes to him as recorded in Matthew 1 and says, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus, the very name, means Jehovah is our salvation.

19:33 Jehovah has come, Emmanuel, God with us, to be our savior. Mr. Jailerman, if you're ever going to get saved, you've got to deal with a person who is a sovereign on the throne, who is a savior and became that in weakness and in humility and in true humanity and Mr. Jailerman, you've got to deal with a person who is Christ.

19:55 The word Christ in the Greek means the anointed one. It's the New Testament counterpart of the Old Testament Messiah, the long-promised Messiah. Mr. Jailerman, if you're going to be saved, you're going to deal not with somebody who's a Johnny-come-lately, but you're going to deal with this person who comes to you couched in all the rich heritage of the Old Testament Scriptures.

20:19 The one in whom all the promises will be fulfilled, the one in whom all the types and shadows will find their substance. Mr. Jailerman, we don't preach any Johnny-come-lately savior, for the world at this time was full of people who claimed to be saviors. The one we preached unto you is the long-promised Messiah, the one who comes couched in all the rich heritage of the Old Testament Scriptures and I imagine that that's what Paul did in verse 32, began to open up to him the fact that this Jesus, who died in weakness, was indeed the Christ of God, who is now a Lord upon a throne.

The Inseparability of Christ's Person and Work

20:57 So when he left that jail, though he didn't understand too much, this much he knew, if I ever get saved, I'll get saved by a person and that person is a Lord, he is a savior, he is the long-promised Messiah and I'll get salvation in nobody else. So the object of saving faith is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work. Therefore, we conclude that faith never regards the work of Christ severed from his person and twisted around the other way, faith never regards the person of Christ without his work. Would it be wrong for me to say to someone who came here today, look, I don't know much, but I know this much. I've been reading the Ten Commandments and I see I've had a lot of trouble in my life and I know that and I see I've had it. I'm a miserable, helpless, lost sinner. God could send me to hell today and I couldn't peep a complaint.

21:56 I'd get what I deserved. How can I find help? Well, suppose I just told him about the person of Christ, about his holiness and about his sinlessness and about the glory that surrounds his head, but I never told this man about a cradle, about a cross, about an empty tomb and about the throne. Would I be wrong in rightly, biblically preaching Christ to him if I preached the person of Christ divorced from the work of Christ?

22:26 Would I be preaching Christ to him, biblically? Would I? At least shake your head so I know you're with me. No.

22:34 I wouldn't be preaching Christ biblically, would I? I have no biblical warrant to preach the person of Jesus severed from the saving work of Jesus, a cradle, a cross, a tomb and a throne. You always ought to have those four symbols in your mind, the whole saving work of God in Christ is bound up in them. All right, now let's switch the table.

22:55 Suppose I say to this man, if you're ever going to get saved, it'll have to be on the basis of what God did when he sent his son to the womb of the virgin, when that son lived the sinless life and died in the room instead of sinners and opened his bosom to the wrath of his father until he was swallowed up in that wrath and cried, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God, my God. Then I tell him how that he went into the tomb and he was buried and swallowed up of death until he swallowed death and burst the bonds of death and came forth the triumphant, risen, resurrected savior and went back to the right hand of the father Oh, and yet that's what's being done in our evangelical circles today. Well, you say, isn't that playing with words? Pastor, you're getting kind of nitpicking, aren't you? No, I'm not.

23:59 Because you can look at and admire, even in some sense, love, those facts of the redemptive work of Christ, and still be a stranger to grace in your heart.

24:14 For it's not His work divorced from His person, or His person divorced from His work. What is faith? Faith is the embrace of the person of Christ in the light of the saving work of Christ. It's not believing in the fact of the atonement that saves, but believing in the atoner who accomplished the fact of the atonement.

Faith as Self-Commitment to the Whole Christ in His Offices

24:41 See? It's Christ upon a throne by way of a cradle, a cross, and an open tomb who saves, so that the object of saving faith must always be the person of Christ, never divorced from His work, the work of Christ, never divorced from His person. Now, if that's true, what is the essence of gospel preaching? Well, the essence of gospel preaching is not telling stories to get people to feel sad so they'll make a decision.

25:10 The essence of gospel preaching, whether it's a father and a mother to the son or daughter, whether it's you to a neighbor, is to declare the facts about Christ, His glorious and unique person, the marvelous facts about His work. That's declaring the gospel. Then, what is the essence of faith? Christ is the object.

25:32 Then the essence of faith is the response of the whole person to that whole Christ. Faith is so beautifully described in the book by Professor Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, in the following terms, and I've scoured years for a good definition of faith and never found one that I felt was adequate until I came across, this, will you listen as I commend it to you as an accurate statement of the truth of scripture, saving faith is self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of His person and the perfection of His work as He is so freely and fully offered to us in the gospel. That's saving faith. It's the commitment of one's self to Christ. The very Greek word for believe never, never brings with it, essentially, this idea of simply ascent. It involves ascent, but it doesn't stop with ascent. It has the concept of trust, reliance upon, commitment to.

26:38 It's the very word used in John 2 when it says certain Jews believed on Christ, but He would not commit Himself to them because He knew what was in man. It's the same word used earlier for believe that's translated later, commit. He would not commit Himself. He would not entrust Himself.

26:54 He would not put Himself at their disposal. It could be translated rightly, though they believed in Him, He would not believe in them because He knew what was in them. You see, they had some kind of a surface faith, but our Lord would not exercise true faith with regard to them. That is, He would not commit Himself to them.

27:16 So that the whole man is involved in the response of faith, which is the reflex action of God and God's regenerating, quickening work in the heart of a dead sinner. The Old Confession states it beautifully, a little differently, but the same concept when it presents the Lord Jesus as the Redeemer of God's elect in His threefold offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king. And salvation comes when He has embraced the whole Christ in all the glory of His offices. Suppose someone were to come here this morning and say, Pastor Martin, I've been listening to you preach, and in the midst of all the confusion of the 20th century, the thing that has struck me is that when you open up the Bible, and when I sit in my Sunday school class, and my Sunday school class teachers here open the Bible, and they begin to give a declaration of what God has said, a tremendous sense of security envelops me in the midst of all my confusion to know that you can know certain things. And you know, I would just love to know Christ as my own Christ. As my own personal prophet. I'd love to know Him as the one who gave me answers to life's basic questions of ethics and morality and purpose of life and identity.

28:33 Tell me, how can I enter into the wonder and to the satisfaction and stabilizing effect of Christ's prophetic ministry in my life? Well, I'd tell them, well, look, you need to embrace the Lord Jesus in all His offices. You can't know Him as a prophet until, first of all, you're ready to see and face, honestly, a priest and a king. And so I open up the Scriptures to this person, and I show them how that the reason they're confused about the issues of life is because their minds are darkened by sin, and because they're sinners, they need a Savior.

29:07 Then I open up to them how Christ came to be the Savior of sinners, and in His office as a priest, He offered a perfect sacrifice to God. Now He's gone back to the right hand of the Father, there to intercede for sinners, that all who rest in His atoning work may be kept by Him. That is His continual work of intercession. And then I try to show them how Christ is a king, emptied Himself, took the low place, became obedient unto death, and now the Father has exalted Him, given Him a name above every name.

29:38 He's King of kings and Lord of lords. And I say now, if you want to know Christ as your prophet, you must embrace Him as your priest and as your king. Suppose they say to me, but Mr. Martin, this is kind of irrelevant.

29:49 You see, the only need of which I am really conscious is this. I'm confused. You know, one of these guys with the button, with the big I-A-K on it. Someone asked him and said, well, what does that button stand for?

30:00 He says, well, I am confused. He says, you don't spell confused with a K. He says, you don't know how confused I am. Well, here's the guy, big button.

30:09 He said, now look, the only need I'm conscious of is I'm hopelessly confused and I need directive. I'm not particularly conscious of sin, and I'm not particularly interested in having someone to govern me, but I would like to know Christ as my prophet. Now, can't we forget this priest and king business? What should I tell them?

30:24 What would you tell them? Well, most of you are showing some reflex action in that your heads are going this way, and they ought to. Can't. Of course not.

30:35 You can't chop up Christ, barter him off as a prophet to help people find their answers while they're going to reject his office as a king and a priest. Well, you see, you develop this. I don't have time to develop it the way I'd like to. But you could do that with the matter of his work of his blood.

30:50 Someone comes and says, well, my only conscious need is that I'm guilty. And I need deliverance from my guilt. How can I get deliverance? And you present Christ as a priest and a prophet and a king.

31:02 They say, well, look, I'm not particularly interested in subjecting my mind to Scripture. It seems to me that Christ believed the Old Testament literally, and I can't buy that business. In a scientific age, only a fool would believe the Genesis account of creation. I can't commit intellectual suicide.

31:16 I want to commit spiritual suicide and go to hell. I want Christ as my priest. But I'm not about to commit intellectual suicide and accept the Genesis account of creation. I mean, let's be reasonable.

31:26 What do I tell him? What would you tell him? What am I going to tell him? What would you tell him?

31:34 Can he have Christ as priest if he's not willing to bow to him as prophet and accept Christ's view of Scripture? No, he can't. And we better dare tell that to the intellectually snobbish generation in which we live. You kids in high school, don't be afraid to say Christ is my prophet if he is indeed your prophet, priest, and king.

31:54 Don't be embarrassed that you believe the first thing. The first few accounts of Genesis, the only one who was there when it happened, said it's true. Christ was there, and he said it's true, and put his stamp of approval on it. And your young, smart biology teacher notwithstanding, God calls him a fool if he won't bow to the wisdom of Jesus Christ.

32:19 So what are we going to tell the poor man? Say, I'm sorry, you're not going to embrace Christ as prophet. You can't have him as priest. You see, you work the thing out into all the areas, and you see, it's absolutely unthinkable that one can just come in the sense of a conscious need and grasp that aspect of Christ which he would like.

32:36 No, no, the Lord Jesus does not parcel out his offices to men at their women fancy, but he is presented in the gospel, as Mr. Murray says so beautifully, in all the glory of his person and in all the perfection of his work, and faith is self-commitment to him in the totality of that relationship. And so when the Bible describes someone getting saved, it never uses the term, someone accepted Jesus as personal savior. It uses terms like this, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

33:14 Colossians 2.6 Romans 6.18 Ye who were the slaves of sin, have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine delivered unto you, and being made free from sin, you became the servants of God. And so I ask the question, with these brief suggestive thoughts that I hope you'll work out on your own, is it the biblical gospel, if it fails to make clear that saving faith is the response of the whole man to the whole Christ?

Question 5: Holiness and Obedience as Necessary Fruits of Faith

33:46 Prophet to be taught by him, priest to be forgiven by him and kept by him, and king to be governed by him. And now I want to develop very briefly the fifth question. Is the contemporary gospel, the biblical gospel, if it fails to make clear that holiness and obedience are the necessary fruits of faith? Now if I read rightly the message of the contemporary gospel, if I hear rightly that message, it goes something like this.

34:19 Since holiness and obedience do not qualify us to gain forgiveness, they are not essential to salvation. Result? Multitudes who make no serious pursuit of holiness and obedience who are absolutely unembarrassed to claim that they're Christians. Here's their reasoning.

34:40 Let this stand for the line of conversion. It may not be clear to us, but for the sake of illustration, there it is. The point at which a man passes from death unto life by the Spirit and that work of God comes to light in his turning from sin and his embracing Christ. Since, this is the way the contemporary gospel reasons, since holiness and obedience do not qualify me to enter into this state of forgiveness, acceptance with God, therefore, since they are not necessary unto the gaining of life, they are not necessary in the whole purpose of salvation.

35:15 They may be nice, but always optional. Now is that the biblical gospel that looks upon holiness and obedience as unnecessary additions to the scheme of salvation? I ask the question, and now to answer, I want to direct your mind to several portions of the word of God. First of all, let me assert my deep conviction of the teaching of scripture that the Bible lays before us, nothing should come between the needy sinner and his naked embrace of Christ.

35:50 Anyone who is to believe with biblical faith can sing from the depths of his heart, nothing in my hands I bring, nothing in my hands I bring, but everything I put forward, I want to meet God. If the pain of salvation in this place is no different from what you may have seen, that is…" Look at this hymn of prayer haunting us. He talks about the great gospel hymn, the greatest gift of God, the greatest gift of расzao , and about the analysis of Jesus Christ- championships to film the glory of God. requireth is to see your need of him this he gives you this he gives you tis the spirit's rising beam i believe that with all my heart and the bible teaches it clearly nothing comes between the sinner and the naked embrace of jesus christ as he's offered in the gospel but the same scripture that condemns any works that the sinner would put between himself and christ as a pedestal to gain some merit condemns them as dead works the same bible teaches that if his professed faith does not issue in works of holiness and obedience it is a dead faith now we've told three or four decades of professing christians baptism won't save you church membership won't save you fasting

37:15 won't save you this won't save you that won't save you simply trust that's true the same bible teaches if that simple trust is the faith of god's elect as it's called in the pastoral epistles it will be a faith that works by love galatians chapter 5 a faith that produces the fruits of holiness and obedience and if it doesn't the bible calls it dead faith that's the teaching of james 2 if a man says he has faith and no works to follow can that kind of faith save him and the answer is no so works are necessary not as the ground of our acceptance with god don't get your works over here but as the living place of our life and the life of our life and the life of our life and the life of our life proof of the reality of our acceptance with god see the difference and i want to show how that the apostle paul when he preached the gospel preached the necessity of works well you turn to acts chapter 26 where the apostle paul is going to tell us what he preached throughout his entire missionary career now we know he preached clearly that no works can justify us before god we find the record of that in many of his sermons but did he reason like modern evangelicals reasons that since works are not necessary to be accepted with god they're not necessary period

38:38 i think not for listen as he vindicates his ministry before king agrippa verse 19 of acts 26 whereupon oh king agrippa i was not disobedient under the heavenly vision but i showed first to them of damascus and at jerusalem and throughout all the coast of judea and then to the gentiles in other words wherever i went here's a man near the end of his life and he said to me i'm going to be a prisoner of this ministry a prisoner of the roman government looking back over the years of his ministry as an apostle a missionary and a teacher this is what he calls himself in one of his own letters and he says wherever i went here were the great strands of truth that i thundered forth in all of these areas here they are that men should repent and turn to god by implication this would be the presentation of christ the only way people can turn to god is through christ in faith that's what's implied in this but then did he stop there no and do works he said i preach wherever i went that men should do works meet for answering to consistent with their repentance and i think verse 21 is significant for these causes the jews caught me in the temple and went

40:01 about to kill me why because the jews were convinced if you believed right and had the right privileges and the right knowledge all was well and paul insisted that belief and privilege must lead to experience and if they don't they're inadequate all they do is intensify the degree of our judgment and no wonder the jews sought to kill him the same reason they put john the baptist to death he insisted don't look upon your privilege we be the sons of abraham bring forth fruit meat for repentance same message same message insisting that holiness and obedience with the necessary fruits of faith does the bible teach that it's faith for the fire yes he that believeth not shall be condemned or shall be damned mark sixteen john three thirty six he to believe it not the wrath of god abided upon him but the bible teaches equal clarity not only the truth of faith or the fire but fruit for the fire but the scripture says in matthew chapter twelve every tree that bring it If not forth, good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. John 15. If a man abide not in me, cast forth as a branch, and men gather them, and they are cast into the fire.

41:22 We have preached for two or three spiritual generations, faith or the fire. But then we've preached fruit or loss of a few rewards, but no fire. Holiness and obedience have been made optional in terms of the gain or loss of rewards. Isn't this the gospel many of you were brought up on?

41:45 There it is. Is that the biblical gospel? Beloved, that's another gospel that's produced another kind of Christianity that has inundated the church and the world with something less than biblical Christianity. And how are we going to see biblical Christianity restored?

42:02 Only when once again the professing people of God have burnt into their hearts and into their experience that biblical gospel in its power, which gladly confesses, having nothing in my hands, I bring to embrace Christ. Thank God, by His grace, I can produce some fruits that demonstrate that He's worked effectually in my heart and life.

Personal and Corporate Application: Restoring the Biblical Gospel

42:31 In the interest of time, I must leave the point at that and close with this brief application. What does this say to all of us as we've considered these truths now for close to three hours over the past two weeks? Well, it says something, I hope, very pertinent. It's personal to many of us.

42:48 If you've embraced the contemporary gospel, oh, dear friend, there are some very, very, very good chances that you may be embracing another gospel that cannot lead to your salvation but only to your damnation.

43:06 That's a serious thought. And I hope you take it seriously and that you'll give yourself no rest until you know by the grace of God that you've embraced a gospel that has set before you the whole Christ and that you, by His grace, you've embraced Him with your whole person. And the fruit of that embrace is that you're honestly and seriously pursuing holiness and obedience, not perfectly, but purposely,

43:34 that you're no stranger to holy mourning, to hungering and thirsting after righteousness. But I have a word of application to us who, by the grace of God, can testify that we do believe we've experienced the power of the biblical gospel and we've come to love that gospel. I believe, in a very special way, that the ministry to which God is calling us as a church is for a concentrated effort to restore this biblical gospel to our generation.

44:04 And this was confirmed so clearly when talking with one of the men the other day. I just sort of opened a corner of my heart that I hadn't even opened in detail with my own wife. We've talked about this. And when I did, how encouraged I was to sense and feel that God had been dealing with him in precisely the same way.

44:21 What is our task at this strategic, strategic point in this part of the history of the church? Could it be that God is calling upon us as a church, as pastor and people, to intelligently and with holy zeal and self-sacrifice to give ourselves to seeing the biblical gospel once again restored in the church of Jesus Christ, that it might once again become a power in the world? In a couple of weeks' time, or less than that, next Sunday night, in fact, we're going to be discussing together, the opportunity of an open door of radio ministry that will give us the opportunity of blanketing almost all of South America, much of southern, southeastern United States with a radio broadcast. You say, well, with all the broadcasts, and you can name them going out, another radio broadcast? What's the use? What's the sense of it? You won't talk that way if these issues have been made clear to you.

45:17 You're going to see the need for such a ministry.

45:24 See how relevant this is? What should we do for missionary outreach?

45:30 This has a place. What are we going to do in the training of our young men and women? What should be our cry? What should be our purpose?

45:36 How should we counsel them, our own sons and daughters? What should be our plea to God on their behalf? You see, all of this is going to be determined by your understanding of the crucial need of this hour. If that need is, in fact, a restoration of the biblical gospel to our generation, then we must, as a church, and pastor, and elders, and deacons, be intelligently, wholeheartedly committed to that task.

46:03 And who knows but what God may take some little crooked worms in Caldwell to thresh the mountains that we read about Wednesday night in prayer meeting. God says, Fear not thou worm, Jacob. That's not a very flattering title. God says you're a little worm.

46:16 But he says, I'll make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, and with thee I will thresh the mountains. Whoever heard of beating down mountains with a worm? Well, that's how God gets his work done.

46:30 That's how God gets his work done. And as one eminent servant of Christ said, what God can do with a worm if only he can get the wiggle out of it.

46:39 And you see, if God can get the wiggle of the flesh out of these little worms and get us attuned to his voice so that we see what he's doing and we hear what he's saying, who knows what God may do to the honor and glory of his own dear beloved son that once again the gospel may become what Paul called it, the gospel of the glory of Christ.

47:03 May God grant. But as we face the question, is the contemporary gospel the biblical gospel? And we walk to the line on the wall that the answer will drive us to our knees for ourselves, for the church, and for the world. Let us pray.