That No Man Should Boast

Introduction: A Compendium of Salvation by Grace

0:02 We turn again this morning to the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and I shall read verses 8 through 10 in your hearing, this concluding part of the first paragraph of the second chapter, in which we have what I have entitled a compendium, that is, a brief but comprehensive summary of salvation by grace. Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10. For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ

1:01 which God aforeprepared, that we should walk in them. I have asserted in the introduction of almost every study in these three verses that they contain, that is, the three verses together, all of the major ingredients which constitute God's method of delivering sinners from sin and its consequences. And the more I study the passage in preparation for ministry in this place, the more I am convinced that the person who understands the meaning of the Apostle's words in these three verses, who understands the relationships that exist between the words and the thoughts of these verses, is a person who has attained to some degree of accurate theological perception of what it means to be a Christian. And the more I study the passage in preparation for ministry in this place, the more I am to be saved by grace. Furthermore, the person who can enter in and rejoice in the truths conveyed in the words and in their relationships one to another is the person who is the blessed recipient of the grace of God. Thus far in our study we have seen that the nature of this transformation which God brings to sinners

2:30 is described as being saved, being delivered from sin unto the blessings that God has designed in Christ. The principal cause of the transformation is the grace of God. For by grace have ye been saved. The instrumental means is faith.

2:54 The apostle asserts it, then he gives an explanatory parenthesis and even that faith does not mean that faith does not mean that faith. It does not originate in anything native to man. It is the gift of God. And then he gives the qualifying negative in the first part of verse 9.

3:10 It is not a salvation of works. It is a salvation that has nothing to do with my performance, ceremonial works, legal works, evangelical works. Our acceptance is based solely upon the grace and mercy of God. Now we come today to the last clause in verse 9 that no man should glory or boast.

The Calculated Purpose of God: That No Man Should Boast

3:42 And we shall approach our study of this verse under the general heading of the calculated purpose of God in designing and executing such a salvation. Why is our salvation rooted in divine grace? Why does it come by faith and faith alone? Why does it come to us by means of a faith which is in itself the gift of God?

4:13 Why has God conceived and executed and why does He apply a salvation that has nothing to do with human merit as the ground of the sinner's pardon? What is the end that God has in mind in this whole work of salvation? Well, verse 9b is the answer to that question. All of these things are in order that no man should glory.

4:43 So having considered the nature of the transformation, we are saved, the principal cause by grace, the instrumental means through faith, we are now confronted with the calculated purpose of God in the nature of the salvation. And we are now confronted with the calculated purpose of God in the nature of the salvation. in such a salvation namely that no man should boast. And once again as we come to these few words, we are confronted with a clear and powerful statement of central significance, of fundamental importance.

Contextual Connection: Preceding and Following Verses

5:21 And we should therefore spare no pains in attempting to come to a clear understanding of the precise meaning of the Apostles' message. Of the Apostles' words that no man should glory. Now, how will we attempt to attain that precise understanding? Well, first of all, we shall look at the connection that these words sustain to what precedes them and what follows them.

5:51 We're going to do this morning what we said in the adult class must always be done. We're going to look at the universe of discourse. We're going to keep and catch the flow of thought which in itself becomes a key to understanding the precise meaning of the words. Having done that, we shall then attempt to ascertain the meaning of the words themselves.

6:15 What do these words mean that no man should boast or glory? And then thirdly, we shall consider the abiding message of these words to us as we sit in this place, this morning, first of all, then, what is the connection between these words that no man should glory and what has preceded them and what follows them? Well, first of all, the connection of these words with the preceding. What has gone before?

6:51 Well, these words are preceded by the affirmation that the salvation of the Ephesian Christians was all of grace. It was not deserved or merited, but it came to them gratuitously. And not like the gratuities that you pay in a place where you buy a meal or have other services rendered. They should change the term.

7:15 They're not gratuities. You're expected to give them and if you don't, you get some terrible frowns and in some places you won't get service at all. And so the concept of that which is gratuitous has been prostituted by the whole tipping system that we have here in the States. But we're using the term gratuitous in its biblical sense.

7:37 The salvation comes undeserved. It comes to the ill-deserving. It does not come as the reward of services rendered. It comes in spite of the non-service that was not rendered unto God and the positive demerit that we have in the presence of God.

7:58 It is a salvation, which Paul says, comes to us by grace. And it came when by the enablement of the Spirit we stretched out the empty hand of faith and embraced the Lord Jesus and His salvation. And it was one that had nothing to do with our works. Now, why did God design and execute such a salvation?

8:24 What is the calculated purpose of God? Well, these words are the answer to that question. Everything in verses 8 and 9a are leading to the statement in 9b. We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves and not of works to the end that no man should boast.

8:53 In other words, a mother says to her son, Now, son, you must rise at 7.15, you must wash and dress by 7.30, you must come for breakfast at 7.45 in order to get the bus at the corner at 8 o'clock.

9:16 Now, what's the connection of all those statements? What is the connection between rising at 7.15, being dressed and washed by 7.30, and eating breakfast by 7.45?

9:28 Well, in the mother's words, all of these things, have as their distinct and calculated goal that the young man shall be able to catch the bus at 8 o'clock. That's the explicit purpose of all that precedes. Now, that's precisely what the apostle is telling us here. By grace are you saved.

9:51 That's getting up at 7.15. Through faith, that's washing and dressing by 7.30.

9:58 And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, but not of, that's eating by 7.45. In order that no man should boast, that's catching the bus at 8 o'clock. Everything that precedes is leading to this calculated end.

10:18 You've heard it said that all roads lead to Rome. Apparently an allusion to a historical fact that in the Roman Empire, Rome was the center of that empire. And all of the roads, like the spokes going out, from the hub of a wheel, would lead to Rome. Well, there's a sense in which all the roads of thought in the previous verse 8 and the first part of verse 9 lead to the Rome of 9b.

10:45 Everything points in this one direction. God has done it in this way in order that no man should boast. Now, what's the connection with that which follows? Notice verse 10 begins with a 4.

11:01 4. We are His workmanship. In other words, verse 10 does not stand in isolation, but verse 10 has some kind of a vital connection with verse 9. The word 4 is the link between the verses 8, verses 9 and 10.

11:22 And what the apostle is saying is this. Not only does everything which brings us into the saved condition lead to the workmanship of the Lord, but also leads us to the workmanship of the Lord. And so, we are his workmanship. In other words, verse 10 does not stand in isolation, to this posture of no boasting, but everything which flows out of the saved condition leads to the same conclusion.

11:44 No boasting.

11:47 Do good works come in at any place in our salvation? Yes, they do. They are the necessary and inevitable results of the new creation. According to verse 10, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

12:07 Good works do have a place in our salvation. But their place is not the ground of our acceptance. They are the necessary and inevitable results. But as we shall see in detail next week, God willing, they are works for which we are equipped and moved to perform because of God's activity upon us and towards us.

12:34 They are works done as a result of His work upon us. We are His workmanship. Are you doing good works? Well, He says those works are simply the manifestation of His work.

12:48 We are His workmanship.

12:53 And we have been brought into vital union by His mighty operation to perform works that He has already foreordained that we should walk in them. So you see where verse 9 stands? In relationship to what follows?

13:11 With relationship to what precedes? There is nothing in the nature of our salvation that can lead to human boasting because it lies wholly outside of ourselves. It has nothing to do with our works. Well, what about that which flows out of the saved state?

13:26 Oh, there are works and there must be works. There shall be works. But, He says, because those works are simply the fruit of God's workmanship upon us, they are simply the result of our being united to Christ. They are simply the manifestation of that for which God has foreordained us.

13:47 All boasting is utterly excluded with reference to the works that flow out of the salvation. So where does it leave us? Everything flowing in, everything flowing out. No man should boast.

14:03 The nature of God's salvation is such as to undercut every ground of human boasting from beginning to end. And when the top stone is laid, it shall be laid with shoutings of grace, grace, grace unto it. So do you see how strategic, how crucial are these words of the Apostle? Everything in this compendium leads to them.

Precise Meaning of 'Glory' and 'No Man'

14:33 Everything in the latter part flows out from them. So much so, much then for the relationship these words sustain to the preceding and the following. Now, what is the precise meaning of the words that, I'm quoting now from the 1901 edition, no man should glory. Well, let's look at the word glory or boast, and then the two words no man or the three words no man should.

15:02 First of all then, boast or glory. The usage of this word in the New Testament in both its verb and noun forms is such as to make the English words boast or glorying a very good and reasonably accurate conveyance of the thought of the original. Let's look at two usages of this word in the New Testament to catch something of the weight of its meaning. In Romans chapter 2, the Apostle uses this same word when he says, in chapter 2 of Romans and verses 17 and 23, the following.

15:46 But if thou bearest the name of a Jew and restest upon the law and gloriest in God and knowest his will and approvest the things that are excellent. Here's the picture of the Jew who having the privilege of the revealed will of God in the law, the Old Testament revelation, he glories in God. He is proud of the fact that he is no ignorant pagan idolater. He boasts in God.

16:20 Now keep that in mind. Drop down to verse 23. Thou who gloriest, same word, thou who boastest in the law through thy transgression of the law, dishonorest thou God. Now you catch this something of the meaning of the word.

16:35 Here is the Jew who sees himself in the midst of a world full of idolatry, in the midst of a world full of idolatry, in the midst of a world full of idolatry, and paganism, as the recipient of God's special revelation. And in some degree, because of that revelation, he has been kept from external idolatry. Now inwardly, he is proud of that fact and the inward pride gives birth to verbal boasting. That's the sense of the meaning of the word.

17:06 The inward disposition of exaltation, pride, which then gives vent to verbal boasting. You have the classic example of it, of course, in Luke chapter 18, of that Pharisee who boasted. I thank thee I am not as other men. Inwardly, I am proud of the fact that I am not this, not this, not this.

17:28 I am proud of the fact that I do this and this. And his inward state of heart and mind gave vent to the words of boasting. Now in 2 Corinthians 9, 2, we have another use of the word boasting. Another usage of the same word.

17:44 This in a very virtuous sense. 2 Corinthians 9, verses 1 and 2. For it's touching the ministering to the saints. It is superfluous for me to write to you.

17:55 For I know your readiness, of which I glory. There's the word. Of which I boast on your behalf to them of Macedonia that Achaia hath been prepared for a year past and your zeal hath stirred up a very many of them. When the apostle saw the grace of giving manifested amongst these people, he said, I glory, I boast of you before others.

18:21 In other words, inwardly, I'm proud of you. As your spiritual father, I'm pleased with you, my children. And that inward pleasure gives birth to this boasting upon my lips. So then, the sense of the word should be clear, even to the children amongst us this morning.

18:42 And I trust you children do not despise this. It'd be a lot easier just to say the word means and that's that. But I want to say it means that and this because, and then give the biblical reasons, the sense of the word should be clear. That it means to have an attitude in the heart which at times will find expression upon the lips.

19:07 Glorying, focusing on the inward, boasting, upon the verbal expression outwardly. Maybe your team, your little league team, or your local high school or junior high school team has won a local championship and what do you do? Well, you're proud of that. That's my team.

19:24 We did this and we did that. And you will brag about them. You will boast. That's the sense of the meaning of the word.

19:31 So the apostle says the salvation of God is distinctly calculated that no man should boast or glory. That none should have an inward disposition of pride giving birth to verbalized boasting. Now he says the salvation is so calculated that no man is the rendering of the 1901 edition, that no man should glory. Well, I don't know whether that was a bit of the chauvinism of the translators or what.

20:03 But the original does not convey the thought that no man, as though there were some distinct emphasis upon the masculine gender, liberally it should be rendered that none, he uses an indefinite pronoun, by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that none, indefinite pronoun, that none should boast or glory. None, male or female, Jew or Gentile, young or old, should boast. Moral or immoral, prior to being saved, none should boast. Religious or irreligious, none should boast. Someone long under God's dealings, or someone who comes quickly out of darkness into light, none should boast. One abounding in the fruits of righteousness, one bringing forth very meager fruits, that none should boast.

21:06 In other words, the words used take in all classes, in all circumstances, and declares that not one individual who has ever been saved by grace through faith has a shred of reason to boast. All were by nature equally dead. Verse 1. Equally bound.

21:37 Verses 2, 3, A and B. And all were equally condemned. Verse 2, verse 3, C. And since all were equally dead, equally bound, equally condemned, and since the salvation comes to such men, bringing an equality of privilege, on the same basis of divine grace and power, none has any ground for boasting.

22:10 Jew, Gentile, bond or free, every man is leveled and brought to the posture of no boasting if he understands the nature of salvation by grace. Now, since this is the calculated goal of God in saving men, in the precise manner in which He does save them, it is not surprising to find this concept expressed in Ephesians 2.9, a dominant concept in Scripture. We'll look in more detail in our application at some of these verses, but these very words are used in 1 Corinthians 1.29-31.

22:53 He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 2 Corinthians 10.17. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

23:02 Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. Philippians 3.3.

23:08 The circumcision are those who glory in Christ Jesus. You see, God has so designed His salvation that if it is ever rightly understood and rightly embraced, this result will inevitably follow as surely as night follows day. Now, we've looked at the words in their connection with the preceding and the following. I have sought simply to lay before you the meaning of the words, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

Abiding Message: Penetrating Analysis of the Heart

23:42 Now, we come to the heart of the study this morning, what is the abiding message of these words to us? And let me suggest but two lines of thought. First of all, these words effect a penetrating analysis of the true state of our hearts before God. Do you want to know the state of your heart before God?

24:05 Well, if you don't, you ought to, because in a real sense there is nothing more important than the condition of your heart in the presence of God this morning. The Scripture says, Guard thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Jesus condemned those who worshiped quite fastidiously, quite frequently, but were unconcerned about the state of their hearts. Mark chapter 7.

24:36 He talks about a people who draw nigh with the lips, but whose hearts were far from Him, and He says, In vain do they worship me. Are you concerned about the state of your heart before God? I believe many of you are. And if you're here this morning and you're not, you ought to be.

24:54 Well, you see, these words effect a penetrating analysis of the true state of our hearts before God. By nature the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and in few areas is its deception and wickedness more forcefully expressed than in this matter of God. The nature of God's salvation. The last thing the human heart will have left to itself is a salvation that leaves no ground for boasting.

25:35 Only grace can bring a man to embrace salvation by grace. Only grace can bring a man to embrace salvation by grace. Almost every religion offers some form of salvation. Almost every religion offers some form of salvation.

25:54 Almost every religion offers some form of salvation. Deliverance from whatever they may call it, unto something better. They may not call it sin, they may call it human error, human frailty, but that which causes men to take their religion seriously is the promise that if they do by means of that religion, its dogma and its dictates as to life and practice, some form of bliss will come as the end result. No man ever takes up any religion with the end in view that he shall make himself more miserable.

26:30 The bait in every religion is, by means of this system of thought and practice, you will attain something better. Be it only present peace, be it future bliss, be it forgiveness, be it tranquility, be it health, whatever it is, that's the bait that's held out in every religious system. But you see, the problem with the human heart is, that when the gospel comes, promising the bliss of pardon, promising the wonderful provisions of acceptance with God, present knowledge of God, the blotting out of the past, and certainty for the present and future, the last thing the human heart will do is embrace a salvation that is all of grace. And so the apostle in teaching us the nature of God's salvation, almost becomes pedantic, as we would say. He almost becomes tedious in setting before us that God's salvation is all of grace. By grace are you saved.

27:42 Through faith, unless you begin to make a savior of your faith, that too is the gift of God. And unless you've missed the message, works have nothing to do with it. Legal works, ceremonial works, evangelical works, to this end, that none should glory before God. And when the Holy Spirit has done His work of bringing a sinner to rest in grace alone, you know what that sinner's language will be?

28:11 It will be the language of the text that I referred to briefly, but now to which I address you in some detail. Philippians chapter 3. What is the language of the heart in which God has done His grace? What is the language of the heart in which God has done His gracious work?

28:33 Stripping away all confidence in the flesh, exposing something of the desperate plight of the sinner. Philippians chapter 3 is an eloquent answer. Here were these Judaizers saying, well, your acceptance is only second-rate acceptance unless you get circumcised. And they were plaguing the church.

29:03 Let me tell you who are the true circumcision. Beware of these false teachers, verse 2. Here are the truly circumcised, verse 3 of Philippians 3. For we are circumcision.

29:19 And then he gives three marks. Who worship by the Spirit of God, whose approach to God does not rest upon external form. A people whose worship has in it that which only the Spirit of God has. Our purpose is not to speak about spiritual worship this morning, but it's the second characteristic.

29:47 Look at it. And boast they glory in Him. That's the second great characteristic of a man who's had the circumcision of heart that always comes with true salvation. He has but one point of boasting.

30:13 And his boast, the anointed Messiah, God's chosen one, the servant of Jehovah, who came as the divinely appointed and subsequently divinely anointed prophet, priest, and king of His people, the one upon whose shoulder the entirety of their salvation rests, both for its procurement and its application. They glory in that Christ who is identified as Jesus of Nazareth, Emmanuel, God with us. And this, and this alone, is the focal point of their glory. They make no boast in their attainments. They make no boast in their performances, legal, ceremonial, evangelical. No, no, they've understood that if they have been rescued from the state of death, the state of bondage, the state of condemnation, that that rescue has come to pass by grace, through faith, and that not of themselves.

31:25 It was the gift of God, not of works. And their hearts, their minds, their affections, everything within lovingly express purpose of that salvation, namely the slaying of all human pride and boasting. I say these words and the thought they convey effect a penetrating analysis of the true state of our hearts before God. As we sit here this morning, can we say with judgment day honesty, our only boast is Christ Jesus? Not Christ Jesus dash something else following. Not Christ Jesus parenthesis something else explaining. Not Christ Jesus comma something else in addition to Him.

32:27 But do we boast in... Turn over to Galatians.

32:33 Or back to Galatians chapter 6, where another dimension of this boasting is set before us. Here again the theme is this matter of boasting. Verse 13, For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory, that they may boast in your flesh. They want to go around boasting saying, Yeah, see, they've joined us.

33:02 They've really shown that circumcision makes you something special, because, see, they were not circumcised, circumcised by natural association and now being Gentiles. They are confessing, as it were, the nobility and the worth of our whole Judaistic system. They've become with us the circumcised ones. He says they want to boast in your flesh.

33:23 They want to have something to glory about in external form. Paul says that's not true of me as a gospel preacher. Verse 14, But far be it from me to go to glory, to boast, to brag. Save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified unto me and I unto the world.

33:51 What is the point of the apostles boasting? The focal point is the cross, not as some kind of a mystical semi-Romish symbol, which gives me sympathetic feelings to Christ. It's not the concept of boasting. And a crucifix?

34:09 It has nothing to do with a crucifix. When he says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross, he's speaking of the whole teaching of the death of Christ as the death which satisfies the wrath of God toward needy, guilty sinners. He's speaking of the cross as the doctrine of salvation through the expiation wrought by Christ. He's speaking of the doctrine concerning salvation procured by the great shepherd when he laid down his life for the sheep.

34:48 And he says he glories in nothing save the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That no man should boast, that is, that no man should boast in anything that rises from man, that man can produce of himself, but he boasts only in that which God in grace, through Jesus Christ, confers upon him. And then the third passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

35:30 The apostle asks the Corinthians to reflect upon who it is that God has called in mercy to himself. Verse 26, For behold your calling, brethren. He says it's obvious God wasn't going around, bringing into his train the important of the earth. He says, look at yourselves, you're a motley crowd.

35:56 I think one old saint called it God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness or increasing human weakness. Look what he says. Not many noble, but God chose the foolish. God chose the weak.

36:15 God chose the base. God chose the things that are not. Why? Verse 29, That no flesh should glory before God.

36:29 Ah, but someone says, granted, I was by nature base. I was by nature and upbringing part of the offscouring. I was not noble. I was not all of these things.

36:42 But now I'm in Christ. He says, yes. And even that does not give you any ground for boasting in anything in you, because, verse 30, but of him, that is, by his activity, are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. That's the end of God's salvation.

Application: What is Your Boasting Point?

37:18 Not to put upon a man's lip, the language of humility, but to put in his heart the spirit of humility, the acknowledgement from the depths of one's being that I have no ground of boasting, save in Christ, save in his cross, save in the activity of God that brought me into vital union with Christ, and made me heir of all the blessings of salvation. Now let me press home to your conscience, sitting here this morning. What is your boasting point? Is it your performance? You see, this is the problem of the poor, deluded, but sincere Romanist, who is so faithful to thumb through his rosary, to go to confession at least once a week, go to Mass every morning. What is the point of his glorying?

38:22 It is this, that I am a faithful Catholic. And being such, I must have no less than purgatory, and if there are enough people to put enough shekels in the coffer to pray long enough, maybe ultimately I'll get out of there, into the glorified state. Now I'm not being facetious. This is the spirit of a man who is not only a Catholic in his external associations, but in his heart.

38:51 Thank God there are some people who are a living contradiction. They are not Catholics in heart, though they are still under the pale of Rome. I don't believe there are many, but I believe there are some. But the man who believes the teaching of Rome finds his glorying in his performance.

39:11 That's why if he misses any part of that performance, he comes under the deepest spirit of guilt and fear, because his salvation hangs upon his faith. I think that is the most powerful performance. See? With others, their boasting point is their good breeding.

39:35 I've met some of my dear New England friends, proud, as the devil himself, of their good New England heritage. Moral. Hardworking. Upright.

39:48 Others, it's amazing what the human heart will find as its point of boasting. Others, their religious deeds. If boasting is their decision, I've met any number of people who cannot speak of Christ and His work, who cannot speak of Christ and His merits, Christ and His righteousness. They talk about the almighty favor they did to God when they made their decision.

40:18 That's the point of their boasting.

40:21 Others, it's their careful conformity to the list of do's and don'ts. Oh, may God help us to see if salvation by grace has been brought home to our hearts with power. It's cut down every last tree of human boasting. And we dare to stand and sit in the presence of God this morning and say from the depths of our hearts, God forbid that I should boast in anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Abiding Message: Measuring Instrument for Theology

40:57 Amen. And the participation in all that He purchased for sinners, that is itself the work of God in power. But then in the second place, the abiding message of these words is not only that it affects a penetrating analysis of the state of our hearts, but these words form a measuring instrument by which to test the accuracy of anything. Of any theology.

41:31 You want a measuring instrument by which to test the accuracy of theological statement? And I'm thinking particularly of the areas of what man is in a state of sin and how God delivers him. And in theological language, you ought to know that brings you into the orbit of what is called anthropology, the study of man, and soteriology, the study of salvation. Those are just big words to describe.

42:00 Those things that we must wrestle with if we take the Bible and life seriously. What am I as a man, as a woman, a boy or a girl? What am I? What was I natively in Adam?

42:11 What am I now as a fallen son or daughter of Adam? Is there hope for me? How does that hope come? How is deliverance from sin conveyed to me?

42:24 Those questions, once you begin to take them seriously and you begin to search, the scriptures for an answer, are forcing you to formulate a theology.

42:38 The idea that theology is only for men with degrees who sit up in ivory towers is just not true. You have a theology. If you have any concern about what you are as man, woman, boy or girl, as creature and sinner, and how to have your sin dealt with, you have a theology. You have some theology.

43:00 But now how am I to test the accuracy? The accuracy of that theology?

43:05 Well, you do it by a statement such as we are expounding this morning, that no man should boast. Does your understanding of what you are as a sinner and how God rescues sinners like yourself, does it inevitably bring you to the place where every last shred of human boasting is gone? Does it bring you to the place where you feel, if not externally, inwardly prostrated in the dust before God, saying, Lord, it is all of grace?

43:46 Few things are more vital to the whole matter of the climate of our worship, the whole climate of evangelism and Christian experience, than our theology at this point.

Impact on Worship, Evangelism, and Christian Experience

44:02 You take any individual, any group of individuals, and if their theology, their understanding, of the teaching of the Bible concerning how God saves sinners and how bad the sinners are when God saves them, if it's anything less than this, it will be reflected in worship that is to some degree man-centered instead of God-centered.

44:27 It will be reflected in evangelism that is far more dependent upon gimmicks and what I would call response to felt psychological needs in men. And to the simple weapons that God has given, which come to men revealing their true need, namely the need that arises out of their sinfulness and rebellion against God. And your theology at this point will color your whole Christian experience. And I'm convinced that the worship of this church and any other church, the evangelistic endeavors of this assembly or any assembly, and the overall, the overall Christian experience perhaps derives more influence from the truth bound up in this little phrase than from any other single influence.

45:27 If when we gather to worship, we gather as men and women who are convinced that the only reason we're here amidst a gathered assembly of God's people is because God in grace saved us and gave to us that faithfulness and the faith to embrace Him and that our works have nothing to do with our acceptance, it is only then that we will come with that sense of breathless wonder. And when we sing the hymns of John Newton, we enter into the spirit of the converted slave trader. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Oh, how often that song is sung and then its truth is contradicted when people start articulating what they believe they were and how God rescued them.

46:29 The element of breathless wonder is present when we're conscious that God's salvation comes to us in such a way as to undercut all human boasting. No man should glory. It will reflect itself in our evangelism. The passion to evangelize.

46:50 If there was nothing in me that moved God to save me, and He did so purely because of sovereign, omnipotent mercy and grace, what is there to say He cannot and will not do that for others? There is the note of holy optimism and intelligent zeal in conveying that message which God can, where and when He pleases, make effectual to the salvation of this world. in conveying that message which God can, where and when He pleases, make effectual to the salvation of this world. of others it will deliver us from any kind of evangelism that centers in men that seeks to appeal to men on the basis of carnal appetite it will deliver us from what i call guitar plunking evangelism it'll deliver us from film evangelism it'll deliver us from musical evangelism all of these things that are used somehow to accommodate the gospel to get a hearing whatever place guitar plunking may have and it does have a place where all god's gifts are good even guitars now that may jar some of you but you need to get jarred then the devil didn't create the guitar i'm sure he creates some of the things that are played on it but he doesn't create the guitar

48:08 and he didn't create a motion picture machine in the celluloid that goes through no no no this is not the case not a blanket condemnation of these various things. All I am saying is that the preoccupation with these issues in evangelism has a direct reference to a failure to grasp what we're dealing with this morning.

48:31 God's salvation comes in such a way that none should boast. It is all of grace and all of God. And we will be careful in our evangelistic method and message to do nothing to obscure that.

48:48 And nowhere is that shining more brilliantly than in the place where evangelism is based upon the method of God, which is seizing every legitimate avenue to proclaim one-on-one, one-to-three, one-to-six, one-to-a-thousand, to herald forth the word of the cross in all of its glory, in all of its power. Well, may the Lord be pleased to write upon our hearts and to give to us an intelligent understanding of what it means that His salvation is calculated, that no man should boast. What is the state of your heart in the light of that statement this morning? Has God brought you to that place where human boasting is gone and your glorying is in the cross alone? If not, then give yourself no rest until, by the Spirit and the Word, you are brought to that place. Let us pray.