Four “Excepts” of The Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction: The Centrality of Christ's Words on Salvation

0:02 Our study in the scriptures tonight would be the third in our series of studies on the biblical doctrine of sanctification. But for a number of reasons, I feel constrained to break into that series. And I do believe that the reasons which were suggested to my own mind in considering tonight's service were sufficient to warrant a break into that series to consider some very vital, simple, basic, yet eternally important words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly anyone who is in any way acquainted with the Christian faith would agree with me when I would say that Jesus Christ, who he is, what he did, and what he said is central to the Christian faith. I think we could assume that. We could assume that as a common starting point with almost anyone who was in the least way acquainted with the scriptures. Certainly, if anything, is an open denial of or contradiction of what the scripture teaches about who Christ is, what he did, and what he said, whatever that may be, it is not worthy of the name Christian.

1:18 And yet it's interesting and tragic that in the most fundamental issues of life, great confusion exists even within the pale of what is called Christendom, simply because people do not take seriously who Christ is, what he did, and often what he said. And Christ taught some very simple and yet basic things regarding one of the most profound and necessary questions of all life, namely, what must a man be or do to be prepared to die? Or to state the question a little differently, what must one do to be prepared to go to heaven when he dies? And on this most fundamental issue that even a little child will ask, if my children have asked me, what must I do to go to heaven when I die?

2:12 The confusion that exists is absolutely appalling. If we had the time tonight to just split up, give everybody a notebook and a piece of paper, and send you out in every direction of the compass to do a candidate, in this area, and you were to ask in home after home, what must a person do to get to heaven according to Jesus? Even if you limited that according to Jesus, I think you would be absolutely appalled at the ignorance. But closer yet, I think we might be appalled if I were to do a little survey just with a hundred people that are here tonight.

2:46 What did Jesus teach as absolutely essential if anyone is to go to heaven? And there are four very interesting verses, in the teaching of our Lord, in which our Lord states this so clearly, that only someone who is deliberately attempting to misunderstand his words can miss the importance of what our Lord teaches. There are four passages in which our Lord uses the word accept. And then he says, except such and such be true of you, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

3:23 You will not enter the kingdom of heaven. You will perish. And so I want us to consider tonight those four passages in which our Lord says, except such and such be true of you, you cannot, you will not, be a member of the kingdom of heaven now and the realm of heaven in the world to come. The first one of these is found in the Gospel according to John, chapter three, a passage which we studied in some detail last spring when I preached, on it on a Sunday night.

Except You Be Born Again (John 3)

3:59 But tonight we want to look very briefly at just a couple of verses within this particular portion of Scripture. I read now from John three, beginning with verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Being identified as a Pharisee, we know several things about him immediately.

4:22 We know first of all that he believed the Old Testament Scriptures. That's why our Lord could say to him, in verse ten, Art thou the teacher of Israel? He was an official teacher, one whose task it was to open up and to explain and apply and to enforce the word of God written. We know that he was a very, at least externally, upright man, for the Pharisees were the strictest sect of their day.

4:50 Jesus could say of them, as he did in Matthew 23, They appear outwardly beautiful unto men. Their outward demeanor was above reproach. He was a man involved to the hilt in the religious life of Israel. He was engaged as a religious teacher.

5:09 And yet our Lord addresses this man who comes to him at night, and says in verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except, now here's the word of Christ. This is not the opinion of a preacher. This is not the spinning out of the philosophical insights of some self-appointed religious philosopher. These are the words of truth incarnate.

5:36 The one who said, I only speak the things that I hear of my Father. The one who could say, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. He says to Nicodemus, Except one be born anew, or born again, or born from above, for the translation of that Greek word is a difficult one. And so various translations render it in those three ways.

6:05 Except one be born from above, he cannot, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is, he cannot perceive the kingdom of God. He can have no perception of it. Someone is explaining something to us and we say, I can't see what you're talking about.

6:23 I don't see what you're driving at. What we mean is that we understand the word, but we can't grasp it. We can't lay hold of it. We can't perceive the intent of those words.

6:33 They're using the English language. They're using a vocabulary that is in the range of our knowledge, but we can't grasp. We can't lay hold of. We can't perceive the intent of those words.

6:45 Jesus said, Except a man be born again, he cannot perceive, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse five, Jesus answered, said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born of water, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So in answer to the question, what is necessary for a man to be prepared for heaven? Christ's words are very clear.

7:11 A man, a woman, a fellow or girl, must be born again before he or she can see or enter the kingdom. So when a preacher looks you in the eye, when a Christian, someone who's experienced the new birth, puts his hand upon your shoulder and says to you, dear friend, son, daughter, mom, dad, have you been born again? Don't you regard them as some kind of a wild-eyed fanatic who's got something less than a full load up here. You just regard them as someone who takes seriously the words of Jesus.

7:51 When someone in love to your soul looks you right back to the retinas and says, have you been born again? They ask you that question because they believe what Jesus said, except you're born again, you'll never see the kingdom, you'll never enter the kingdom.

8:12 Well, you say, as Nicodemus no doubt queried, what in the world is this matter of being born from above? And our Lord explains that, at least gives a digest of what it is. In verse five, he says this birth from above is a birth of water and of the spirit. Except one be born of water and of the spirit.

8:37 What did our Lord mean? He's talking to a man steeped in the religious life of the Old Testament. He's talking to a Pharisee who was involved in a religious form of existence in which water was a constant companion. For you remember the scripture says that the Pharisees washed off.

8:58 They were continually submitting themselves to ceremonial washings. And the whole concept of ceremonial cleansing with water is found throughout the breadth of the ceremonial law in the Old Testament. And what our Lord is saying to Nicodemus is this, Nicodemus, by virtue of being a son of Adam, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Verse six, in spite of all your religious activity, in spite of all your external purity, Nicodemus, you are so polluted and defiled, defiled by your sin that you must have this spiritual birth which will involve, first of all, a cleansing of your nature.

9:44 Except one be born of water, that is, experience a spiritual rebirth which has as its fundamental blessing that of a cleansing from sin inwardly. Nicodemus, you know much of external cleansing. Your flesh doesn't know what it is to go very long without the application of water to purge away external defilement. But Nicodemus, until you know an application of another cleansing agent that cleanses away the defilement of your heart and of your spirit, you will never see, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

10:26 Probably the analogy our Lord had in mind is the promise of God in Ezekiel 36, in which he says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and all your idols will I cleanse you. Indicating that that sprinkling is not the external sprinkling of the waters of an ordinance, for no amount of the waters of an ordinance will ever cleanse idolatry from the heart. Idolatry is an issue of the heart and yet God says, I will sprinkle water upon you and cleanse you from your idols. And it's the pledge and promise of that inward purging from sin.

11:08 And so this spiritual rebirth without which no one can see or enter the kingdom is a birth which involves cleansing and secondly our Lord says, it involves renewal. Except one be born of water and of the spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. The personal agent of renewal. And again referring to Ezekiel 36, which is the passage I'm convinced in my own mind our Lord had in mind when he spoke to Nicodemus.

11:39 God says in that wonderful promise, I will take out the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and to do them. And so this spiritual rebirth is not only one of cleansing but one of renewal. Renewing. The impartation of new life.

12:05 So that scripture can say if any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new. We find this summarized so beautifully for us in Titus chapter 3 where the Apostle Paul speaks of what these Christians once were.

12:27 What he once was. Verse 3 of Titus 3. For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful in hating one another. Now notice who says this.

12:47 He says we also were all of these things. This is the same man who could say in Philippians 3 that as a Pharisee his external life was what? Blameless. He says, touching the law I was blameless.

13:03 He says if you had looked upon me as men look upon other men you would have said if anybody is a Christian if anybody is on his way to heaven Paul, Saul of Tarsus is. He said there was no place where you could point the finger at me as far as my external conduct is concerned. And yet after God gave him a sight of what he was by nature look at his assessment of himself here. We were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful in hating one another.

13:37 In other words, all of these sins can be going on completely unchecked in the heart while there is a very respectable external life.

13:51 That was Saul of Tarsus. Externally respectable, internally deceiving cauldron of sin and uncleanness. Nicodemus, you look pretty good on the outside. And if I had said to some gentile dog you must be born again you could understand it.

14:08 But Nicodemus, you're the separated one. You're the clean one in your eyes. But inwardly Nicodemus, you're polluted with your sin. You're dead in sins.

14:18 You need renewal. You need quickening. You need cleansing. And the Apostle Paul describes this same experience when he says, though we were this, verse 4, but when the kindness of our God, the kindness of God our Savior and His love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us.

14:43 How? Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which He poured out on us richly through Christ Jesus our Savior. The washing of regeneration, that cleansing, that cleansing that comes by this birth of the Spirit and this renewing of the Holy Spirit, both of which are poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ the Savior. And so in the light of our Lord's words, I trust you'll not think me a wild-eyed fanatic when I look you in the eye tonight and ask you, have you been born from above?

15:29 Have you experienced that inward, cleansing which only God the Holy Spirit can effect? Has there been an inward severance from a course of sin, the love of sin, the practice of sin, the delight of sin, which only an inward work of God Almighty could accomplish?

15:55 Have you been renewed by the Holy Spirit? Have you been born again? That's the question. For Jesus said, Accept a man, be born again.

16:06 He cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. If anyone who's a stranger to the new birth enters the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is found to be speaking untruth at one point. And if he speaks untruth at one point, he is to be trusted in no point. And so I press the question upon your conscience.

16:30 Have you been born again? Where? When? By what means?

16:37 Did God bring you into this world? Did God bring you to a sight of your filth and uncleanness by nature? When did he show you, by what means, that it wasn't enough to be a perfect Christian Pharisee with a head full of knowledge of the Scriptures and a life that looks pretty respectable by virtue of your association with revealed religion in Scripture? When did God show you the defilement and pollution of your heart by nature?

17:06 Where and when and by what means, did God bring you to pray with David?

17:12 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me? When were you brought to a sight of your corruption by nature? It was an ugly thing.

17:28 When were you brought to own the reality of your depravity and your guilt?

17:35 No one is ever born of the Spirit without being brought to that sight. And that's why this was such a difficult thing for Nicodemus. For our Lord was speaking to one who had everything that the religion of that day could give him. But this wasn't enough.

17:53 He said, Unless you're born again, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. To phrase it a different way, what is there about you, right now, tonight, that has no explanation but that Almighty God, by a direct, powerful work of the Holy Spirit, has made you a subject of the new birth?

18:22 What is there about you that has no explanation? It can't be explained in terms of training, upbringing, natural inclinations, natural aesthetic sensitivity, religious interest, and all the rest. What is there about you that when you sit yourself down and look yourself in the mirror, you say, You know, there's no explanation for the guy that's in that mirror. No explanation for the woman I see in that mirror, but that Almighty God has performed this mighty work of a new birth.

18:56 Is there anything? If not, my friend, you better remember the words of Jesus, Except a man be born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom. Now there's a second except passage in the teaching of our Lord, and I would direct your attention to it in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Christ. According to Matthew, verse 1.

Except You Be Converted and Become as Little Children (Matthew 18)

19:21 In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Here they are jockeying for position. And our Lord called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom. kingdom of heaven.

19:50 Now notice what our Lord is saying. The same Lord who said, Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom, except he is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter. Now he says, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise, notice the force of his words, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

20:17 What would be the two key words that would, characterize, the attitude of a child? In terms of our Lord's emphasis here. I believe it's accurate to say that they are the words, humble, trustfulness. What is the characteristic of a child to which our Lord alludes when he says, except ye be converted and become as little children, in no wise enter the kingdom.

20:46 Remember the context? They were talking about who is going to be the big shot in the kingdom, child. jockeying for position in order to feed pride, in order to find a platform from which to parade themselves.

21:02 And in that context, there's always suspicion because somebody else is jockeying for the same thing. So it created arguments amongst them. Anyone who's got unholy ambition is always a suspicious person. Always.

21:16 Because he thinks other people are like himself. This is true even in church life. I'm amazed at the suspicion that exists amongst preachers. Because if they've not died to ambition, ambition to preach in a big church and to have a big salary and a big name,

21:35 if those are factors in their own ministries, they can't conceive that they aren't the factors of other men's ministries. So if they see someone preaching to a little bigger crowd than they are, immediately what happens?

21:48 Jealousy. You see, this principle follows. It's the history of kingdoms.

21:54 You look at the Old Testament history. It's a principle that's everywhere. Wherever there is this attitude of pride and ostentation, this desire to excel over my peers, from an unholy standpoint, there will always be this lack of trustfulness. There'll be suspicion.

22:11 And yet, the little child, you see, the Lord sits on his knee, the child that has no ambition but to play in the dirt and cuddle up to its mummy and this loving stranger that was in the town and said, come here, sonny. No problem. He comes and he sits him upon his knee. No ambition.

22:29 He's not trying to be Lord Mayor of the section of Palestine where he lived. He can have food on his table and a mummy and a daddy to love him and a little sand to play in in the backyard. Life's all right. Now, he said, that's the characteristic of the child.

22:46 Ambition and suspicion are the characteristics of you disciples. Now, he says, except you be converted and become like little children, humble and trustful, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, what does that mean, practically speaking? It means, my dear friend, that if you seek to use your mind in a way God never intended you should use it, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

23:14 Perhaps the worst form of pride is the pride that swells between man's ears. Mental pride. Intellectual pride. God, I have everything proven to me.

23:26 If it doesn't suit my idea of what's right and wrong, I'll hold it in suspicion. And God comes to us speaking in his word and says, I never gave you that mind to originate truth, but to be a receptor of truth. I declare truth in my word. Your mind is given to be a receptor of that truth.

23:51 Not a judge over it, but a receiver of it. That's why the preaching of the cross is to the world. The world, what? Foolishness.

24:04 It doesn't fit the world's way of providing forgiveness and salvation. They declare it folly, and yet the scripture says, God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. And so, except you be converted and become as little children, which means what, practically speaking? Until you're brought to the place where your mind is brought subject to God's mind, as revealed in holy scripture, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

24:31 And until you're brought to that place of the trustfulness of a little child. What God reveals in his word, I will believe. What God demands in his gospel, I will embrace. And there's nothing more humbling than the simple act of saving faith.

24:53 The most humbling thing in the world is one exercise of true faith. You say, how is that? Well, you see, faith is the empty naked hand that lays hold of God's free offer of salvation in his dear Son. And no hand, there is no true hand of faith, but an empty hand, that be brought to the place where we can say from the heart, nothing, nothing, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

25:35 Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Oh, how withering to human pride. By nature, every one of us is a Pharisee, who says, as the Pharisee in Luke 18, I thank thee, God, I'm not like other people.

25:55 Oh yeah, I got some bad habits, and I've done some bad things, but Joe down the street, he's worse. And Harry at work, he's a lot worse. God, I thank you, I'm not quite, oh yeah, I haven't done all I should, so I know I've got to sort of make up some of my failures by a little Bible reading, a little prayer, a little church attendance, but if I can just sort of add these things to my general presentability before God, everything will be all right. What a terrible fool's paradise in which to live.

26:27 The Scripture says, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If our righteousnesses, the best things we do, are polluted and defiled, what about the bad things? So our Lord says, except ye be converted and become as little children, you'll in no wise enter the kingdom, which means you must be brought to that place where pride withers before the praising light of God's truth, and you say, oh God, I'll believe anything you say about yourself, about me, about what I am, about how I can be brought to know you. God, you know everything about yourself and about me, and I don't know anything as I ought to know. I lie humbly at your feet to be taught of you. And that part of Jesus' invitation, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

27:33 Take my yoke upon you and what? Learn of me. For the woes of mankind, many of them are rooted in mankind's refusal to interpret himself and life accurately. He's too proud to analyze himself through the eyes of Scripture.

27:54 No, no, no, no. We have the modern science of psychoanalysis, and with our anthropologists and sociologists, we'll understand, man. And God says, all right, go on in the blindness of your folly. Dig your own grave, and bury yourself in it.

28:10 And yet, wonder of wonders, God in his grace brings a person here, a person there. For they say, oh God, I don't know as I ought to know. Teach me. And then when they hear the wonderful gospel story, how did Christ die to do for sinners what they cannot do for themselves?

28:31 And the only way of acceptance before God is by casting oneself upon Christ and Christ alone. The Spirit of God works that childlike disposition of trustfulness. And they say from the heart, Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die.

28:53 Now, Jesus said, except you be converted and become in that sense like little children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. So I would press the question on your conscience again tonight, when, where, by what means did God bring you? To childlikeness of spirit. Where, when, and by what means did God wither your carnal pride?

29:21 Where and by what means did God bring you to the place where you gladly cast yourself upon Christ and Christ alone? For some of you, the wheels of your mind begin to work at that question. And you can think back at the various strands of influence by which God began to zero out and zero in on you. And He began to strip you of your carnal pride and your self-trust.

29:49 And He began to give you a sight of your heart and your nature that was sickening. And then He began to give you a sight of the Savior that seemed too good to be true. You mean simply by looking to Him? Even as those bitten with the snakes in the wilderness looked to that brazen serpent and were healed, you mean by looking in faith and reaching out in a naked hand to take what is freely offered?

30:14 It's too good to be true. And yet as you studied the Scriptures and heard them preached, you said, "'Tis true, tis true." It's the only way of acceptance. Your mind's been able to go back over.

30:25 You remember that Christian God put in your path. You remember that sickness. You remember that servant of Christ. You remember that sermon.

30:33 You remember that book. It's good to look back, isn't it? God says, "'Look unto the rock from whence you were hewn, and unto the pit from whence you were digged.'" But listen to me.

30:43 There's some of you that draw a pretty, pretty embarrassing blank when I ask you a question like that. Where? When? By what means did God bring you to the state of a little child?

30:57 You're fishing around in the file drawers of your mind and they're pretty empty, aren't they? Pretty empty, aren't they? You're racking the corridors of memory! You can't find anything on the walls, my friend, except you be converted and become as a little child.

31:17 You'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. That's the word of Jesus. You can go out of here at night and say, "'I've never heard anything so foolish in my life.'" Don't you say that about the words of Jesus.

31:28 Make whatever assessment you want of His servant who's trying to expound His words. That's your privilege. That has no eternal consequences. Don't you make that assessment of the words of Jesus.

31:44 He said, "'Except you be converted and become as little children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.'" And there's a third exception. He wants us to follow the path of the Lord Jesus. And I want you to turn to the gospel according to Luke.

Except You Repent, You Shall Perish (Luke 13)

31:59 May I just say a word to some of you young men preparing for the ministry. Never get beyond preaching what I call a Bible school sermon. Never get to the place where you're too proud of your gifts and your reputation that you can't preach simple gospel truth. If you get beyond that place, you've gone too far.

32:22 May the Lord cripple you you back to the foot of the cross. That's just a little aside. Luke chapter 13, please. Again, the first part of the chapter. Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

32:45 And he answered and said unto them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered these things? I tell you nay, but except ye repent ye shall all in like manner perish. For those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that they were offenders above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you nay, but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. What's our Lord saying?

33:15 Here were two instances of what we would call public calamity. They were well known to the people of our Lord's day. What they were in detail is not necessary for our understanding of the passage. But it's obvious that they were two instances of public calamity well known to the Jews in that area. Now they lived in a day when they still thought theistically. That is, they viewed life as something which had direct reference to the control of God. So when they saw a natural calamity, they looked upon it as a divine visitation. They believed that God had a direct control. Behold the power of the game, and as there was not evident for so long, Muhammad observed the power of God.

34:00 So when a power fell at a certain time and place, and killed certain people, they didn't say, Isn't that a terrible accident? They said, wasn't that a frightened judgment of God? Now to that point they were right. In that they viewed God as in control of all the so-called natural tragedies. If our Lord were preaching today, I think he would say In place of this Tower of Siloam, he'd say, Do you think that those 31 football players and coaches were sinners above the rest in that they died in a tragic plane crash two weeks ago? Most of us heard about the Kansas State football team and that tragedy. He would have taken some contemporary experience of human tragedy well known, and this is what he says. Now he says, as you look at those tragedies, you say, Boy, they must have been a wicked bunch for God to have sent such terrible and sudden judgment upon them.

35:03 He says, but I've got news for you. He said, your condition is such that unless it is transformed by a deep work of repentance, the anger and judgment of God will fall upon you. That's what he said. He says, you think they were the worst sinners?

35:22 Sinners raised to the tenth degree and therefore judgment came? And you're down over here at the first degree or not at all? No, no, he said. No, no.

35:32 Except ye repent, ye shall perish. And so I give you this third except of our Lord. Utterly necessary if we would enter into the kingdom of heaven, namely, we must experience true biblical repentance. Not penance, which can be raised upon Adamic stock, but repentance.

35:57 Repentance, which alone can come out of a heart touched by the grace of God and by the power of the gospel.

36:07 Jesus said to them, and he would say to us, You are equally exposed to the wrath of God for your sin. You must repent, and men who are not sinners can't repent. So he's telling them, you must own the reality of your sinfulness or you'll perish.

36:27 Not only must you own the reality of your sinfulness, and take God's assessment of what you are by nature and practice to heart, but you must turn from your sin. For the essence of the word repentance is that of a change of mind, a radical change of mind, where the thing I looked upon with delight I now look upon with hatred. The things which I held to with relish I now relinquish. The things to which I grabbed, cavitated with desire I now flee from with a deep aversion.

37:09 And I must turn from my sins unto God through Jesus Christ. For God says I shall perish. Except ye repent, ye shall perish. And if repentance involves anything, it involves those few irreducible elements of the hearty acknowledgement that what God says about me is true.

37:31 God says that you, you have a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Have you ever owned that as true? Not because it's in the Bible alone, but because God gave you a little sight of your own heart that has caused you in some secret place to say, Oh God, it's true. It's true, God.

37:52 It's true. My heart, not just men's hearts in general, or the world of men, is a world of men with bad hearts. But oh God, my heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked.

38:10 When and by what means did God bring you to that sight of what you are by nature?

38:19 When and by what means did he bring you to see the guilt not only that arises from what you are, but from what you've done? You had a sight of what your breaches of God's holy law look like in his sight?

38:34 Everything you've ever thought and done and said that was not mathematical, perfectly parallel to the standard of his holy law? Every deflection, inattitude, indisposition to his holy precepts? When? Where?

38:52 By what means did God bring you to feel your guilt? As Paul says in Romans 3.19, Whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become blind. Guilty before God.

39:12 I shall never forget hearing a great preacher preaching on the doctrine of justification. And he was dealing with the fact that no man is justified until first of all he is brought to see his sin. And he was quoting from Romans 3, the text I've just now quoted, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. And he said, you know what a good description of a Christian is?

39:39 A Christian is... is a man whose mouth has been stopped in the presence of God.

39:52 You see that Pharisee, his mouth was running off at a mile a minute. I thank thee God, I'm not like other men. I thank thee God, I do this and I do that and I do the other thing. The publican was a man whose mouth was...

40:05 He would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven and he beats upon his breath and mumbles in a whisper that only God can hear. God, be merciful to me. When did God shut your mouth?

40:23 Where you had nothing to say in his presence but you just felt and owned your guilt.

40:34 By what means did God shut your mouth?

40:39 Except he repents, you'll perish and repentance involves as an irreducible element the acknowledgement that what God says about me is true an inward, hearty, experimental acknowledgement. It involves, secondly, some measure of...

40:58 grief over what I am and what I've done. Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented on 2 Corinthians chapter 9. No man ever was happy-fied into the kingdom of God.

41:18 The idea that if we can just present Jesus brightly and sprightly enough we'll have people just tripping up to him to know the joys of his salvation is entirely foreign to the thinking of Holy Scripture. God says in his word, I am the Lord, I wound and I heal. I kill and it's always in that order. That's why the scripture says for by the law cometh the knowledge of sin.

41:49 The law is our schoolmaster unto Christ. Why? It opens up the wound of sin until the stench of it grieves us as we know it must grieve God. My friend, I ask you where and when and by what means were you brought not only to the acknowledgement of your sin but to some genuine grief over it?

42:13 I'm not saying how much because God doesn't give me chapter and verse to do it.

42:19 But to think of repentance without grief is like trying to think of a bright day without the sun. Trying to think of wet roads without the rain. You can't separate them. And every instance in scripture where God says a certain person is repenting involved in that description.

42:38 There. There is this element of grief. Not grief primarily of what the sin did to me. That's Esau.

42:48 He's out there hollering and crying. Scripture says he wept with an exceeding great and bitter cry. You and I were standing there that day when you said, boy, look at Esau. He's all busted up.

42:57 He's really broken up over his sin. No, he wasn't. He was just weeping out of self-pity.

43:03 Wasn't the tears of repentance. When you see the public in beating upon his breast. What's he doing? Play acting?

43:10 No, no. The pain was in there. That's where he beat. Inward breathe.

43:17 You see a David sobbing out his heart in Psalm 51. You look at the prodigal. He says, I will arise and go to my father and say, Father, I know you have a wonderful plan for my life and I haven't been enjoying it. So I'm going to come home and cash in on it.

43:35 My friends, that's the perspective of the gospel being set out in our day as the biblical gospel. That is what he said. He said, I will arise and go to my father and say, Father, I've sinned against heaven. And in thy sight, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.

43:51 The sense of grief. Then the scripture goes on to say of the prodigal that while he was yet afar off, the father ran to him. I believe that's significant. In my mind's eye, I can picture that son starting out the first day in his trip home, making a good bit of time, but as the time drew near for him to come closer home, there was a reluctance.

44:15 How can I? How can I? When my very face and countenance and physical appearance is a witness to the folly of my sin, how can I appear before my father? He comes up over the brow of the hill and the father sees him.

44:33 I believe if we read between the lines, we see the picture of the son who stands there, drops his head in shame and grief.

44:42 And we can't believe it until the father's footsteps become louder and louder and he's smothered in the father's love. And I think that's significant. And I think that's significant. And I think that's significant.

44:50 And I think that's significant. And I think that's significant. And I think that's significant. Over the course of the event.

44:57 My friend, where? By what means? Did God bring you to grief?

45:05 Repentance involves not only the acknowledgement of sin, a measure of grief over that sin, but all of this is to no avail unless it issues in a turning from sin and a purpose of heart to be done with it. Turning from the sin unto God through Christ. Yes, we've dealt with that under the second except. We've dealt with that.

45:27 We've dealt with that. We've dealt with that. We've dealt with that. We've dealt with that.

45:27 We've dealt with that. as little children, a trustful reliance upon Christ to finish the work, but it must be a turning from the sin, and sins in particular, our darling sin, the worst sin of all, unbelief,

45:49 that for years God should say, my son, who he is and what he's done, is your only hope of mercy, trust him, believe in him, cast yourself upon him, oh, the horror of it, that for years we've lived indifferent to the claims of the Savior, to the command of the Father to believe on him, and we repent of our sins, and we cast ourselves upon him. I ask you, my friend, in the light of Christ's words, have you repented?

46:29 Now, don't evade the question. I press it upon your conscience. Not for filler, because I've got to preach so long to get a full paycheck this week. No, no.

46:40 But because I know you won't pause long enough, many of you, to press it upon your conscience when you leave this place, and I love you enough in Christ to try to help you right now. Let your conscience do its work. When, where, and by what means were you brought to a hearty acknowledgement of the truth of what God says about you? About what you are by nature?

47:06 Of what your sins deserve? Of your guilt? When were you brought to that acknowledgement? When, where, by what means were you brought to grieve over your sins?

47:17 What can memory bring forth from the past? What can it bring forth from the present? For true repentance is not an act of the past, but the acquisition of an attitude that will be evident in the present.

47:33 What sins have you turned your back upon? Sins as dear as right hand and right eye. For Jesus said those must be dealt with or you'll perish. When and by what means were you brought to turn from the sin of unbelief, the sin of pride, the sin of ambition, of self-will?

Except Your Righteousness Exceed the Pharisees' (Matthew 5)

47:51 If you can't answer clearly, dear friend, I plead with you, take seriously the words of Christ, except you repent, you'll perish. And then the last except of Christ that I want you to look at tonight is in Matthew chapter 5. And in verse 20, and much of what we've said thus far in just opening up these other words very briefly, is underscored and enforced in this passage.

48:24 Here our Lord says in Matthew 5 and verse 20, For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. There it is again. Jesus said, you want to know what's necessary to get to heaven? Well, one thing he says is your righteousness better go beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees or you'll never make it.

48:54 You and I can't appreciate what this sounded like to the hearers the first time these words were uttered. For if you had lived in Israel in the days when our Lord ministered, and anyone said, think of a righteous person, immediately your mind would have thought of scribes, Pharisees. They're the righteous ones. The separated ones.

49:15 The holy ones. And Jesus says, if you don't go beyond them, you'll never make it.

49:21 What was defected in the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? A defect which we must go beyond or we'll never enter the kingdom of heaven according to Christ. May I suggest two things? Number one, their righteousness rested on a wrong foundation.

49:38 And secondly, it was constructed on wrong principles. First of all, it rested upon a wrong foundation. What is righteousness? Righteousness in scripture can be viewed from two perspectives.

49:53 Righteousness sometimes refers to a right standing before God. When the scripture says that the gospel reveals a righteousness of God, it means, and I was quoting then from Romans 1, that it reveals a way by which we may have a right standing before God. Sometimes the word righteousness refers. It refers to right walking here under the eye of God.

50:22 It refers to godly living. And the common data differ as to what our Lord meant here, and so I'd like to play the peacemaker and bring them both together and say I believe both are at least implicit in what our Lord says. For the Pharisees' righteousness, if viewed from the first standpoint, if viewed from the idea of what a man must do or be. To find acceptance before a holy God, if we do not have a righteousness that goes beyond theirs, we'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

50:57 For what was their righteousness?

51:00 I've quoted from Luke 18. Now look at it for a moment, if you will please. For here we have a Pharisee actually confessing what the ground of his righteousness was. How he expected to have a right standing before God.

51:19 Right. And he says in Luke 18.9, our Lord speaking, he spake this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at naught. Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican.

51:41 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee I'm not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and the like. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I get. What is he saying to God? Or attempting to say to God?

52:02 He's attempting to say, God, I believe I have a righteous standing before you based upon two things. What I am, I am better than other men, and then he specifies it, I'm better than the adulterers, and the extortioners, and the unjust, and even these crooked old publicans. And then he says, God, I am better than other men, and then he specifies it, I'm better than the adulterers, and the extortioners, and the unjust, and even these crooked old publicans. I plead with you to accept me not only because of what I am, I'm better than other men, but because of what I do.

52:28 I fast, I give tithes. So the fabric of the righteousness of a scribe and a Pharisee was a righteousness based upon what they thought they were, and what they thought they had done that would make them acceptable before God. And my friend, if that's the basis upon which you think God will accept you, what you, are, and what you've done, except you get a righteousness that goes beyond that, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. For God is of such a nature that there is only one righteousness that he will accept, and that's the perfect righteousness reflected in his own character and revealed in his own dear son.

53:18 And if you have anything less than a perfect righteousness, God will reject you. Perfect righteousness.

53:26 Well, you say, how in the world? Can you be perfect? You can't be of yourself. But there was one who was.

53:35 He could say, I do always, in every circumstance, in every situation, I do always the things that please my Father. The Father could speak out of heaven and say of him, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And from the womb? To the cross.

54:02 At every point where God's holy law touched the life of the Son of God, in thought, in word, in deed, at home, on the playground, later on, in the marketplace, in the temple, in the fields, in the ship, in every relationship, in every demand God made of him with reference to himself, every demand with reference to others. Our Lord never did. Parted one-tenth of one-hundredth of a degree from perfect conformity to God's holy law. And that whole perfect life, perfect obedience, the righteousness of Christ's life can be put to my account.

54:59 And then he went to the cross and there satisfied all the demands of God's broken law against the sins of his people. And his satisfaction for all my sin can be put to my account so that to use the words of the Apostle Paul, I become accepted in the beloved one.

55:25 That's the beauty of the gospel. Therein is revealed the righteousness of God. And it's only God's righteousness that will satisfy God. So Jesus says, accept your righteousness, go beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees.

55:40 They've got the best at man. They can produce, but it's rejected.

55:46 And it's only the righteousness God produces that God accepts. Do you have that righteousness?

55:53 Could you sing when we sang tonight? Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary, they pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. Can you say with the hymn writer, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress.

56:13 My glorious dress. My glorious dress. My glorious dress. My glorious dress.

56:13 My glorious dress. My glorious dress. My glorious dress. My glorious dress.

56:16 With joy shall I lift up my head.

56:22 From time to time I like to sit myself down and I ask myself this question in this whole area. I say now, if your life was to be taken from you in the next two minutes and you were to stand in the presence of God and God were to say to you, on what basis should I admit you into my everlasting presence?

56:50 I try to. honestly ask myself with judgment-day honesty, because nothing less will do, what would my real answer be?

56:59 Can I say almost as the reflex response of my mind and heart, O eternal, most holy God, I seek admittance into your presence on one ground alone, the perfect righteousness of your dear Son, the righteousness of His sinless life and His perfect death. I plead that plus nothing.

57:29 And I ask myself, can I look upon any of my poor labors to preach the gospel, any little smattering of blessing that's come to others? Is there any tendency whatsoever to take one gram of anything I have done and add it to whom? Christ is and what He's done. If I find that tendency is there, I know I've got to go back again to this most fundamental truth of our Lord Jesus, accept your righteousness, and to succeed that of the scribes and Pharisees you'll never enter.

58:07 Now let me ask you, my friend, if God were to take you out of this life and summon you to stand in His presence and ask you the question, upon what ground should I admit you into my holy presence? What would you answer? Oh, well, well, would you fumble around a while?

58:25 Or would it be the reflex response of your heart to say, Oh, eternal God, accept me solely for the merits of thy dear Son? You see, is this just a lot of words you've picked up, or has it become the sum and substance of your heart? Accept your righteousness, succeed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. And their righteousness was defective, as to the ground upon which they sought acceptance.

58:59 And then if we think of it as practical righteousness, living out a godly light, they missed it by miles, because they constructed their practical righteousness upon wrong principles. They were more concerned with externals than internals. Jesus said, Oh, they pray, but why do they pray? To be seen of what?

59:22 They fast, but for what reason? To be seen of men. They give alms, for what reason? To be seen of men.

59:30 So Jesus, in Matthew 23, verses 23 or 25 to 28, said, You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You appear beautiful to men, but within. But within. That was the constant emphasis of our Lord with the Pharisees.

59:46 He said, Your practical so-called Christian life is defective, for my people, as he describes them in Matthew 5, are concerned about, the internal and secondarily the externals. Now, you're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers.

60:08 You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers.

60:16 You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers.

60:24 You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers. You're like whitewashed sepulchers.