Specific Descriptions of the Heirs, Part 2

Introduction: The Weight of Eternal Verity

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, September 4th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. In the epistle to the Hebrews, there is found a phrase which is often, in seasons such as these, come with freshness to my own mind. And it is that phrase who tasted the powers of the world to come. And surely God has given us, in the climate of our worship tonight,

0:43 if we have been at all sensitive to the pressure of the word and the spirit upon our minds and our spirits, something of a tasting of the powers of the world to come.

0:59 Dear people, we traffic in awesome realities.

1:04 Judgment, the anger of God, the fierceness of His wrath, is one thing to see. But if we are a nation cast out of its dwelling place, scattered amongst the heathen nations, what will it be to see multitudes cast into everlasting burning? Let us cry to God that the impress of His word and spirit would increase as we come to the ministry of the word.

1:39 Our Father, we acknowledge the native giddiness and silliness of our hearts, that we who are... who are destined to spend eternity in unspeakable glory and bliss, or in horrible misery and woe, should think so seldom and so slightly of our eternal destiny.

2:09 O God, we plead with you, that as your word has come and sobered us, the servant has led us in prayer, and our hearts have felt, something of the weight of eternal verity. So now we plead, that we shall taste in even greater measure the powers of the world to come, that we may not merely be listening to words coming from one human voice, but, O, that we may know your presence taking those words, and so impressing them upon the deepest recesses of our being,

2:54 that we will know we are not dealing with a fellow mortal and his notions, but that we are having dealings with you, the living and the true God, the God before whom we shall stand in the last day. Holy Father, come. Come, we pray, and arrest us, and have dealings with us, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Review: What is Hell and Who Will Be Sent There?

3:31 We come this evening, to the... seventh message in this present series of studies, under the general or broad heading of the biblical doctrines of heaven and of hell.

3:46 Now thus far in our study of the word of God we have established by way of broad introduction to this subject or these subjects the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell, the primary focus of our study of these great realities, and the proper attitude that we must have in approaching them. We then sought for several Lord's day evenings to answer from the Scriptures this very simple, but profoundly important question, What is hell?

4:26 And from the word of God we saw that there are at least five categories of biblical teaching with respect to the answer to that question. Having sought to raise and answer the question, what is hell, we are now concerned with a second question, namely, who will be sent to hell? And with the same scriptures before us which answered the question, what is hell, we have sought to answer this second question, who will be sent to hell? And I've suggested that the

5:06 answer of the word of God to this question can be collated under two major headings, general descriptions of those who will be sent to hell and specific descriptions of those who will be sent to hell. Having opened up some of the pivotal texts which could be classified as hell, we have sought to raise and answer the second question, who will be sent to hell? And the first of those texts was Revelation 21 and verse 8, and the only

5:50 review I will give is to read this text, and then, God willing, we shall take up two further texts. In the opening verses of Revelation 21, I remind you we have this beautiful description of heaven, and yet John, when completing that description of heaven, writes in verse 8 of Revelation 21, but for the fearful or the cowardly and unbelieving and vile and murderers and the wicked and the wicked, and the wicked and the wicked, and the wicked and the wicked

6:29 and the sexually impure and those who practice magical arts and idolaters and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Now, in handling this text, I was careful to underscore that it does not say that anyone who has been guilty at any time of any one or combination of these sins

7:08 or has even lived in a lifestyle characterized by these sins will ultimately be sent to hell. That is not the teaching of the passage, nor does it teach that if one has professed faith in Christ and given positive biblical evidences of becoming a child of God, that if he is guilty, he should fall into one of these sins, he is automatically excluded from going to heaven. Rather, this text, as with the text that we shall study tonight, is describing a lifestyle, a fixed character description.

7:48 It is describing those whose dominant character traits are herein set forth. It is one thing to commit an act of murder. It is another thing. To be a murderer as the dominant disposition of the heart and expression of moral conduct.

8:08 And so the text is saying that all who are characterized by a lifestyle, all the way from the cowardice that keeps a man back from open identification with Christ, to those who are willful, deliberate liars concerning any matter of reality. Their part shall be in the Lake of fire. Now turn tonight to the second specific description of those who will be be sent to hell in Galatians Chapter 5 verses 19 through 21.

Specific Descriptions of the Heirs of Hell: Galatians 5:19-21

8:47 Galatians Chapter 5 verses 19 through 21. You will notice what there is some overlapping with the Revelation 21. Galatians chapter five verses 19 through 21. обязal justice andamm97baf 20 Peter covers all the applicable technical details.

9:01 8 passage, and wherein there is overlapping, I will be very brief in my exposition, but there is a fundamental contribution made by this specific description that is not even perhaps suggested in the Revelation 21.8 passage, Galatians 5, beginning with verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest or are made known, openly declared, which are

9:33 these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revelations. And such like, of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not.

10:14 The mind of the Apostle Paul has given us a very specific description of the character traits of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they do not inherit, the kingdom of God, there is one place for them, outer darkness, the lake of fire, one condition slated for them, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Now you will notice at the end of this text, the Apostle Paul is very clear.

10:59 He is not saying that anyone who falls into one of these things as a believer is disinherited, or anyone who has had, any one or combination of these things as his past, but who now has been transformed by the grace of God, has no hope of salvation. He is saying, I'm warning you now, as I warned you in the past, that those who make a practice of such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The New International Version translates it this way. I warn you, as I did before.

11:39 As I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. So the emphasis falls upon any one or combination of these things constituting our settled lifestyle. If any of these things is an expression of your lifestyle, is an expression of the basic pattern of your life, as if they were a habit upon the authority of Almighty God, that living and dying in that state you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

12:20 Now as we look at this list, this specific description, it should have become evident, I hope, in the manner in which I read the passage, that there are four fundamental categories of sinful lifestyle described in it.

Category 1: Sexual Immorality

12:41 First of all, sexual immorality. Notice what the apostle says. And this was not written for private consumption. It was written for public reading and exposition. And if anyone's offended at the explicitness of the Bible, it's probably because in your own heart you're given over to these sins and you're embarrassed by your exposure and you want to cloak it under the guise of modesty.

13:07 The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? The first category, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, or translated into more contemporary English, sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery. Now, last Lord's Day evening in the Revelation 21.8 exposition, we had occasion to deal with

13:41 these. We had occasion to deal with these things in detail. Suffice it to say that this passage says that anyone who practices a lifestyle characterized by sexual immorality, impurity, or debauchery, or unbridled conduct, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, all deviations from one man living with one woman in the sanctum.

14:11 In other words, all deviations from one man living with one woman in the sanctum. All perversions of male to male, in female to female, man to beast, all locker room jesting, all debauchery, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

14:55 And oh how we need desperately to remind ourselves that the temporal pleasures that come from sexual immorality, from impurity, and from debauchery, bring with them eternal punishment.

Category 2: False Religion (Idolatry and Sorcery)

15:12 And oh how we need desperately to remind ourselves that the temporal pleasures that come from sexual immorality, from impurity, and from debauchery, bring with them eternal punishment. you'll notice the second character or the second category is false religion. Two are mentioned, idolatry and sorcery. And I had occasion to point out last Lord's Day that

15:56 the word sorcery here is precisely the same word as is found in Revelation 21.8. We dealt then with these two last Lord's Day. We'll not deal with them again. Suffice it to say

16:09 that man, being a religious creature, cannot cease to unman himself, but in his blindness and perversity he gives himself to gods that are no gods, either in the grosser forms of external religious idolatry or the more subtle forms of the idolatry of covetousness and the worship of things. But our text says that all who practice idolatry, whether of the grosser form or the major form, must reminds us that the more subtle forms of person and the more subtle forms of the idolatry of covetousness and the worship of things. But we'll not of a more refined form, all dabbling in the occult and the magic arts, those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Category 3: Sins of Ill Will Towards Fellow Human Beings

16:51 But now it is this third grouping of sinful character traits and practices that is the distinctive contribution of this passage. And I want us to look at it in some detail. And we might well call this category sins and character traits of ill will towards one's fellow human beings. Not only is there the category of sexual immorality, the category of false religion, but notice these eight distinct descriptions of the sins of ill will at the level of interpersonal relationships, amongst men.

17:36 Notice them. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are enmities, strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, parties, or literally, the Greek word is the one from which we get our English word, heresies, separating from the truth and gathering in enclaves of error, factions, divisions.

18:14 I'm sorry. Envyings. Let me back up. Strife, jealousies, wrath, factions, divisions, parties, envyings.

18:23 And it's unfortunate that the first division came at 21, because envyings belongs to the category of those eight things that are set before us, one after another. Now isn't it interesting that in this passage, this is the line, largest grouping of the sins of the flesh. The largest grouping has to do not with sexual immorality, not with false religion, but with those attitudes and dispositions that exist between human beings in their relationship one to another. Do you see it? And the apostle

19:04 says just as surely of the person who is marked by a character trait of envy, that's the settled description of the character, the envious person shall be excluded from the kingdom as much as the man who is an open adulterer or adulterer. A person whose spirit is given to raising up walls between his fellow human beings, whether born or not, is a person who is born of what is called hyper temperament. Whether born of envy or jealousy, it does

19:47 not matter. When the dominant character trait is the raising up of walls of enmity, this passage says those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Time will not permit us to go into a description. One of these eight things in detail, let me just read a brief commentary upon them. Lenski,

20:19 the Lutheran commentator whom I often refer to in preaching, has suggested that the first four are primarily personal animosity, and the last four have to do with personal animosity finding group expression. And I think his suggestion is accurate in the main. The first four, look at them. The first four, look at them.

20:43 The first denotes personal hatreds or enmities, that is, the raising up of a wall of hostility between me and another human being. Whether that hostility breaks out in smashing him in the face, cursing him, speaking ill of him behind his back, or whether it never has an outward manifestation, but is a settled disposition of ill will, it is enmity in the breast. Though it may never touch the fist or the mouth. Enmity, personal hatred. The second,

21:20 the strife and the wrangling that result from that hatred. The third, the motives so often involved, namely, jealousies. The fourth, the outburst of hot passion in anger. The first and the third point to motives. The second and the fourth to their product. Hateful

21:42 anger. The third and the fourth to their product. Jealousies produce strifes. Jealousies produce passionate outbursts of anger.

21:50 Now, do we really believe the Word of God? Do we believe God means what he says in this passage? That if these things characterize your life, enmity, strife, jealousy, wrath, you, living and dying in that condition, will end up in hell. You will die in hell. You

22:12 will die in hell. You will die in hell. You will die in hell. You will die in hell. You

22:13 will die in hell. You will die in hell. You will die in hell. You will die in hell. You

22:14 will die in hell. You will surely be sent to hell as an idolater, a sorcerer, and a whoremonger. Do you believe that? Most professing evangelical churches obviously want that.

22:22 Of that, there is no de moments. Because I have preached in churches where the mark of their life for thirty years has been in church fights. And it is a known fact that there are families that don't speak to other families because they remember that their parents didn't speak to their parents. 220133 And there are from generation to generation.

23:05 Yet they'd swear on a stack of Bibles that they're trusting Christ for salvation and hope to go to heaven when they die. Not according to my Bible. Those who practice such things, enmities, strife, jealousies, riots, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And then whether Lenski is accurate in saying we now move more into a group situation or not, though I think he is, notice the next four.

The Danger of 'Lesser' Sins and Self-Deception

23:46 Factions, divisions, parties, envyings. And again, Lenski's comment, when persons clash, each so often has his following. People take sides. Relatives and friends rally to the support of the one.

24:09 Some, as do those of his opponent. Thus the flesh produces factions. Next, there are outright splits, divisions, sunderings. Third, ireses, from which our word heresy is derived.

24:29 It denotes a choice of a special opinion for oneself.

24:34 And do you remember what Paul said? From your ranks there shall arise a perverse man who will draw...

24:41 Draw away disciples after themselves. Now, how does a spiritual leader draw away disciples after himself? Well, often by coming up with a so-called new insight, which the rest of the people won't see and can't see, but all the favored ones who see with him are to be identified with him in pursuit of obedience to this new truth. When at the root of it is this spirit, that is described by this Greek word that we translate into the word heresy.

25:20 And then, of course, there is that final word, endings, where you have in a group situation this pitting of one set of people against another and all of the foul fruits of that that are manifested in interpersonal relationship. Now, what does the...

25:43 What does the text tell us? The text tells us that those who practice such things as the settled expression of the state of their hearts shall not inherit the kingdom. Now, why do I emphasize that third grouping? Well, I do so for two reasons.

26:11 First of all, because I would be very surprised if there are not in a group this size some people who have pretty well... Well, breathed easy through the exposition of Revelation 21.

26:26 You could see that specific description of the heirs of hell and breathe rather easily through the entire third. I've openly identified myself with Christ. I'm not unbelieving. I believe the Bible.

26:43 I believe the gospel. I believe in Christ as Savior and Lord. And I'm not the abominable. I'm not given over to vile, filthy affections.

26:54 I'm not a whoremongerer. And I'm not a liar. You came out smelling pretty good in your own nose and looking pretty good in your own eyes. But I wonder how you stand before this list of eight manifestations of ill will to your fellow men.

27:15 Are any one or combination of these things a description not of a weakness with which you struggle and over which you mourn? Are you daily in the presence of God and for which you flee again and again to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness? I'm not asking, is any one or combination of these things even a besetting sin before which you fall and over which you're grieved and concerning which you are ashamed before God and man? I'm not asking that.

27:56 But I'm asking, is it a description of your settled character concerning which there is no holy mourning? You feel you've got a right to raise your barriers of enmity. I have been, my rights have been violated and upon my rights. Is that so?

28:25 Is that so? My friend, if that's your disposition, your heart's never known touch of gospel grace. But when you know that you violated the rights, of the almighty times without number, and that he for Christ's sake is freely forgiven, you will never justify a settled spirit of any based upon the so-called violation of your rights. That's why Jesus said,

29:10 when you pray, forgive. For if you forgive not men their trespass, neither will your heavenly Father forgive yours. What about enmity? Strife?

29:27 Are you a fomenter of strife? Did you hear that? And did you know that? Is it the pattern of your life?

29:35 Oh, in a very subtle way, never done in a public congregational meeting, never done in a public concourse where men would know, but subtly here and there with weak-minded people and large-eared people, whom you sniff out with an uncanny ability to find who they are. You sow your seeds of strife and a party spirit and try to rally people to your so-called just cause at the expense of the unity in the body of Christ, the expense of truth. You may have breathed pretty easily going through Revelation 21.8.

30:16 You're beginning to feel a little uneasy, a little flushed up behind the neck in the ears. Well, you might. Well, you might. For the text says, I warn you now, as I warned you in the past, those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

30:38 What about jealousies? Do you know really what it is in your heart to rejoice when God prospers others more than He prospers you? When God honors others more than He honors you? When others get twice the praise for doing one-third what you've done?

30:59 Do you know what it is to rejoice? Or does your heart burn with jealousy? Does it? You better face it honestly, my friend.

31:09 If you look upon jealousy as sort of a constitutional weakness, sort of inherited from my mother, from my father, picked up along the way from my brothers and sisters, God won't treat it that way in the day of judgment. He'll send you to hell for it. You better begin to look on it as God does. That's my first concern for sitting awhile on these eight descriptions of ill-will interpersonal and horizontal level. But I have a second reason, and it's this. Those of us who by

Treating All Sins Seriously: The 'Dabble With Me' Warning

31:43 the grace of God can say, O Lord, you know that once my heart was filled with some, many, if not all of those things, they were a description of the settled character of my heart. I can remember when I burned with jealousy when anyone was advanced beyond me and honored above me. I can remember when wrath broke out in angry cursing and when wrath even expressed itself in striking others. But I thank you, Lord, you've changed that. There's been a radical cleavage with sin,

32:18 and yet the seeds of all of these things remain within us. Here's my second reason for focusing on this. Child of God, how do you treat the first overtures to idolatry, to adultery, to perversion? How do you treat those first overtures?

32:34 I hope you treat them in the full consciousness that they have stamped upon them. Dabble with me! I hope you treat them as a commodity that has stamped all over them. Dabble with me! You don't need to treat these eight things precisely the same way.

32:59 Put them into the same category in which God has put them. Don't make a category of your own. Oh, surely if I abandon myself to adultery, to the masquerade of a mad man, I will be subject to adultery. It is not good to sin.

33:12 When I'm Scriptures, in the Olhares lectures, many of whom have been After God, they all be Turkey. magical arts, to fornication and uncleanness and debauchery, surely then I'd have to give up all profession of the Christian faith. But I can afford the luxury of dabbling in jealousy, faction, enmity, strife, divisions, novelties of thought that make me set myself apart from the rest of God's people as somebody special with super insights. My friend, they have stamped on them along with these viler, grosser forms of moral deviation. Dabble with

Category 4: Sins of Intemperance

33:49 me, and I'll take you to hell. And we must treat them accordingly, because that's what God says. And then, of course, the fourth category in the text is sins of intemperance. Notice, drunkenness and carousings or abandoned indulgence. See them? Drunkenness, reveling,

34:16 and such like. Drunkenness and the carousings that follow. Whether it's the immorality or just the general unrestrained hoopla of peoples whose minds have been blown on alcohol or drugs, God says that lifestyle, unrepented of and unchanged by the sanctifying grace of God, will keep a man, a woman, a boy or girl out of heaven. You'd better be very careful about that.

34:47 Now, you treat alcohol. There are people who will burn in hell forever because they loved carrying a mild buzz in their brain throughout their waking days. At what point does a man, a woman become just a moderate user of alcohol and become a drunkard? I don't know where the point is, and I don't want to find out. And it will be losing business to try to argue with God

35:27 that your mark on the scale should be the basis of his dealing with you in the day of judgment and not his that'll be losing business that'll be losing business so what is this second descriptive list of the character traits tell us it tells us that when any deviation from god's holy law whether our duties to god or to man are openly flaunted and become a fixed pattern of character

Specific Descriptions of the Heirs of Hell: Matthew 7:21-23

36:08 and there is no repentance and there is no transformation they have no grounds to expect anything for our ultimate death the lake of fire but now i want to conclude this aspect of our study by turning to one final text that is a specific description of specific character traits of those who will be sent to hell revelation 21 8 and galatians 5 19 to 21 have overlapping and have much in common the distinctive contribution of the galatians passage is those

36:48 sins of a social and horizontal nature now the passage in matthew to which we turn is one that again has a distinctive contribution in that it describes in somewhat graphic and we might say in a more graphic way the character traits of the galatians who will be sent to hell we might say without being excessive in our use of words shocking detail another group of people who will be sent to hell and as far as we know from the description given of them they are very religious and there is no question raised as to their orthodoxy or integrity and religion

37:28 and yet the text tells us that the lord jesus will say to them depart from me i never knew you matthew's gospel chapter 7 follow as i read verses 21 to 23 matthew 7 21 not everyone that says unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that does the will of my father who is in heaven now will you circle the next word many many many

38:14 many many not a few many will say to me in that day lord lord did we not prophesy by your name and by your name cast out demons and by your name do many mighty works and then will i profess unto them i never knew you depart from me i never knew you depart from me i never knew you depart from me

38:52 you that work iniquity now first of all our lord articulates a general axiom or principle in verse 21 the principle is this it is not enough to have a proper confession of christ upon our lips if that profession does not bring the totality of life into conformity to the revealed will of god you see the principle not everyone who says an activity of the mouth reflecting a judgmental judgment of the mind not everyone who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven

39:32 but he that is actually doing the will of my father who is in heaven in other words it is not the mere recognition intellectually that christ is lord having come to his mediatorial lordship and enthronement by way of a virgin's womb the cross and the open tomb it is not enough to give intellectual sent to those realities and to say lord lord repetition of intensity is not enough jesus said if he is not indeed lord lord so as to have subdued our hearts unto universal obedience

40:15 the old writers called that is a lifestyle characterized by a whole sold endeavor to obey god in every area to which god addresses himself in his word not everyone who says lord lord children to the kingdom but he did is doing the will of my father which is in heaven you see how broad is that principle he that he's doing that's the pattern of his life not some of the world that will of my father which is convenient that will of my father which is consistent with past tradition and heritage in example no who is good my father No matter what it costs.

41:00 When it crosses tradition, I say to my tradition, to the pit with you. Stand between me and doing the will of my Father.

The Danger of Outward Religious Success Without Inward Grace

41:11 My past patterns, the examples I've had, if they are contrary to the will of my Father, I say away with you. I shall do the will of my Father at any cost. That's the general principle. Now the Lord, like a good preacher, is not content with general principles.

41:31 He descends to particulars. And here is a specific application of that general axiom or principle. Many, many are going to say in that day, Lord, Lord. You see how he's carrying it on?

41:49 It's not enough to say, Lord, Lord, but you must do the will of my Father. Now he's going to concentrate on the specific class who do say, Lord, Lord. And in the day of judgment, they're going to have the temerity, the brass. The gall to address Jesus in a saving confession, even with the intensified use of his name.

42:16 They claim to be buddy-buddy with him. Lord, Lord, do you know us?

42:23 Don't you recognize us? We are the ones, notice the text, who prophesied in your name or by your name. And that is, we gave forth your word, either by the direct influence of your Spirit upon our, our minds and upon our tongues. We were the vehicles of direct revelation.

42:45 And if God can make a dumbass speak and be a vehicle of direct revelation, he can do it with an unconverted person. Or whether they are saying, did we not preach, prophesy with a small p, a lowercase p? Did we not speak forth your word in your name? That is, by your authority exercised within and through your church.

43:10 In other words, they're saying, Lord, Lord, were we not eminent and visible in the exercise of our spiritual gifts?

43:22 And then they further go on to say, And did we not by your name cast out demons and by your name do mighty works? We were not only members and identified with the Christian community, we were eminently gifted within that community and we were manifestly successful. Now, not like the disciples when they came back and the man complained and said, Look, I brought my demon-possessed son to your disciples and they couldn't cast out the demon. This crowd cast him out.

43:53 When they said, In the name of Jesus be gone, the demons went.

43:59 They were part of the Christian community. It's Jesus' name that is central in all of this. The revelation of God in the incarnate Son of God. They were part of the Christian community.

44:13 They were eminently gifted within that community. And they were manifestly successful in the exercise of their gifts.

44:23 But Jesus says, Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. I never regarded you with distinguishing love and affection. I never owned you as my own. You know why?

44:37 Because you were never radically severed from your love and practice of sin. Depart from me, you that work iniquity.

44:48 You have to be a Christian. You have to be a Christian. You have to be a Christian. You have to be a Christian.

44:49 You had my name upon your lips. You had gifts to minister in the community of my people. And you had manifested success. But you never knew my grace purging your attachment.

45:06 Now obviously, unless it was a lax community, such as we find described in several of the churches in the book of the Revelation, these people were not living in great, outward, gross sin. They were able to maintain. They were able to maintain their membership in the Christian community. They were able to maintain the exercise of their gifts.

45:29 Apparently, we're so living in communion with God that the Spirit was not grieved. They were successful in the exercise of their gifts. We've often been told if a preacher grieves the Spirit, his unction will leave him. It ain't necessarily so.

45:49 There are men who have increased in apparent usefulness. As they have more and more abandoned themselves to sin.

46:03 And for some of them, only the day of judgment will reveal it. I've known men in my lifetime. The Revelation came in this life.

46:14 And they seem to be rising in gift and usefulness. And at the height of their usefulness, it was discovered that for ten years, they've been living in immoral relationships with women.

46:28 That they've been embezzling funds. All the while, they were growing in stature as preachers and growing in usefulness. And they had converted people as the fruit of their labors. And I say it all fits within this passage.

46:45 And I speak to anyone who has any gift whatsoever. And I pray God to take his word and burn it into your conscience. Listen. No gift of whatever nature.

46:59 No gift, however much it may appear. Here to be owned and blessed of God is the proof of grace.

47:12 It's only grace that is the proof of grace. It's only a holy heart that shows you are truly known by a holy Savior. Let everyone who names the name of Christ continually depart from iniquity. And if you name his name without departing from iniquity, he will say in that day, though you've preached in his name, cast out demons in his name, he's going to say, I never knew you.

47:42 You are an iniquity worker. All whom I know are holy men and holy women. Made holy by the cleansing of my precious blood. And made holy by the infusion and impartation of my Holy Spirit.

Personal Application and the True Proof of Grace

48:03 Dear people, do we believe the word of God? How many of these? One out of every generation? That wouldn't make very many, would it?

48:10 This is the same chapter. Chapter in which Jesus said, the broad road has many upon it. Many there be which go in thereat. And here he says, many will say, Lord, Lord, am I speaking to a man, to a woman, who known only to God is secretly feeding some foul and filthy lust, feeding some foul and unclean attitude and disposition, of heart?

48:45 Perhaps it comes into that description of those eight sins of Galatians 520. Attitudes of jealousy and envy. And though you have the guise of humility, your eyes, if their true color were known, would be as green as an emerald. My friend, you better have dealings with God.

49:14 You better have dealings with God as though you never opened your mouth to preach a sermon, teach a class, instruct a master. You better forget anything that appears to be the fruit of your labors. For those things in and of themselves have nothing decisive to say about where you stand before Almighty God. In and of themselves they have nothing to say whatsoever.

49:46 Nothing! No one will come in that day and say, Lord, Lord, did you not make me into a man or woman who with all my failures, and faults and sins, loved with all of my heart the bright sins of the mind that no one knew but you knew, Lord? Mortified sins of the heart that no one saw but you and me, Lord? Lord, you know who's in my closet.

50:19 You know my pain and tears in the secret place. You know my mourning over my lust and my pride and my envy and jealousy. Lord, you know me. You know that I've wanted more than anything else in life.

50:36 Not to be famous. Not to be successful. But to be a holy man. No one will plead that in the last day and have the Lord say, depart from me.

50:45 No, sir! Because only grace can bring a man or woman to that place. When I bring near that day, I find it most salutary to forget that I ever preached a sermon. To forget that I ever stood before anyone as an official and recognized expounder of the word in terms of the author of the Word.

51:10 In terms of the authorization of Christ's church. And to picture myself standing as one who'd been a deaf mute from the time of my conversion. And what will I plead in the presence of my God? Are you ready to ask me on what basis do you seek admission to my presence?

51:32 I would have to confess, Lord, the basis is the righteousness of another. The perfect life and the all-sufficient death of your Son. I only plead, Holy Father, Judge of the universe, that for the sake of Jesus Christ and his perfect obedience and the death he endured, for his sake I plead the forgiveness of all my sins. And then if God were to say, and on what basis do you believe that the faith you profess in my Son is real?

52:06 To be able not to say anything about sermons preached, counseling hours spent in ministering to others, the fruits of one's ministry all over the world, but to be stripped of all of that and say, Oh God, you took the heart of an 18-year-old boy, a heart full of lust, a heart full of confusion, a heart full of personal ambition, and you made that heart want more than anything else in life to be like your Son. You made that heart want more than anything in life to do your will,

52:51 at any cost, to be obedient to your word. That's what I will tell you. And I know, standing here, if I'm not one of the worst liars who's ever lived on the face of the earth, Almighty God will have to say, Enter, enter. Your faith is no sham thing.

53:17 I've seen your groaning. I've seen your tears. I've seen your sighs. I've heard your cries.

53:25 I know that by my grace you sought to do my will, fully conscious that at your best point you were a sinner still, who looked only to my dear Son and His perfect righteous as the ground of your acceptance. Now, I don't often make personal allusions in preaching, but I've done it tonight, because this principle is one of the most fundamental convictions of my own heart, and I fear there are some of you who've missed it. I fear you've missed it.

54:05 That's why you're so restless, waiting for people to recognize your gift, because you aren't activated by that desire to use your gift for God's glory, but by personal ambition. If it were God's glory, you'd be far more disturbed about your lack of progress in this area and that area in conformity to Christ. And you wouldn't be itchy, waiting for people to recognize your almighty gift. You'd be earnest.

54:43 God would make you more hopeful, knowing in His own way and time He will give you His door for the exercise of the gift to His glory and to the profit of your own soul and not to its damnation. Dear people, do we believe the Bible? If we do, then a text like this ought to send some of us down to our knees, crying, Lord, is it I? Many will say, Lord, Lord, I will say, depart from me, I never knew you.

Conclusion: Flee to Christ for Forgiveness and Transformation

55:23 Well, these three texts, I suggest, set before us a specific description of those who are going to go to hell, all of those described in Revelation 21.8. To that we add the distinct contribution of Galatians 5.20, those committed as apostles to a lifestyle, to those sins of interpersonal relationship and all of their ugly fruits, and then this final category, those who are highly advanced in profession, in the use of gifts, and in success, but who are devoid of sanctifying grace in their hearts.

56:07 Now, have you seen yourself described tonight? If so, my friend, I come back to where I began. Not one of these passages, one of these passages says, if you've been guilty of those sins right up until this very hour, that there's no hope for you. That's why we've preached that seeing your true state, you might say, there is no hope, being what I am now.

56:32 But, my friend, you don't need to go on being what you are now. Jesus Christ lives. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, mighty to save. And in the Gospel, He says, as we heard this morning, come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

56:53 Oh, that you might flee to Christ and be wrapped up in His righteousness, and receive from Him the gift of the Spirit, that you might have a heart inclined to holiness, and the power to be a holy man, and a holy woman, that you might one day be taken into the presence of a holy Savior in a holy heaven, amidst holy angels and all the holy ones who by grace have been brought to that same place. Oh, may God write upon our hearts

57:25 the truth of His own blessed Word. Our Father, we confess to You that as plainly as You have spoken in Your Word, our minds are dull and our hearts slow truly to believe and to respond in faith to what You have said. We pray that the Holy Spirit will overcome our native disinclination to bow before Your Word. May Your Word carry before it all misconception,

58:09 all error, all prejudice, all resistance. And we ask that even this night some who have seen themselves described as those who must be sent to hell, if they live and die in their present condition, oh God, may they flee from that present condition to the Lord Jesus and find in Him forgiveness and transformation and join those whose faces are set to holiness and to heaven and to pleasing You. We pray, oh God, that You would have mercy upon all who are yet in their sins.

58:53 And for us who are Your people, we confess, Lord, we make all kinds of artificial distinctions. Forgive us that we have looked upon some sins as damning and others as tolerable. Oh, that we may see sin in its true light and may flee from it in all of its forms. That we may pant and yearn and strive after universal holiness.

59:20 That we may be like Your beloved Son, that He may see of the travail of the soul and be satisfied. Hear our prayer, seal Your word to our hearts, and may that great day reveal that Your servant did not labor in vain this night, that Your people did not pray in vain who plead with You to make the word effectual. Oh, Lord, hear the cries that together we offer in the name of Your beloved Son. Amen.