In Whom Is It Found?

Introduction: The Justified Publican and the Doctrine of Justification

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 9, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, I would urge you to follow in your Bibles as I read in your hearing the very familiar parable spoken by our Lord Jesus, which has much to teach us in terms of our present series of studies. And I'm referring to the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican found in Luke, chapter 18, verses 9 through 14. Luke, chapter 18, beginning at verse 9.

0:45 Referring to our Lord Jesus, Luke writes, And he spoke also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others aside. Set not, or despised all others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican.

1:29 I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

2:02 For every one that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Let us again pray, asking God's help by the Spirit in the study of his word.

2:24 Our Father, we would own afresh the truth of the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, Apart from me, severed from my life-giving power, you can do nothing. And again, the words of your servant John the Baptist, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Lord, we confess we are so painfully slow to unlearn the ways of creature confidence. And we would in these few moments at your throne repudiate all such creature confidence.

3:05 For again, you said, For the prophet, cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. O God, I would not be cursed as I seek to preach. Slay any, any remnants of creature confidence in the preacher. Slay the same in every listener.

3:27 That as a company of those who look out of themselves and beyond themselves, we will be blessed with help from heaven. O Lord Jesus, come and visit us in your word, we pray, for your name's sake and for our good. Amen. This man went down to his house justified.

3:58 That's how Jesus described the publican in the parable read in your hearing. This man went down to his house justified. Now what precisely was changed? What precisely was changed in his relationship to the God before whom he had just owned the reality of his sin, and from whom he had sought mercy?

4:25 Or to be more accurate with the language in the original, this God whom he prayed would be propitious to him, would turn away his wrath from him. What precisely was changed when Jesus says, He, that is, this publican went down to his house justified? Well, it's just such questions that we are seeking to answer from the word of God in our present series of studies on the biblical doctrine of justification. That doctrine which Martin Luther called the article of the standing or the falling church.

Sermon Outline and Overview of Previous Messages

5:09 And as we come this morning to our ninth study in this present series, I want to set before you what I propose to do in the allotted time. First of all, because looking out, I see we have a number of visitors who have not been with us for the previous parts of the series. I want to take just a few minutes to give a brief overview of what has been addressed in the first seven messages. And then secondly, I want to give a more detailed review of what we considered in the eighth message last Lord's Day.

5:43 And that for this simple reason. I didn't finish the sermon. And what I did was to lay the foundation and raise the walls in the superstructure of God's truth. But I had no time to put the roof of application on that structure.

6:00 And so I want us to spend just a few more minutes going back over the stuff that went into the foundation and the walls because I cannot hang the roof on air. Or as we used to say when I was doing construction, work and we didn't know where to put something. We'd say jokingly to one another, go hang it on a sky hook. Well, you can't hang anything on the sky hook.

6:20 Well, you can't you can't construct the roof on air. And so because I want that roof to rest down on the solid stuff of the reinforced concrete foundation of exposition and on the strong six-inch metal studs that constitute the walls of biblical truth. I'm going to then give a little more. More detailed review of what we covered last week.

6:45 And then thirdly, what I didn't get to. I want us to listen to the voices of confirmation from the past. There is a growing sense. Some of it even in our own circle and certainly in broader evangelical circles that the emphasis that we are subjected to right now in our study of justification is indeed something that is distorted.

7:12 It is. Something that is peculiarly puritanical or reformed Baptist or something else. And I want you to listen to the voices from the past who, when they have read their Bibles, have seen precisely the same biblical truths that I've been attempting to articulate and have clearly and emphatically affirmed that this is indeed the teaching of the Bible. And then in the fourth place, I want to make two very important applications of all of this to the present.

7:47 Now, for you who are schooled in rhetoric, I'm breaking more laws of classic rhetoric than you can shake a stick at. But I have a mandate that goes beyond the laws and principles of rhetoric. And that is the mandate of 1 Corinthians 14. Let all things be done unto edification.

8:08 And I'm not primarily a rhetorician, though. I respect the principles of rhetoric. I'm a pastor-preacher who has to seek to do you optimum good. And I've chosen this course, though it goes against many of my instincts, as one acquainted with, I trust, some of the proven principles of rhetoric, because I want your edification above all else.

8:31 So that's where I plan to go, God helping me. So let's start on our journey. First of all, a brief overview of the first seven messages. In message number one, I tried to persuade you of the tremendous importance of the doctrine of justification.

8:48 More precisely, the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone, by the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we considered it under two main headings, its importance with respect to the glory of God, and its importance with respect to the good of men. One servant of God has said, God's honor is more completely staked on the maintenance, propagation, and reception of this truth than of any other doctrine of revealed religion. It is in this truth of justification that the completeness of God's glory is revealed more than in any other revealed truth. And so if we're jealous for God's glory, we have to be jealous for that redemptive privilege which God has made the theater in which he most fully displays all of his glorious attributes. And then it is important for us, for the doctrine of justification is simply another way of stating the heart of the biblical gospel. And God has but one instrument of our salvation.

10:08 I am not ashamed of, the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And therefore Paul could say, if we, or an angel from heaven, a being appears from heaven that seems to have all of the accoutrements of coming right from the presence of God, if he preaches any other gospel, let him be damned. Let him be damned. And Paul says, if you think I've spoken in haste, as I said before, I say it again, let him be anathema, let him be accursed, literally, let him be damned.

10:48 Why? Because to tamper with the gospel is to tamper with the well-being of the souls of men. And one servant of God has accurately said it, the only doctrine which can properly be called gospel, good news, is the doctrine of justification. That is, a way of right standing with God, based upon the work of Christ alone, and received by faith alone.

11:16 I say the doctrine is crucially important. Then in Messages 2 to 5, I try to identify with you what I call the essential context of this doctrine. This doctrine rests down upon four massive biblical pillars. It cannot stand on its own.

11:38 And if it stands on its own, if those ancillary or supportive truths are lost sight of, if they erode in the thinking and in the preaching, in the worship, in the hymnody, in the prayers of God's people, all of which condition our view of truth, the prayers that are prayed, the hymns that are sung, the sermons that are preached, the scriptures that are read, if these things are lost, the doctrine of justification, as taught in scripture, cannot long be maintained as a conviction of the mind and as the experience of the heart. And what were those four massive pillars that constitute the context of this doctrine? I stated them this way. What God is in himself, a God of infinite, eternal, and unchangeable holiness, justice, and truth. Secondly, what God is in relation, to us, as our creator, as our lawgiver, and as our judge.

12:45 Thirdly, what we are in relationship to God, as our lawgiver, creator, and judge. We are accountable, guilty sinners deserving of his wrath, a wrath expressed in banishment to hell in body and soul forever. And then the fourth pillar is, what is the ultimate purpose and unfailing accomplishment of God in redemption. Justification must never be divorced from the larger overarching purpose of God in the salvation of which justification is the central part, but it is not the whole.

13:25 God's overall purpose is that he might restore us to the image of his son, that we might have communion with him as our God in total, moral conformity to his beloved son, and therefore, whatever provision he has made to settle our accounts in the court of heaven, that settling of accounts in the court of heaven, i.e. justification, is never to be viewed as an end in itself. Though it is foundational to all of the other blessings of redemptive grace, it is never to be isolated and set apart, for God accomplishes his purposes of redemption in total, not in piecemeal. And then we moved in message six to consider the meaning of the verb, to justify. Nothing is more crucial. What does it mean to justify?

14:19 Well, just as we use the word in the English language, to justify someone is not to make them right or make them just, but to declare them just. Just as its opposite, its antonym condemned, does not make a person guilty of something, it declares him to be guilty. Justification is the declaration of God, with respect to individuals and their relationship to the law, to which they are accountable, and the judge before whom they stand. It is God's declarative act, that this sinner and that sinner stands right with him in the life of his holy law.

14:59 Then in message seven, we began to deal with the substance, of this doctrine, and I said we would be using the larger catechism as our teaching framework, taking it phrase by phrase, breaking it down into seven major headings. I first of all gave a justification for the use of a catechism, and sought to underscore in your hearing that catechisms, well defined and well constructed act like a fence, a grid, and a real bonafide dollar bill, or twenty dollar bill by which we can assess the counterfeit. And then we began considering the author of justification, namely God himself. Here's the larger catechism definition. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardons all of their sins, and accounts their persons righteous in his sight, not for anything wrong, thought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ by God, imputed to them, and received by faith alone. One writer comments, you will hardly find a better definition of this in uninspired writings. It is true, complete,

16:27 guarded, comprehensive. And so then, we focused upon, God himself, as the author of our justification. Justification is an act of God, in which God does something. God imputes, and God accounts.

16:47 God is acting. We do not justify ourselves. Others cannot justify us, though we and others may make the effort. Scripture is abundantly clear in describing God as the sole justifier, of his people.

Detailed Review: Recipients of Justification – Sinners in Self-Awareness

17:04 And then last week, now we come to my second heading, a bit more detailed review of what we covered last Lord's Day. We came in the second place to the recipients of justification. Who is the author? It is God himself.

17:19 Who are the recipients? Listen to the catechism. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. It is sinners, sinners alone, who are the recipients of this provision of redemptive grace.

17:39 And then I proceeded to seek to demonstrate from the Bible, that it is sinners viewed in two ways. They are not two different kinds of sinners, but sinners viewed in two different ways. It is sinners in their true standing and condition, before God, who are justified. And it is sinners who have come to the painful self-consciousness, of their true state and standing before God, who are justified.

18:13 It is not merely sinners who are such in the estimation of God, but it is sinners who have come to embrace and internalize God's description and definition of what they are as sinners, whom God justified. God does not justify sinners as just bare sinners, but as sinners who have been brought to the conviction that they are exactly what God says they are. And so I sought to prove that from the Scriptures. We looked at the all-inclusive indictment of Romans 1.18-3.20.

18:53 Then we looked at the unmistakable affirmation of our sin in Adam, Romans 5.12-21. We looked at the epitomizing text such as Romans 4. He justifies the ungodly.

19:06 But then, it is sinners who have been brought into this painful personal self-awareness of their standing and condition, whom God justifies. Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous. Righteous in their own eyes, in God's estimation and in God's definition, they are sinners. They come into the environment, and they are sinners.

19:31 And so we looked at the all-inclusive indictment of Romans 1.18-3.20, concluding with the words that all the world may become guilty before God. But there are those who, though that is what they are, part of Adam's race, in which they too are implicated.

19:51 Wherefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all men, for that all sin, they do not see themselves that way, for Christ has nothing for them. He says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. That is, sinners who are not only truly sinners by God's estimation and God's definition, but who have become sinners in their own estimation and in their own self-reflection. I am come to call sinners to repentance, those who have seen themselves to be what they really are.

20:29 And we looked at Luke 18. Here's the Pharisee. He's a sinner. He's part of Adam's race.

20:35 He's part of those indicted in Romans 1.18-3.20. But he doesn't see himself that way.

20:41 That's who he is. But he sees himself as righteous based upon what he does and what he doesn't do. And so he comes into God's presence bragging about what he does, what he doesn't do, who he is and what he is not. He gets nothing.

20:59 But this man who comes into God's presence, a son of Adam, indicted by Romans 1.18-3.20, identified in those epitomizing texts as a sinner, all of that is not theory to this man. He's come to painful self-conscious awareness.

21:18 That's who I am. And so beginning with his body language, everything about him as Jesus describes him, this stuff has gotten into his gut. He's not just parroting something he learned in family worship, something he picked up along the way at church. Yeah, I'm a sinner.

21:34 We're all sinners. We fell in. No, no, no. He won't even lift his eyes to heaven.

21:40 He's feeling his earthiness, his uncleanness. He's beating upon his breast, not for a show. Nobody was there from the local TV station to show him on the 6 o'clock news. He's standing afar off.

21:56 He's feeling the weight of death. He's feeling the weight of his sin. And he knows his sin is something that is a part of who he is, in his very being. And he beats upon his breast.

22:08 And he cries, God, be propitious. Be merciful to me, the sinner. He doesn't say, well, I'm part of Adam's race like everybody else, Lord. Just, you know, kind of bend the rules a little bit and show a little pity.

22:21 No, no, no. He stands before a holy God, indicted in the theater of his life, his own conscience. And the only thing he can plead is, Oh, God, be propitious. Most likely his eyes fixed on the altar of sacrifice.

22:36 As you, God, are showing that you turn away your wrath from sinners by the offering of a sacrifice, an innocent victim. Oh, God, turn away your wrath from me in mercy and pity. Look upon a sinner. Jesus said he went down to his house justified.

22:54 Why? Because he was a sinner, not only objectively in the description of God, but he had embraced his sinnerhood subjectively in his felt religious experience. What the old writers would say, he experienced Holy Spirit conviction of sin. A conviction that goes far beyond the natural actings of conscience, far beyond the mere principle of parroting of the language of sinnerhood.

23:30 It is God giving us a personal day of judgment. And that's what he experienced. Well, that's as far as I got. And that's my overview and my review.

Voices of Confirmation from the Past: The Necessity of Conviction of Sin

23:45 Now, why am I so confident that these things are true? Is it simply because I've quoted a number of verses? We've examined passages in depth? Well, heretics quote a lot of verses.

24:00 And they also can seem to examine passages in depth. But Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would abide in his church forever. And there is no new thing under the sun in theology, either truth or heresy. There is ongoing illumination by the Spirit and refinement over the years and the various controversies that the church has faced and people wrestle with their Bibles and with the truth.

24:29 And there is more and more precise articulation. But if we find something that we're the first ones to see it, we better be very suspicious of it. And I want to read something again. I'm breaking the laws of rhetoric.

24:44 But I'm going to break them. I want you to hear the voices coming down from the past that this that I've sought to establish that is so clearly stated in our catechism. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners. And it's not just sinners objectively identified, but subjectively, personally persuaded of their sinfulness.

25:12 This is no novelty. Listen, as I read, and I want to read it as I would hope these men would preach it. So there's no reason for you to go to sleep. I'm going to put everything into my reading like I do with my own preaching.

25:27 Here are the words of John Owen. In what he calls general considerations in volume five of his works, which deals with this doctrine of justification. And listen to his words. These are general considerations that we need to understand before we wrestle with the specifics of the doctrine.

25:45 A clear apprehension, now hear carefully, and a due sense. You see what he's saying? A clear apprehension, and one of the primary meanings of apprehension is understanding. It's the cognitive.

26:00 A clear cognitive grasp, a due sense. What's a sense? That's religious feeling. That's experience.

26:14 It's not just your noggin. It's here. Owen says a clear apprehension and a due sense of the greatness of our apostasy from God, of the depravity of our natures thereby, of the power and guilt of sin, of the holiness and severity of the law are necessary unto a right apprehension of the doctrine of justification. Therefore, unto the declaration of that doctrine does the apostle premise a large discourse thoroughly to convince the minds of all that seek to be justified with a sense of these things. And you know what passage he quotes? Romans 1, 2, and 3. The rules which he, Paul, has given us, the method which he prescribes, and the ends which he designs are those which we shall choose to follow.

27:21 And he lays it down in general. The righteousness of God is revealed from heaven, from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith, chapter 1, 17. But he declares nothing in particular concerning the causes, the nature, the way of our justification, until he has fully shown that all men are shut up under the state of sin, and manifested how deplorable their condition is thereby. And in the ignorance of these things, in the denying or palliating of them, treating them lightly, giving them less serious concern than they deserve, he lays the foundation of all misbelief about the grace of God. Until men know themselves better, they will care very little to know Christ at all. That's why some of you care little to know Christ. It's not that Christ is not set before you in the beauty of his person, in the glory of his work.

28:32 There are times when some of us who preach feel like something's going to bust in our own souls when we have some taste of the glory and the wonder of incarnate deity, the eternal word taking flesh to himself in Mary's womb, that he might live in our condition, die under the wrath of God, and you could care less, utterly impossible, to have less concern than you have. Why? Because you will never desire to know Christ till you know what you really are better. Oh yes, you'll admit I do a few bad things here, not perfect all the rest, but it's never gripped you.

29:12 These things, I admit, provoke the wrath of almighty God who could stop my heart in the next moment and send me into hell forever. You've never lost ten seconds, to sleep over that. That's reality! But you don't know yourself!

29:35 Until you know yourself better, Mr. Owen tells us, you will have no desire to know Christ. He goes on to say, wherefore, if we would either teach, which I'm attempting to do, or learn the doctrine of justification in a due manner, a clear apprehension of the greatness of our apostasy from God, a due sense of the guilt of sin, a deep experience of its power, all with respect to the holiness and law of God are necessary unto us. We have nothing to do in this matter with men who through the fever of pride have lost the understanding of their own miserable condition. He says they are like drug men who are awake but feel nothing. This is not some peculiar emphasis of Albert Martin or of the Puritans. It is men reading the same Bible that I've sought to expound on this matter.

30:48 Then listen to William Cunningham, great historical theologian in the Scottish church in the 19th century. Listen to him. There are few things more important either with reference to the production of a right state of mind and feeling in regard to our religious interest or the formation of a right system of theology than that men should be duly impressed with the conviction, with the conviction, you see, not just the mere intellectual persuasion, but the conviction that they are by nature guilty, subject to the curse of a broken law, condemned by a sentence of God, and standing as already condemned criminals in God's court. If this be indeed the real condition of men by nature, it is of the last importance both as to the formation of their opinions and the regulations of their feelings and conduct that they should be aware of it and that they should realize distinctly and definitely all that is involved in it. When this understanding is understood and realized, men can scarcely fail to be impressed with the conviction that the first and most essential thing in order to their deliverance and welfare is that the sentence that hangs over them should be cancelled

32:16 and that a sentence of an opposite import of either formally or virtually pronounced upon them, a sentence whereby God forgives their sins and admits them into the enjoyment of His favor or in which He intimates His purpose and intention no longer to hold them liable for their transgressions or to treat them as transgressors but to regard and treat them as if they had not transgressed and not only to abstain from punishing them but to admit them into the enjoyment of His favor. The passing of such an act or the pronouncing of such a sentence on God's part is evidently the first and most indispensable thing for men's deliverance and welfare. Men can be expected to form a right estimate of the grounds on which such an act can be passed such a change can be effected only, when will they come to this he says, only when they begin with realizing their actual state by nature as guilty and condemned criminals standing at God's tribunal and utterly unable to render any satisfaction for their offenses or to merit anything whatever at God's hand. William Cunningham saying the same thing it is not enough that we subscribe to the objective biblical doctrine of universal sinnerhood until you and I stand

33:45 in that internal trauma of realizing that's not all a bunch of talk about people called sinners that's me that's me Psalm 51 begins to be the language of my heart have mercy upon me oh God according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions William Cunningham then we move on listen to the language of Buchanan who wrote what many had considered to be the last classic work on the doctrine of justification another 19th century Scottish theologian the best preparation for the study of justification is neither great intellectual ability nor much scholastic learning but a conscience impressed with a sense you see the language a conscience impressed with a sense not an intellect merely impressed with the fact but a conscience impressed with the sense of our actual condition as sinners in the sight of God a deep conviction of sin is the one thing needful in such an inquiry a conviction of the fact of sin as an awful

35:14 reality in our own personal experience of the power of sin as an inveterate evil cleaving to us continually and having its roots deep in the innermost recesses of our hearts and of the guilt of sin past as well as present as an offense against God which once committed can never cease to be true of us individually and which however he may be pleased to deal with it has deserved his wrath and his righteous condemnation without such conviction of sin we may speculate on this as on any other part of divine truth and bring all the resources of our intellect and our learning to bear upon it but can have no suitable sense you see the language this is not native to me as pastored theologians and preachers until men have a sense of these things they can have no suitable sense of our actual danger then there will be no serious desire to be delivered from it to study the subject with advantage we must have a heartfelt interest in it as one that bears directly on the salvation of our own souls and this interest can only be felt in proportion as we realize our guilt and misery and danger

36:42 as transgressors of God's holy law and listen to the patron saint of just a half a generation ago professor John Murray far too frequently we fail to entertain the gravity of the fact of our sin hence the reality of our sin and the reality of the wrath of God upon us for our sin do not come into our reckoning this is the reason why the grand article of justification does not ring the bells in the innermost depth of our spirit this is the reason why the gospel of justification is to such an extent a meaningless sound in the world and in the church of the 20th and I say the 21st century we are not imbued with the profound sense see the word sense again and again and again we are not imbued with the profound sense of the reality of God of his majesty and of his holiness one of the massive pillars you see justification is what it is because God is who he is God of infinite holiness justice and truth a majestic God we are not imbued with the profound sense of the reality of God of his majesty and holiness and sin if reckoned with it all is little more than a misfortune a maladjustment

38:11 it's this bodily chemistry imbalance and it is this it is that it's anything other than a publican ashamed of what he is and what he's done in the presence of the holy one of Israel beating on his breast saying God be merciful to me the sinner that's where we are we are to appreciate that which is central in the gospel if the jubilee trumpet is to find its echo again in our hearts our thinking must be revolutionized by the realism of the wrath of God of the reality and gravity of our guilt and of the divine condemnation it is then and only then that our thinking and feeling will be rehabilitated to an understanding of God's grace in the justification of the ungodly the question is not really so much how can man be just with God but how can sinful man become just with God this question in this form points up the necessity of a complete reversal of our relation to God justification is the answer and justification is the act of God's free grace why do I emphasize this at this point in our study I'm a realist

Application 1: The Way to Win People to Christ – No Re-packaging Jesus

39:39 I can't wait till we get to that part in the definition of justification that says justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners whereby and we talk about him accepting our persons forgiving all our sins accounting us as righteous and just anticipating it I'm almost afraid wondering if I'm going to kill myself in preaching it those truths when the soul feels the reality of them and if God almighty does not break in on some of you you will not feel one gram of anything other than the bland wretched hellish indifference with which you sit here this morning why because you have no self awareness of what it is to be a sinner you have so glutted your mind with the world's relevance with respect to morality you've allowed yourself to be so influenced by this pity me because of my background in my family situation and because of my genetic predisposition and all kinds of blame shifting that you've not known what it is to stand like the publican

41:07 with no plea but that God would be merciful to thee sinner and I could have brought many other witnesses but at the mouth of two or three the bible says everything should be established but in the minutes that remain I've been giving you that brief overview of the first seven messages a detailed review of the eight the confirming voices from the past now I want to make two crucial applications and everything leads to this I've sought to lay the foundation and reinforce concrete raise the walls with six inch steel studs and girders now I want to put the roof on the fact that the recipients of the justifying grace of God sinners in their real standing before God sinners who've come to a painful self-awareness of their true condition teaches us the way in which we must seek to win people to Christ the truth that's been established last Lord's Day morning reinforced with the witnesses from the past today teaches us the way we need to seek to win people to Christ

42:34 the situation in our day is the user friendly situation in which church growth gurus tell us the consumer is king the consumer determines how we market our product how we advertise it how we package it and all the marketing and the packaging must be such that it tweaks the consumer so we are told we have got to find ways to package Jesus that make him desirable to modern men for example this generation is visually oriented it doesn't think in linear thought it doesn't read it watches pictures from morning till night this is the music generation obsessed with sounds as we heard in the previous hour every time you turn around somebody's got something stuck in his ears or before his eyes therefore if we're going to reach generation Xers we've got to package Jesus in such a way that they say oh that's Jesus on the shelf in that package I like it this is a generation that feels fragmented it has a loss of a sense of community there is no sense of personal worth and dignity we must package Christ

44:03 in such a way that when people look at the packaging and begin to read the print they say this will give you a sense of community this will put your marriage together this will give you a sense of wholeness my friends listen to me you and I have no right Jesus according to men's desires because almighty God packaged him when he sent him from heaven he packaged him and here's how he packaged him Joseph scratching his head and praying oh God what do I do Mary's pregnant I believe she was a noble upright woman God she's pregnant what do I do and as he's weighing his options the angel comes to him and says fear not Joseph to take unto you Mary your wife that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit she shall bring forth a son and he's already packaged you shall call his name Jesus Jehovah is our salvation for he it is that shall save his people from their sins he's packaged then when he's born just picking up my glasses

45:31 then when he's born the angels say don't say they sang sorry to spoil your fun they may have sang but it says they said they may have said in their singing but it says they said glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward men of good will unto you is born this day in the city of David he's already packaged a savior who is Christ the Lord is born a savior Christ the Lord and when he comes he says I'm packaged repent and believe in the gospel from your sins embrace the good news that the savior of sinners come John sees him the next day he sees Jesus coming and he says behold the integrator of fragment personalities now he says behold the lamb who takes away the sin of the world you got a problem with sin here's God's packaged savior you got your felt need and you want that met and you don't care about sin then you don't care about the package savior he's already come packaged folks when he told his disciples when I go back

46:59 to my father I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and you got a message to preach Luke 24 45 to 48 he opened their mind to understand the scriptures showed them the necessity that the Christ must suffer be raised from the dead the third day now listen and that repentance unto remission of sin should be preached in his name among all the nations and you are witnesses of these things what things of God in his son can be just and the justifier how people can get forgiveness of sins Jesus is already packaged don't mess with the package don't mess with the print and what we've considered that justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners sinners objectively defined so by God subjectively persuaded so by the Holy Ghost our task in evangelism is by the use of the law of God to bring people through the ministry of the spirit to see that Jesus is perfectly suited and previously packaged for their deepest need which is the forgiveness of sin and to be made right with God and bless

48:26 God following in that train there comes into individual wholeness there comes familial wholeness and where the gospel touches whole communities there can come community purification and the elevation of standards of morality and all these blessed fruits that come from people embracing the packaged Jesus this whole idea I'm sick of it I mean not too many things make me sick this makes me sick if we're gonna keep our young people we gotta package Jesus visually and musically and dramatically or we're gonna lose them listen if they're so wedded to what they see and what they hear that they wanna leave the son of God let them leave him don't change who he is and don't tamper with why he's come you have no right to it and you young men and women you've got no right whatsoever to think you can politic and pressure to somehow change what this church is committed to when you can come with your bible and teach us the way of God more perfectly I'll sit at your feet

Application 2: Honest, Balanced, Biblical Self-Examination

49:54 and be your pupil but don't you subtly press and pressure and drop little hints and say well if we're I'm prepared at this age in life if I gotta preach to three people in a tin shed who want to Jesus despite a bible I'll preach to three people and go to my grave with a good conscience that's my first application then my second application is this it has to do with the discipline and the exercise of honest balanced biblical self examination honest balanced biblical self examination is a biblical duty 2 Corinthians 13 5 says examine yourself prove yourself whether you be in the faith 2 Peter 1 10 says give all diligence to make your calling and your election sure and two of the most frightening words brought together in my bible are these he deceives himself you find them in 1 John 1 8 he deceives himself it's terrible when somebody deceives you somebody presents something in a given light

51:22 and they know you're receiving it in that light and you're embracing it whether it's a report or they're selling you a product only to find out later that they willfully deliberately stack their words and gave impressions that were contrary to be deceived is one of the most highly insulting shameful things but there's something worse than that that's to deceive yourself to persuade yourself you're something you aren't that's the worst form the worst form of deception is self deception and when you think seriously about those two commands examine yourself prove yourself whether you be in the faith know you're not your own selves that Christ Jesus is in you except you be reprobate give all diligence to make your calling and election sure one strand of honest biblically based balanced self examination is to ask yourself this question has God wounded me with the wound of Holy Spirit conviction have I known what it is to see my sin in such a way that I really believe God ought to damn me to where I really believe that if God doesn't intervene

52:51 I've had it now someone asks how much conviction well just enough to make you go out of yourself as your hope of salvation now listen carefully enough conviction of sin to drive you out of yourself and your works and your performances in other words to take you out of the shoes of the Pharisee who no longer talks or thinks about what you are and what you aren't in comparison to other people what you've done and what you've not done but puts you in the shoes of a publican where you say whatever my privileges have been whatever my actions have been or not been oh God this is the sinner the sinner indicted by your law the sinner in Adam the sinner in my thoughts and words and desires and attitudes and reactions and relationships just the sinner just a plain old sinner you've got to have enough conviction to drive you out of yourself and into Christ and listen carefully enough conviction to make the sin ugly enough in the light of what it did to Christ that you do like the Thessalonians you turned unto God from your idols you turn from your idols that's what the rich young ruler wouldn't do rich young ruler felt some lack some lack of wholeness

54:18 he was religious he was wealthy he had influence but he didn't have eternal life Lord what should I do to have eternal life Jesus begins to probe him with his law lists the last tables last commandments and the second table what do I lack yet he says smash your idols go sell that you have give to the poor come follow me I'm the true treasure you want eternal life it's in me you want life it's in me you've got to have me and you've got to have me on my terms and right now I see into your heart that your money is your God smash it don't go repaint it don't go chop off a toe smash it give it to the poor liquidate your stuff in other words smash your idol grind it into dirt come and follow me it says Jesus looking on him loved him but he let him go he went away sorrowful he had great possessions no possessions had him he was an idolater and Jesus said I don't have idolaters following me they have to turn to me from their idols now that's how much conviction you've got to have enough to drive you up out of yourself and into Christ alone as your hope of salvation you may never shed a tear

55:45 here you may never go through any Bunyan like or Charles Spurgeon like experience of days and nights of haunting thoughts of hell no I am not saying those are necessary but I'm saying you've got to have enough conviction of the ugliness the wretchedness the reality the extent the guilt the power of your sin to drive you up out of your sin and into Christ and away from your sin into attachment to Christ as your God as well as your savior you see the old writers made a distinction that's so helpful they said the warrant of faith that is when someone asks what basis do I have to come to God through Christ and trust Christ to receive me to forgive me to accept me what warrant do I have to lay hold of the promise believe on the Lord Jesus Christ thou shalt be saved and they said the warrant of faith is twofold God's command that we repent and believe and God's promise that all who repent and believe will be saved that's the warrant of faith and so I say to anyone here if you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved God commands you to believe and he promises if you believe you'll be saved that's the warrant of faith but now what's the way to faith the way to faith is the way of conviction

57:12 of sin your conviction adds nothing to the work of Christ your conviction is not something you bring to God and say oh God I'm warranted to come I got a pound and a half of conviction no no but nonetheless the way to faith is the way of being brought to the self conscious awareness of how much you need Christ you see the difference between those two we would not strap any sensitive conscience with any burden that God has not strapped upon it if you've not come to that place where your sin is your greatest problem your sin in relationship to God not what it's done to give you internal psychological hang ups and interpersonal troubles and my friend what are those things you've offended almighty God God's got a controversy with you yet he comes to you in the gospel and says I have so loved the world that I've sent my only begotten son whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting and I plead with you this morning that you not treat lightly this matter am I the real thing have I really seen my sin none of us sees it as we ought and the true Christian hearing this kind of preaching the very

Conclusion: A Plea for Genuine Conviction and Unwavering Commitment

58:41 one that ought not to be troubled gets troubled and I don't know how to avoid it I wish I knew but I haven't learned in almost 50 years of preaching that there's some of you that need to take very seriously what you've heard this morning you have just kind of drifted into Christian language and Christian talk and Christian provision but you've never had a time when you have been brought low and Jesus concluded that parable by saying he that exalts himself shall be humbled but he that humbles himself shall be exalted justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners he's a justifying God go to him through his son and he is promised he will receive you let's pray our father we think of your servant of old who said it best we but mumble and stutter when we attempt to speak of holy things how we pray that you will take your word the exhortations based upon it and oh God may it bear fruit may this not

60:06 be another morning when it's ho hum on our way as usual and may your word arrest some may it pin them in their consciences may this be the Lord's day never to be forgotten when they go to their homes and have dealings with you the living God and come up the other side like that public and justified all their sins pardoned reckoned and accepted as righteous in the court of heaven given a title to eternal life oh God if it please you to cause us to gather tonight may there be some with the glow of new found forgiveness upon their countenances help your people that we may afresh be determined that we will not cave in to all of this pressure of modernity and this packaging of our blessed Lord Jesus in ways that are a disgrace to him and a betrayal of the souls of men Lord help your people in this place that these things will become convictions for which they are willing to spill their blood in days to come oh God spare your people spare this place and grant that it will be a bastion of immovable commitment to these eternal and unchangeable truths that last through all the winds and changes and

61:33 erosions of society and even of civilizations oh God may those truths live on in this place until the return of our Lord Jesus seal then your word to our hearts and dismiss us with your blessing we pray in Jesus name Amen