The Lordship of Christ, Part 1

Review: The Inseparable Union of Cross and Crown

0:04 Now again tonight, because our studies this week are, in one sense, a continued series, in another sense each message is in some measure, I trust, complete in itself, I want to take just a few minutes to review, to catch the high points of truth that we've covered, and then continue where we left off last evening. We are considering what I have entitled some of the forgotten fundamentals of fundamentalism. These are not all of them. The things we consider are not the only things that are fundamental.

0:38 These are simply some forgotten fundamentals of fundamentalism. We have seen that there is a very vital relationship between the truth of God and the life of the people of God. Spiritual life comes by the sovereign act of God, but he does not work in a vacuum. He works by means.

1:02 We are begotten again of his own will, but by the word of his truth, James 1 in verse 18. And so the development of God's people into spiritual maturity is primarily based upon the understanding and appropriation of truth. So Paul's prayer for believers again and again was not that they might feel good, not that they might be happy, but that they might have life. He prayed that they might have the spirit of salvation in the knowledge of Christ.

1:39 Peter said, And so we want to discover these truths, not simply to titillate our minds, but in order that having our minds illuminated by the Spirit, we may appropriate the truth, walk in the light of it, and hence either come into life, or go on in the development of our life in Jesus Christ. The first truth that we considered was that of the transcendent majesty of God. He's the high and the lofty one. And then last night we began to consider the truth of the lordship of Christ.

2:20 Now, do you think you who are here, you can remember our premise that we set together? Let's try, shall we? The thing that we're trying to come to grips with is, class, can you say it with me? The blessings of the cross of Christ and the implications of the crown of Christ are inseparably joined in the salvation of Christ.

2:46 And we saw the first reason for this is that salvation is in a person. Then we saw who that person is. He is our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's only when men, enabled by the Spirit, receive salvation, and receive the whole Christ by the whole man, that there is any grounds to believe that there has been a saving experience.

3:12 And so the conclusions which we found in the word of God are very natural ones. That wherever the Bible describes a Christian, it describes him not only as a man who's received a new standing before God, he has his sins forgiven, but he's received a new master. Wherever, God confers forgiveness, he also brings his rule and his government. Therefore, it is unscriptural to teach in our evangelism.

3:43 And again, I'm not limiting this to professional evangelism from the pulpit. I'm talking about evangelizing as we teach and instruct our children, as we witness to our neighbors, as we conduct our Sunday school class. It is unscriptural to give any impression that people may be saved by snatching at the benefits of the cross, while refusing to submit to the implications of his crown. And mark it, if you have one Sunday school teacher in this church, who is preaching and teaching a divided Christ, the devil will see to it that every young person who begins to be wounded by the wounds of Holy Ghost conviction will find that one teacher who is teaching a defective view of the gospel, and will seek comfort in that person. The scripture says, if the trumpets sound an uncertain sound, how shall they prepare themselves to battle? You see, if God the Holy Ghost wounds somebody through the pastor's ministry, as he holds up Christ in all his offices, prophet, priest, and king, and one of your young people who've gone through the motions and made a decision begins to be wounded by the Holy Ghost, and acknowledges, well, Christ is not my king, that's obvious to me, to my mother, to my friends, to everybody, and they begin to be disturbed, and they come to you,

5:09 and if you don't see this issue, and have it straight, what'll happen? You'll try to comfort your child, and say, oh no, don't be disturbed, now you're not all you should be, but daddy remembers, mommy remembers, when you prayed a prayer by your bedside, and with tears you asked Jesus to come into your heart, you were all right. You see, you'll cooperate with the devil in damning the children, your own children.

5:33 Well-meaning parents have actually cooperated with the devil in damning their own children, because they have worked at cross-purposes with the Spirit of God. And so in all of our evangelism, as parents, as Sunday School teachers, whenever we're proclaiming the evangel, we must never present the Lord Jesus in the benefits of His cross, apart from the implications of His crown. It's the whole Christ, prophet, priest, and king, presented to the whole man. Mind, we must know who He is.

6:10 Affection, the heart must be brought to desire Him, and will, it must be brought subject unto Him. You see, we have presented one-third of Christ to one-third of men. We've presented His priestly office as a Savior to the intellects of men, and we've said, you take the average gospel track, if you think I'm misstating it, and what will it say? If you'll admit you're a sinner, and believe Christ died on the cross, for your sins, you can be saved.

6:37 That's presenting one office of Christ to one department of the man. It's presenting His priestly office to the mind. Isn't that what it is? But it's not just Christ in one of His offices, but Christ in His person, as many as we've seen.

6:52 Tim, as a prophet to teach me, a priest to forgive and intercede for me, a king to rule me, embraced by the whole man, the understanding, the affections, and the will. And whenever the Spirit of God, savingly unites someone to Christ, the whole Christ is embraced by the whole man. Now, tonight, I want to carry on that theme of the forgotten fundamental of the Lordship of Christ, and give you the second great scriptural reason for the statement that we've used as the basis of our study. Why is it true that the blessings of the cross of Christ and the implications of the crown of Christ are inseparably joined in the salvation of Christ?

Salvation as a New Covenant Blessing

7:36 Reason number one, because salvation is in a person. Reason number two, salvation is a new covenant blessing. Salvation is a new covenant blessing. And if we understand that, then we'll understand why it is that the blessings of His cross and the implications of His crown are inseparably joined in His person.

8:05 Now, first of all, let us look at some verses that just simply state the fact of the new covenant, then we're going to look at the factors involved in the new covenant, and then we're going to look at some conclusions that issue from those factors. All right, first of all, the fact of the new covenant. Will you turn to Matthew 26? Matthew chapter 26.

8:27 Our Lord Jesus is meeting with His disciples just prior to His trial and crucifixion and subsequent death. And you remember this very familiar setting. They have gone into the upper room, prepared for the Feast of the Passover, and we read in Matthew 26 and verse 26, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my blood. And He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, or all of you partake of it, for this is my blood of the new covenant. Testament or covenant, same word, which is shed for many for the remission of sin. He said the blood that I am to shed is blood that is shed to ratify a new covenant. Now that's pretty important, isn't it?

9:33 Whatever our Lord is shedding His blood for, whatever the reason is, must be a pretty important thing. Well, He said the whole meaning of the letting out of my life's blood is to bound up somehow in the new covenant. And then, of course, that familiar passage in 1 Corinthians 11, which we pastors, those who officiate at the table of remembrance, we quote these verses. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 23 through 25, the Apostle Paul says, I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you, the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament, or new covenant, in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Every time we come to the Lord's table, we are not to think of him apart from the covenant which his blood was shed to ratify and to enact.

11:01 The very ministry of a gospel preacher is called in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 6 a ministry of the new covenant. 2 Corinthians 3, 6, Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, or the new covenant? So vital is the new covenant to gospel truth that every gospel minister is a minister of the terms and the blessings of that covenant. Now, why have I taken all this time?

11:34 Simply to whet your appetite with this desire, I'd better have clear in my mind what is the new covenant. What are the blessings of that covenant? For Christ shed his blood with respect to that covenant. The gospel ministry, is a ministry of application and exposition of the new covenant.

The Two Blessings of the New Covenant

11:56 Now, what are the factors involved in that covenant? Well, if we had more time than I've been taking, and I've been taking more than enough, I'm sure some of you feel that way, we could go back into Ezekiel 36, we could go back to Jeremiah 30, and look at the details of that covenant that God promised he would enact, a new covenant. But in the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit has, in a very wonderful way, given us a summary of all that God had promised in the Old Testament prophets concerning the new covenant, and the writer to Hebrews tells us of its wonderful fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. So will you turn, please, to the book of Hebrews. You have two places in Hebrews where the blessings of the new covenant are spelled out. In Hebrews 8, you have it in somewhat more detail, and we're going to look at the shorter portion to save time and in keeping with our purpose, but for your own reading, Hebrews 8 and verse 6 through verse 13, you can look at it sometime, but now in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 15 through to verse 18. Now, notice carefully, the blessings of the new covenant are here summarized in just a few verses.

13:19 What are they? Verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is witness to us, for after that he said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

13:44 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. What are the two? What are the two great blessings of the new covenant? Do you see them?

13:58 The two great blessings of the new covenant are a full and final pardon of sins through the blood of the covenant. Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more, unlike the old covenant where every year there was made a remembrance of sin. We read in another place in Hebrews that when the high priest had to go in, not without blood each year, the Holy Ghost was signifying the way into the true holiest of holies is not yet made open. And so the repetition of sacrifice was a remembrance.

14:33 Sin is not put away. Sin is not put away. Sin is not put away. Now God had promised in this new covenant by one final offering He would put away sin forever.

14:49 As the writer to Hebrews says, He hath by one offering perfected forever those that are sanctified. But what's the second great blessing of the new covenant? Do you see? Not only the full and final pardon of sin by the blood of the covenant, but a basic and powerful subduing of the heart by the spirit of the new covenant.

15:14 Notice. This is the covenant I'll make with them. Verse 16. I will put my laws into their hearts.

15:21 And in their minds will I write them. The old covenant, God's law written upon stone. In the new covenant God says, I will write my laws upon the tables of men's hearts. And in Ezekiel He expands it and says, I will cause them to keep my statutes and my judgments and they shall walk in my ways.

15:49 So what are the two blessings? So what are the two blessings of the new covenant? The full and final pardon of sin through the blood of Christ and the basic and powerful subduing of the heart by the spirit of Christ. Now why did Christ die?

16:07 As you and I seek to bring before our mind's eye and I believe God wants us to use our sanctified powers of imagination. As we seek to gaze upon that terrible, shocking scene of the writhing form of the Son of God. As we see the heavens shrouded in inky blackness and hear the Son of God cry with words that I feel it's almost irreverent to even quote publicly. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

16:43 What's the meaning of all this? He tells us. He said I'm going through all of this that I might procure the blessings of the new covenant. The full and final blotting out of the sins of my people and the basic and powerful subduing of the hearts of my people.

Addressing Man's Two Basic Needs: Bad Record and Bad Heart

17:13 So the conclusion we draw from this is very obvious that God in the most marvelous way has through the new covenant provided for man's two most basic needs. What are your two most basic spiritual needs? Well they arise from two problems that we all have. The problem of a bad record that bars me from heaven legally.

17:36 That's Romans chapters 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20. Paul says the whole world has become guilty before God. And my guilt is a legal barrier to my entrance into heaven. If God were to admit guilty sinners who've broken his law, if he were to admit them into heaven, the whole moral fabric of the universe would fall apart.

18:02 For God as a righteous judge must uphold his law which says this do and thou shalt live, this fail to do and thou shalt die. And so our bad record, that record which has all of our sins of thought and word and deed, every sin of omission and commission, every deviation from the law, that bad record is a tremendous problem and it bars me from heaven legally. But that's not my only problem. I've got another problem.

18:32 It's the problem of a bad heart. For Jesus said in Mark 7 verse 21 for from within out of the heart proceed adultery, fornication, uncleanness, theft, murder, pride, foolishness, all these things proceed out of the heart of men. And so I have what I term and I believe it's an accurate conveyance of scriptural truth. I have within me a veritable artesian well of pollution.

19:04 Not just a cesspool of iniquity but an artesian well of iniquity that is sprouting up and defiling me. And it's that bad heart that bars me from heaven morally or practically. For if God were to blot out my record and let me into heaven with a heart that is opposed to his holy law, Romans 8, 7, the carnal mind is not subject to God, neither indeed can it be. If God were to change my record and let me into heaven I wouldn't be fit because I'd have a heart, a nature that would make me unfit practically for heaven, the place of light, of holiness, of purity, where God is all in all, where his will and his law is supreme in the hearts of his people. And so I'm barred from heaven not only legally by my bad record but I'm barred from heaven practically because of my bad heart, my wicked nature. Let me seek to illustrate this. If there were some kind of a concert such as they had in our area recently when they had Robert Merrill and Richard Tucker, both of them, in one evening, the outstanding baritone at the Met and the outstanding tenor, and this was widely announced, it was a sell-out in our area.

20:27 Now if you were to go and enjoy that particular performance, you needed two things. First of all, you needed a ticket that would give you a legal right to enter Symphony Hall in Newark. And to have that legal right, you need to plunk out six bucks. Now if you came up to the door and you said, I'm going in, I want to hear these fellows.

20:49 They say, where's your ticket? Oh, I'm not worried about tickets, I just love music. Uh-uh, no, no. You've got no legal right to enter.

20:57 So you say, all right. And so you fork out your six dollars and you go through. Now can you enjoy the concert? No, not necessarily, you need something else.

21:07 You need ears that are able to receive the sound waves that will be emitted from Mr. Tucker and Mr. Merritt. If you were stone deaf, even though you had a legal right to enter that building and paid your six dollars, you couldn't enjoy the concert.

21:24 For you not only need a title to the concert, you need a fitness for the concert. Follow me? Now this is true spiritually. Again, the presentation of the gospel in our generation has been defective in that it's presented that man's only problem is a bad record.

21:47 You've got some check marks in the record of heaven and Jesus took care of them on the cross and if you'll nod your head to that, the check marks will be blotted out. You'll go to heaven when you die. Oh, wait a minute. Your problem is not just you've got some check marks.

22:00 Your problem is you've got a heart and a disposition that would make heaven hell unto you unless God radically changes it. Heaven would be hell. Because all is light there. All is purity.

22:14 It says the servants of the Lamb shall follow him whithersoever he goeth. Everything in heaven is a delightful obedience to Jesus Christ the Lamb. Now do you see the blessing of the new covenant? What has God done in the new covenant?

22:30 For a great multitude whom no man can number, he has made full provision for our two basic problems. By the blood of his Son poured out upon the cross, he who knew no sin became sin for us. As that wonderful hymn goes, I don't know if it's in your Trinity hymnal, O Christ, what burdens bowed thy head. Our load was laid on thee.

22:56 Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead, despair all ill for me. A victim led, thy blood was shed. Death and the curse were in our cup. O Christ, was full for thee, but thou hast drained the last dark drop.

23:18 Tis empty now for me. That bitter cup, love drank it up. Now blessings draft for me. Jehovah bade his sword awake.

23:27 O Christ, it woke against thee. Thine open bosom was its ward. Now sleeps that sword for me. Ah, dear ones, that's the provision of the new covenant.

23:39 That as he took into himself all the hours that were poised in the quiver of God against human sin, the Father, as it were, took every arrow from his quiver and at the heart of it so that when I come as a trembling guilty sinner and say, O God, is there anything but judgment for the likes of me? The Father can turn to me an empty quiver and say, Ah, the arrows of my judgment were spent upon my son. There are none left for you if you will flee to him. The first blessing of the new covenant, the full and final pardon of sin through the blood of Christ that gives me a title to heaven. But I remind you that's only half the gospel. For I need not only a title to heaven, I need a fitness for heaven. Now how does that come?

Jesus: Mediator of the Whole New Covenant

24:36 Listen. This is the covenant I'll make with them. I will put my Lord into their hearts and in their minds will I write them. By the Spirit of the risen Christ, God takes the rebel sinner's heart and his enmity against him.

24:50 He takes out that heart of stone, adamant, inflexible, stubborn, proud. He says, I take out the heart of stone. I give a heart of flesh. I write my laws upon the heart so that there is in the heart of every true child of God this basic attitude.

25:09 I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within mine. The blessings of the new covenant when applied by the Spirit give us a title to heaven and a fitness for heaven. Now look at Hebrews 12 and we get the answer.

25:41 The writer to Hebrews is in this particular section from which we're going to extract this phrase speaking of what true Christians under this gospel dispensation come to in contrast to that which they do not know. Which they do not come. He says in verse 18 of Hebrews 12, Ye are not come. And then he gives some of those things under the old covenant.

26:09 The mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, Mount Sinai, etc. But now he says in verse 22, But ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God and unto the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Verse 24, And to Jesus, what's the next phrase? The mediator of half the new covenant?

26:35 Uh-huh. You are come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Do you see? Oh, may the Holy Ghost open his words.

26:49 When a sinner awakened to his terrible state by nature and practice prodded by the law of God and driven off from every hope of refuge any place but in Christ, when that sinner is drawn by the Spirit to Jesus and he embraces the Lord Jesus, how does he embrace Him? He embraces Him as the mediator of the new covenant. And every sinner awakened, convicted, illuminated, drawn by the Spirit unto Jesus receives not only the full pardon of his sins but the subduing of his rebel hand. Every man and woman who says I'm saved but I'm not surrendered. Christ is my Savior but not my Lord is cutting at the very theological foundation of the purpose for which Jesus shed His blood. And beloved, that's why I with no feeling of bitterness to men under God will seek to dissect this thing and leave it lifeless and dead

28:16 because it's robbing my Lord of the rewards of His suffering in the eyes of men. In reality He's not wronged for He shall see of the trivial multitudes think they have the benefits of His cross who thumb their nose at the implications of His crown. They are not saved by the Savior who mediates a new covenant. And if they're not saved by Him then the Jesus who saves them must be another Jesus and not the Jesus of the Bible.

28:53 Can you say tonight I know that my sins are blotted out buried in the depths of the sea cast behind the back of God. Can you say that? If you've answered in your mind yes, by the grace of God I do rejoice in the full and final pardon of sin then you should be able to answer this next question with equal clarity and with equal enthusiasm. Can you say with Paul I delight after the fall of God with my inmost heart? Can you say with David in Psalm 40 verse 8 I delight in the life of the pressure of the wicked devil in a wicked world and the remains of a wicked nature yes, I understand all and to know and to do the will of my Redeemer God. Salvation is a new covenant blessing that's why the blessings of this cross and the implication to this crown are inseparably joined in salvation

30:21 and what God has joined together let no man put aside. If you're here tonight and you say that your sins are blotted out the love of the burden of proof rests upon you to show that you take seriously the will of God as revealed in the Word of God. And when you teach your children and you teach that class and you teach the Christian life don't you in any way infer that people can have half of the new covenant. For what the Father purposed in eternity and the Son purchased in time the Holy Ghost applies with power and there's a perfect consistency in the outworking of redemption in the Triune God. And what did the Father purpose? He purposed in eternity to have a people who would have a legal right to dwell in His presence and who would be made fit for His presence. And so the Son says I'm about to shed My blood the blood of a new covenant which is going to bring to pass full pardon and the subduing of the heart and so He poured out His blood and He rose again and went back to the right hand of the Majesty on high and now the Holy Ghost has come.

31:41 And what's He doing? He's making sinners see you've got no title to heaven guilty and you've got no fitness for heaven you're depraved you've got a bad record you've got a bad heart you can't change the record and you can't change your heart. When the sinner's desperate and has no refuge in Christ what must I do? The same Holy Ghost says look to a hill where one died to blot out sin.

32:08 Look to a tomb where He rose triumphant over death in the grave where He now sees the merits of His wounds for all sinners who come unto God by Him. That's where you're guilty. That's where your guilty record will be changed. Ah, but the sinner says what about this old time?

32:29 It doesn't love God. It doesn't love righteousness. It hates death which is pure and lovely and good. He says yes I'm aware of that and that's why I've come to take out the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and to write the law of God upon the inmost parts to give you a purpose for a heaven that is all life.

Salvation as the Possession of the Obedient

32:55 Will you meditate on that thought of the new covenant and its relationship to salvation? And then the concluding point that I want to bring the third reason why salvation involves the bowing to Christ as Lord as well as the receiving and embracing of Him as Savior is that salvation in the New Testament is declared to be the possession of those who obey Christ. Salvation is in a person. Salvation is a new covenant blessing.

33:34 Salvation is the possession of the obedient. Now follow me closely. No one believes more firmly than I and those who have been here these nights I trust have caught this note clearly that the only ground for the sinner's acceptance before God is the merit the righteousness of Jesus Christ put to his account by an act of God by justification just as if I'd never seen it on the basis of who Christ is and what He's done. That's the ground of my acceptance.

34:06 There's no plus sign, no minus signs. That's it. He is made unto us righteousness. But now those who come to rest upon that ground do so by the operation of the Holy Spirit who not only brings them to embrace the righteousness of Christ but who joins them to Jesus Christ in a Bible union.

34:31 And the fruit of that union is among other things obedience to Christ. So the Bible clearly teaches if we're not obeying Christ we are not joined to Christ and we are not resting upon Christ.

34:50 Look with me please at several clear texts of Scripture that make so plain that I honestly I honestly don't know how the doctrine of a divided Jesus ever took root in the church except it's this people just don't study the Bible. If the average layman was reading his Bible and the preacher would stand and say to people now you've taken Christ as Savior but you're not obeying Him and you're living like the devil now taken as your Lord they would rise up in mass and say preacher it's not true. Preachers have been able to spawn this on the church. Why?

35:34 Because we just don't need a Bible. Don't you believe anything this week because I tell you you go home you search it out and if God the Holy Ghost doesn't confirm it from the book don't you embrace it. I tell my people that all the time. One of the ladies wrote me a letter the other week made me want to shout it.

35:51 She didn't get a chance to see me so she wrote a note and she said Pastor you mentioned something the other night about the subtlety of resting in your spiritual life. You're a spiritual leader the one who's been God's instrument to bless you and I mention the danger of this increasingly as you work together with people and you love them and they love you and God makes you the instrument of blessing it's so easy for you to become an idol and then God will have to smash the idol before their eyes. He has to allow some of His servants to fall and grievously sin in order to smash the idol in some people's hearts and I said don't force God to do that. I said don't you believe things because I tell you because then you'll disbelieve and look around and that fellow tells you otherwise you go home you search them out like the Bereans and if God doesn't confirm it by His Word and Spirit then don't believe it. She wrote and said Pastor I've come to the place where I don't want anything second hand anymore. She said even the Puritans God blessed them she said they're not the final word if God doesn't confirm it then I don't want it. Now does that insult me as a pastor?

36:52 No. I feel under God I've accomplished and it is something in the life of me. Thank you. Thank you.

36:59 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would urge upon you people to be independent students of the Word of God and let me suggest a few passages and then you pray over them and see if God will confirm their obvious truth.

The Clear Call to Obedience in Scripture

37:10 What are we trying to discover? We're trying to discover the principle that salvation is the possession of those who obey Christ and only of those who do obey Him. Look at Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. Matthew chapter 7 verse 21.

37:27 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. You see, it's not enough to even acknowledge his lordship with our lips. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth, present tense.

37:55 So if we're putting it, taking it out of Elizabethan English, 1600 English, and putting it into 20th century American East, we would say it this way. But he that is doing the will of God.

38:11 That's how we'd say it. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he that is doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. The only people that are going to heaven are those that are doing the will of the Father who dwells in heaven.

38:23 Now that's pretty plain, isn't it?

38:26 You don't need to look that up in the Greek, do you? You don't need to run to the commentaries. I'll tell you the interesting experience the preacher had. I don't know the man personally, I just know of him through some mutual friends.

38:40 He was down in Florida with a group of young people. Maybe 50, 60 young people in this meeting. And he was trying to get across some truths similar to those that I'm seeking, perhaps very poorly, to convey to you.

38:53 And he stood up and he looked at the young people and he said, How many of you here tonight are seriously and soberly attempting to do the will of God? Raise your hand. Nobody raised his hand. He said, Well, maybe I better explain a little more clearly.

39:08 He said, How many of you here, you take seriously what the Bible says about living? About living. In the practical areas. Whatever the Bible says, you're seeking, by God's help, to be and do what the Bible says you ought to be and do.

39:23 Not perfectly. Not always with the same degree of intensity. But the drift and the bent of your life is this. You set your face to do the will of God.

39:34 Well, one hand went up, two, three. He made it clear again. Until finally all he could squeeze out was about one third of that group of young people raising their hand.

39:44 He said, All right. Now, how many of you believe that you're going to heaven? If you died tonight, you'd go to heaven. You believe you're saved.

39:55 Every hand. Right.

40:00 He said, I want to announce my text. You know his text, what? The one I just read.

40:07 He said, There are two thirds of you who are adamant that says unto me, Lord, of my Father.

40:24 If you're not doing his will, you're not going to heaven. That's pretty clear, isn't it?

40:31 Well, I know there are problems. What about David? He committed adultery. Is he doing all of God?

40:36 No.

40:38 But are you going to take one year out of the life of a man who for 50 years moved in the direction of righteousness and God and make the exception of a year for who? He denied the Lord, yes.

40:57 And it was the denial of abandonment to Jesus Christ that ended up in martyrdom.

41:11 Purposeful and basic obedience. The people of this church and of the church that I pastor and some of you here tonight, you're absolutely sure if you die tonight, you go to heaven. But come on, be honest with me, will you? I'm not trying to get you angry, but I want to help you.

41:30 You really don't take seriously the will of God, some of you here tonight. You couldn't care less what God says about how you should spend your money, spend your time, what you should watch on the television. You know, God tells you what you ought to watch on television. Oh, you say, I'm wrong.

41:44 Yeah, he does. The Spirit...

41:47 Watch all that dribble that pours out of the food tube. You're disobeying the word of God. And you let the filth and talk...

42:03 Every standards of Hollywood and of Madison Avenue advertisement that has made sex the basis of every form of mass media and communication, and you drink that in, you're disobeying the word of God.

42:21 The Bible tells us to turn away our eyes from the humanity. It says, cleanse ourselves of all defilement and of the Spirit. You know that bitterness is a defilement of the Spirit, unforgiveness, jealousy. But you really don't want to be rid of those things.

42:36 You kind of like nursing me. Listen. I'm talking about you young. The Bible says, flee youthful lusts, but follow after righteousness.

42:47 Are you doing that? Do you take that seriously? Are you really seeking to take a stand against the tide of moral...

42:53 Women, do you take seriously what God says? That your subjection to your husband is to be a beautiful picture of the subjection of Christ to the church?

43:09 Anybody ought to be able to come to me and say, Preacher, what's it mean that the church is subject... to Christ?

43:15 What's it mean for Christians to obey Christ? I ought to be able to say your name if you're a Christian wife, and say, look, you go live with Mrs. So-and-so and Mr. So-and-so, and you watch Mrs. So-and-so and her relationship to her husband for a week, and you'll get a little picture of how the church is subject to Christ. That's what Paul says exactly in Ephesians 5. As the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in every way. You men?

43:42 Do you take it seriously? Do you take it seriously? Do you take it seriously that your love to your wife, and oh, I'm convicted every time I read the passage, is to be a picture of the tender, condescending, nourishing, cherishing love of Jesus Christ? Do you take that seriously?

44:04 I'm not asking do you attain it, but do you take it seriously and say, oh God, make me that kind of a husband? Are you content to just be an old churlish beggar, grumping and growling and bluffing your way through? Now that's the will of God. Now that's practical, isn't it?

44:20 If you only give thirty-eight, you're stealing two hours' pay. The will of God is in the Holy Commandments. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. What do you do with the Lord's Day?

44:37 We're raising a breed of Protestant Catholics. You know what I mean by that? Catholics go to early Mass and do as they please the rest of the Lord's Day. I see this thing in our evangelical churches.

44:44 Come to the eleven o'clock service and then go on out, mow the lawn, watch the professional ball games, and read the devil's Bible, the Sunday's newspaper. I see this thing in our evangelical churches. Come to the eleven o'clock service and then go on out, mow the lawn, watch the professional ball games, and read the devil's Bible, the Sunday's newspaper. Do as they please the rest of the Lord's Day.

44:50 I see this thing in our evangelical churches. Come to the eleven o'clock service and then go on out, mow the lawn, watch the professional ball games, and read the devil's Bible, the Sunday's newspaper, and spend the afternoon at the beach. You couldn't care less. Whatever pleases you, you're going to do it.

44:56 That's the will of God. You don't want to go on and elaborate on applications, but I think you get the idea. Jesus said, the only people that are going to Heaven are those that are taking the will of God. So that's what I'm saying.

45:03 I don't want to go on and elaborate on applications. No, I don't want to continue to do that. I want to continue to be called the spiritual leader. So what are you going to do here?

45:07 You couldn't care less. Whatever pleases you, you're going to do it. That's the will of God. I don't want to go on and elaborate on application, but I think you get the idea.

45:27 Jesus said the only people that are going to heaven are those that are taking the will of God seriously. The will of God reveals in the Sermon on the Mount, in the detailed application of truth in the epistles of Paul. He instinctively turns to this Bible and begins to search the Scriptures. He doesn't need anybody's follow-up course to tell him so.

45:53 All this emphasis on follow-up in our day is a crutch for a defective evangelism. Now there's some need of follow-up. Don't misunderstand me. Babies need to be nurtured.

46:02 My mother said she never had to teach one of us to be hungry, and my wife never had to teach either of us to be hungry. They're born with their mouths open and looking, looking, looking for something that will give them nourishment. You need some help to know how to digest it and how to get your mouth on it, but you won't need to be convinced that you need it. Now if you're not doing the will of God, seeking to know that will by searching the Scriptures, God says you're not going to have it. Turn to John chapter 10, and I've got a very, I want to give you three passages, three more. John 10, one of the most abused passages in all the Bible, beautiful truth, comforting truth, but Peter said the unstable and the ignorant wrest the Scriptures to their destruction and how this passage has been wrested with the destruction of many a soul.

Christ's Sheep Hear and Follow His Voice

47:23 Jesus said in verse 27 of John 10, My sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice.

47:28 My sheep hear my voice. And I know it, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, for my Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Our Lord says I have a people called my sheep, and He said I hold those people in my hand and holding them I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never under any circumstances perish.

47:57 That's the grand doctrine of the preservation of God's saints. But will you notice that the doctrine of preservation is couched in the clear enunciation of the doctrine of the perseverance of God's saints? Who are His sheep? Now, I want to know, Lord, am I there?

48:14 The only place I want to be is in the hand of Christ, a possessor of eternal life, knowing that I shall never perish. Lord, am I...

48:24 I don't want to be a religious goat who's just got a sheepskin on him. Lord, I'm one of your true sheep. The Lord says, do you really want to know? I say, yes.

48:35 They say, well, I brand all my sheep. Just like they brand cattle, the Lord says, I brand all my sheep. How do you brand them, Lord? The Lord says, look, listen.

48:44 Verse 27. He said, I brand my sheep, first of all, with the brand of an open ear. My sheep hear, present tense, they are hearing my...

48:56 And I brand with the brand of an obedient foot. And they are following...

49:03 He said, his sheep have a twofold brand. A twofold characteristic to change the analogy. That of in-see and opus to the word of...

49:22 Pleasant, yes. And when it calls into paths that are hard, they hear my voice. When it calls them to deal mercilessly with sin and to cut off right hands and pluck out right...

49:37 When it calls them to forsake father and mother and houses and take in the Gospels, they hear my voice. They hear my voice when I promise things I give unto them. They hear my voice and they suck out...

49:57 The sweetness of my promises. But they also tread the way of my commandments, for they are following me and I give to them. To whom, Lord? To my sheep.

50:08 Who are your sheep? Those who hear me.

50:22 The benefits of the new covenant have been applied by the power. We're his sheep by his eternally electing grace. He said, other sheep I have, not I'm going to get, but I have them in verse 16. And they shall...

50:51 And they shall... No.

50:55 If I hear his voice and follow it, it's only because it is grace he's drawn me and the only reason it's because it's true.

51:05 For anyone to claim they're being held by Christ with the common phrase, with an eternal security, who is not hearing and obeying Christ, is to rest the scriptures to his own discovery.

51:23 We return to Hebrews chapter 5.

Christ: Author of Salvation to the Obedient

51:31 In this chapter, the writer to Hebrews,

51:35 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment of the tithe set forth, in Melchizedek, says in verse 7, concerning the Lord Jesus, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, not perfect in the sense of sinness, he was that. The writer to Hebrews says he was holy, harmless and undefiled. But to be made a perfect Savior, he had to suffer.

52:19 And so through suffering, he was made a perfect Savior. And what's the result of that suffering? Notice verse 9. And being made perfect through his sufferings, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that make a profession of faith.

52:37 Author of eternal salvation. That isn't what it said. He became the author of eternal salvation according to Calvin. No, it didn't say that.

52:59 It says he became the author of an eternal salvation unto all that what? And it's in the present tense, and it's the same word in the Greek as used generally for obedience. So there's no way out of it. And he draws to himself a people whom he subdues by his grace and makes his willing obedient.

53:35 And if the grace of God is not subdued you and your children and your neighbors and loved ones, that grace has not been made.

53:49 I know what some of you are thinking. I was so glad that last night some of you talked with me at the close of the service. And then today, some of us who were together for dinner had a wonderful discussion. And I trust that tonight, I'll stay here till midnight if some more light would come, we'd discuss.

54:07 And we were discussing some of these things. And I know what some of you are thinking. And it's a problem to say, if that's true, then what about God? What about my God?

54:20 What about my husband? What about my wife? What about my brother?

54:27 What about my brother? Don't you make human affection an issue in receiving the truth of God?

54:37 You embrace the truth no matter what the implications are.

54:44 And if this truth puts over your professed Christianity, then bless God that He stripped you, now while you're conceiving for Jesus.

55:09 I'll profess it and then depart from me. I'll never do that.

55:14 Now that the person who loves you the most is the one who tells you the most truth about yourself.

55:19 Never forget that.

55:24 The person who loves you the most is the one who tells you the most truth about yourself.

55:29 And if God has stripped some of you now, fall on your face and thank Him for the door of mercy. Some of you got to stop covering up. You know why God hasn't heard your prayers for your children? Because you're arguing with God about where your children are.

55:49 In the light of these passages, they don't hear His voice. They don't seek to follow Him. They're not obeying Him. But they made a decision.

55:56 You can... Now God's not going to hear your prayer before you've got a controversy with Him.

56:11 The book of Proverbs says, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. If you stop your ears to this clear truth that we're dealing with tonight, your prayer becomes an abomination for your children. When you're praying, Lord, get them surrendered so they don't lose rewards. And God says...

56:34 When you take God's side against your children in love before the throne of grace, God will begin to hear your prayer.

56:42 You're not God, but you have to say, Lord, in the light of what I see, I have no grounds to believe my children are saved. You're not saying whether they are or aren't because you're not God. But Lord, what I see in your words, you're the author of salvation to those that obey you. I don't see much indication of a purposeful obedience.

57:00 Oh yes, my kids, submit to all... You do not discern that obeying...

57:11 Jesus Christ is the main passion of their lives. There's not much negative wrong with them, but there's no part...

57:25 Because I know they're lost. God should do things for them.

57:34 This has some implications, and I'm confident that we've decided some of you that are thinking ahead. You know what else some of you...

57:47 Yeah, but what about Dr. So-and-so? He's such a lovely man. He doesn't...

57:51 What about Reverend So-and-so? He loves the Lord. Do you mean to say that I, just a little old lady, can say...

58:01 You've got to deal with truth and isolate it from personalities.

58:07 Isolate truth!

58:27 ...teaching in the name of the saving truth.

58:31 I must isolate that truth from the person who says it's unbiblical in us.

58:37 That pride knows the privilege of every true believer.

58:41 The true... Oh...

58:50 I've asked you to do with what I've delivered this week. That's pretty fair of you.

58:55 You'll go down on your knees, not to confirm your own notions and hunt for verses, but really praying, Lord, teach. Lord, if this is your truth...

59:08 Whatever he doesn't confirm, I'll hold it. What he confirms is the possession of the obedient. The last passage under this act was 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2.

Knowing Christ Through Keeping His Commandments

59:29 We often hear 1 John 5, 13 quoted when people are trying to give other people assurance of work which, by the way, is not their prerogative, but God's. These things have I written unto you that believe that ye may know. Well, what things did he write that people might know that they were saved? Well, here's one of them.

59:49 1 John chapter 2. And hereby do we stand upon the text.

60:00 Assurance isn't based on standing on a text of Scripture. Hereby remember the time of this experience and all truth.

60:18 And what John says. These are some of the things that people use as a basis of assurance that are utterly unscripted. John says, Hereby do we that we are saving the acquainted with him who made a decision and kept his commandments for two years and have been backslidden ever since. Now, then what John says.

60:41 He puts it in the present text. Hereby do we know that we know him if we are keeping his commandments.

60:48 Oh, but somebody says you can't scare me with After he's all done Do you seek to know the will of God is revealed in the Well, I say, do you seek to know the will of God is revealed in the word of God? Well, you see, I've got problems Do you seek to know the will of God is revealed in the word of God? Well, not really. When you know the will of God do you set your mind by the grace of God to do it no matter what it costs?

61:26 If it means reconstructing the whole pattern of your home life your business life your personal life your thought life your social life your TV life your reading life Well, you see, I have had such a poor upbringing that I've got habits that are Sir, do you seek to have your life molded to the word of God? Well, you see, in all the excuses and findings he says, no, not really. And I say, you say you're a Christian? Oh, I know I am.

61:52 I'm as sure that as I am if I'm naked.

61:55 I turn to him and say, Sir, John has a word for you. I wouldn't tell you what John did because I'm too polite to hold on to it.

62:05 Notice what John says. He that saith, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not.

62:19 It doesn't say he's saved but not surrendered. He's a carnal Christian in a looming sin of war. It says a man who doesn't purposefully and basically walk in obedience to God to Jesus Christ is a liar in the profession that he knows him and the truth is not where? In him.

62:37 It has never been savingly quickened by the Spirit. In contrast to this, notice verse 5, Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love perfected for the love of God has reached its intended goal. It's brought a man subject to Jesus Christ.

62:58 For wonder of wonders God brings men subject to himself. Not by a sword but by the revelation of the dying and it's the revelation of the Holy Ghost to the heart of Christ crucified and glorified that causes the sinner to cry the call Lord what wilt thou how did God seduce all of Tarsus he just revealed Jesus to? Is that what he says? God who commanded light to shine in the darkness shine he said I saw the light of the glory and said Lord what wilt I do? And if the Holy Ghost hasn't revealed Christ to you in such a way that you have gladly fallen at his feet in faithfulness in faith and submission you're just not a Christian and you need to start this life crying to Almighty God and Paul described his conversion described it in terms of a decision he made but he described it in terms of a revelation of God he said in Galatians 1 when it pleased God to reveal

64:24 suddenly that's how he described his salvation 2 Corinthians 4 God and he revealed the light of the glory of Christ that's by the name the blessings of the cross of Christ the implications of the crown of Christ are inseparably joined in the salvation of Christ three reasons I trust you have them because salvation is in a person who is the Lord salvation is a new covenant blessing that involves the full blocking out of sin and it's the doing of the rebel sinner's heart and salvation is said to be the possession of those who may God himself by the spirit establish us in this basic truth this is not a matter of some weird view on the tail of the beast in revelation no this is a matter of life and death this is salvation may God grant that we shall so very way the issues of his own eternal trial and if there are those of you that have any questions want to discuss and need to be delighted to these things over and over in Bible and spirit and love teachableness before the Lord and we do agree to make that known after we dismiss and we are glad to stay as long as necessary if God has made the issue

65:53 then we will do business with God child of God that scepter that you bowed to initially you must bow to it and increasingly that scepter will touch every area of your life and wonder of wonders we find that what he said is true that his yoke is easy his birth is great I trust you know the sweet scepter of Jesus increasingly touching every area of your life with his yoke Lord Jesus we thank you for your willingness to pour out your blood to procure for us the reveled guilty depraved sinners those marvelous blessings of the new covenant Lord we love you tonight as the mediator of a new covenant oh we thank you for bearing our guilt and our shame and we thank you for sending your spirit to subdue our level plans oh father we plead with you tonight for those in this building who are strangers to the blessings of the

67:20 new covenant awaken the blood oh create soul thirst they shall begin to cry out for mercy we pray for your people who have by your grace partaken and do partake of the blessings of the new covenant Lord may the crystallization of this fill their hearts with gratitude and praise and wonder and awe and love and may it enable us with greater preciseness to communicate the gospel to others for Lord you've made us ministers of the new covenant oh that we may proclaim to men and women and fellows and girls the blessings of that covenant why we need those blessings the terms of that covenant oh father make us we pray heroes of the message which you have ordained and for your glory take us safely to our home and if it proves you bring us back together again to meet with you to hear your voice to see your face we pray with thanksgiving through Jesus Christ Amen