The Lordship Controversy, Part 1

Introduction: The Sermon's Purpose and Structure

0:02 The following message was delivered on July 19, 1992, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, as the vast majority of you know, this adult class is presently in what we might call a transition period as to the subject matter of the class. We have completed a 13-week series of studies under Pastor Nichols' leadership that we have called a pre-membership class. And in the fall, we propose to take off in at least two directions, probably concurrently.

0:44 One will be a post-membership class, and the other will be class sessions taken up with a study of the proposed revisions to our church constitution, that you may be well instructed in what your elders are proposing, that this will in no way... be a kind of shoe-in affair, but indeed will grow out of mutual wrestling with the Word of God in these areas where we presently believe God has given us, if not further light, clearer light on some of the old paths that we have walked for many years together.

1:23 And meanwhile, we're seeking to use the relatively disrupted summer weeks with people going and coming on holidays, and visitors among us, to address miscellaneous but crucial issues vital to our life together, but not necessarily needing any kind of consecutive framework of instruction in order to be profitable. And in the light of these facts, I plan to do today, essentially what I was privileged to do at the Aurelia Baptist Fellowship last Lord's Day, when I ministered in the adult class, Sunday morning, and again Sunday evening. Preparation for that day forced me to wrestle with an old issue in a new way, and as I've reflected upon that issue, and the help I believe God gave me in wrestling with it, I do believe, and so do my fellow elders after discussing it with them, that it would be unto general edification were we to take this entire Lord's Day, this Sunday of July the 19th, to focus our attention upon one central subject. And that subject is this, the relationship between saving faith in Christ,

2:48 and a life of obedience to Christ. Now, that is the very heart of the issue that will be addressed in the Sunday school class this morning, in the Ministry of the Women, word, and it will be tied in with the manifesto this morning, and then in a more pastoral way, we'll take roots of practical explanation and application in the evening service, God willing. Now, in our day, this issue that we're to address is identified in different circles by different terminology. Some would describe it as the Lordship Salvation issue.

3:33 Others would describe it as the Christ as Savior, Christ as Lord debate. Others would put it under the terminology of the question, can a person be truly saved but not surrender to Jesus Christ? And so in the class this morning, I will be much more. I will be much more didactic or instructive, giving out a number of facts, making necessary distinctions, and marking out necessary boundaries of our concern.

4:12 Then in the morning ministry and in the evening ministry, we'll park down on many pivotal texts by way of exposition, proclamation, and application. In other words, I'm going to. Follow the pattern which the Apostle Paul followed in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is the biblical warrant for the manner in which I've mapped out the material for today's ministry in the word of God.

Apostolic Precedent for Didactic Teaching

4:44 The Apostle Paul has been dealing with the very vexing but vital subject of Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians chapters 8, 9, and now on into chapter 10. And in the development of his argument, he begins chapter 10 with these words. For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant. And then he reiterates some facts of Old Testament biblical history.

5:15 I would not, brethren, have you ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. I would not, brethren, have you ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. I would not, brethren, have you ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

5:34 And did all eat the same spiritual food. And did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them. And the rock was Christ.

5:47 How be it. With most of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, isn't that interesting? Isn't that a marvelously devotional section?

5:59 All these wonderful insights and warm, hearty applications to the heart. You say, Pastor, you must have read a different section than the one I heard. No, this is dry as dust history. Isn't it?

6:18 Paul says there are certain things concerning which I do not want you to be ignorant. If you don't have these facts in your head, I want to put them there. If they are there, I want you to stir them up from the dusty file drawers of the basement and set them before your eyeballs on the wall of your living room. He deals in what we would call purely didactic material.

6:44 He does not come to the hortatory, that is, exhortation, practical application, until verse 6. Now these things...

6:54 were our examples to the intent that we should not lust. Now he begins to preach and exhort. Verse 7, neither be idolaters. Verse 8, neither commit fornication.

7:07 Verse 9, let us not make trial of the Lord. Verse 10, neither murmur ye. In other words, it is the reestablishment of the didactic. Placing these facts before the minds of the Corinthians, that becomes the necessary basis of meaningful, effectual exhortation.

Call to Mental Engagement

7:33 Now that's the framework I'm following. What I'm going to give you in the remainder of the class time this morning is going to be heavily didactic. And frankly, there are some of you that are mentally lazy. You only like it when the preacher's working up a sweat and trying to work you into a spiritual sweat.

7:50 And frankly, some of you are spoiled rotten in this area. Whenever...

7:54 Whenever the preacher is not so preaching as to be carried out in his own energy and spiritual and mental zeal as to carry you along, you sit back and you nod. And if you don't fall asleep physically, you fall asleep mentally. Now some of you have got to learn to stop that or you're going to be arrested in your spiritual growth. I don't say that to scold you.

8:15 I'm not nasty in my spirit. I've never felt sweeter in a whole month. The Lord is blessing the medication that has been giving me chronic sinus headaches and as best I'm in touch with my feel-o-meter, I haven't felt sweeter in a long time. But I am speaking facts.

8:35 And so I'm urging you not to resent the fact that this morning will be heavily didactic because we have apostolic precedent for what I'm doing. Yes, I want to come to the verse 6 and following. I do desire and by God's help, I will come to the exhortation and to the...

8:56 to the admonition and to the entreaty. But this morning is heavily didactic in order that we might have a clear conception of the issue that is before us today. Namely, the relationship between saving faith in Christ and a life of obedience to Christ. Now with this introduction beneath and behind us, let us take up our subject this morning.

Necessity for Addressing the Lordship Issue: Widespread Confusion

9:24 And if you'd like a subtitle, our subject, the relationship between saving faith in Christ and a life of obedience to Christ or some biblical perspectives on the lordship salvation controversy. First of all, then, take up with me the necessity for addressing this issue. If I'm not doing this out of a cranky spirit or out of lack of something else to do, pray tell why have I chosen to take up this subject for an entire...

9:56 Lord's Day. Well, I give you two basic reasons. Number one, because of the widespread confusion, current discussion and debate on this issue. There is widespread confusion and there is current discussion and very heated debate on this issue in broad evangelical circles.

10:19 I hold in my hands two very popular evangelical books. One by...

10:25 Dr. John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, which was published in 1988. It has a foreword by Dr. James Packer and also an excellent preface by James Montgomery Boyce. And both of these men say that this book addresses perhaps what is the greatest weakness in mainline evangelicalism today. For example, listen to Dr. Boyce. In this book, MacArthur is not dealing with some issues or issues external to the faith, but with the central issue of all, namely, what does it mean to be a Christian? His answers address themselves to what I consider to be the greatest weakness of

11:22 contemporary evangelicalism. And on the book jacket, similar comments from R.C. Spruill and from a David Hawking, Radio Bible's teacher of the Biola Bible Hour. Then a year later, in 1989, Dr. Charles Ryrie, formerly professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, came out with a book, and the copyright is 1989. And it has a foreword by Warren Wiersbe, for years, pastor of the historic Moody Bible Institute, Bible teacher on the Back to God Hour that reaches literally millions of people around the world every day. And in the book jacket, we read this. Dr. Ryrie answers key and practical questions such as, what exactly is

12:15 the gospel? Can a born-again Christian be carnal? And if so, how long? Can a person accept Christ as Savior without acknowledging Him as Lord? Must repentance precede faith? And Warren Wiersbe and Erwin Lutzer, present pastor of the historic Moody Bible Church, some of you hear the program Sunday Night Songs in the Night over WFME, a lovely Lord's Day evening sort of meditative, reflective program. Earl Rademacher, a former classmate of mine from many years ago, who is president of Western Seminary in Portland, and they say this book will be enthusiastically welcomed by those of us who are concerned about the present confusion that exists regarding the content in terms of the gospel message. Rademacher says Ryrie's lucid

13:14 handling of the relevant scriptures will go a long way to eliminating the fog around the question of what is the gospel. And these men are on both sides of the poles of the issue. MacArthur asserting that in saving faith there is a germ of commitment to Christ that will necessarily and inevitably lead to a life of basic obedience to Christ, and if there is no obedience to Christ, there is no genuine faith in Christ. Ryrie's answer is just the opposite.

13:53 That not only is it possible, but in many cases it is actually true that sinners truly believe upon Christ to the saving of their souls and have not yet decided the issue, shall I bow to the authority of Christ and be prepared to live by the rule and the way of Christ. Now, I say there is widespread confusion, current discussion and debate on the issue, but it is not the only issue that is relevant to the world. This is a question that is, how can we current discussion and debate on the issue and since the devil establishes and maintains his kingdom by error and by lie John 8 44 year of your father the devil the lust of your father it is your will to do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth he is a liar and the father of it if we are concerned about the dismantling of the kingdom of Satan and the establishment of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ we cannot be indifferent to error because according to Ephesians 6 the devil works not just through things that are patently erroneous but Paul uses the terminology through the wiles of error I'm sorry Ephesians chapter 4 you have the wiles of the devil you have the wiles of the devil the devil in Ephesians 6 and the wiles of error

15:19 and it is not the will of God for his people to be vacillating on matters where there is discussion debate, confusion within which the leaven of error works either to the erosion of the strength of the kingdom of Christ or to the maintenance of the kingdom of the prince of darkness therefore in Ephesians 6 Ephesians chapter 4 among the many purposes for which God gives to his church pastors and teachers one of them is explicitly underscored in verse 14 he gives pastors and teachers verse 11 and then you have a string of purposes mentioned and one of them is these in order that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of teaching by the slight of men in craftiness after the wiles of error but speaking truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head even Christ so here we are told that true Christian maturation comes in a way of speaking truth in love

16:44 being established in the truth so that you as an ordinary believer could pick up Charles Ryrie's book and have sufficient biblical discernment and bible knowledge to see the errors that oft times are passed with an exegetical and a theological slight of hand now I am not saying a thing about the man's moral character make that very plain I am not slandering his morals I am not slandering his moral character I am not in any way imputing anything evil to the man's motives but looking at what he has embalmed in printer's ink in the light of the word of God it is a deflection from the teaching of Holy Scripture and furthermore one of the tasks that God has given to us as elders is clearly defined in Titus chapter 1 it is a two-fold task it is a two-fold task a handling of the faithful word of God Notice Titus one in verse 9 the requirement for anybody who aspires to the eldership is this he must hold to the faithful or trustworthy word which is according to the teaching we are not originators of truth we do not traffic in novelties

18:10 we are to be known as trustworthy men who hold to the faithful word of God we are to be known as trustworthy men who hold to the faithful word of God we are not originators of truth we do not traffic in novelties the teaching and we must have an ability both intellectually, morally, and in terms of our ability to communicate to others. The word must be able involves all three things. It involves the head, intellectual grasp, the heart, moral courage, and love, and the mouth. The ability to set forth these things clearly, and notice the two prongs, that he may be able both to exhort, to encourage, to impel, to motivate in the realm of sound or healthy teaching, and to convict the gainsayers. The word convict means to bring something to the test and show it to either be guilty or false. It goes on to say, It goes beyond merely reproving. It means so to reprove as to convince the jury of the undefiled conscience of another that what you are pointing out as error is error. And gainsayer is a word we

19:30 don't use, comes from two Greek words, anti-lego, that is against and speak. We are to be able to bring those who speak against the truth into the court of an unbiased, unrighteous, and unrighteous conscience that loves the truth and send the criminal out with the sentence of guilty over his head. That's the task of an elder, to exhort in the healthy teaching and to convict the gainsayers. So it's necessary to address this issue because of the widespread confusion, current discussion, and debate on this particular issue. But then there's a second reason, and that is, because of the crucial nature and critical importance of this issue. The crucial nature and critical importance of this issue. You see, the issue is not whether there is some future in Palestine for the Jewish nation. Now that has many ramifications. Your view of that will affect

Necessity for Addressing the Lordship Issue: Crucial Importance

20:35 how you understand many passages of the word of God. But may I say it reverently, it is not a matter of heaven and hell. Unless you tell Jews, you don't need to tell Jews. You don't need to repent and believe. You just wait, and when Messiah comes, you'll get a second choice. That's to damn them by a lie. But apart from those extreme applications, there are many questions concerning which good and godly Christians differ, and they must continue to wrestle with these issues so that more and more we come to the unity of the faith. But they are not issues of life and death. They're not issues of heaven and hell. But this issue, this issue we're addressing, today, the relationship between saving faith in Christ and the life of obedience to Christ, this is a matter of life and of death. This is a matter of eternal importance. And the men who have commented on Dr. MacArthur's book understand this. This is why, for example, R.C. Spruill says, John MacArthur provides a much-needed

21:43 biblical refutation of the false dichotomy of the church. He says, John MacArthur provides a much-needed dichotomy between Savior and Lord that threatens evangelical theology. And as you will see in reading Ryrie's book, he likewise believes it's a matter of life and death. He said, if we take the posture that a person who is not fundamentally yielded to Christ has no grounds to claim he is a child of God, then we will either end up teaching you can lose your salvation, or we will undercut that man's right to a full assurance.

22:16 He's a Christian, and I say, hallelujah. It ought to be undercut. No one has the right to a full, unshaken assurance who is not living a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus Christ. So it's of crucial importance as we seek to examine ourselves, 2 Corinthians 13, 5, prove ourselves, whether we are in the faith, and it's of crucial importance in communicating the gospel to others. When we communicate the gospel to others, we are not communicating the gospel to others. And people say, well, I see my need of Christ and my need of forgiveness and acceptance with God. However, I have a problem. And it's very interesting that in Ryrie's book, he brings up such a problem. He's talking hypothetically, at least, with a particular student on campus. And he says this, should the

23:11 worker on the college campus insist that a collegian who wants to receive Christ hold off until he or she breaks off? An immoral relationship. Could such a person be saved at the dorm meeting one evening and yet spend that same night in the continuing adulterous relationship? Or could he or she have two or three days to break off the relationship? Or two weeks or several months? In the meantime, is that person born again? Ryrie would answer yes. What would you do? A person says, oh, I want to receive Christ. But by the way, my girlfriend and I are living together in the dorm. And I'm not going to be able to meet her in the dorm room. Can I just forget that issue for a while? Ryrie would say yes. You and I would say, no fornicator shall enter the

23:58 kingdom of heaven. Break off your fornication or burn in hell. This is a matter of life and death. This is not a tempest in a theological teapot. So there's the necessity for addressing the issue. Secondly, I want to help you to identify the heart of the issue.

Identifying the Heart of the Issue: What It Is NOT

24:21 Now, whenever you come to matter of of discussion and debate, because where there's heat, there often is little light. The more heat there is, the less light there is. And when you come into a debated issue, so often if the issue is found within this circle, the heat that comes from strongly felt opinions can often act like sort of misty clouds, and somewhere in there you see the dim outline of what the particular issue is. Well, what I want to do is to try to blow the clouds away and make the issue itself stand out in bold relief. What precisely are we talking about when we take up the subject of the relationship between saving faith in Christ and a life of obedience to Christ? Or, as I seek to give biblical perspectives on the Lord's Lordship controversy, can we blow the smoke away and identify the real heart issues? Well, it's often helpful when you're doing this to go negative and then positive. What are

25:39 we not dealing with? Then, what are we dealing with? And this is true of any kind of theological formulation. If you read the old confessions in creeds, they will say in asserting something, not this, not that.

25:53 Not this, not that. Not this, not that. Not this, not this. But this, but this, but this, but this. And that's helpful to precise thought. All right? What are we not dealing with? Well, let me set before you three things that we're not dealing with. Number one, it is not a question of whether salvation is all of grace, or whether it is grace plus the merit of human endeavor. It is not a question of whether salvation is all of grace, or whether it is grace plus the merit of human endeavor. Now, it's at this point that Dr. Ryrie greatly urges. Now, that's a serious charge to make, and I'm making it publicly, and it's going out on tape. I make it responsibly. He says on page 18, and this is not quoted out of context, but as the conclusion of seeking to do this very thing, that is, to identify what grace is. And Dr. Ryrie says this, human works are like termites in God's structure

27:01 of grace. We say, amen. They start small, but if unchecked, they can bring down the entire structure. We say, amen. And what are such works? Anything I can do to gain any amount of merit, little or much. We say, amen. Water baptism could be one such work, if I am not as an important or even necessary result of being saved, but as a requisite to be saved. And we say, amen. It is a work, even if I insist, it is God who gives me the desire to want to be baptized that I might be saved. The same is true for surrender. If surrender is something I must do as a part of believing, then it is a work, and grace has been diluted.

27:54 To the extent to which I actually do surrender. So to make sure that the believing professed convert does not mix grace and works, tell him, surrender has nothing to do with your saving response to Christ. And he asserts that if we insist to the sinner, you must surrender to the Christ whom you receive, that the very essence of faith is the whole heart going out to the whole Christ. Without reservation, we are letting loose a whole herd of termites to erode the foundation of salvation by grace. No, dear people, no one believes I trust more firmly than we do that salvation is all of grace from its origin to its consummation. In its origin, it's all of grace. 2 Timothy 1, 9,

28:56 The holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before times eternal. We say our salvation comes out of the hidden mountains in eternity of God's gracious, free, sovereign election. And then in its ground, it is all of grace. Romans 6, 23, The wages, that's commercial language.

29:26 The wages, sin pays his death. But the free gift of God, it's in that family of the words of grace. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And in its conferral, it's all of grace. We heard that so beautifully opened up when Pastor Donnelly was here. Galatians 1, 15.

29:49 When it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. And as it has its tap roots in grace, its grounds in grace, its conferral in grace, when we stand with Christ in glory, then the ancient prophecy will be fulfilled. They shall bring forth the top stone thereof, saying grace, grace, grace unto it. So that's not the issue of whether or not salvation is all of grace, for grace plus the merit of our surrender.

30:23 The grace plus the resolution of our hearts. To follow Christ, that is not the issue. Furthermore, secondly, it is not a matter of how much a person must know of the lordship of Christ in order to be genuinely converted. Now we've already covered that a few weeks ago in our series on conversion.

30:51 It is not a question of how much a person must actually know of the lordship of Christ at the point of being converted. Are we saying that unless a person is heard, a very clear sermon on the fact that subsequent to the resurrection, Jesus has been made lord in Christ, he has been eternally lord in the dignity and glory of the second person of the Godhead, he is now the messianic lord upon his throne, and to embrace him as savior is to bow to him as...

31:20 Are we saying that all of those things must be clearly in the head before a person can truly be saved? Absolutely not. We've established that from the scripture, the amount of truth, the spirit of God may use to save a man is God's business. And you have the clear example of Apollos in Acts 18.

31:41 All he knew cognitively was the content of the gospel up to the point of John the Baptist's death. He did not hear that Christ died for our sins. He had heard he would be the lamb. He was the lamb.

31:56 But precisely how the lamb would take away the sin of the world, he had not heard of the descent of the spirit. But he was...

32:03 He was a truly converted man, truly submissive to the lordship of Christ. And when Priscilla and Aquila took him aside, showed him the way of God more perfectly, he showed the disposition of his heart, not by defending his ignorance, but by welcoming the new truth. So it's not a question of saying, unless people have heard about the lordship of Christ, and were pressed clearly and distinctly in their conversion complex with the necessity of yielding to Christ as Lord, then we're reckoning all such people to the end. All those numerous, so many people, all those millions who are, axiom 가자, twenty-three hundred, in all of their faith, yet all those it takes is such that that it is hard to understand why there are so many thin-alieves, the

32:51 Christian church ends up recording this federation, then I stand again in a mess, 같은데 prodigal mother, the lordship of christ in a very real sense every time i sin i deny the lordship of christ if i covet i deny his lordship over my heart's affections if i say an angry word i deny his lordship over my tongue if i fail to do what he's commanded me to do in loving my wife as christ loved the church putting her concerns first i'm denying his lordship over my marital affections so it's not a question as to whether or not true christians may and actually do deny the lordship of christ in one or another area this is just another way of saying true christians may and do sin and first john 1 8 to 10 makes that abundantly clear that if anyone denies that the truth is not in them if any man say i have no sin he's a liar the truth is not in him if we confess our sin you He's faithful and just to forgive us. We are not saying that a Christian cannot fall into a pattern of sin and remain for a period of time under the horrible influence of those sins.

34:15 The Bible records the backslidings of David. The Bible records the backsliding of the Apostle Peter. So full of prejudice was he that God had to give him a vision, repeated twice. It was repeated twice.

34:32 Three times he gave the vision, but it was repeated twice, all right? Three times he had the vision. It was given and repeated twice to break down his prejudice to get him to go eat with a Gentile dog and his family. Years later, what happened?

34:49 Paul had to rebuke him to his face because when the Jewish people came up to where Paul and Barnabas were, Peter drew back from social intercourse with them, and Paul had to rebuke Peter. He backslid in an area where God had had such clear dealings. Does that mean Christ was not his Lord? Of course not.

35:09 But in that particular area, he was denying in a practical way the Lordship of Christ. So that's not the issue. And it's a shame that someone who should know better, as Dr. Ryrie really makes a straw man out of that issue.

Identifying the Heart of the Issue: What It IS

35:23 Well then, what precisely is the issue? If that is not the issue, that's the negative, what is the nub of the issue? In this whole discussion of the relationship between saving faith and a life of obedience to Christ, or in trying to gain accurate perspectives on the Lordship controversy, what is the heart of the issue? Well, according to my pressed light, I trust this will help you.

35:52 I want to couch it in three questions. Number one, can a sinner truly embrace Christ as his Savior? Why? While consciously, willfully refusing to submit to Christ as the ruler and the governor of his life.

36:17 Can a sinner truly embrace Christ as his Savior? While consciously, willfully refusing to submit to Christ as the ruler and the governor. Why? Because he is the ruler of his life.

36:38 Can a rebel find pardon for his rebellion and thereby be ready to go to heaven while still purposing to pursue the very life of rebellion that makes him deserve hell?

36:54 Can a sinner stretch out one hand to take the benefits of the cross of Christ while the other hand is clenched in a fist of defiance saying, I will not bow, to the rule, to the crown, and to the scepter of Christ? That is the issue. That's the issue.

37:19 By nature, we all have two clenched fists.

37:25 Romans 8, 7. Carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. The language of every native heart finding expression in both fists is we will not have this.

37:41 Man to reign over us.

37:45 And the question is this. Can a sinner who gets scared of where that's going to take him, a sinner who gets concerned that it's leading him to death and destruction and hears that Christ is born the sins of men and if people will trust in him, they will be forgiven of all of the just consequences of that life of rebellion. Can the rebel lay hold of a pardon in Christ with this hand while he's got a clenched fist before Christ with this? That's the question.

38:19 Second question.

38:21 Does anyone have biblical grounds to claim he is a true believer in Christ while he is not consciously pursuing a life of obedience to God in conformity to Christ? Does anyone have biblical grounds to claim he is a true believer in Christ while he is not pursuing a life of obedience to God and conformity to Christ? That's the question. Can I say Christ is my Savior because I believe in him but Christ is not my master whose will and purpose I am pursuing? From the heart. Or to state the question differently, now we look at it from God's standpoint. This is the psychology of the disposition of the sinner's heart in faith and discipleship.

39:31 But now looking at it from God's standpoint, here's the nub of the issue. Does God truly regenerate sinners giving them the ability to come to Christ in faith for pardon while leaving them in a perpetual disposition of rebellion to Christ as to his government over them? That's the question. Does God truly regenerate sinners giving them the ability to come to Christ in faith for pardon?

40:08 And the Bible does teach that faith is the gift of God. And the first motions of regenerating grace are repentance and faith. The question is this then. Does God change?

40:19 Does God change the heart and draw the sinner? John 6, 44. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And in the drawing of the Father does he give the sinner the ability to come to Christ in faith for pardon while bypassing, imparting to the sinner a disposition gladly to submit to Christ for government and for rule.

40:49 That's the nub. That's the nub of the question. In other words, does God make his beloved son and all the preciousness of his work upon the cross a minister of sin? That's the question.

41:08 And if God only gave a sinner in his drawing work a disposition to come to Christ for pardon without changing his disposition of rebellion to Christ Almighty God, makes the blood of his son a minister of unrighteousness and it's blasphemy.

41:32 You see the issue?

41:34 Can't read you. You see the issue? That's the issue. And don't let any other smoke cloud you.

41:41 Oh yeah, but what about Lot? Well yes, what about...

41:45 Don't let smoke get in your eyes. Just ask this question. Do you believe no sinner can come except the Father draw him? John 6, 44.

41:53 Yes. Well when the Father draws, what is the disposition he imparts? Just the disposition to reject all works, righteousness and trust only in Christ for salvation and pardon and righteousness and acceptance? Or does God do something with that disposition of the clenched fist and the determination to be my own boss?

42:16 What does God do? That's the question. What does God do? Perhaps the best way to summarize it is in a way that I found helpful years ago and I'm going to use it in a way that I'm going to use in a way that I'm going to use in a way that I'm going to use in a way that I'm going to use in a way that I'm going to use.

The Inseparable Union of Cross and Crown

42:27 I'm going to have to hasten because the clock is coming up on the time to quit. To summarize, the heart of the issue is this. Are the benefits of the cross of Christ and the implications of the crown of Christ inseparably joined in the salvation of Christ? That's the issue.

42:50 Are the benefits of the cross of Christ and the implications of the crown of Christ inseparably joined in the salvation of Christ? Or are they separate? Can we take them as we choose? Can we have them in installments?

43:11 That's the issue. Well, in closing now, having tried to convince you that this is no tempest in a teapot, it is pastorally and personally necessary to address the issue, having tried to identify the heart of the issue negatively and positively, now very quickly so that you'll be aware of these things, what are the necessarily related issues?

Necessarily Related Issues

43:35 Well, the necessarily related issues are three, and I only have time to give you the headings. Number one,

43:42 can a man be a true believer and not a fundamentally committed disciple? That's a necessarily related issue. And that will come up in discussion. In certain circles, you will be told this. It costs you nothing to be a believer. It will cost you everything. It will cost you everything to be a disciple. But very interestingly, what is the Great Commission?

44:08 We are to go out, and among all the nations, make what?

44:13 Make disciples. Baptizing them. Then teaching them to observe. The implication being discipleship is not an advanced stage of spiritual graduate school.

44:28 To be a true disciple is to be a true believer. Now the Bible speaks of false believers and false disciples. I'm fully aware of that. But in terms of true believer and committed or true disciple, that's why I use the adjectives.

44:41 Can a man be a true believer and not a true committed disciple? That's a related issue. And how you answer this question, this larger question of faith in Christ and obedience to Christ, so you will answer this question. Second related issue, is there such a thing as a carnal Christian, perpetually, fundamentally, unchanged in his moral nature?

45:12 The whole concept of the carnal Christian is carnal is used as a dominant descriptive adjective. You say of a certain person, he's a generous Christian. Generosity is his dominant characteristic. He's a joyful Christian. He's a serious Christian. He's an earnest Christian. You use the words as a dominant descriptive adjective. Is there such a thing as a carnal Christian?

45:34 A true Christian in whom the dominant characteristic over the long haul is carnality? That's a very critical question. Fiery answers, yes. He said, oh, there'll be some fruit. Must be some fruit. But the basic answer is, there can be precious little over precious long time and still be a Christian. MacArthur says, no way, Jose. Both ain't right.

46:03 And the Bible doesn't teach both. And then the third related question is, can true faith be exercised divorced from repentance? Can true faith be exercised divorced from repentance? And I tell you, it's pathetic. I reread or read fully for the first time in preparation for today, Ryrie's chapter on repentance. And I've heard, you've heard me say that some people teach that repentance is basically just a change of mind about Christ where once you didn't look at him and trust him, now you do. And that's all the repentance required of in conjunction with the gospel. If you think that's a straw dummy, listen, page 96 of Ryrie.

46:41 Upon hearing and realizing this, conviction overwhelmed the people. This is Acts 2. When Peter said, repent, repent about what? Change your minds about Jesus of Nazareth.

46:53 Whatever you thought about him before or whoever you thought he was, change your mind now and believe that he's God, your Messiah who died and rose from the dead. That repentance saves. And then he goes on to say that repentance has nothing to do primarily with grief and sorrow for sin except insofar as we're sorry we haven't accepted Christ. And he goes on in this whole chapter. And so that's a related issue. And his book proves it. He can't address it without taking up that issue. So as you try to think through this issue, dear people, remember it's not an isolated issue. Surrounding this issue that we're addressing God willing throughout the day, is saving faith in Christ an exercise of the heart quickened by the spirit that leaves a man indifferent to the commands of Christ? Or does it make him fundamentally a servant of Christ? The related issues will be can a man be a true believer and not a committed disciple? Can a man be a perpetually carnal Christian?

48:03 Can there be true faith without true repentance? Well, that's 1 Corinthians 10, 1-5. I would not have you ignorant. God willing in the next hour there'll be much more exposition, application, and I trust, comment upon critical passages. And may the Lord bless these things to our hearts. Let's pray. Father we thank you that amidst confusion, debate, and discussion, we have your word as a lamp to our feet. Help me as I seek to fulfill my task as one of the elders in this assembly that I may not only teach in the healthy doctrine, but refute effectively and convincingly the gainsayers. That this people

48:50 will not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, but be rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Jesus. Hear our prayer and continue to bless this day with your presence we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.