Scripture Shall Mold Our Faith and Practice, Part 2

Introduction: The Manifesto and the Cost of Conviction

0:05 Throughout what is called the Christian world or Christendom, in all kinds of so-called Christian churches, this particular Lord's Day is designated as Easter Sunday. In one way or another, there will be special remembrances of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of them will take a form that I believe is most pleasing to God, that is, various portions of Holy Scripture which clearly teach that our Lord Jesus bodily rose from the dead on the third day after his death, and the implications of that fact, portions of Scripture concerning that fact and its implications will be expounded, and applied, and the remembrance of this day will go all the way from such things that please God to the downright ludicrous.

1:14 As one beholds the so-called Eastern celebrations in some of the liturgical churches, one wonders what all of that rigmarole has to do with Joseph's empty tomb. However, we as a church were privileged to have this day. Many Easter Sundays from late June through August of 1990, and then again in December of 1990, as we concluded our studies in the Gospel of Mark, I was preaching through the resurrection chapter in Mark's Gospel, chapter 16. Now, in the light of this fact, and in the light of the fact that Scripture mandates no other special remembrance of the resurrection, of our Lord Jesus, except the weekly remembrance by gathering on the first day of the week, and in the light of the fact that I feel constrained to press right on with the series we began some weeks ago, I will not be bringing an Easter message. I hope you are not disappointed, but I will be opening up the Scriptures, and I trust in such a way that it will be.

2:34 I hope that it will be profitable to you, and that if this announcement in the introduction has brought a sense of disappointment, that before the final Amen is pronounced, your heart will be relieved of its disappointment, and that you will be grateful for the ministry of the Word of God. Several weeks ago, I began a series of messages which I've entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. And in this series, I'm going to be talking about a series of messages which I've entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. In this series of sermons, I'm seeking to lay bare for all to see and understand those things which constitute the very foundations of our identity, our life, and ministry as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thus far, we have considered two facets of that manifesto. First of all, I said that we are determined, that Jesus Christ shall have his rightful place in his church. Now, that seems like a very insignificant statement.

3:47 But alas, it is tragically true that in the vast majority of institutions and organizations that go by the name, Churches of Christ, Christ really has little to do with what they believe, and what they believe. And what they practice. Christ has little to do with the very foundations of the life and ministry of the church. And the first plank, as it were, in our manifesto is the declaration that we are determined that Jesus Christ shall have his rightful place in this congregation, his rightful place as the exclusive foundation, the sole source of life, and the supreme and unrivaled Lord of our existence. Then last Lord's day, I set before you the second affirmation, namely, we are determined that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the holy scriptures. In other words, we're determined that what we confess as the substance of our faith, that is our doctrine, and what we do as the expression of our faith, that is our practice,

5:10 that it shall all be molded by the holy scriptures. And in our study together, we considered the basis of this determination, and then the concrete manifestations of this determination. Now this morning, we take the third area of concern under this second affirmation in the manifesto. and it's what I'm calling the cost of maintaining this determination.

Justification for the Concept of Cost: Buying and Selling Truth

5:41 Having shown the basis of our determination that Scripture shall mold all of our doctrine and all of our practice, having set forth the concrete manifestations that that is indeed our determination, we want to consider this morning the cost of maintaining this determination that all of the doctrine and practice of Trinity Church shall be molded by the Word of God. And in addressing this matter of the cost of maintaining this determination, we will do so under two headings. First of all, a justification for the concept of the cost. And secondly, a declaration of the specifics of that cost. First of all, a justification for the concept of cost. I've stated that if we as a church are to maintain a determination to have all of our doctrine and practice molded by the Word of God, it will cost us something.

6:56 Now, because the salvation taught in the Bible is, all of grace, costly to God, but free to us, we ought to be suspicious and cautious whenever the word cost is introduced to a system that is pervasively gracious, that is pervasively free with respect to the sinner in receiving the gift of salvation and life, And so I want to take a few moments to justify this concept of the cost of maintaining this determination. And I use this term because of the pressure of one specific text. And that text is found in Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 23.

8:02 Hear the wise man, man by the Spirit of God speaks to us saying, buy the truth and sell it not. Yea, wisdom and instruction and understanding. I am not reluctant to talk about the cost of this determination to have all of our doctrine and practice molded by the Word of God, because here in the Word of God is a very commercial concept. Buy and sell. Now, what can be more commercial than buying and selling? And in this text, we are commanded to buy something, and we are prohibited from selling something. Look at the command to buy. Buy the truth. And that command raises two very simple

9:03 questions. What are we to buy, and what price are we to pay for it? Well, we are told to buy the truth. Now, that assumes that in the marketplace of the world there is such a commodity as truth. We do not stand back cynically and say with pilot, what is truth? Philosophers have wrestled and bent their brains and exercised their gray matter for centuries, and no one has absolutely read the provorders of Boltzburg Law's Great Instance. As if Petraeus had not understood the properties of the truth, we do not say, but we have described in this text the excessive�전 ion וּשְׁית מָּלֶשְׁהִ֣תֶּ Τֵוָּּתֶ� 1940 The assumption of this text is that there is such a commodity in the marketplace of this Word. Solomon

10:06 Definition of what truth is in its essence than that given by our Lord Jesus in his high priestly prayer in John 17 and verse 17 in which he prayed, Father, sanctify them in the truth, thy word. Or in the language of the psalmist in Psalm 119, the sum of thy word is truth. If we take Genesis and Exodus and put them in a column like we put numbers and go all the way from Genesis to Revelation, put a line at the bottom and add it all up. God says the sum of thy word is truth, not truth plus fables, truth plus men's opinions, truth. Truth plus fancy, truth plus saga, truth plus myth. No, the sum of thy word is truth. Thy word is.

11:08 And so we are commanded to buy this commodity called the truth. And to buy it means we are to make it our own. When I purchase a given commodity, it becomes mine. It is my personal possession.

11:28 And therefore we are commanded in this text to make our very own possession an understanding of, a believing acceptance of, a heart conviction concerning, and an implicit obedience to God's word of truth as given to us in the scriptures. Now that's the command to buy with the question, what are we to buy? Buy the truth. Now the second question, what price are we to pay for it?

12:04 Well you see, no limits are set in the text. Buy the truth. And if we say to Solomon, at what price should I wait for the market to adjust itself until the price of truth comes down a bit? No.

12:22 At any given point, in any place, at any period of human history, every person is to be prepared to buy. Buy the truth. And never, never to be concerned about the price tag on it. You can never pay too much to buy the truth.

12:42 You see, it's only by the truth that we are saved. We are begotten again by the word of truth. It's only by the truth that we are sanctified. Sanctify them in the truth.

12:54 And that which saves and sanctifies fits us for life and death and judgment in the world to come. We can never. We can never pay too great a price for truth. And so no price tag is set upon it.

13:09 We are simply commanded to buy the truth. We are to set no limit upon the price we will pay to make the truth our own. Not simply to look at that commodity in the marketplace and say, I believe it is there. I believe it is a worthwhile commodity.

13:31 I have no quarrel with the genuineness. Of the commodity. No, we are not to simply walk by that commodity in the marketplace of this world. We are to stop and we are to make it our own at any cost.

The Prohibition: Never Sell the Truth

13:47 We are to buy the truth. That's the command to buy. But now look at the prohibition to sell.

13:56 Buy the truth and sell it not. Now that's a strange command. In ordinary situations, whatever I buy. Becomes my possession and I am free to sell it, whether at a loss or at a profit as a Christian.

14:15 I am not free to sell it under false pretenses. If I buy a car on Monday, I'm free to sell it on Tuesday. But if my reason for selling it is that I discovered it was a lemon and I sell it as though it were not. I'm not free to do that.

14:34 But given that it is an honest transaction. I'm not free to do that. What I purchase is mine as a stewardship under God. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

14:43 It's all his. But he gives me the privilege of being a steward of some of his things. And ordinarily what I legitimately purchase is mine to sell at a profit or a loss or on a break even basis. But here we are prohibited from ever selling the truth.

15:03 Buy the truth and sell it. Not buy it any cost at any inconvenience to yourself. But having once purchased it, you must never relinquish it, even for the entirety of the world by the truth and sell it not. We are never to sell it no matter what we are offered for it.

15:34 This is a divine mandate. Sell it not. Do what you must do to retain the truth. And whatever you do with any other commodity that is legitimately yours, you must never, never part with the truth.

15:53 Buy the truth and sell it not. Those of you who are familiar with Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress will remember that when Christian and faithful enter into Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair being an imagery of this present world system, they enter in and they are looked upon rather strangely. They are clothed with such kind of raiment as was different from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people therefore of the fair made a great gazing upon them.

16:30 Some said they were fools. Some said they were bedlams, that is, escapees from the mental institution. And some said they were outlandish men. Secondly, as they wondered at their apparel, so likewise at their speech.

16:44 For few could understand what they said. They naturally spoke the language of Canaan. But they that kept the fair were the men of this world. So from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other.

16:58 Thirdly, now notice Bunyan's insight. But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares. And they carried...

17:11 They were not so much as to look upon them, and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears and cry from beholding vanity. And then they would look upwards, signifying that their trade and traffic was in heaven. One chanced mockingly beholding the carriages of the men to say unto them, What will you buy? But they, looking seriously upon him, said, We will buy.

17:43 We will buy. We will buy the truth. At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more, some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them. As they came into the marketplace of this world, there was one commodity they were committed to buy, and that was the truth.

18:14 We... We...

18:18 We stand here seeking what is right toward us toward them mows and grass. Indeed, they were mocked and they tried to ehm. They pleaded with Kayie. For this, they were mocked.

18:27 They were thought strange. They were thought lunatics. But they bore the reproach willingly, critic andSeeing things. Yet they understood the truth of Proverbs 23, by the truth and sell it not.

18:37 Sell it not. Sell it not. Sell it not. Sell it not.

18:41 So, dear people, in the light of this text, it is biblical, to think, in terms of the cost of determining to have all of our doctrine and practice they an account... In the light of this text, it is biblical, to think, in terms of the cost of determining to have all of our doctrine and practice—that is the dark pillar one—의 and practice molded by the word of God.

18:51 It's the cost of buying the truth in every area that speaks in doctrine and life and selling it not, that is, refusing to give it up as our experimental possession. Buy the truth and sell it not. And no matter what we are offered for the truth, if this church under God is to know its blessing in years to come should the Lord carry it will only be as there is at the core of this church a commitment of nothing short of bull that no price is great enough to sell it.

Cost 1: Mental and Spiritual Diligence for First-Hand Convictions

19:52 And that's why I say that before we leave this second plank in our manifesto the determination that all of our doctrine and practice shall be molded by the word of God we need to face realistically the cost of maintaining that determination. As time permits I want to address in a very simple and straightforward way three aspects of the cost of maintaining this determination. Number one. This is the declaration of the specifics of the cost having given a justification for the concept bound up in the words cost now a declaration of the specifics of the cost.

20:43 Number one. It will cost us the mental and spiritual diligence essential to having something more than second hand convictions. It will cost us the mental and spiritual diligence essential to having something more than second hand convictions concerning God's truth. Now let me explain my words.

21:17 Sin has so infected the totality of our humanity that one of its horrible influences is that it has made us mentally lazy. And even when we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and sin's dominion is broken the remaining sin within us would always make us indolent and lazy in our minds and make us indolent and lazy in spiritual disciplines that cause us to deny ourselves and to exercise our minds and hearts in any concentration. And in that laziness we can pick up from our surroundings some measure of an understanding regarding the doctrine and practice of the church of which we are a part. You have to almost make yourself tune out everything not to be in this place over a period of 10 or 15 years and not pick up a fairly respectable array of second hand convictions. The truths that are expressed in the prayers in the hymns, in the psalms, in the scriptures read in the preaching you would hear

22:45 you'd have to be willfully rejecting and tuning out the very verbal sounds coming out of the mouths of those who lead us and those who blend their voices with us. Not to have a fairly impressive array of second hand convictions concerning both doctrine and practice. However, second hand convictions that cost us nothing will never maintain the integrity of truth in any congregation. Now hear me, second hand convictions that cost us nothing will never, never maintain the integrity of the doctrine and practice of any congregation. And convictions are costly. But first hand convictions alone are that for which you are ready to spill your blood but never sell. And how do you get first hand convictions?

23:52 Only one way. Turn to Proverbs chapter two. Say we're getting lots of doses of Proverbs these days. Yes we are.

24:01 And I hope it's not hurting any of us. Proverbs chapter two, verse one. And I read through verse five. Here the father is to instruct his son.

24:12 Here the father is to instruct his son. In the way of coming to first hand convictions about truth. And what does he set before him? He sets before him this path.

24:24 My son, if thou wilt receive my words and lay up my commandments with thee, so as to incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cry after discernment, lift up thy voice for understanding. If thou seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures, then, then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah and find the knowledge of God. What does he set before his son?

25:07 He does not set before him an easy laid back, non-energetic, non-involved way to come to the knowledge of God and of his fear. To come to the knowledge of his ways. That is to come to the knowledge of his truth. But he sets before him a path in which these vigorous verbs are used.

25:33 Apply thy heart, incline thine ear, cry after, lift up thy voice for, seek her, seek her, pray for her. You see what's involved? What is involved is mental and spiritual diligence to come to first hand convictions about God's truth. Now I'm not despising second hand convictions.

26:03 But what I'm saying is, if this church is under God to maintain any degree of integrity and is to grow in grace and into further maturity in Christ, it will only be if there is resident as the common denominator of the life of its membership a determination to buy the truth and sell it not and to buy it at the cost of the mental and spiritual diligence essential to having something more than second hand convictions. It is to be like those Bereans. A text often quoted. Often quoted in this place and God have mercy on us today. It is no longer quoted frequently. Acts 17 and verse 11. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica and wherein consisted their spiritual nobility in this in that they received the word with all readiness of mind as God's servant the apostle preached.

27:16 They did not sit there laid back hoping that magically something would somehow leave an imprint upon the brain and upon the spirit and bless them. No, they received with eagerness of mind. Their minds were active. They didn't expect to be tickled into truth.

27:39 They didn't expect to float into truth. We preachers must labor to be simple. We must labor to be clear. We must labor to illustrate and give likenesses and similes and throw our hearts and souls and all of the energy of our redeemed humanity into our preaching.

27:58 But my friend, if you're determined to be laid back and lazy, there's nothing we can do for you. And I say it reverently, there's nothing the Holy Ghost will do for you either. Because he didn't come to do our work for us. He comes to work with us and by us and in us but not for us.

28:15 And they received the word with readiness. They put their thinking caps on. They say if the preachers labor to open up the passage and organize it and lay it out, then I'm going to labor to follow the track of how it's organized and laid out and set before us.

28:40 Stories that make me giggle.

28:44 That just as it were basis of human interest. No, my mind is the purchased property of Christ. The sacred depository of divine truth. And I'm going to make it work.

28:59 For the sake of buying the truth. It's going to cost me the mental diligence to have first-hand convictions. They received the word with readiness of mind. Notice, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

29:19 Now, they didn't sit there cynically and say, what's that guy know? What's he getting excited about? No, they received the word with readiness of mind. Through the human instrument, they received it with readiness.

29:31 But not with a sinful gullibility. Oh, well, the preacher studied. Preacher worked hard. Preacher seems persuaded.

29:38 That's good enough for me. I'll take it on his...

29:40 No, no, my friend. Don't you stop short of your mind and heart coming into direct contact with the word of God. That's first-hand convictions. Yes, God uses teachers.

29:53 God uses human instruments to lead us into his word. But not away from it. Or to stand between us and that word.

30:02 He uses them to bring... To bring us into living first-hand heart and mind contact with the truth.

30:08 So that we receive the divine testimony on the basis of the authority of the testimony itself. Not the human instrument who pointed us to it.

30:19 They received it with readiness of mind. Search the scriptures and they say, yes, what he says tallies with what's here. And yes, if someone asked me, how did you come to know that? You could say, well, at a given place in time, God brought me within the orbit of the influence of the apostles.

30:35 Paul, also then, you're a follower of Paul. No way, Jose.

30:40 He was God's instrument to show me that everything he affirmed about Jesus Christ squares with my Old Testament scriptures. He is indeed the one who's fulfilled all of the prophecies of Isaiah 53. He is indeed the one who has crushed the head of the serpent. He is indeed that prophet greater than Moses, yet raised up, who was like Moses.

31:03 I believe it! Because I've...

31:05 I've come to first-hand convictions with the dealings of my own heart and mind with Holy Scripture.

31:14 Now, dear people, without that, God have mercy on us. We're only a few sighs away from departing from the Word of God. By application, I want you to turn with me to Isaiah 29 and 13 and see an example of people who only had second-hand truth. And what a mess they were in.

31:38 If truth is coming... If truth has come at a cheap price, it will be sold at a cheaper price.

31:45 If truth has come at a cheap price, it will be sold at a cheaper price.

31:52 It's only when you've bought the truth at real cost to yourself that you won't be prepared to sell it. This is what God says of this generation that, according to chapter 1, was very active in Orthodox religion, bringing sacrifices at the appointed times and places and in the appointed way until God Himself says, I've had it up to here. I'm sick and tired of all your religion. Why?

32:17 Even though it was religion according to God's own mandate, Isaiah 29, 13, And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, now notice, and their fear of me is a commandment of men, which hath been taught them, or look at the margin, hath been learned by rote.

32:46 Their fear of me is not something that I have taught them inwardly by the Spirit taking the truth and impressing it upon their own inner life. It's something they've picked up by osmosis. Their religion is second-hand religion. Therefore, they were careless about the internals and only concerned about the externals.

33:12 And my friend, the step from, from maintaining orthodox externals with dead internals is the step then to giving up even the orthodox externals. The soul of vital religion dies when a congregation is living on second-hand truth. And then it's only a while before the carcass will stink.

33:37 The body doesn't stink two minutes after the soul leaves it. Come back in three days and the smell will make you wretch. And let the soul of first fiction, go out a pretty and it won't stink the first year or the second. Give it five or ten years and the stench will fill all of Morris and Essex counties.

34:06 So it's going to cost you. Yes, with all the pressures that are on you to make a living, all the pressures that are on you to order the family and care, I know, but it's going to cost you the mental and spiritual diligence to obtain first-hand convictions concerning the truth. You know what that means? That means you're going to have to take time to read your own Bible.

34:35 Take time to pray over the things that are publicly taught and preached. You're going to have to take time to get some of the rich legacy of the books that are available to us, such as I suggested this morning, Bridges' commentary on Proverbs, and read through for yourself and for your wife and your children the word of God. God, until these things are the commodity and the marketplace of this world that God has set before you and you say, I'm going to buy the truth and sell it not. I'm going to be willing under God to pay the price of the mental and spiritual diligence essential to having first-hand convictions about God's truth.

Cost 2: Reproach and Misrepresentation from Conformists

35:25 Secondly, it will cost us the reproach and misrepresentation of those who conform to current opinions, fads, and fashions in doctrine and practice. If you're going to buy the truth and sell it not, it will cost you the reproach and misrepresentation of those who conform to current opinions, fads, and fashions in doctrine and practice. It's an unchangeable law that the godly will always suffer at the hands of the people. 2 Timothy 3.12 Yea, all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The words of Jesus are equally clear. The servant is not above his master. And he says, if they have hated me, they will hate you.

36:20 But it is equally true that to live as a congregation determined that all of your doctrine and all of your practice will be molded by the scriptures is to bring upon yourself reproach and misrepresentation even by much of the evangelical world. For example, to hold tenaciously to doctrines which offend man's pride, humble his reason, is never popular. It will never be popular to hold as a first-hand conviction that molds the very climate of our religious life that man by nature is utterly, pervasively, totally, depraved.

37:06 You see, there is a quality to the religious life that has its tap roots in the humbling sight of the wretchedness of what we are as sinners. God says, Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a humble to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God says, I have my dwelling with those who've owned the horrible, shocking reality of what they are as sinners, not as second-hand ideas, but as first-hand convictions.

37:58 Jesus, in opening up the character traits of the sons of His kingdom, where does He start? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that more shall be comforted. What is He saying?

38:17 He's saying the tap roots of the religious life of all the true sons and daughters of the kingdom, the tap roots are sunk down in a sickening sight of our own innate wretchedness, poverty of spirit. I am nothing, have nothing, can do nothing. My leanness, my leanness, they mourn. They know what it is to have a due sense of inner grief that they should dishonor their Creator by breaking His law, defacing His image and not accurately reflecting Him.

39:01 And though they may rise of what Peter calls joy unspeakable and full of glory, that joy will tinge with that element of the spirit that has known its leanness. Therefore, silly little ditty choruses will never be introduced as a so-called legitimate expression of holy joy. Why? They are inconsistent with lofty views of God and honest views of man.

39:41 You see, the little ditties don't come in overnight. They are a religious experience detached from the humbling doctrine of total depravity.

39:59 Our religious life will be tinged with the knowledge and majesty and the wonder and glory of unconditional election when the doctrine that God who owes salvation to none and could have glorified His justice by damning us all owes for reasons locked up in His own infinitely wise heart to set His love to a vast multitude of undeserving sinners and bypass others fully deserving of hell and leave them to the just desert of their own pure sin choosing them not for good in them but only of His mere good pleasure. A people who believe that doctrine firsthand are a people like Paul saved blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ according as He chose us in Him before us. Lord the foundation of the world why was I made to hear Thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather scarve than come? T'was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew me in and why did it draw me in? Because that love was set upon me

41:28 in eternity. You see dear people to hold to these truths is to put you out of step not only with the world in its swaggering pride but with much of evangelicalism that wants to say yes we have enough sin that we need Christ but not so much that we can't even get to the remedy on our own for no man can come to me except the Father which has set me draw him. You see it humbles a man to say I have no remedy of my own I must get to Christ for the remedy but when the man says I have no remedy of my own and I can't even get to the remedy unless God gets me there that humbles him more. And it will lend the quality to the whole religious life. It's one thing to say all my salvation is due to God's grace and Christ's death and resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. It's another thing to say I never would have come to faith in Christ's death unless God had set his love upon me. And when the question is asked who makes me to differ?

42:36 I have to say oh God you and you alone. Well you see that puts you out of joint with people who say well that's not fair. By whose standards? Nay oh man who art thou that reply'st against God?

42:51 Shall the thing form say to the thing that formed it why hast thou made me thus? Answer to our sense of fairness is put your hand upon your mouth you're a man I'm God. That's God's answer. God doesn't enter into philosophical debate.

43:10 He says take your hand upon your mouth. Take your place creature. I'm God. Who art thou oh man?

43:16 Write down through our doctrinal distinctives when those things are first hand convictions you see what happens? It puts us in an orbit where we will not only be the laughing stock of the world. There was Christian and his companion in Vanity Fair. They thought they were nuts and lunatics.

43:36 It will put you out of joint with an evangelical Christianity that wants enough of Christ's to get it to heaven. Wants enough of grace to salve its conscience and I'm not saying this as a blanket condemnation of all who do not profess to be reformed. Don't misunderstand me. But it puts you out of step with an evangelicalism that wants enough of Christ and enough of grace to claim that it believes the salvation taught in scripture but which refuses to take seriously the plain statements of scripture regarding the bondage of the will.

44:16 The total inability of man to do anything to effect his own salvation. The free sovereign electing grace of God and atonement that actually saves sinners. A calling that brings them out of darkness into light and that keeps them in the way of holiness enabling them to persevere in the ways of God while being preserved by the grace of God. and that keeps them in the way of holiness enabling them to persevere in the ways of God.

44:43 and that keeps them in the way of holiness enabling them to persevere in the ways of God. And in our day dear people it will cost us where it would not have even forty years ago to continue to believe as a first hand conviction that those who reject the savior and his salvation and are left to their sins will perish in an everlasting hell. The present evangelical fashion and fad is to bring question marks if not open denial on the doctrine of eternal, conscious, everlasting punishment of the lost in hell. I could name the names of leading evangelicals household words in evangelicalism for the past forty years who have waffled on this doctrine and have openly denied the doctrine of hell as a place of conscious eternal punishment. Well it's going to cost you, you see, misrepresentation. It's going to cost you reproach, if you're going to buy the whole truth and sell it not. But not only in terms of doctrine but in terms of practice.

45:55 Evangelicalism by and large has sold out to the feminist movement. It's now discovering in every definitive passage on the role of women in the church that nobody really understood it until we moderns came along. When Paul said, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, we did not do that. When Paul said, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, we did not do that.

46:14 When Paul said, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, we did not do that. didn't understand it. That was a cry to woman's liberation. Oh, yes. I've read the so-called exegesis that proves that passage is a call to open up all the offices in the church to women. As in all the churches of the saints, let your women keep silence. I permit not a woman to teach. Well, you see, that was Paul still speaking from his rabbinic prejudice.

46:42 The Paul who says in that very chapter, he that is spiritual or a prophet among you, let him acknowledge the things that I say are the commandments of the Lord. Suddenly he's a prejudiced rabbi. That's going on in evangelical circles. People that are touted around as big shot conference speakers. Folks, I'm not here creating straw men. I had to make a retraction in the Sunday school speaking on secondhand knowledge, but I'm talking secondhand here. My ground is safe and sure. It's going to cost you something. It's going to cost you. It's going to cost you. And in this area of practice, it's going to cost some of you more than it cost us. Because as the tide continues to swing in that direction and people will not accept that the biblical norms that God has established for the relative roles of men and women are unchangeable and in the best interest of men and women, as well as the glory of God. It will cost you to maintain your convictions about the centrality of preaching. There is a wholesale movement on the one hand back to liturgies that are the hangover of Rome.

48:01 And on the other hand, to a freewheeling sharing type of service in which the preaching of the word by a competent spirit anointed man of God is no longer essential. It's called one man ministry. We now have graduated to body life sharing times. You stand by your convictions that the church is organized under the apostles and under the direction of Jesus Christ and the superintendents of the Holy Spirit is the soul. Divinely-instituted agent to do the work of God. And you're going to pay a price. It's going to cost you reproach and misrepresentations. Look, go get your Church for the next mission.

48:51 On those who conform to current opinions, fads, and fashions in doctrine and in practice. You determine to hold to the biblical standards of child rearing as we considered them this morning. It's going to cost you. It's going to cost you.

49:07 And you won't pay the price if your convictions are second hand.

49:14 You won't. It's when you've mixed your own blood with the truth you believe that you're ready to spill your blood for that truth. It's blood mixed truth that you're willing to spill blood for.

Cost 3: Overcoming Carnal Comfort in Our Own Traditions

49:32 Thirdly, and very briefly, it will cost us not only the mental and spiritual energy to have first hand convictions. Cost us the reproach and misrepresentation of those who conform to current opinion, fads, and fashions. But it will cost us the native desire and tendency to become carnally comfortable in our own traditions. It will cost.

49:59 It will cost us the native desire and tendency to become carnally comfortable in our own traditions.

50:11 We have traditions both doctrinal and practical. I hope, according to our present life, that every doctrinal conviction we have expressed in our confession is a matter of first hand conviction. But who among us is prepared to say we've come to the end of the road. And there's no more light to break open from God's word.

50:34 That's one reason there is right now in the wings for further consideration a revision of our own 1689 confession. What are we saying by daring to state that that noble proven confession should undergo a revision? What we're saying is we will not accept even the best of doctrinal traditions. As standing over this blessed book.

51:03 And when God gives us further light, we're prepared to adjust our confession according to that light. Now that costs something.

51:13 It means that you've got to be uncomfortable.

51:18 Everyone feels comfortable in the couch of his own traditions. And to get up out of that couch and to examine the word of God is not comfortable. Learning, true learning, is not only one of the most delightful. Delightful processes in all the world.

51:33 It's one of the most painful and agonizing processes.

51:39 It's a kind of mental birthing process in which there are contractions and birth pangs of the mind. And then the joy comes when you feel that God has expelled out of those birth pangs a fresh understanding of his truth. And then, like the mother who forgets all of her travail when she holds a man child, holds a woman child, holds her baby. So likewise.

52:03 Likewise, when you're confident that God has helped you to come to a new level of understanding. And you hold that precious element of truth in the arms of the mind and of the soul. You forget the pangs that preceded it. But it means you've got to get off your easy couch to have a baby.

52:22 And God have mercy on this church. If we're prepared to just be carnally comfortable in the couch of our present understanding of the word of God. And carnally. And carnally comfortable in our traditions as to practice.

52:39 At this point, I can say with my fellow elders, we know nothing against ourselves. We are seeking in our practice to live by the light of the word of God. But none of us would claim. We have arrived to full-armed extensive obedience to all of God's precepts in our corporate life.

52:58 What nonsense. Someone has said any church that professes that kind of perfectionism borders on corporateness. And the man was right. That would be a form of corporate madness for us to say we've arrived.

53:11 No, we've not arrived. As we said last week, that's why we have the consecutive reading through the Old and the New Testaments as part of our public worship. That's why we have the continuous reading through the book of Psalms. That's why the exposition of scripture is central to our life together.

53:28 Why? We haven't arrived. And wherever the word of God points out a practice that is unbiblical. Or.

53:37 Points out a practice that's biblical that we're not doing. Then we've got to get off our couch. And we've got to alter practice if we are corrective. And the word of God is profitable for reproof, for correction.

53:50 Or if there is something to which the word of God points us that we've not done. Then we must look to God for grace to know how to implement a practical expression of obedience to that norm in the life of our own assembly. And it will cost us the native desire. And tendency to become carnally comfortable in our own traditions.

The Danger of Tradition Over Scripture

54:11 And you know what the end result of that carnal comfort is? I turn you to this passage as the final passage. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15.

54:23 What happens?

54:26 Quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah. Matthew 15 7.

54:31 Jesus interacting with the scribes. We're all upset that his disciples weren't following the tradition of the elders. And Jesus said. You keep your traditions but you violate God's word.

54:44 Verse 7. Verse 6. And ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition. You hypocrites.

54:53 Well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying this people honors me with their lips. But their heart is far from me in vain. Do they worship me teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. You see once we refuse to move off our couch.

55:09 In order to be a Christian. In order to respond to the pressure of scripture. To alter our understanding or our practice. It isn't long before our practice simply becomes a matter of religious ritual.

55:24 Then we can incorporate other rituals. And we won't know the distinction between the ones that were rooted in the word of God. And those that were rooted in the words and thoughts of men. And before long because man's ways always have an affinity for the flesh.

55:39 When God's ways are rooted in the words of men. And man's ways come into conflict. We will jettison God's ways and follow man's ways. That's exactly what happened with the Jews.

55:49 Originally a tradition grew up of rabbinic interpretation of the law. To help people to know how in a given place to implement God's law. Because people did not keep in direct touch with God's law. But only with their rabbi's words.

56:07 It wasn't long before the rabbi's words meant more than God's word. And so he said. You make void the word of God by your traditions. How did they get there?

56:15 Overnight? No. They didn't get there overnight dear people. And that's the burden of my heart.

56:22 I have no premonitions I'm going to die tomorrow. But someday if I live my three score and ten and my bonus ten. And preach to the day of my death. If the Lord carries the dirt will be shoveled on me in a cemetery somewhere in the area.

56:40 And what will be here? What will be here? Will it be a people who are buying the truth and selling it not? Prepared to get off that couch of carnal ease.

56:54 Whenever the word of God is brought to bear upon our understanding. And it's clear that the word of God is teaching something that we've not embraced before. But it is responsible balance handling of the scripture that brings us there. We must get off the couch.

57:15 And go into the birth pangs of surfing the scriptures. And saying yes Lord it is true. And go through the agony of true learning. And unlearning.

57:27 And then when we see something to which God is calling us we've not done before. Our reaction must not be that of traditionalists who say well we can't do it because we've never done it before. No. If we are to have an ongoing Ephesians 4.

Illustrations of Flexibility and Unchanging Principles

57:43 Growing up into the stature of Christ. We must be prepared. For example. I close with this illustration.

57:52 We receive a lot of raised eyebrows in certain circles. Because when we preach to the unconverted in an unusually focused way. We don't ask them to get up and walk down an aisle. And shake our hand or go into a room and pray.

58:06 You're here as an unsafe person. While we're preaching evangelistically to you. Pointing out your sin and your need of Christ. And Christ's efficiency as the savior of the vilest of sinners.

58:17 Urging you to repent and to believe the gospel. Which I am doing. I would not conclude my appeal by saying and now if you want to embrace Christ we're going to pray. Bow your heads, close your eyes.

58:32 The pianist will play. Get up out of your seat. We've rejected that evangelical tradition of the so-called altar call. Or the invitation system.

58:41 And going in a room and praying a little prayer. And then giving you Protestant absolution. And saying you prayed the prayer yes you're saved you're in. Here's a little piece of literature to read.

58:49 The Lord bless you. We've rejected that. And rightly so. There's no warrant for it in the word of God.

58:54 It is fraught with all kinds of evils. It is filled people with all kinds of self-deception. But, but suppose the Holy Ghost should begin to move in such power. That every Lord's Day morning.

59:07 There were awakened sinners in this place under deep distress of soul. I mean people sobbing under the preaching of the word. And suppose your elders were to say. We believe for those of you under distress of soul.

59:19 Who need help. Who need guidance. As to how to close with the offers of the gospel. One or two of the elders will be in the back room.

59:29 To meet with you at the close of the service. Would you say. Oh they're back sliding into the altar call. Would that be your reaction?

59:39 Well. You see if so the couch is comfortable isn't it? It might be a very wise expedient. In keeping with the general principles of the word of God.

59:49 To a point. Such a meeting. For such a time. As when God is brooding.

59:55 And then when God stops brooding. You can your meeting. You don't make it into an eighth sacrament. Conveying grace for all who will under God.

60:06 You see what I'm talking about? There's got to be a holy flexibility. Before the unchangeable principles of the word. As they come to bear upon the changing circumstances of our life together.

60:22 Suppose next Sunday morning. I should begin the morning service by a call to worship. And then read an appropriate passage on the bringing of our tithes and offerings. And say the ushers will now receive our offering.

60:37 As our first tangible expression of worship to God. If you won't give to God with your hand. Which is the easier thing. You won't give to him with your heart.

60:45 So we're going to lead with our hands this morning. Would you go. Would you get all upset and nervous? This is what I'm talking about dear people.

60:55 Let's not get comfortable in the couch. Of our own traditions. Which as far as we know. Given our present light.

61:04 Are a bonified application of the word of God. And the principles and precepts. To our given set of circumstances. But within that framework.

61:16 There is allowance. For change and alteration. As other principles come to bear. Without in any way relinquishing.

61:25 The regulative principle. Namely we bring nothing into the worship of God. Except that which is explicitly warranted by God. Then close up shop.

61:38 It'll only be a time before you'll have entertainment. And singing groups. And music groups. And mime groups.

61:44 And ballet groups. And pantomime groups. And who knows what. We never give up the regulative principle.

61:52 But who says the offerings got to come. After the reading of the word of God. And the longer morning prayer. And only there.

61:59 I don't know anything in my bible. That's one of our traditions. It's a helpful one. But it may be one that someday.

62:08 Should be changed. You say Pastor you setting us up to change the order of service. No I got no hidden agenda. I'm preaching for the day.

Conclusion: Is the Cost Worth It?

62:15 Are you prepared for that? God help us. Well brethren this. The light I have.

62:30 There may be more involved. But it seems to me. That on the surface of it. There will be the cost.

62:36 Of maintaining this second plank. In the manifesto. A determination. That all of our doctrine in life.

62:43 Shall be molded. By the word of God. It's going to cost us. Mental and spiritual diligence.

62:51 It's going to cost us. The reproach and misrepresentation. Of those who conform to current opinions. Fads and fashions.

63:00 And it's going to cost us. The native desire and tendency. To become carnally comfortable in our own tradition. Buy the truth and sell it not.

63:09 You say is it worth it? My friend what did God do? That you and I might have saving truth. He gave his only begotten son.

63:20 He spared not his own son. Look to the price paid. That we might be God's redeemed people. Christ's free man.

63:28 Whom the son sets free. Is free indeed. Free of every human tradition. Of every human doctrine.

63:36 That we might be bound to God's truth. And God's ways. Look at the price others have paid. That we might have the bible in our own language.

63:44 Men burned at the stake. Because they were determined. To get the bible into the hands. Of the common people.

63:52 Shall we through laziness of mind and heart. Chip away. At the foundations. By being content with second hand.

64:02 Convictions. Ready to sell them very cheaply. Shall we through fear of reproach. And misunderstanding begin.

64:10 To cut off the right angles of truth. And downplay offensive doctrines. And conform to current ethical. And I don't know what to call them.

64:24 But ceremonial. Fabs. And shall we through carnal comfort. And love of ease.

64:33 Hold to any tradition. Doctrinally or practically. At the price of the good conscience. Before the word of God.

64:41 May God grant. That your corporate answer will be. By the grace of God no. I'm prepared.

Pastoral Prayer

64:48 To buy the truth. And sell it not. Let us pray. Our father.

65:00 We thank you for your holy word. That it is indeed a lamp unto our feet. And a light to our pathway. And we thank you.

65:09 That there is such a thing as truth. In the marketplace of this world. Not because. It could ever be found here.

65:16 Without your intervention. But we thank you. You have brought it to us. And we pray this morning.

65:23 That by your grace. We shall indeed be prepared. To buy the truth. And sell it not.

65:29 That you would help us as a church. Even until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only to be. Held in the grip of the determination.

65:40 That Christ shall have his rightful place. In this assembly. But that everything we confess. To be truth.

65:48 And all that we do. As an expression. Of obedience to the truth. Will be molded.

65:56 By the scriptures. Oh God write these things. Upon the hearts of children. And young men and women.

66:03 Upon those who will be the future leaders. Of this assembly. Oh our God. Will you not lay up in hearts.

66:11 This day. Things that will bear fruit. In generations to come. Oh spirit of the living God.

66:20 Come. And bury your word in our hearts. And there cause it to grow. And spring up in the fruits of righteousness.

66:29 Have mercy upon those. Who are strangers to your truth. Who do not know him who is the truth. And we pray that things they have heard today.

66:39 Would make them hungry. To pursue the truth. And no longer to content themselves. With empty religious forms.

66:47 And nebulous notions. About yourself. And your salvation. And the world to come.

66:54 May they take in earnest. The realities of heaven and hell. And the cross of Christ. And their need to repent.

67:02 And believe the gospel. And use today's message. To draw them unto yourself. Dismiss us with your blessing.

67:10 Our grace resting upon us. We plead in Jesus name. Amen.