Our Duty Toward the Rising Generation (5)

Introduction: The Final Characteristic of a Legacy Church

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, June 12, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me, please, in your Bibles to the last chapter of the Gospel according to Luke,

0:23 and follow as I read a portion to which we shall make reference later on in the ministry of the Word of God this morning, probably the least known of the so-called Great Commission passages in the Gospels. Matthew's, perhaps, is most well-known. The Commission in Mark and in John, better known but least known, are the words of our Lord Jesus here in Luke 24 and verse 44, where the Lord Jesus, meeting with the eleven, plus an unnumbered, additional group, perhaps the 120 described in Acts chapter 1, and we are told by Luke that he said unto them, These are my words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their mind, that they might understand, and the Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus is it written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission,

1:50 or repentance unto remission of sins, should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry, wait in the city, until you be clothed with power from on high. Now let us again ask God's blessing upon the ministry of his word.

2:29 Our Father, we have sung together of the longing of our hearts that your truth would indeed be given a mighty influence among all the nations. We ask that you would bless the nations of the earth, that where the night of ignorance now reigns, there would come the sunlight of your truth, and where sin and evil reign, you would bring righteousness by the power of your gospel, changing the hearts of men. And, O Lord, what we have prayed in this hymn for the nations, we pray for ourselves in this building, this morning. May your word run and have free course and be glorified in the heart and mind of everyone gathered in this place today. May the Holy Spirit be present to take each one who sits before the word and bring each one into that felt awareness of having heart dealings with you. May he so enable the one who attempts to speak your word that he may traffic in the felt reality of the truths that he would seek to convey to others. Come to us by the grace and power of the promised spirit,

3:56 we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I stood before you last Lord's Day morning to open up the scriptures. I stated that we had come to the final message in a series of sermons, entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church.

4:20 I also said on that occasion that we would be examining two more of the seven characteristics of the kind of church that is a worthy legacy to the rising generations of our spiritual children.

4:39 You who are here will know we had time to address only one of the two remaining concerns. And as I said, I sought the counsel of my fellow elders on Thursday night. It was our mutual judgment that the seventh and final issue was too crucial to omit simply for the sake of keeping face. And therefore, with the encouragement of my fellow elders, I will be preaching this morning and then completing, God willing, this evening, our examination of this seventh aspect of the church.

5:17 The seventh aspect of the kind of a church that if we are indeed committed to a biblical perspective of the rising generations is the kind of church we will seek by God's grace to leave to those generations. Now, for the sake of those who may be visiting among us, let me seek in just a few moments to sketch in the broad strokes of the larger picture of where we are in the handling of this subject. We had come to the tenth and final affirmation in this series of messages entitled The Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. And that affirmation was framed as follows.

6:03 We are determined to establish, maintain, and transmit understanding and practice of our biblical duty to the rising generations. Having focused our attention initially on what our biblical duty is as parents, and I did that in just one message for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that in the last couple of years I brought a series of some forty studies on the rearing of our children and if anyone is serious about this matter of what it is to fulfill your biblical duty to the rising generations. To the rising generations of your natural children or offspring I commend that series of studies to you which surprising to me but of great encouragement has found widespread usefulness in a number of our sister churches who have worked through it in their own adult Bible classes. Having then focused for just one message on our biblical duty to the rising generations in the sphere of the home primarily and the school in a secondary sense we then proceeded to consider our biblical duty to our spiritual children in the sphere of the church

7:32 or the house of the living God as it is called in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15. And in opening up this latter concern we have sought to answer the question what kind of a church are we supposed to be? Are we seeking to leave as a legacy to the rising generations? And thus far we addressed six characteristics seeking to establish from the scriptures that these characteristics are essential to the church's identity and function as a biblical church.

8:11 First we saw that we must seek to maintain the unquenched passion of our church. The passion of our love for the person of Christ. For according to Revelation chapter 2 the maintenance of that passion of love for the person of Christ is a condition of remaining a true lampstand of Christ. Secondly we must seek to maintain an uncompromising attachment to the word of Christ.

8:43 For according to the Lord Jesus there is no true spiritual attachment to Christ. To his person divorced from an uncompromising attachment to his word. For he said whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in his glory. The third characteristic of the kind of church we desire to leave as a legacy is one in which we maintain an unfeigned love for the disciples of Christ.

9:16 For by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. The fourth characteristic is the maintenance of unfractured unity as the body of Christ. The great emphasis of Ephesians chapter 4 that the unity constituted by the Spirit is to be jealously guarded by the people of God. We are to endeavor to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

9:51 And the fifth characteristic is that of maintaining an unyielding commitment to corporate holiness according to the standards of Christ. Again in Revelation chapter 2 Christ commends the Ephesian church because they could not tolerate evil men. And in passages such as 1 Corinthians 5 and parallel passages the authority of Christ is to be exercised in the church's maintenance of standards of corporate holiness. Without the maintenance of such standards the Holy Spirit will be grieved.

10:32 Christ will remove the candlestick and though the regulative principle may continue to shape the worship there is not an application of corporate discipline according to the standard of Christ. It will be the form without the life. And then we noted last Lord's Day that we must seek to maintain unbroken continuity of godly leadership to guide us in implementing the rule of Christ. Well we come this morning and in both the morning and evening messages to address the seventh and final characteristic of the kind of church that we must strive to be now and the kind of church we must seek to maintain by the grace of God and to leave as a legacy to our spiritual children. And this is the characteristic. We must seek to maintain an unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ. By preparation for last week was complete and all I had in the statement was an unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

The Biblical Mandate for Proclaiming and Defending the Gospel

12:00 And I was about halfway through the fresh preparation for this Lord's Day when I felt uncomfortable simply stating that we must maintain an unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming the gospel of Christ and was constrained by the scripture and I trust they will persuade your judgment that I had to add the word defending not only unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming but also defending the gospel of Christ. Now in addressing this crucial issue I will first of all seek to demonstrate the biblical basis for the duty of proclaiming and defending the gospel and then take up three questions which rise out of that biblical material hoping to address two of them this morning and the third God willing this evening. I've said that if we are to fulfill our biblical duty to the rising generations of our spiritual children we must seek to maintain an unashamed aggressiveness in both proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ. Well let me first of all

13:29 give just a sampling of the biblical mandate to proclaim and defend the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness. This is just a sampling for some of you these things are well known truths for others of you they may be matters that you're not quite convinced of. This is by no means a thorough let alone an exhaustive treatment of the biblical materials it is only a sampling of the biblical mandate both to proclaim and to defend the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness. First of all the mandate for the proclamation of the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness. Many lines of biblical evidence could be brought forward but surely none is more fundamental and more compelling than the explicit directives of the Lord Jesus as embodied in the so-called great commission passages and I would refer you to but two of them this morning. The first the most familiar of such passages Matthew chapter 28 hear the Lord Jesus in his final post-resurrection appearance with the eleven disciples

14:57 in Matthew 28 in verse 16 we read but the eleven disciples went into Galilee unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and let me pause to say for those of you who think if only I could have lived in the days when the Lord Jesus was here amongst us the days of his humiliation if only I could have seen him and touched him and received the multiplied loaves and fishes from his hands and seen his miracles I'd have no struggles with unbelief you won't find that in the Bible one of the sins that Jesus had continually to rebuke to those who were looking him straight in the eye was the sin of unbelief not just the wretched damning unbelief of the Pharisees but even the partial unbelief of his own disciples he said all foolish and slow apart that the prophets have said and here we read that some even seeing the resurrected Christ are still filled with doubts and what does the Lord Jesus do Jesus came to them and spoke unto them saying all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth so ye therefore and make

16:27 disciples of all the nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you and lo pay attention to this final promise and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world or the consummation of the age here our Lord is speaking in the context to the eleven disciples in such settings he's referring the writers referring to the apostles but that this commission extends beyond its direct and more immediate application to the apostles is clear from the promise of the Lord Jesus he envisions this commission being operative to the consummation of the age to the end of this gospel age right up until the moment when the voice of the archangel sounds and the trump of God blasts and the heavens are parted and the Lord Jesus returns so this commission obviously our Lord envisions as being merged into the standing duty and privilege of his people to the very end of the age and we must view it in terms of the way

17:55 Jesus couched it before , he gives the disciples their task he reminds them that they carry out that task in obedience to and under the canopy of his own plenary authority all authority all right and power to act has been given unto me in every realm of existence in heaven and on earth as you humble fishermen and

21:40 the Lord Jesus Christ I.E. the gospel so the mandate to make disciples of all the nations is a mandate to make them in the only way that scripture recognizes as valid to make disciples you don't make disciples at the point of a gun or at the end of a hose to get water on them or by the side of a river to get them in the water you don't make disciples by building a compound and offering people civilized and modern technology and education of their minds no you make disciples by preaching the gospel that focuses upon Christ crucified Christ buried Christ risen and the repentance and faith that are unto the remission of sins and we have in these two commissioned accounts in the gospels the mandate for the proclamation of the gospel in an unashamed and in aggressive manner you'll notice that which both Matthew and Luke have in common is the expansiveness of that commission Jesus said make disciples of all the nations in the Matthew passage here in Luke remission of sins should be preached

23:10 in his name unto the nations so that the picture is no longer as it was in the days of the old covenant the nations flow up to Jerusalem you have both Jews of the dispersion and proselytes from among the Gentiles going up to Jerusalem at the set feast as in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch but now under the new covenant Jerusalem goes to the nations it is the people of God taking the message with unashamed aggressiveness into the nations into the very nations that have been the bastions of satanic bondage and darkness and ignorance and error for centuries picture is the church like a mighty army going forth conquering and to conquer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ not with the power of the physical sword but with the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and in the very passage read in our hearing this morning in the book of Acts you will see how those two things are brought into the closest connection in Acts chapter 14 Acts chapter 14 and verse 21 and when they had the gospel

24:38 to that city and had made many disciples so you have Matthew and Luke beautifully brought together in a passage such as Acts 14 and verse 21 disciples were made in the context of the proclamation of the gospel and in this setting it is clear you did not have committees coming out from the local town councils pleading with the disciples or the apostles to come and minister to them they went into hostile territory they went in uninvited and in many cases unwanted but they went in with unashamed aggressiveness because they were conscious that the one who had all authority in heaven and upon earth had commissioned them so to go but then what about the mandate for the defense of the gospel I have said that if we have our thinking framed by scripture we will be committed to the duty as a congregation of seeking to maintain an unashamed aggressiveness both in the proclamation and in the defense of the gospel and where is the mandate for the defense of the gospel like the matter

26:08 of the mandate for its proclamation the biblical witness is profuse but I would rest the whole case on the text that a few weeks ago I had occasion to open up in your hearing on a Sunday evening Jude and verse three Jude and verse three letter before the book of the revelation Jude chapter three verse three and I'm not going to re-expound the passage I did that for an hour or so several Lord's Day evenings ago but just alluding to it Jude says beloved while I was giving all diligence to writing to you of our common salvation I was marshalling all of my mental and spiritual faculties and perhaps even some of the legitimate resources that would have enriched this general epistle on their common salvation it was to be a positive pastoral strengthening of the hands of believers with respect to their common salvation but in the midst of that purpose and in death , he says I was constrained there were factors brought to bear upon my understanding and awareness and then upon my judgment I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend

27:37 earnestly for the faith the once for all delivered to the saints faith as we saw in our study like one long hyphenated word the faith that body of truth which focuses in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the once for all delivered to the saints faith and the saints to whom it has been delivered are to contend earnestly for it and in the context that contending has to do specifically with those who would creep in and would seek to pervert the gospel and he alludes specifically to certain ones who had crept in privily ungodly men who had turned the message of God's grace into a message that maintained some of the semblance of the gospel but utterly neutralized the very end of the gospel the end of the gospel of the grace of God is not to live out the devil's logic where sin abounds turning the grace of God into a license for sin and in so doing they were denying the very heart of the purpose for which Jesus Christ the Lord was manifested

29:06 in the pursuit of the salvation of men and the point is this they could not say well you know contentiousness and battling and fighting to be very positive positive upbeat kind of guy or a woman and contending and controversy I just have no stomach for it so I'll just be a Christian who happily proclaims the gospel my friend you don't have any right to cop out because of your temper this is written to all of the brethren those who are beloved of God that are called he doesn't say now to those among you who have a more combative temperament by nature and those of you who by the disciplines of grace are more prepared for controversy no he says to all of the people of God without discrimination you are all to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints here then I say is a sampling of the mandate for the defense of the earth the church has enough proof to be still to believe

30:32 in God that it is true and the Holy Spirit is the true Word and the rules of the world this is my opinion on my own faith I am under gospel without the defense of the gospel will soon have no gospel to proclaim because the devil is a liar and the father of lies and he never wants for minds and tongues and pens to seek to neutralize the purity of the gospel of Christ and therefore if we are not committed both to the defense as well as the proclamation of the gospel it will not be long before there is no gospel to proclaim trace out the history of how modernism has ruined whole denominations and you will find it almost invariably the transition from a vigorous full-blown biblical position where there was

31:51 proclamation and defense of the gospel into downright rationalistic liberalism where there's no gospel no divine savior no substitutionary atonement no propitiatory sacrifice on the part of Christ no regeneration of the holy ghost the transition did not occur from a circumstance in which there was unashamed aggressive proclamation and defense of the gospel to open denial of all that is distinctively gospel it didn't come overnight it didn't come overnight it didn't come overnight it didn't come overnight it didn't come overnight it came with men who said well my calling is not to controversy i'll just preach a positive gospel furthermore i'll preach it in such a way that those who are beginning to flirt with error will hopefully be so enamored with the truth that error will just drop off them like the leaves on my oak tree drop off in the spring when the new leaves appear some make it all through winter and then when the new leaves appear in the spring they drop off and they have to be in the spring and they have to be in the spring and they have to be in the spring and i could cite names of men whose sermons are still being reprinted as models of great 18th century pulpiteers but the great weakness in their preaching was they thought they had a mandate

33:13 simply to proclaim and not to defend the gospel and unborn generations were cursed by their arrogance in making themselves wiser than god and now people sit in the very buildings where at one time the gospel was being preached and they were being cursed and they were being cursed and they the gospel rang with great clarity and power and where every enemy of the gospel was exposed for who and what he was there's nothing that even resembles the gospel and in most cases it all started when someone said well i'm not going to be negative i'll just be all positive i'll just be a lovely proclaimer god has mandated the proclamation and the defense the gospel likewise those places that got all an всемberg with defending the gospel civil artisans used to be both analysis we must expose the errors of our day and they just had the people on the closing error what happens there well because there is no proclamation of the gospel in its pristine beauty and glory and naked power the constant defense of the gospel people don't see much of the fruit and the power of the gospel and they don't get exciting

34:34 about the truth but they begin to be jaundiced looking for every little wisp of error and sniffing for every little indication of error and they become narrow hearted and they become polemical in their spirits and they're not seeing the fresh and the constant impact of the gospel upon the hearts of men and they begin to lose faith in the gospel and they often then draw in and become insular and they lose all of their unashamed aggressiveness and they get the entrenchment mentality where are the little faithful few who are guarding the gospel now dear people I'm not just talking talk and I'm not wearing you with sighting incidents out of church history believe me this can be validated this is why our New Testament canon that is what God has given as the rule of our faith and practice contains not only the book of Romans a marvelous positive opening up of the gospel of the grace of God it contains the book of Galatians a white heart defends the gospel and an attack upon those

36:00 who would neutralize the pure gospel of the grace of God our canon would be incomplete without Romans it would be incomplete without Galatians they need both I trust this brief sampling of the biblical mandate to proclaim and defend the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness has carried your conscience and it's very interesting and it struck me in my preparation this week that when the spirit of God gives the requirement for an elder in the book of Titus what is the last thing that is mentioned Titus 1.9 he must be a man holding to the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able both to exhort in the sound or healthy doctrine positive and to convict the gainsayers negative he must be able to proclaim to defend the gospel and must not only have the biblical and mental and intellectual tools to do it but the moral biblical conduct the conviction that it is his duty to do both well then having sought to give a sampling

Question 1: What Realities Necessitate Aggressive Proclamation and Defense?

37:29 of the biblical mandate to proclaim and defend the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness that brings us to three crucial questions arising from the mandate here are the questions I hope to take up with you and it looks like maybe we'll just get the first one in the remainder of our time this morning some of you wonder well pastor you've been preaching so many years why can't you be more accurate in handling your time I'd be glad to discuss that with you privately if that bothers you I really would be because the answer is not simple alright and I won't be offended if you want to ask me but I'm not going to take preaching time to do it this morning suffice it to say that there are a lot of factors that enter into the answer alright but now three crucial questions we take the first one what realities necessitate aggressively proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ I'm asserting that if we are committed to leaving as a legacy to our spiritual children a church where there is a maintenance of unashamed aggressiveness in both the proclamation and the defense of the gospel and I've sought to demonstrate a sampling of the biblical mandate for those two things proclamation and defense then the question arises what realities necessitate proclaiming and defending

38:59 the gospel of Christ with unashamed aggressiveness there must be some realities which lie behind that necessity and there are and there are at least three of them that will never never change until the Lord Jesus returns again the realities that necessitate this unashamed aggressiveness in the proclamation and defense of the gospel are the unchanging confidence in the condition of mankind the unchanging remedy for that condition and the unchanging purpose of God whatever future generations of spiritual children in this place may face in society at large in terms of tremendous advances in technology it may make our modern cars look like model T's it may look to make some of our uh... modern kitchen devices look like ancient relics from the cave age etc i don't know what future spiritual generations should the Lord delay his coming and maintain this witness will face in terms of vast differences in the appliances with which they seek to get their daily tasks done the things that are out there in the world and in society

Unchanging Reality 1: The Condition of Mankind (Total Depravity)

40:25 there may be changes which if some of us could be brought back from the dead we would wonder what planet we were on be that as it may be there are three things that will never never change until Christ returns and they are the condition of mankind the unchanging remedy for that condition and the method of God to get the remedy to the needy the unchanging condition of mankind no two passages in my judgment more succinctly more comprehensively comprehensively, more incisively describe the condition of all mankind through all of time until the end of the age. Then do Romans chapter 3 verses 9 through 20 and then a more condensed version, Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 3. Paul is summarizing the argument he has unfolded from chapter 1 in verse 18 through to this part of chapter 3. Verse 9 he raises the question, what then are we, that is we of Jewish background better than they, that

41:47 is the Gentiles, know in no wise? For we before laid to the charge both of Jews and of Greeks. Now notice the sweeping generality repeated again and again. And again and again. We laid to the charge of Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They are together become unprofitable.

42:36 There is none that doeth good, no, not one. You see what Paul is doing? Fearful, hide in the shadows of a big all and say the all is a general state. But when he says no, not one, that's pretty specific. So he throws out the nets of the generality and then he takes the laser beam of specificity and he says no, not so much one, not so much as one, not so much as one. No exceptions in any place, in any culture, at any time, in any circumstances, under any benefits or blessings. One is righteous in and of himself. No one understands, no one seeks, no one does good.

43:32 And then he goes into some of the specific manifestations, quoting again from Old Testament passages, bringing together this collage of Old Testament witness. Their throat is an open. Sepulchre. With their tongues have they used deceit. The poison of snakes is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Live as men and women to whom the living God is the all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-encompassing God. Live as men and women to whom the living God is the all-encompassing, all-encompassing, supreme concern of life. They do not live as in his presence, as accountable to him, as under his eye, with a view to pleasing him. No fear of God before their eyes. Before

44:30 their eyes. Glitz and the glitter of popularity and notoriety. Glitter before their eyes. Objects of lust and passion, licit and illicit, constantly dazzled, but whatever is before their eyes, the fear of God.

44:50 God is never there by nature. Never there. No fear of God before their eyes. That's the basic problem with you kids brought up in this church.

44:59 Know your catechism. Know your Bible verses. Know your books of the Bible, frontward and backwards. Sit here week after week.

45:05 Sit in your Sunday school. Here's your problem. The God of whom you've heard from not before your eyes is the one whom you desire supremely to please. That's your problem.

45:20 Live here, kids.

45:28 Acceptance of your peers. Oh, yes. That's why you'll slavishly conform to every fad and fashion. That's why you'll slavishly try to get acquainted with the music that the other kids are talking about.

45:40 When your gut tells you that that music that they're all listening to is not going to lead in the direction of thinking of God and of Christ, of heaven and all... Oh, no, you know it isn't.

45:53 But what's before your eyes is... I don't want to be looked at as a nerd.

45:58 You see, acceptance of your peers is before your eyes. Conform it. What's in front of your peers is before your eyes. That's what's in front of your eyeballs.

46:07 And it'll go... You'll never, never, never be any different.

46:21 No fear of God before the eyes.

46:25 What things whoever the law saith, it speaks to them that are under the law. Notice. Every mouth may be stopped. God says, I've given my law to be a ubiquitous shut-up machine.

46:40 Men are always running off.

46:44 God says, you know what? My all...

46:47 Inclusive, all-powerful shut-up machine is my holy law. Look into my holy law long enough to realize that it touches the deepest springs of your desires and your motives and your thoughts and your attitudes and dispositions and start applying those ten words of Moses to your whole inner life as well as your outer life. And it'll happen to all your blethering and blabbering about man's virtue and man's this. God says, it'll shut your mouth.

47:21 The text says that every mouth and all the world be brought under the judgment of God.

47:32 The law of God was given to show you that you're a sinner. And in the presence of the holy God who made you and who will judge you in the last day, you've got nothing to say.

47:44 No virtue to hold up. No brownie...

47:57 As by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Now that condition of man...

48:07 Mankind is utterly unchanging.

48:13 Won't ever change. Won't ever change. And it's given in a more succinct form with differing perspectives in Ephesians 2, 1 to 3. You hath he made alive who were dead through your trespasses and sins.

48:28 God says you are by nature spiritually dead. There is no living communion with the living God. There is no living principle of desire to please him. You walk about, in the next verse he says, in a state of living death.

48:43 You hath he made alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins. And then in the next verse he talks about these dead people walking. Listen to the description. Wherein you once walked, that is, in your trespasses and sins and in that state of spiritual death, you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit who now is actively at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

49:27 This knowledgeable Saul of Tarsus says at the end of the day, put me in the camp of the rest.

49:38 Like all the liquid bloodlines and all the influences of my religious training, in spite of all my external morality touching the outward standards of the law, my life was blameless and impeccable. He said inwardly, I was spiritually dead. I was held in the grip of the course of this age. Inwardly, I was under the power of the devil.

50:07 And before almighty God, I was an heir of divine wrath and judgment like the rest of them.

50:15 Now, my friends,

50:18 you'll never change. That is the unchanging condition of mankind. Let the sons and every...

50:30 We've got a new explanation for deviant behavior, but let God be true, and every man a liar. He's man's true state. Let those in their fields who are trying to say that homosexuality and murder and every other form of deviant behavior is ultimately to be found in some quirk in our genetic patterns. Let them say what they will.

51:04 Let them bring forth any sort of judgment. Let them say what they will. The solution remains. None righteous, no, not one.

51:19 None that understand it. None that seeketh after God. All gone out of the way. Mouth is stopped in the presence of God in the light of His mouth.

51:30 Now, it's that unchanging condition of mankind, dear people, that is the backdrop of why we must maintain as a church an unashamed aggressiveness in both... Proclamation and the defense of the gospel because the second unchanging reality is this.

Unchanging Reality 2: The Remedy for Mankind's Condition (The Gospel)

51:57 The unchanging remedy for this condition. There is an unchanging remedy for this unchanging condition. And what is that remedy? Well, if you read on in Romans 3, Paul moves right from his most powerful summarizing statement of the malady into this beautiful succinct statement of the remedy.

52:19 But now, verse 21 of Romans 3, but now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested. It is made known, a righteousness that comes from him and is acceptable to him. It is one that is witnessed by the law and the prophets. One that has been worked out over many centuries.

52:47 Centuries of God's activity in human history. It is therefore witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all then that believe. For there is no distinction.

53:07 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace. Through the redemption that is incredible. Jesus Christ, whom God set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime in the forbearance of God. For the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season.

53:36 That he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. Do you see the words packed into those few? The verses that I have read? Righteousness of God.

53:51 Law and prophets. Through faith in Jesus Christ. Justified freely. Redemption.

54:01 Propitiation. Might be just and the justifier. You say, Pastor, all those big words. My friend, listen to me.

54:11 Your only hope to miss hell is bound up in the realities those words represent. And if you don't believe. If you don't care about getting out the description of Romans 3, 9, 20. What faith in Christ.

54:37 What propitiation is. Then you deserve to be damned for your laziness. They're scared of the Bible terms. So we're going to throw out redemption.

54:57 Propitiation. Righteousness of God. All these sacred words given by the Holy Ghost. As long as we get Jesus out there somehow and huckster him off.

55:09 And have people. When they talk about. Have you had a high on this? A high on that?

55:13 Try Jesus. He'll give you a high. My friends. It is blessed.

55:17 Faith did not come. To give you a high. Faith with God. That's produced real guilt.

55:34 That has offended a real God. Who's prepared. Real hell upon his son. Real wrath.

55:44 That made a real propitiation. Propitiation is the turning away of the wrath of God. By the Lord Jesus bearing that wrath. So that God can still be a just God.

55:58 Who says. I will by no means clear the guilty. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins must die.

56:05 A just God can't wink at his own pronouncements about himself. And if there's a way for sinners to be saved. God must maintain his own integrity folks. There's something more important than you getting a high on Jesus.

56:20 There's something more important than your subjective feelings. There's something infinite. How can God maintain his integrity. And do anything but send a whole bunch of us to hell.

56:34 That's the great. Never never let God lose his integrity. He's found a way. To maintain his integrity.

56:51 As a just and a holy God. And still. Forgive the life. It is the unveiling.

57:01 The unfolding. The revelation. Of what God has done. That he might be a just God.

57:07 Who will declare sinners righteous in his sight. Worthy of acceptance into his presence. And it's all bound up. In the person and work of Jesus.

57:21 Whose sacrifice is called in some places. A redemption. In others. A propitiation.

57:27 In others. A reconciliation. And all of these blessed words. Given to us by the Holy Ghost.

57:35 Encapsulate marvelous realities. That constitute the heart. Of the biblical gospel. And that's God's only remedy.

57:45 God's only remedy. For man's condition. As it really is. Is this gospel.

57:53 That focuses upon the person of Jesus. Whom Paul describes in chapter one. Is born of the seed of David. According to the flesh.

58:04 And declared son of God. With power. By the resurrection from the dead. According to the spirit of holiness.

58:11 This unique person. Who is. Truly God. And truly man.

58:17 This one. Who did effect a redemption. A buying back of a people. By the purchase of his own blood.

58:26 A propitiation. A turning away. By swallowing up that wrath. In his own self.

58:34 Though he was harmless. Sinless. Separate from sinners. Yet he who knew no sin.

58:43 Was made sin for us. And you see dear people. Because man's condition is unchanging. And God has given an unchanging remedy.

58:54 For that condition. We as a church. Not just those of us in the pulpit. But this entire church.

59:01 Must be a body of people. Determined to maintain. An unashamed aggressiveness. In proclaiming such a marvelous gospel.

59:11 Which vindicates God. Maintains the integrity of God. And yet meets the sinner. At the point of his deepest need.

59:20 And takes him from where he is. Into the very presence of God. An heir of God. And a joint heir with Christ.

59:27 But we must not only proclaim it. We must defend it. Because it is the only remedy. All the powers of hell.

59:36 Are marshaled. To try to disrupt. The purity. Of that remedy.

59:44 In its proclamation. It happened right under the nose of apostles. Paul is writing to a church. That he founded at Corinth.

59:52 And there were people. Who were coming into that church. And with their pagan philosophy. That denigrated the body.

59:59 They were saying. Look, look, look. You can hold to the immortality of the soul. And you can hold to the truth.

60:05 That the souls of believers. Go into the presence of God. Through Christ. That's fine.

60:10 But just don't get this. Sinful. Horrible. Earthly body involved up in your gospel.

60:17 And they were denying. Godly resurrection. Where do you think that whole chapter. Big long verse 15 came from?

60:23 It is Paul's defense of the gospel. Isn't that how he begins? Look at it. I can quote it.

60:30 But I want you to see it. The gospel. Which I preached unto you. Which also you received.

60:40 Wherein you stand. By which you are saved. If. You hold fast.

60:49 The word. Which I preached unto you. Except you believed in vain. You mean Paul is actually saying.

60:56 You are saved or damned. In terms of objective truths. That you initially believe. And continue to believe.

61:04 That's exactly what he is saying. That's exactly what he is saying. He said. You had a word preached to you.

61:13 And it had propositional statements. About Christ. And in particular. As he is going to show us.

61:20 About his death. His burial. His resurrection. And your salvation is bound up.

61:25 In the believing spirit rock. Intelligent brass. And their relevance to your need. As a sinner.

61:34 Give them up. And you will be damned. And you will be saved. And then he gives.

61:41 The more relevant aspects of that gospel. In terms of those who were attacking it. For I delivered unto you. Verse 3.

61:49 First of all that which also I received. That Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures. And that he was buried.

62:00 And that he hath been raised on the third day. According to the scriptures. And that he appeared. And that he appeared.

62:07 And that he appeared. And then he speaks of his appearance to him. And then after summarizing. That this is the gospel.

62:15 That I and all others. Who are preaching. Have preached. Verse 11.

62:20 Whether then it be I or they. So we preach. And so you believed. Now.

62:24 And now he takes. The chain of logic. And says. All right.

62:29 If Christ is preached. That he be raised from the dead. How say some among you. There is no resurrection of the dead.

62:36 There are some that are saying. The concept of bodily resurrection. Does not belong. Or a bit of your thinking.

62:43 He says. Wait a minute. If you take that premise. You better be willing to live with the consequences of it.

62:49 And then by one. Link. After another. In a chain of logic.

62:54 He shows them. If there is no resurrection of the dead. In general. Then Christ has not been raised.

62:58 Because he died bodily. If you rule out bodily resurrection. As a general principle. You rule out.

63:02 The bodily resurrection of Christ. In particular. And if Christ has not been raised. Then is our preaching.

63:06 A big puff of air. It is a nothing. That he was raised from the dead. Was central.

63:10 To our message. And if there is no such thing as resurrection. Our preaching has been a bunch of. Hot air.

63:14 It has been a void. Yes. Furthermore. We are found false.

63:20 We are found dead. We are found dead. We are found dead. We are found dead.

63:24 We are found dead. We are found dead. We are found dead. We are found dead.

63:28 This is false. We are false witnesses. Of God. Because we witness.

63:32 Of God. That he raised up Christ. Whom he raised not if. The dead are not raised.

63:36 For. If the dead are not raised. General principle. Then neither.

63:40 Hath Christ been raised. Specific application. Furthermore. If Christ has not been raised.

63:44 Your faith is a nothing. Why? Because. You placed your faith in a message.

63:48 That said. Christ died for our sins. Was buried. And was raised.

63:53 Now. If there is no resurrection. Christ is not raised. Then you believed in a nothing.

63:57 And a nothing can save you. A nothing can save you. Of course not. He says, the whole fabric is unraveled.

64:03 If so be that the dead be not raised. If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised. Christ has not been raised. Your faith is vain.

64:10 You're yet in your sins. Furthermore, think of your relatives who died with the glow of heaven upon their faces. You clasped their hands and they said, I will see you in the resurrection.

64:22 That was all a big bunch of baloney.

64:26 They that have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. All because some were denying the concept of bodily resurrection. On whatever grounds to maintain the gospel, Christ was raised from the dead on the third day. And then he goes on later in the chapter to give the positive exposition of why it is so crucial.

64:54 And demonstrates that when he was raised, he was not raised as a private person, but as the federal head and representative and living head of his people. And his resurrection is but the first fruits of the resurrection of all the saints. And as surely as Christ came out of Joseph's tomb, every last one of us are going to come out of our tomb.

65:13 That's the gospel.

65:16 And Paul is passionately concerned to defend the gospel. Not merely to proclaim it. He proclaimed it as we read this morning, even when he was bitterly opposed and stoned and left for dead. Aggressively, unashamedly proclaiming it.

65:33 But when it needed to be defended, he was ready to defend it. With all the powers of his trained and sanctified. And to defend it, so that the church might have that legacy until the return of Christ. That he not only defends the objective contents of the gospel, but the subjective means of appropriating the benefits of the gospel.

65:54 You see, the problem at Galatia was, nobody was denying Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. What they were denying is, that the medium of receiving the benefits of Christ was faith alone. Faith alone! The Judaizers were saying, look!

66:11 Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ was raised. Fine, no problem with the objective contents of the gospel. But our problem is with the statement, that by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.

66:24 Not of works of any kind, that no man should boast. They had a problem with that. They said, no! You must not only believe in Christ, unto the saving of the soul.

66:34 You must then show your loyalty to the God who sent his son. By embracing his priesthood. Through the previous revelation, through Moses, and be circumcised, and keep the law of Moses. Then you have a complete salvation.

66:48 That was the whole debate at the church council at Jerusalem. They said, certain came down from us saying, you cannot be saved, except you be circumcised. And Paul writes a whole epistle to go after the heart of that attack upon the gospel. Now, why do I emphasize this?

67:05 Because you see, there are those in our day who would say, well, yes, let's preserve the objective contents of the gospel. Let's defend that. But let's not be fastidious about whether people say you must repent and faith alone. My friends, we better be fastidious.

67:23 It's a matter of life and death. Paul goes on to show in the book of Galatians, that if we add anything to Christ, we neutralize all we say about Christ. And all the virtue we say we receive from Christ. He said, you are fallen from the principle of grace.

67:41 It cannot be grace alone, faith alone. And at the same time be grace plus human effort and faith plus circumcision in the law of Moses. They are mutually exclusive. And so Paul defends the gospel.

Unchanging Reality 3: God's Method of Getting the Remedy to Man (Preaching)

67:56 Well, I'll just give you the third head. Not only an unchanging condition of mankind, an unchanging remedy for this condition, but there's an unchanging method of God. What is God's primary method of getting his remedy to man in his unchanging condition? His method is to bring his word in the preaching of the gospel.

68:22 God is ordained by the foolishness of the thing preached to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians 1.21 How shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10 Other sheep I have that are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.

68:38 John 10 and verse 16 Therefore Paul could say in 2 Timothy 2.10 I endure all things for the elect's sake. That they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul was convinced all the elect would be saved.

68:57 But he was convinced that all the elect must be saved. And that men are not saved unless they hear. For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And therefore he said, I endure all things for the elect's sake.

69:10 What things was he enduring? Hardships in the path of fidelity to his preaching. To take the name of Christ to the ends of the earth among the Gentiles. And he says, I endure all of this that God's elect may obtain salvation.

69:27 Why? Because I'm not only convinced they shall be saved, but they must be saved. And if they must be saved, they must hear the word of God. And I'm willing to endure anything that they might hear it.

Conclusion: A Call to Unashamed Boldness

69:40 Well, you see, dear people, because of those three unchanging realities. The unchanging condition of mankind. The unchanging remedy for that condition. And the unchanging method of God.

69:51 Do you see why we must maintain an unashamed boldness? In both the proclamation and the defense of the gospel. Do you see it? In your head, in your ears or something.

70:07 Have you been listening? Am I just going through a kind of pulpit here? That it might be defended. Willing for this church to increasingly be looked upon.

70:34 As an anachronism to our growing secularization of the age. Because we're committed to the proclamation and the defense of the one remedy for man. In his pathetic state of lostness and undone. May God grant that by his grace we'll be prepared to pay whatever price we can.

71:03 And are called upon to pay that this generation. In so far as God gives us opportunity. May know that we are set with all of our hearts. And committed to the unashamed proclamation and defense of the gospel.

71:19 And may we so pass on those biblical perspectives that another generation will rise up. Determined that the greatest blessing they can be to their generation. And the greatest legacy they can leave to rising generations is a church. Marked by this unashamed aggressiveness.

71:43 In the proclamation and defense of the gospel. God willing we'll take up the two final questions tonight. What are the means that God has warranted for that proclamation and defense? And why are we so reluctant to proclaim it and to defend it?

Prayer

72:05 Let us pray. We cry out to you God of mercy. Who has revealed yourself in your son. And in the glorious gospel of your grace.

72:26 Oh how we pray that in a day of eroding standards. Of soft and constant compromise. That you would make us men and women, boys and girls prepared to spill our blood. For this gospel.

72:45 Which alone can meet the needs of men where they really are. Oh father write your word upon our hearts. And may months and years to come validate. That we by your grace embraced your word to us.

73:06 Hear us we plead. And dismiss us with your blessing. In Jesus name.