No Crisis Experience #1

Introduction: The Principle Stated

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, November 22, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. But dear people, will you please gird up the loins of your mind as we seek to grapple with this fourth principle that constitutes in our day an unusually critical element in any balanced New Testament teaching on how to live the Christian life. There is no post-conversion crisis experience promised or commanded by God in conjunction with living the Christian life.

0:45 First of all, then, the principle explained. The principle explained.

Defining 'Post-Conversion Crisis Experience'

0:54 In giving an explanation of the principle, I'll ask and then answer two questions. First, what do I mean by the words a post-conversion crisis experience? What in the world do I mean by those words? Well, I am referring to a spiritual experience subsequent to our conversion, hence post-conversion, which is calculated radically to raise our ability to live a joyful, fruitful, mature, and victorious Christian life.

1:36 Sort of a spiritual wonder drug. Here is a Christian. He has repented of sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ from death unto life. But there is much about him that is sickly in his spiritual life.

1:54 He is evidently spiritually anemic. He lacks vigor in his warfare against, against sin and the world and the devil. He is not very productive and fruitful. Few people comment about the transformation that has occurred in his life.

2:13 Rarely does anyone ever ask him a reason of the hope that is in him. He is feeble at prayer, feeble at worship, feeble in his witness. And there are some who would say, ah, such a fellow needs this spiritual wonder drug. One, dose of it will take a man from being spiritually anemic and moribund and fruitless and immediately launch him into a state of spiritual health and vigor that is qualitatively different from anything he has ever known before.

2:51 And those who hold forth the possibility of such an experience offer it, I say, as a kind of spiritual wonder drug that with one dose, hence the terms post-conversion crisis experience will take a man from the doldrums of spiritual dullness into this living, vibrant, fruitful, useful Christian experience. Or to change the imagery, it is like some kind of wonder chemical that promises the man who's driving his old eight-cylinder car hitting on only three or four cylinders black smoke, pouring out the tailpipe. The piston rings are obviously worn.

3:36 It clatters in a tragically loud way. Obviously, the bearings are going. And the promise of this product is that one pint of it will immediately cause any engine to purr like a kitten, take away all the knocks and the clatter. It will take away all the black smoke coming out the tailpipe.

3:58 Just one pint of this magic, this magic elixir will transform that engine into something marvelous. Well, when I say a post-conversion crisis experience, it is this kind of thing in the realm of the spirit to which I am addressing myself. Now, in the history of the church, there have been many varieties of such teaching concerning a post-conversion crisis of spiritual experience. And I want you to tighten your seatbelts as I give you a broad overview of some of the major proponents of such teaching.

Varieties of Crisis Experience Teaching: Wesleyan Perfectionism

4:41 There has been what we may justly call Wesleyan perfectionism. In this teaching, the focus is upon dealing with the problem of indwelling or inbred sin. And the basic thrust of such teaching as articulated by Wesleyan perfectionism, Wesley and his followers, was that in a crisis of appropriating Christ as our sanctification, we are given a pure heart. Acts 15.9 is the text

5:13 that is often pressed into service at this point. And we are then able to love God with perfect love. An allusion to John's reference in his first epistle, he that fears is not made perfect in love. Furthermore, it is taught in Wesleyan perfectionism that the result of this experience is that we can be delivered from committing known sin.

5:41 We are not delivered from mistakes. We are not delivered from our humanness. But we are delivered from the committing of known sin. So that the perfectionism must be defined by a redefinition of the known sin.

5:59 The nature of sin itself. Now this teaching in various forms has become the official doctrinal position of such groups as the Church of the Nazarene, Wesleyan Methodists, the Salvation Army, and it was very prominent in the teaching of the man that is heralded far beyond his true worth in American church history, Charles G. Finney. Well that's one of the forms of offering to people as something both commanded and promised by God a post-conversion crisis experience that is the key to really living the Christian life with a capital L.

Varieties of Crisis Experience Teaching: Deeper Life/Victorious Life

6:44 Wesleyan Perfectionism. But then, secondly, another variety has been found in the various forms of what has been designated as deeper life or victorious life teaching. This teaching which is really just a refined form of perfectionism as demonstrated conclusively in a thousand pages by B.B. Warfield

7:11 in the Oxford edition of his works, this teaching has had widespread acceptance on both sides of the Atlantic and has even spread to what we would call third world countries. And the basic thrust of this teaching is that if we would have victory over sin and live a Christ-like life, one must enter into this victory in a crisis of total surrender and an appropriation of Christ as our sanctification or as our very life. The emphasis falls upon the power

7:53 of the indwelling Christ. And though there are various strands and emphases within the orbit of such teaching, it has generally been propagated by what has been commonly known as the Keswick Convention in Keswick, up in the Lake District in England, and then here in the States by men such as W.E. Boardman, Charles Trumbull, a woman in her writings, Hannah Smith, the Christian secret of a happy life, A.B. Simpson,

8:26 the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I read some things, to my wife last night, that caused her eyeballs almost to jump out on her cheeks, where A.B. Simpson says, in appropriating the indwelling Christ, we can so know that appropriation that as in heaven he has a perfectly healthy heart, perfectly healthy lungs, he is in his perfectly healthy, glorified physical state, so Christ becomes our very physical health as he literally replaces our life with his.

8:58 Now, the way you get into this, you see, is by coming to a crisis of total surrender and enter into a passive willingness to let Christ live his saving life in us and through us. So the great battle in all forms of deeper life and victorious life teaching is to stop the battle. The great struggle is to stop struggling. The great agony is to stop.

Varieties of Crisis Experience Teaching: Old and Modified Pentecostalism

9:29 The great agony is to stop agonizing. To let go and to let God. And not to learn this by a process, but to come to a definitive crisis of surrender and of appropriating the power of the indwelling Christ. But then thirdly, there is another form of this post-conversion crisis experience, and that is what I've designated as old Pentecostalism.

10:03 In this movement and its teaching, usually associated with happenings in California just after the turn of the century, the focus has been upon a baptism in or with or by the Holy Spirit. And unlike Wesleyan perfectionism where the focus was upon the problem of indwelling sin and a divided heart, and in victorious life teaching where the problem is victory over sin and living a Christ-like life, in old Pentecostalism the emphasis was primarily upon the matter of power for service.

10:48 The key texts in old line Pentecostalism are Acts 1-8. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and ye shall be witnessed unto me. I can remember in my contacts with old line Pentecostalism for my grandmother lived and died in such a faith. Though I know as much as I can know of anyone that she lived and died in union with Christ in spite of her errors here.

11:20 Luke chapter 24, carry until you be endued with power from on high. And so the great emphasis in old line Pentecostalism was not so much on the matter of indwelling sin, not so much the matter of victory over sin, but a baptism of power for effective witness. And in old line Pentecostalism there was uniform consistency in their teaching that the way you would know you had received this baptism was that you would do what they did in Acts 2. When you would know when they were all filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak

12:04 in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And you could never regard yourself as having received the baptism unless you had at least on one occasion uttered at least a few words if not a few sentences in some form of Kibberish called unknown tongues. And this is not a caricature. This is clearly stated in the epistle to the Lord.

12:30 In the official doctrinal positions of old line Pentecostalism it was the very thing that people tried to get me to embrace and to believe and which I sought with all my heart to believe until I found the scriptures would not let me believe it. But I've heard many times such statements as these. Oh, so and so almost got the baptism last Sunday night. So and so almost prayed through every day.

13:00 And got the baptism. Or they would say so and so got the baptism and when you'd ask how do you know? Well, it's obvious. We heard them and on you go.

13:15 They babbled in some kind of self-induced or psychologically triggered babblings but that was the indication that you had received the baptism. But then there is a fourth form of this post-experience post-conversion experience. We've dealt with Wesleyan perfectionism with victorious life teaching old Pentecostalism and it's what I would call modified Pentecostalism. Here the emphasis is also upon a baptism of power with a primary reference to usefulness in service.

13:55 Tongues was not made an issue. Rather the evidence that you had received this baptism of power was that you had power in your witness. And perhaps the most influential man in promoting this modified Pentecostalism was R.A. Torrey's successor

14:14 to D.L. Moody. And his book was probably the most instrumental factor in causing whole segments of evangelicalism to accept this modified Pentecostalism.

Varieties of Crisis Experience Teaching: Modern Charismatic Movement and Sealing of the Spirit

14:29 But it had this focus there was a post-conversion experience as a crisis when certain conditions were met and there was prayer and waiting upon God and faith you would receive as a definable Christian experience this baptism of power. Then there is fifthly the modern charismatic movement. This was a movement that began in the late 50s and early 60s and that's part of my history and I have seen it from its inception and it emphasizes a crisis experience subsequent to conversion

15:13 but unlike old Pentecostalism and modified Pentecostalism it does not focus either upon the doctrinal framework of the person seeking the baptism in other words there is very little concern to see if there is an orthodox doctrine of sin of Christ of repentance and faith. That was not true of old line Pentecostalism or modified Pentecostalism. Those who taught these things were orthodox and insisted on an orthodox doctrine of sin of repentance and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the modern charismatic movement

15:57 one finds liberalism Roman Catholics Mormons and people of all kinds of ideas and notions within the orbit of so-called Christendom receiving without any prior conditions simply by an appropriating act this baptism in the Spirit. And here in modern charismatic teaching and life and practice the emphasis is not so much upon a baptism of power for service as in old line Pentecostalism but a baptism in the Spirit to liberate me into a realm of freedom

16:42 in personal worship so there is tremendous emphasis upon tongues as prayer and praise language. People will say where once I had to agonize and struggle to pray for half an hour now I can pray for three or four hours in tongues without any effort. And the emphasis falls upon the internal liberation from the struggle in prayer and praise. Also in corporate worship upon total freedom to be able to get over one's hang-ups and raise one's hands and just abandon oneself to the crest of the wave of the Spirit in public worship.

17:25 And this is the primary focal point of the modernist and charismatic movement but like all the others it says this is a crisis experience subsequent to conversion or in the case of Roman Catholics subsequent to one's infant christening and one's confirmation and yet they incorporate this doctrine into the midst of all of the heresy of Rome. And then the final manifestation of this speaking again in broad strokes because I've labored not to weary you with that which would be tedious but to immunize you against that which would be dangerous to your soul

18:09 is the recently revived sealing of the Holy Spirit teaching. The recently revived sealing of the Holy Spirit teaching. Some of the older writers such as the Puritan Thomas Goodwin taught a doctrine of the sealing of the Holy Spirit as a crisis experience subsequent to conversion. And the focus of this sealing was not dealing with indwelling sin or a divided heart as in Wesleyan perfectionism or with the struggle with sin and living the Christian life as in deeper life teaching nor was the emphasis

18:53 upon the matter of a baptism of power for witness as in old or modified Pentecostalism nor is the emphasis upon this liberation in the realm of the spirit for personal devotions and corporate worship but it focuses upon the issue of assurance of one's acceptance in Christ.

19:18 In other words this teaching says that there are two kinds of assurance. There is the assurance based upon the evidences that are set forth in the book of 1 John. Hereby do we, we know that we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. We know we've passed from death unto life because we keep his commandments.

19:43 But this teaching says if you receive this post-conversion crisis experience of the sealing of the spirit this is God himself directly attesting to our spirits that we are his children. And now some would say we don't even need the evidences any more than when I come home from a trip I put away the pictures of my wife and my children and my grandchildren. I have them in person. I no longer need mere cardboard or paper representations of them.

20:19 And one who receives this baptism or sealing of the spirit has a direct testimony to his own spirit of his sonship of his sonship and with that heightened level of assurance will come a heightened usefulness in witness and victory in the Christian life but they are offshoots of the central issue which is the issue of assurance. Now I'm sad to say this because of his great usefulness under God in so many ways in the generation or the overlapping of the past and present generation of the late Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones but he is the one who has revived this teaching in our generation

21:04 and it has become divisive throughout the United Kingdom not so much here in our own country and you have a whole group of people who call themselves reformed sealers that is they hold a reformed doctrine on the sovereignty of God and effectual calling and election but they do believe in this doctrine taught by some of the older writers and revived and vigorously pressed by the doctor in his latter years and in some of his commentaries particularly on the book of Ephesians and this is why we do not carry them in our bookstore and I say this realizing that I'm going on public record because I have actually had people call me

21:47 saying Pastor Martin I'm working through the book of Ephesians I've come to this particular section this looks like charismatic or Pentecostal teaching to me what's going on? So again I'm not setting up straw men I'm not speaking to attack men I'm trying to be a pastor to help you that you will not be children tossed to and fro and that you will not be duped by the wiles of error. Now having quickly and briefly given those five different A, B, C, D, E, F that's six different manifestations of this post-conspiracy conversion crisis experience

Common Denominator and Theological Flaws of Crisis Experience Teaching

22:31 let me ask this question what is the common denominator of all of these forms of post-conversion crisis experience teaching?

22:45 Well they all have a low or limited view of the magnitude of the initial work of God in conversion. They all have a low or limited view of the magnitude of the initial work of God in conversion. They teach that what occurred in conversion is good and desirable and even necessary to get to heaven when you die. But what occurred at conversion does not arm and supply you with what you need so to live on your way to heaven that you will indeed

23:29 make it manifest that you are a new creature in Christ that you are indeed united to Christ as the branch is to the vine it is in this area that the common denominator is found there is a theology in all crisis experience teaching that ultimately denigrates the magnitude of that work when God quickens us from spiritual death unites us to his son raises us up with Christ and seats us in the heavenlies in Christ constituting us new creatures in Christ.

24:14 In short they separate things which God has forever joined in all saving experience. They teach to one degree or another it's possible to have Christ as our savior and therefore be protected from the damnation for our sins we justly deserve yet not to truly own Christ as our life and our Lord thereby being enabled to live to his glory until he calls us to be with him. But nowhere does the Bible allow this separation of Christ as savior

24:57 and as life and Lord. For the further there is to one degree or another an incipient teaching that it's possible to be justified and not sanctified. To have a right standing before God in Christ but to have no fundamental change in our own walk here on earth before Christ. But the Bible knows of no such distinction.

25:23 Christ is made unto us 1 Corinthians 1.30 both wisdom from God and sanctification of Christ. And redemption and he has made that to every child of God. There is a teaching that says we can have a perfect record in heaven but no power to deal with our sin in earth that it's possible to be indwelt by the spirit and yet not baptized in or by or with the spirit.

25:53 And that is the common denominator or some of the expressions of the common denominator of the of all forms of post conversion crisis experience teaching. Now that was my first question. What do I mean in opening up the principle by the terms post conversion crisis experience? Second question and I'll answer it much more briefly.

No Promise or Command for Crisis Experience in the New Testament

26:20 What do I mean by saying no such post conversion crisis experience is promised or commanded by God in conjunction with living the Christian life? What do I mean by those words? Well what I mean is this. When we search the New Testament we find that the full range of all kinds of struggles moral and doctrinal disappointments and failures common to the people of God in all ages are right here within the pages of the New Testament.

27:01 However in addressing those varied concerns nowhere and here I'm being dogmatic and I'm throwing out a challenge nowhere do we find our Lord or his inspired penman of the New Testament documents ever suggesting that the answer to any or all of these concerns is a marvelous crisis experience. One looks in vain for any promise of such an experience one looks equally in vain for any command to seek such an experience. Now I am not saying hear me carefully

27:45 that the scriptures do not record various crisis experiences in the lives of biblical characters. Experiences subsequent to their conversion which radically altered their walk with God their progress in grace and their usefulness. However it is absolutely crucial to distinguish between that which God has sovereignly done in the history of his people and that which he has promised to do for us and commands us to seek from him as his people. You see the distinction?

28:29 You must make a distinction between that which God has sovereignly done and recorded in the scriptures with reference to some of his people and that which he commands us and promises us he will do for us as his people. Let me try to illustrate it. Here is a loving caring father of four children. They are all approximately two years apart and they are presently coming up on their twelfth fourteenth sixteenth and eighteenth birthdays.

29:03 Now as the oldest is coming to his eighteenth birthday for a number of reasons unique to that particular child the father plans and pays all the expenses of a six month round the world tour for this eighteen year old. He doesn't do it arbitrarily he doesn't do it out of sinful favoritism but as he sees and has been tracking the development of that oldest child he is convinced that it is in the best interest of that child at this stage in his or her development that he should have this round the world trip planned and paid for by

29:48 pop and lo and behold that six month experience radically alters that eighteen year old. It opens up such dimensions of perspective on life and on the world and on his value systems that almost overnight he goes from a average eighteen year old kid to a young man. He has had a crisis in his life a six month crisis in which he has been radically altered from a carefree albeit nice obedient loving son into a sober serious minded purposeful directed

30:32 and focused young man. Now then the father has never made any promise to the family that when all of you reach age eighteen you will have a six month pre-planned prepaid trip around the world for reasons known to the father wise and good not arbitrary or sinfully prejudicial reasons the father granted such an experience to the firstborn. Now what would you think if when the sixteen year old came eighteen he or she said well pop I'm eighteen now where's my world trip and then the fourteen year old went where's my world trip the father would have

31:17 every right to look the child in the eye and say when and where did God ever command me to give every one of you when you reach age eighteen a trip around the world planned by me and paid by me can you show me from the bible where God has ever commanded that of me they'd have to say no then he could say where and when did I ever promise this to the whole family they wouldn't be able to produce the evidence it is in the prerogatives of the father to do what he will within the boundaries of the law of God as he deals with his children now you see the parallel for reasons known to God the bible records that with some

32:02 of his children and Christian biography carries on that testimony that God has given to some of his children distinct experiences in which there has been a crisis of God's dealings with them which has brought them into a qualitatively new dimension of spiritual reality and power and usefulness and we do not say that the bible contains no such accounts that all such accounts in Christian biography are a bunch of nonsense and someone has written lies no but the question is this does the God who records them and who has given them anywhere command us

32:47 to seek such experiences and has he anywhere promised to give us such experiences you see that's the issue and if you don't see that you're going to read a biography and you're going to say oh God did to this man when he had such and such an experience and he may wrongly describe his experience he may attribute it not to the sheer sovereign will of God but to his own twisted understanding of scripture and you'll be vulnerable unless you make this distinction and ask yourself this question what clear biblical data is before me

33:31 to give me encouragement to believe that God has bound himself to give me a post conversion crisis experience that will bring me into a new dimension of spiritual reality and power and usefulness where has God explicitly promised such in his holy word now that's what I mean by the principle there is no post conversion crisis experience promised or commanded by God in conjunction with living the Christian life now secondly I said I would

Scriptural Proof: Absence of General Commands and Promises

34:16 demonstrate the scripturalness of this principle and I have three categories of proof I will only give you one in the time that remains this morning and God willing complete the argument from scripture with two other major categories of proof next Lord's day and then bring the application that's how I've decided to divvy up the material and here is the first biblical category of proof or first category of biblical proof among all the general imperatives and general promises of the New Testament there is not one clear command or promise pointing to a post conversion crisis experience

35:00 as the will of God for his children now we are given many general commands and even general commands with respect to the Holy Spirit now we turn to the scriptures Ephesians 5 17 and 18 Ephesians 5 7 8 17 and 18 wherefore be not foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is be not drunken with wine wearing his riot but present imperative be being filled with the spirit here we are commanded to be in a constant state of being filled it is an imperative but the

35:45 imperative is not seek the baptism of the spirit seek some great experience in the spirit it says be being filled with the spirit Galatians 5 16 another present imperative the same verbal form we are commanded verse 16 of Galatians 5 but I say walk I the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh be continually walking by the spirit here is a command in conjunction with the spirit but there is no notion of a crisis experience

36:29 rather we are pointed in the direction of a pattern of ongoing spiritual experience with the assumption that if we are saved we have all that is necessary to be filled with the spirit and to walk in the spirit it doesn't say seek a baptism that you may be being filled seek some great sealing of the spirit that you may then continually walk in the spirit and he is not writing to people who are without problems remember the state of the Galatian church flirting with the horrible doctrine of Christ plus circumcision Christ plus mosaic trappings

37:14 and yet he says to these people walk by the spirit Ephesians 4 and verse 30 we are commanded another present imperative verb grieve not the Holy Spirit in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption the assumption is the spirit indwells you now then it is your responsibility not to grieve him and that is a constant responsibility but there is not a shred of evidence that we are told to seek some sealing of the spirit rather he assumes they are sealed with the spirit grieve not the Holy Spirit in whom ye were

37:58 sealed unto the day of redemption and in 1 Thessalonians 5 19 another present imperative verb quench not the spirit don't put out the fire of the spirit the implication is that in every Christian the spirit dwells as the living flame of spiritual life and energy and is seeking ever increasing and ever increasingly congenial environment for his working don't pour water upon the fire of the spirit don't quench the spirit that's a command from God but it's a present imperative and there is no suggestion of seeking some

38:42 experience in the spirit so that that command may be obeyed but rather the assumption that we possess the spirit we are never commanded to seek the baptism of the spirit to seek the sealing of the spirit to seek the experience of the work of the spirit in delivering us from inbred sin among the dunce and general commands in the new testament there is not that says the problem with Christians is they don't have the baptism they haven't appropriated the indwelling Christ they haven't had the sealing of the spirit or any

39:27 of these other forms of post conversion crisis experience teaching and likewise as surely as among the general imperatives there is no indication that we are to seek this experience in the spirit rather with all of the varied needs and sins and struggles and aberrations both moral and doctrinal addressed in the new testament there is an assumption that all Christians have been baptized by the spirit 1 Corinthians 12 13 by one spirit you were all baptized into one body and been made to

40:12 drink of one spirit and that was true of the Corinthian bunch all true Christians have been sealed with the spirit Ephesians 1 13 in whom having heard the word of the truth of the gospel having believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise that's a trilogy of inseparable saving experience hearing believing being sealed so when he comes to chapter 4 he can say to all the Christians he doesn't say grieve not the Holy Spirit that is those of you who have received the sealing he says grieve not the Holy Spirit in whom ye were sealed unto the day

40:57 of redemption all true Christians have been anointed by the spirit 2 Corinthians 1 21 and 22 where Paul speaks in the language of us he has sealed us and he has given to us the earnest of the spirit 1 John 2 and verse 27 we have all been made temples of the spirit 1 Corinthians 6 19 what know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God and ye are not your own so there is no command dear people and to build a whole fabric of the Christian life upon a castle of sand of a text here and a text here

41:42 and a historical incident here and there and will come to that in a second category of biblical argumentation next week God willing is to lay upon God's people a horrible burden and I have witnessed the people who sought this experience for years and still have not had it and they go through their lives like the person who is seeking a husband or wife and is never married and likewise just as surely as there is no express command among the general commands among the things that Peter calls the exceeding precious and great promises

42:26 there is no general promise made with respect to a post conversion crisis experience we do have wonderful promises such as Philippians 4 verse 7 if we will commit everything to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving the peace of God shall garrison our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus we have the promise of James 1 5 if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God we have the promise of the continual giving of the spirit Luke 11 13 the sufficiency of God's grace 2nd Corinthians 12 promise upon promise given to the people of God but there is

43:11 not a promise that we can receive some post conversion crisis experience as the answer to one or many problems in our Christian experience now the way in which God fulfills his promises in any or all of these areas may indeed for some mark a discernible crisis in their lives I'm not denying that some of you can bear witness to the fact when God brought you to the place where circumstances and his internal dealings with you brought you to the end of yourself and you dealt with some of those things that were spoiling the vine of your spiritual growth and you grew more in a month than you had

43:56 in the previous five years am I doubting that no not at all that's part of the diversity and the sovereignty of God in the application of the general commands and promises and the provisions of his grace but the issue is this is there any promise in the Bible to which I can fasten my hands of faith and come before God and say oh God you have promised that I can have this experience that will raise me above the struggle of indwelling sin and give me perfect love this experience that will take away the agony and the struggle of prayer that I'll be able to just go into a mindless state and go on

44:40 with gibberish for two or three hours and as I've asked people how do you know you were praying well I just know it oh I said you just know it because you know it because you know it how do you know you weren't saying the name of a herd of donkeys in some unknown gibberish well I just know you see pure subjectivism Paul says I will pray in the spirit I will pray with the understanding also mindless prayer is no prayer dear people don't don't leave yourself open to anything other than the old

45:25 path that is prescribed by the Bible the old path where you've got to cut off right hands and pluck out right eyes sure I'd love an experience that no longer makes my own right hand an occasion of stumbling my own right eye an occasion of stumbling I'd love an experience that would so overwhelm me that I wouldn't have to force myself up the stairs to pray but God hasn't promised me so and if I get hankering for something he has neither commanded or promised you know what I'm open to I'm open to a satanic delusion

46:08 and Satan will be right there to meet that delusion remember what Paul said no wonder for Satan himself he said transforms himself into what an angel of light may God grant that we shall understand that all of our expectations for provisions and for duties in the Christian life must rest down upon clearly established commands and promises that God has given us in his word so in conclusion

Conclusion and Application to Unconverted

46:52 I remind you of what I've attempted to do I've stated the principle no crisis experience promise or commanded by God in conjunction with living the Christian life I've sought to explain the principle I've given the first large block of biblical proof no command no promise among the vast array of general commands and promises but you see there's been an assumption throughout this entire message and that is that I'm dealing with converted people we've talked about no post conversion crisis experience and my unconverted friend

47:37 man or woman boy or girl whoever you are I if you sit here today unconverted there are clear commands of God for you to seek converting grace there are promises of such grace in the Lord Jesus Acts 1730 is a command God commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness God does command you to repent and to believe the gospel and God has given a marvelous promise in the very words of his son him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

48:21 and you shall be saved unconverted man woman boy or girl God's word is plain to you turn from your sin turn as Pastor Barker reminded us from living for self and turn to the God who made you to live for himself and casting the full weight of your guilty sin sick soul upon Jesus Christ as he's offered in the gospel believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved let us pray

48:58 our father we thank you for your holy word that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and our father as we have sought to make our way through the horrible sea of confusion created often by sincere and earnest men who have seized upon one text here and a text there and a biographical sketch here and there and spun out a whole system of doctrine oh lord we confess this has not been pleasant to us

49:42 but we believe it has been necessary and we pray that you would help us that we will not be children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine especially the doctrines that offer some marvelous post-conversion experience which promises that which every one of us yearns for as your children but cannot deliver because it has no biblical feet oh lord immunize your people against such teaching and any sitting among us who have been infected with it may your word be a mighty instrument to purge away erroneous thought and to bring their feet down to the

50:27 solid bedrock of holy scripture lord keep this church from being vulnerable to all of the cross winds of this teaching and may we be so rooted and established in the truth as it is in jesus that we will be content with that old path of prayer and self denial and dependence upon your son and hacking off right hands and plucking out right eyes of the use of the means of grace and all of those things looked upon with such disdain by so many in our day help us oh god we pray and for those who are not converted

51:11 gracious god may they hear your commands to repent and with the heart may they embrace the promises of mercy in christ hear our cry seal your word we plead for our good and for your glory amen