Necessity of Obedience and Holiness

Introduction: The Final Missing Note and Foundational Truths

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, June 28, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now let us once again seek the Lord's face in prayer. Our Father, as we bow in your presence again, we remember the earnest entreaty of the Apostle Paul, pleading with the churches that they would pray for him and for his ministry, that the word of God would run and have free course. And, O Lord, that is our prayer tonight, that the word of God would run unimpeded by prejudice, by the pride of human ignorance, by the stubbornness of unregenerate flesh. O God, we ask that the word may run in the power of the Spirit, overcoming every obstacle to its being received in faith and in obedience. O Lord, we are conscious that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. And we thank you that our Lord Jesus, in his work upon the cross, has triumphed over the host of darkness.

1:35 And we pray this night that the ministry of the word will be but another dimension of the manifestation of the triumphs of his cross. In bringing every thought captive to himself. Bless then the preaching of the word, and to your name and to your name alone, be the praise and the honor. Amen.

2:04 We come tonight in our study of the word of God to the sixth and final message in a series entitled Some Missing Notes in Contemporary Gospel Preaching. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

2:19 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

2:19 Thank you. Because the biblical gospel sets forth God's only answer to the problem of human sin, any distortions of, additions to, or subtractions from that gospel are ruinous to the souls of men. In our previous studies we have considered three such missing notes in most contemporary gospel preaching, namely the note of the wrath of God, the note of true repentance, and the note of the nature of saving faith. Now those studies are available on cassette from the Trinity Pulpit, a fact I disclose not because I think the preaching was all that great or outstanding, but simply because those notes are so absent that any effort to set forth the biblical teaching on these matters is futile. Now, tonight we take up this final missing note, not that it's the only and final note that is missing, but for the purposes of this series of studies, this final note in this

3:34 brief series, the note of the necessity of obedience and holiness as indispensable evidences of grace. The note of the necessity of obedience and holiness as indispensable evidences of grace. Note of the necessity of obedience and holiness as indispensable evidences of grace. Now what I propose to do in our studies is this.

3:59 I'm going to demonstrate from the scriptures that a life of obedience to the revealed will of God and a life of increasing conformity to Jesus Christ are not optional commodities. Rather, that without these things, one has no grounds to regard himself as a Christian. Now in order to clear away any just cause for confusion or misunderstanding, let me underscore two important bits. Two biblical truths on the very threshold of our study of this missing note.

4:43 The first truth is this. The ground of a sinner's acceptance before God lies totally outside of himself, both at and subsequent to his conversion. If we are asking the question, how do guilty sinners find acceptance with God? The answer is, the answer of the Bible is only by the righteousness of another.

5:14 When we come in all of our guilt and undoneness seeking the way of acceptance with a holy God, the Bible clearly teaches that nothing less than the righteousness of God will satisfy the demands of God. And it is just that that is offered in the gospel. Romans 1.17 For therein is revealed a righteousness.

5:38 The righteousness of God. And so in the sinner's initial coming and in all of his subsequent standing before God, the ground of his acceptance lies totally outside of himself. As a mature Christian, Paul said his one ambition was to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, to know him in the fellowship of his sufferings, to know him in a righteousness which was, was not of himself. Philippians chapter 3.

6:13 So that truth must be underscored at the outset. Whatever is said tonight about the necessity of holiness and obedience, nothing is being said which in any way attacks in the slightest degree that fundamental truth of the gospel, that sinners are accepted on the grounds of a righteousness not their own. What? What one theologian has strikingly called it is an alien righteousness.

6:43 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. And then the second biblical truth that needs to be underscored by way of introduction is this. The appointed means for a sinner's possession of the righteousness of Christ is faith alone. The appointed means for a sinner's possessing the righteousness of Christ is faith alone.

7:08 By grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Romans 4, 5, To him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And Romans 3, 30, The uncircumcision as well as the circumcision are justified by faith. So whatever is said tonight about the obedience and holiness, which are essential elements in evidencing the grace of God, there is no contradiction nor erosion to this fundamental truth that a sinner's acceptance is grounded in the righteousness of another, and is received by faith alone. So if anyone hearing my voice listens to the exposition and says, that preacher is teaching, you're saved on the basis of your obedience and on the basis of your holiness, my friend, you have not listened. I don't know how to state these truths any clearer than I've stated them.

8:22 The ground of a sinner's acceptance in the beginning and the end is Christ and Christ alone. And the means by which we possess the righteousness of Christ is faith alone. But now having said that, and learning those things from our Bibles, lo and behold, this same Bible teaches with equal clarity and emphasis that all who truly believe and thereby possess the righteousness of God in Christ become an obedient and a holy people. And if there is no obedience and holiness, there is no true faith.

9:06 And if there is no faith, there is no imputed righteousness. If there is no imputed righteousness, you are yet in a state of wrath and condemnation. Now this obedience and holiness does not add to or improve upon the perfect righteousness of Christ, but it is the inevitable attendant and necessary fruit of faith. And acceptance with God.

Obedience as a Mark of Genuine Grace: Key Texts

9:33 All right, having introduced the subject with those two affirmations, let us now consider briefly several key texts demonstrating the necessity of obedience as a mark of the genuineness of grace. Turn, please, to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7. Any one of these texts deserves a full treatment. If there is any argument that would take the entire time, I can only point to the text, make a few comments upon it, and pass on.

10:08 We're looking not at an exhaustive list, but a specimen list of key texts which demonstrate the necessity of obedience as the evidence and fruit of faith. Matthew 7 and verse 21. As our Lord is drawing what we call the Sermon on the Mount to a close, He says in verse 21, Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth, and the doeth is an old English way of setting forth the present tense. He that is doing would be the way we would translate it in contemporary American. But he that is doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. Now, if the text teaches anything, it teaches in plain and simple language that the only people who are going to heaven are those who are doing the will of God. Isn't that what it says?

11:15 I mean, you don't need to be clever. You don't need to have 145 IQ. You don't need to even be a high school graduate to understand the clear teaching of the verse. Not every one that gives some kind of lip service or external profession of attachment.

11:30 He says unto me will enter the kingdom of heaven, only such as whose relationship to me has brought them into the way of obedience to the will of my Father.

11:43 It's interesting how much this text has been overlooked in contemporary gospel preaching. A preacher on one occasion was addressing a group of young people. And he said, now, before I announce my text, I want to ask a couple of questions. He said, the first question is this.

11:59 How many of you young people sitting here tonight? Have trusted Christ as your Savior? And you know, if you died tonight, you'd go to heaven. Almost every young person in a group of some 50 or 60 raised his hand.

12:11 He said, now, you're sure that if you died tonight, you'd go to heaven because you've trusted Christ as your Savior. Almost the entire group hands went up. All right. Now, my second question is this.

12:22 How many of you young people sitting here is seriously attempting to do what you know to be the will of God? I'm not asking you, are you perfect? I'm not asking if you don't have to pray at the end of every day. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

12:39 I'm not asking you if you're beginning to sprout nubby little wings here and you're half glorified. No, but I'm asking you this, that in terms of your present understanding of what the will of God is, is revealed in the word of God as it relates to your relationship to your parents, your social relationships at school, at play. How many of you are seriously purposing? And pursuing obedience to the revealed will of God and of that large group, almost every one of which raised a hand saying, I know I'm on my way to heaven because I've trusted Christ.

13:14 It was just a smattering of hands that could be raised saying they were doing the will of God. Well, you know what the text was for that evening? This very text. And the preacher proceeded to bring home to the consciences of those young people that their confidence, that they were on their way.

13:33 They were on their way to heaven, had no basis in the word of God.

13:39 Obedience is not optional. Turn, please, to John chapter 10.

13:44 Here in this precious chapter, if I may use that word without being saccharine at all, for it is a precious chapter, a chapter in which our Lord sets himself forth as the great shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, who is loved of the Father with increasing love of compassion, complacency because of his obedience. In this chapter, he goes on to say in verse 27 these words. John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

14:25 And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who gave them unto me. My Father who gave them unto me. My Father who gave them unto me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

14:41 I and my Father are one. Here is one of the most precious passages on the absolute, not unconditional, but absolute security of every true sheep of Christ. The Lord Jesus says that he has his sheep in his hand, and no one can pluck them out of his hand, for they are held with the hand of omnipotence. I and my Father are one.

15:09 But now, who are these sheep? How are they to be identified? Whom does the Lord regard as being part of that group called his sheep? Well, he tells us.

15:23 And he describes them by a two-fold description as far as the pattern of their lives is concerned. Verse 27. My sheep hear. Present tense verb.

15:36 My sheep are hearing my voice, and I know them. In other words, they are the ones whom I regard with distinguishing love and affection, and they, present tense verb again, are following me, and I give unto them eternal life. Whom do you give eternal life, Lord? My sheep.

16:03 And Lord, what is the mark of your sheep? Two things. They hear my voice, and they follow me. Lord, don't you give eternal life to all those who have trusted in your death, but who from that point on have simply not gone on to discipleship and to a serious regard of your word?

16:25 The Lord says, Can I make it any plainer? My sheep hear me. My sheep follow me. I give to them eternal life, and to no others.

16:40 Jesus Christ does not regard as his sheep any other person other than those who hear him and who follow him. Isn't it plain? I didn't write. There it is.

16:54 Plain as the nose on my face and yours. Plain as the beard on your chinny-chin-chin tonight. I know them. Who, Lord?

17:05 Those who hear me. Those who follow me. I give to them eternal life. Now over to Hebrews chapter 5.

17:13 We're simply looking at key texts which demonstrate the necessity of obedience. That obedience is not an option having only to do with rewards. It has to do with life itself. Hebrews chapter 5, in a chapter in which our Lord is being described in his high priestly functions, we read in verse 8, Though he, Christ, was a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been made perfect, that is, not morally perfect, as though there were some imperfection, but having been made perfect in his function and capacity as a sympathetic priest, having been perfected in his priesthood through sufferings, notice what the end is, he became unto all that make us, according to the decision, the author of eternal salvation. That isn't what my Bible says. Nor does it say he became unto all that make a profession of faith the author of eternal salvation. No, the text is clear and it's clear in any translation that is true to the language of the Holy Ghost.

18:36 He became unto all that obey him, the author, of eternal salvation. Now, they're not saved by their obedience. He would not have had to be perfected through suffering if their obedience could earn salvation. Our salvation is grounded in his suffering, not ours.

18:58 His obedience and not ours. But the suffering he underwent in order to perfect our salvation has purchased a salvation for a people who are made obedient by the grace of God. And if you are not obedient and yet claim to be saved, your salvation comes from someone other than this high priest.

19:25 If it does, it's not the real product. For there is salvation in none other. And there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Obedience is not optional.

19:40 Obedience is an absolute essential. In manifesting the genuineness of the faith that we profess. And then I turn you to another pivotal text, 1 John chapter 2. That's all we're doing.

19:56 Looking at key text, demonstrating the necessity of obedience. And if you're tempted right now to say, ah, but what about? What about? My friend, get rid of that what about mentality.

20:09 It's one of the most subtle and yet frighteningly dangerous things that we will not allow to happen. I do not allow the clear testimony of the word to come because of some obscure text or some problematical text. And I have chosen plain and simple text on which to rest the doctrine. 1 John chapter 2 verses 3 and 4.

20:34 Hereby we know that we know him if we can remember with fondness the day of our decision. That's the way many read it. Oh, how well I remember the day I decided for Christ. I know I must be a Christian.

20:54 Why I can... My friend, I don't care what you can remember.

20:58 I don't care if upon the remembrance of it you can reproduce all the tingles and the chills. Look at the text. Hereby do we know that we know him if...

21:09 And here's one of those present tense verbs again. If we are keeping his commandments, he that says, Oh, I know him. Oh, I know I'm a Christian. No one can take my assurance away why I remember when.

21:25 And they go on and tell us of their glorious experience. Listen to John's words. He that says, I know him and does not keep his commandments. Obedience is not the basic pattern of his life.

21:40 What is he? It doesn't say he is a carnal Christian and the rewards that might be his are not with him. No, no. It says he is a liar and the truth is not in him.

21:55 Now, my friend, I didn't write that. A holiness preacher didn't invent this. This is the Word of God. He that says, I know him and does not obey him is a liar and the truth is not in him.

22:13 Then the final text is found in the book of the Revelation where we have a description of the redeemed, of the Lord, the people of God. They are described in this very succinct manner in Revelation 14 and verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here is the endurance or the steadfastness of the saints.

22:40 And now he's going to describe them. They that are keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. What a beauty. What a beautiful description of a Christian.

22:53 One who keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And the faith of Jesus is the faith that says we're saved by the obedience of another. So it is not a matter of being saved by Christ's work plus my work. No, no.

23:12 To keep the faith of Jesus is to keep that body of truth which says I can do nothing to earn my salvation. This is the work of God that I believe on the One whom He has sent. That I come without reservation in the language of that hymn. Nothing in my hands I bring.

23:31 Simply to Thy cross I cling. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. And yet, wonder of wonders, they are described at the same time as those who are keeping the commandments of Jesus.

23:49 So in no way do they think that their obedience adds one grand to the merit that is in Christ. And yet, being freely forgiven and fully accepted on the obedience and work of another, they are nonetheless described as those who keep the commandments of God. And unless you are keeping the commandments of God, you are not keeping the faith of Jesus.

24:16 Both things are present in every true child of God. Now, in summary, what do we say? We say that unless God gave His Word deliberately to deceive us instead of to instruct us in the way of life, these five texts teach with unmistakable clarity that only those who obey Christ have any grounds to claim they are saved in the righteousness of Christ. Would you agree with that conclusion?

24:54 I trust you have no reservation in agreeing with it. But if some of you do, you see what it does? It immediately puts more than a wispy gray question mark over your professed Christianity. It puts a bold red question mark over your profession of being a child of God.

25:16 Because obedience is not the characteristic of your life. An obedience that is principled and purposeful and determined, but rather the mark of your life is a haltering, half-hearted, occasional compliance with a convenient command. But when the chips are down, it's your flesh, it's the world, it's convenience, it's your own depraved passions that dictate the course of your life. My friend, you better heed that bright red question mark because these texts speak no truth.

Holiness as a Mark of Genuine Grace: Key Texts

25:53 But peace to anyone who is not in the way of purposeful obedience to the will of God. Now, very quickly, let's look at some key texts which demonstrate with equal clarity the necessity of holiness. The key text which demonstrates the necessity of holiness. We start again in Matthew.

26:17 Matthew's Gospel,

26:22 chapter 5. And here in these blessed, these beatitudes our Lord is giving a composite description of the character traits of a true son or daughter of the kingdom of grace which he has come to establish. One of the marks of those who are in that kingdom is given to us in verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

26:54 Now all men and women, boys and girls, will see God in the final day of judgment. But to see God in the biblical sense is to see Him with bliss and delight. What the old writers called the beatific vision. And Jesus said, the ones who will see God with delight in the final day of consummation are only such as are pure in heart who have a principle of holiness that goes beyond the mere external activities of life.

27:30 Beyond the mere wooden conformity to rules and regulations. There is a heart commitment to a life of holiness. But you see, if it's a heart commitment, it will touch the most practical aspects of life, even the members of our body. So that this same Jesus goes on to teach the necessity of holiness in this sermon in such language as is found in verse 27 of the same chapter.

27:57 You've heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that everyone that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And it's as though our Lord anticipates the response, well, if that's what adultery is, the looking with of you to lust, the looking and having impure thoughts, then who can help but be an adulterer? We just must live with adultery as a way of life, even in the kingdom.

28:27 Jesus said, is that so? Listen to his language. And if thy right eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

28:44 You see what he's saying? If you say to the Lord Jesus, I can't help it, adulterous thoughts have to be a way of life with me. Jesus said, there'll be the way of death for you in hell.

29:01 Or birth. The Lord uses the same strong language later on in this sermon. He uses it again and again in the gospel records. This is why he can conclude his sermon as he does in chapter 7, verses 13 and 14 with this exhortation.

29:23 Enter ye in by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many are they that enter in thereby. Notice now, how narrow is the gate and straightened or compressed is the way that leads to life. How do we get to life? By the way.

29:47 How do we get on the way? Through the gate. Gate, way, and life. The gate is the gate of true conversion and repentance and faith.

29:57 The way is the way of biblical holiness. Life is the consummation of grace in the world to come and no one will enter life who does not come along the way. The way is indispensable to life and the way is impossible without the gate.

30:22 But if you say you're through the gate, the proof is you're on the way. Everyone who gets through the gate is on the way. And if you say you're through the gate, oh, I'm saved, I'm converted, I've trusted Jesus, then the evidence must be you are on the way. What way?

30:37 The way. The way. The way that is constricted and narrow and compressed. The way of gospel holiness without which there is no entrance to life.

30:48 Well, we look at another key text that demonstrates the absolute necessity of holiness.

30:55 Over in Romans chapter 8, a passage read in your hearing in the scripture reading this evening. Romans chapter 8. The apostle says there are but two spheres of moral and ethical commitment. One is the realm of the flesh, the other the realm of the spirit.

31:15 The one is marked by enmity against God. The other is marked by submission to God. Notice what he says at the end of that statement of contrast. Verse 8.

31:27 They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who are committed to the life of insubordination to the law of God and therefore a life of unholiness and sin. They cannot please God. But look at verse 9.

31:44 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so, be that the spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You see what he's saying?

32:04 He says you have been basically and fundamentally delivered from the realm of the flesh if the spirit has come to take up his residence in you. If the spirit is in you, you're no longer in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit. But someone says, oh no, I've trusted Jesus, but I haven't gone the second step to get into the realm of the spirit. Paul says if any man has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

32:30 If you do not have the spirit, you are none of his. And if you have the spirit, you're no longer in the realm of the flesh as the basic sphere of motion. Moral and ethical perspective, conduct and attitude. That's why he can go on to say in verse 13, if you live after the flesh, you must die.

32:50 And that death is not physical death. The most spirit-filled believers die physically. That death is the death of the soul. If you live after the spirit, you must die.

33:01 But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live for as many as are led by the spirit of God. These and these only are the sons of God. These people who say, I trusted Jesus, some of whom no doubt are sitting here tonight. But you're not being led of the spirit.

33:24 And in the context, being led of the spirit has nothing to do with getting holy jags and impulses that you ought to do this fool thing or that fool thing. No, no. Being led of the spirit has to do with conformity to the norms of the word of God. Not living after the flesh, but living by the precepts of Almighty God.

33:44 God says only such as are led of the spirit of the children of God. And my friend, if you are not under the guidance and tutelage of the spirit unto a life that is under the pressure and influence and regulative power of Scripture, you have no biblical grounds to claim you're a Christian.

34:05 Holiness is not optional according to the Pauline statement of Romans chapter 8. Then we move on. We move on to another key text in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3.

34:19 A key text demonstrating that holiness is not optional.

34:30 1 John chapter 3. Though there are problems of interpretation as to the precise intent of John, this much we know. Whatever he's teaching in chapter 3 doesn't contradict what he already wrote in chapter 1 and verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we make it clear that we are not sinning.

34:48 If we say we have not sinned, we make it clear that we are not sinning. If we say we make him a liar and his word is not in us, verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If anyone tries to build a doctrine of sinless perfection on these words, John has already told them what they are. They are self-deceived and they are liars.

35:06 But he does say this, my little children, 1 John 3, 7, let no one lead you astray. He that is practicing righteousness is righteous. Even as he is righteous. He that is practicing sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning.

35:25 To this end was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is begotten of God does not make a practice of sin because his seed, the divine principle of life, abides in him, and he cannot make a practice of sin because he is begotten of God. In this, the children of God are manifest in the children of the devil. Whosoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.

36:04 Can language be more plain that if the practice of righteousness is not the pattern of our lives, we have no grounds to say that we are born of God, that we have divine life within us? And then that great text upon which the whole case could rest, Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Hebrews 12 and verse 14.

36:39 Follow after, literally track down the same word for persecute in the original. Be continually tracking down peace with all men and the sanctification or the holiness without which no man, shall see the Lord. It's as though the writer to Hebrews is seeking to bring to bear upon the consciences of those who would receive his letter the pressure of a very powerful motive as to why they ought to pursue holiness. And he does so by informing them that this is not a matter of degrees of reward.

37:22 It is not a matter of the extent to which they shall enjoy the presence of God. He says, pursue that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And so all within the sound of my voice I ask the question again, unless God has given His Word to deceive us, do these passages not teach with great clarity that holiness is an essential of the salvation purchased for us in Jesus Christ? Now in the light of these two clear sets of key texts, one demonstrating the necessity of obedience and the other demonstrating the necessity of holiness, what are we to say in the light of much contemporary current gospel preaching and thinking with respect to the gospel and its influence upon those who profess to believe it? Well, the first thing I'm constrained to say and I confess to you I take no pleasure in saying it. I'm grateful that in the providence of God in my own Old Testament reading, devotional reading, it fell to my lot to read the first three chapters of Ezekiel yesterday. Son of man I have made thee a watchman.

Conclusion 1: The Damning Delusion of the Carnal Christian Doctrine

38:48 The whole concept of the Christian ministry embodying the watchman imagery, standing upon the wall, seeing the danger and warning men. And in that capacity I speak tonight in the light of these two clear sets of text, what must we conclude? Well, the first and unavoidable conclusion is this, that the popular carnal Christian doctrine is nothing less than an unscriptural and damning delusion. The popular carnal Christian doctrine is nothing less than an unscriptural and damning delusion. Now what is that doctrine? Well, briefly stated, it is this, that there are three fundamental categories of humanity. There are natural men, those who have never made a profession of faith, never decided for Christ, those who are yet in a state of guilt, condemnation, and wrath.

39:56 Then there are spiritual people, those who have not only accepted Christ, but have yielded to the lordship of Christ and to the control of the Spirit. And how they know when they've reached it, I've never been told in any of the books. But nonetheless, they are the spiritual people. And in between you have this great mass called carnal Christians. Their lifestyle is basically no different from natural men, but the difference is they have done what spiritual people did at the beginning. They've accepted Christ. And because of that, they have accepted Christ, they are free from the guilt and condemnation of sin, though there may be no evidence that they are freed from the dominion and the power of sin.

40:46 And so when you see in the professing church multitudes who say without any reservation, I've trusted Jesus, I have the righteousness of Christ imputed to me as a believer, and yet there is little or no evidence of pursuit of a life of holiness and obedience, you are not to be too alarmed. They are simply carnal Christians who if they persist in that pattern may come ashamed at the return of the Lord, stand before Him totally stripped of rewards, but will nonetheless be ushered into the glorious presence of Christ. Now that is not a caricature. That is not a straw dummy. That is the teaching set forth in the Schofield Bible, set forth in Dr. Sperry Schaeffer's book, He That Is Spiritual, set forth in Campus Crusade booklets. I have not created a straw dummy. Now what's the fundamental error in that teaching?

41:47 Well, the fundamental error is that it makes obedience and holiness desirable but optional, and that the issue is only a matter of rewards and not an issue of life or death.

42:03 In the light of the text we have studied tonight, are obedience and holiness optional? Are they merely matters of degrees of reward? Or are they matters of life and death? Follow after holiness without which no man shall have a full reward?

42:25 That is not what Hebrews 12, 14 says. It says, without which no man shall see the Lord. When our Lord said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter, he did not say, but those who do the will of my Father shall enter with all the bells ringing and their arms laden with rewards, and all others will come empty-handed. He said, if you don't do the will of my Father, you will. Oh, if there is a message, I would cry from the state. It is this message. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. If we say that we know him, do not obey him, we lie and the truth is not in us.

43:23 The results of this popular carnal Christian doctrine are tragic. Multitudes have made a decision whose lives are bereft of the fruits of true repentance and union with Christ, sit week after week, comforted under the promises of the gospel, thinking all is well, when in the language of the prophet, they have only had their hurt healed slightly by preachers who say, peace, peace to them, when there is no peace. Ah, but someone says, doesn't 1 Corinthians 3 teach that there are carnal Christians? Not in the way this doctrine is taught. 1 Corinthians 3 teaches that the best of Christians can be overcome in specific areas of carnality. Yes. And what Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians 3 is a specific outcropping of carnality in the Corinthians. He says,

44:25 whereas one of you says, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal and walk as men? In this party spirit, you are acting like men devoid of the spirit. So in that sense, the best of Christians is a carnal Christian at points in his life. Anytime a husband becomes irritated, irritated with his wife, at that point he is acting as a man devoid of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is not irritation, it is love, gentleness, patience. So at the point that a man indwelt by the spirit becomes irritable, he is acting carnally. At the point that a woman allows jealousy to infect her spirit, she is acting carnally. And the best of Christians in the word of God are described with all their warts and molds. Fall

45:19 into the grossest forms of sin. But the pattern of their lives was not carnality. And the very use of the language carnal Christian is a misnomer. It's using the word carnal as a dominant descriptive adjective.

45:36 When we talk about a joyful Christian, we mean a Christian in whom the dominant characteristic is what? Joy. When we speak of a zealous Christian, we're speaking of a Christian in whom what? Quality dominates. Zeal.

45:49 And when the term carnal Christian is used, it's saying it's a Christian, a Christ one, in whom the dominant characteristic is flesh. That's a contradiction of Romans 8. You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwells in you.

46:12 I'm constrained to say and I take no pleasure in saying it because I believe the reality of what I say. That in the light of these texts we have studied tonight, the popular carnal Christian doctrine is nothing less than a damning delusion.

46:33 And those who are deluded are legion. That's why there can be no spirit of coasting in our life and ministry as a church. No sense of being comfortable. There are yet multitudes deluded by this teaching who need to hear the message of the word of God that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that Christ died to procure salvation for a people whom his grace will make an obedient people.

Conclusion 2: The Damning Delusion of Popular Assurance

47:09 But then there is a second conclusion forced upon us by these texts and it is this, that the popular doctrine of assurance is also unscriptural and a damning delusion. The popular doctrine of assurance is also unscriptural and a damning delusion. Now let me state the doctrine and again I'm not creating a straw dummy. The popular doctrine of assurance goes something like this.

47:39 When a person in a counseling room or in the privacy of his home who's reading some literature or in the presence of a personal worker in his home is led to make a profession he is then told something like this. Now my friend, did you sincerely ask Christ to come into your heart? Well what person is going to say no, I just went through a big charade, I'm a fake.

48:02 I mean, come on, let's be honest. What person is going to say no, I was just fooling you. I was just trying to get you off my back so you'd get out of here. If he was doing that, he wasn't going to tell him.

48:11 So the personal worker, albeit sincere and earnest and many of them prayerful in their zeal, puts us to shame, says to him alright, if you were sincere in asking Christ to come into your heart, where is he right now? Would he lie to you? No. Would his word, hell no. What does his word say?

48:29 If you invite him in, where is he? Well I guess he's in my heart. Alright, now whether you feel anything different, whether there's any sense of change, one thing you must never doubt, Christ has come in, you're a Christian, your sins are forgiven, you're on your way to heaven, and nothing you do can change your ultimate destiny.

48:50 And a person is encouraged to rest in an assurance that is based solely upon the remembrance of a decision made.

49:03 Now what is the result?

49:06 Multitudes whose lives give precious little, if any, evidence of the transforming power of the grace of God are clinging to an assurance based upon this fallacious teaching that if they can remember when they made a sincere decision, the fruit of that decision sticks in the court of heaven, and in the last day there'll be a great deal of grace. And the truth is, my friend, that the evidences of grace are an integral part of the biblical doctrine of assurance. The evidences of grace are an integral part. John could say in his epistle, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, 1 John 5 and verse 13. Well, what things did he write that they might know? Well, he didn't give them a string of promises to rest on. He gave them a series of tests by which to evaluate their profession. He

50:14 said, hereby do we know that we know him, 1 John 2, 3, if we keep his commandments, 1 John 2, 3, 14, if we love the brethren we know that we have passed from death unto life, and you go through the first epistle of John, and there are no fewer than six or seven tests of life. And John says, these things have I written that you might know. What things? Those things that evidence the grace of God coming to a sinful life and transforming it into a holy life. This assurance that is maintained in spite of the absence of a pattern of obedience and a pattern of holiness is an assurance that is not nothing less than a damning delusion. And then the third and final conclusion that we must make in the light of the text we have studied tonight is this. Any doctrine of salvation which makes obedience and holiness optional is not the biblical doctrine of salvation. Any doctrine of salvation which makes obedience and holiness optional is not the biblical doctrine of salvation.

Conclusion 3: Any Doctrine Making Obedience and Holiness Optional is Not Biblical Salvation

51:39 As surely as this precious book I hold in my hands knows no salvation by human merit and human works, as surely as it knows no salvation in any other sacrifice than that of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, it knows no salvation which leaves believers still basically disobedient and unholy. You see, the whole scheme of redemption has as one of its central concerns the making of sinful men and women into holy men and women. Why were we chosen in Christ, or to what end? Why we were chosen is the mystery locked up in the inscrutability of the will of a gracious and sovereign God. But the purpose is clearly revealed in Ephesians 1 and verse 4.

52:41 According as he hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy. We were marked out to be what we were not by nature and what we could never be of ourselves. We were marked out not primarily to be happy or to be safe, but to be holy. And why did Christ die, will we read in Ephesians 5? He loved the church and gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God chose us that we should be holy. Christ died that he might make us holy. And when we are actually called in the effectual call of God, what is that calling? Paul describes

53:36 it in 2 Timothy 1.9. He had saved us and called us with a holy calling. When we are brought into the orbit of the dynamism of redemptive grace in our own life experience, holiness is stamped upon the call of God. We are brought out of our bondage to sin and our wedded state to the world and to the flesh. And we are brought into union with Christ. My friend, if your salvation has left you a stranger to holiness, it's not the salvation of the Bible. And if it's not the salvation of the Bible, it will do you no good in life, and it will leave you utterly bereft of any hope in death, and it will bring you to the judgment full of shame and horror and the terrors of the damned.

Pastoral Application and Exhortation

54:31 Oh, may God help anyone sitting here tonight who has been deluded by these missing notes in contemporary gospel preaching to come to grips with the plain and obvious sense of these two sets of texts that we have examined together, those texts demonstrating the necessity of obedience, those demonstrating the necessity of holiness. And in the light of them, may your mind and heart be convinced that this popular carnal Christian doctrine is nothing less than a damning delusion. The popular doctrine of assurance is nothing other than a similar delusion, and any doctrine of salvation which makes obedience and holiness optional is not the salvation of the Bible. Now, where does that leave you sitting here tonight? In the light of that teaching, where does it leave you? Oh, you say, Pastor Martin, I'm not as holy as I ought to be.

55:35 I think of this besetting sin that, my friend, so do I. But the issue is this. Can you say in the presence of Almighty God before whom all things are naked and open, O Lord, you know that with all my heart I'm not as holy as I want to be, but I long for holiness with all that is within me. I'm not as obedient as I ought to be, or as I hope to be, or as one day I know I shall be. But, Lord, I can say with the psalmist, I delight to do Thy will, yea, Thy law is within my heart. My friend, if you cannot say with judgment day honesty in the presence of God that the principle of holiness and obedience is there within you, then give yourself no rest until seeking that work from the living God through the Lord Jesus. You know, you know that by the grace of God you're in the path of holiness and in the path of obedience. Now, one of the things that pains me is to know that as clearly as I've tried to qualify in the introduction that we are saved by the

56:50 righteousness of another and that that righteousness that is in Christ is received by faith alone. Someone's going to go out tonight and say, I'll never go back to that place again. They teach you're saved by your own works. Now, know, my friend, and the only reason your mind is throwing up that smoke screen of untruth is that the truth is found you where you need to be found. And rather than bend before that truth, you're going to raise a specious objection. It won't hold any water because you know that's not what was taught here tonight. What was taught is what's found you where you are. My friend, don't resist the spirit. The spirit of grace in the overtures of mercy has come to unmask you. Go to the God before whom you'll stand the last day and ask him to have mercy upon you for Christ's sake. And for those of us who can say by the grace of God we've been put into the way of holiness and obedience, I hope we're never weary of being reminded that that's the glory of the Christian life. The glory of the day by day dogged, naked at times, cold, blooded obedience to the revealed will of God and increasing conformity to the Lord Jesus. And

58:13 whatever thrills and chills and ecstasies we may get along the way, unsought and unclaimed, but graciously given what I call the special embraces of the Lord Jesus to his weary children, well, we'll thank God when they come. But for us, we're determined that we shall serve him, we shall follow him, we shall be determined to be like him, no matter how unpleasant it is to our flesh, no matter what it costs. May God grant that we as his people shall never weary of that old, homely path what Pastor Plays would say homely path of obedience and holiness. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer and Benediction

59:05 Our Father, we can only plead that you will take the simple testimony of your word the many passages read and briefly expounded in our hearing and rivet them to our consciences. O Lord, may they be riveted beyond the level of memory and mere consciousness. Rivet them to our consciences. Give no rest to those who have no right to have rest. Trouble them with gracious troublings until they flee to your beloved Son for grace and mercy. May the enemy not take the word and cause trouble to the heart of any who ought not to be troubled. Lord, watch over your own word to the end that it may accomplish that whereunto you have sent it. We pray your further blessing now upon our brother Steve as he will speak to us briefly of that work to which you are calling him for he will have the privilege of teaching the glorious truths of Holy Scripture.

60:15 Lord, give us hearts large enough to take in the concerns that our brother will convey. Hear us, we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.