The Fact of Remaining Sin

Introduction: The Problem of Remaining Sin and its Biblical Framework

0:01 We will be breaking into our consecutive studies that would normally be the focus of our attention on the Lord's Day morning, and as I cast about in my mind as to what would be most beneficial as a one-shot ministry, as it were, my mind was greatly influenced in the selection of our subject matter this morning by two things. Number one, the experience of the ministry down in Chattanooga last week, during which ministry I had opportunity to counsel with numerous young people and adults as well,

0:45 and one of the areas of great concern to which I came back again and again in my counsel is the area that I want to set before you this morning. So I've selected this because I've been forced to think much about this subject, this great area of biblical concern and truth by virtue of the ministry of the past days, and then secondly, I've been forced to it by the realization of my own attempts to walk with God, and I find myself coming back again and again to these fundamental principles and having to preach them to myself as though I had never heard them before.

1:28 And if that's true of me, I have reason to believe it was. Thank you. It would also be true of you. And the area of concern this morning and possibly this evening, Mr. Morrie's been most kind

1:38 in preparing a message for tonight. I asked him to do it earlier in the week, not knowing just where my own throat would be and how things would be with reference to the demands of the coming week at the conference, and I frankly don't know how far I'll get this morning. But at least for this morning, I want to direct your attention to some of the principles of the Word of God concerning the grace of God. I want to direct your attention to some of the principles of the Word of God concerning the great biblical duty of mortification of sin or how to deal with remaining sin in my life as a Christian.

2:13 And in order to set this biblical truth in its proper biblical framework, we must remember three fundamental propositions clearly set forth in the entirety of the Word of God. Now, some of this material was given in greater length. And in different messages over a long series of studies on sanctification. But we're pulling together now some of the main lines of biblical concern.

2:40 When we talk about a Christian dealing with remaining sin in his life, we must understand that we're talking about a problem, an element of Christian experience that rests down upon three solid biblical principles. And I will not assume that there are three solid biblical principles. And I will not assume that there are three solid principles. And I will not assume that there are three solid biblical principles.

Proposition 1: All Men by Nature are Under the Dominion of Sin

3:01 But I will assume that everyone understands these principles. I shall therefore take time to articulate them, and then we shall build upon them. The first principle is this, that all men by nature are under the dominion of sin. And when we say men, we're not being chauvinist.

3:20 We are using the term men as a synonym for mankind which includes men and women, boys and girls, and if there is anything in between, men and women. in between, it includes them as well. All mankind by nature are under the dominion of sin. Now turn to Romans 6 for some of the clearest assertions of this fact. When Paul writes to

3:46 the church at Rome and he contrasts again and again in chapter 6 of Romans their previous condition before the gospel came, their present condition after the gospel has come, not in word only but in power, he constantly describes their previous state as one of slavery to sin, an absolute bondage to sin. They are under the lordship of sin. Verse 17, but thanks be to God.

4:24 Whereas ye were slaves of sin. In other words, he describes their relationship to sin as nothing less than absolute servitude. And as real as was the bondage of a slave to his master was their bondage to sin. Verse 19, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh as ye presented your flesh.

4:54 Verse 20, ye were members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity. He's saying this servitude to sin was not an abstract concept. It was a real servitude. When sin spoke, you came and presented yourself as its willing bond slave. Its orders you carried out by the

5:18 use of your faculties, your members, your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet, your affections. Your mind, all that constitutes you as a human being, was the bond slave of sin. Sin was the master to whom you yielded willing obedience. And this dominion was pervasive. Verse 20, you were

5:42 absolutely free in regard of righteousness. In other words, you had an exclusive slavery to sin. It was a practical slavery. Verse 19, you presented your own slavery to sin. Verse 20, you were an unwavering slave to sin. Verse 21, you played

6:05 with men in the world, and with women in the world. This was an unvariableisation. Verse 23, you were an unwavering slave to sin. Verse 21, you were an unwavering slave to sin. Verse

6:19 28, you were an unwavering slave to sin. Verse 29, you were continually the slaves of sin. Verse 30, you were continually the slaves of sin. Verse 31, you were continually the slaves of sin.

6:23 Now, all men, by nature, are under the dominion of sin. Jesus asserted this when he said, whosoever committed sin is the bondservant of sin. John 8, 34. Now certainly, if you've been here through the expositions of Romans, Ephesians 2, 1-3, you have no question about the truth of this assertion. All right,

Proposition 2: Some Men by Grace are Delivered from the Dominion of Sin

6:24 now the second assertion is this and this is the biblical background for any consideration of the doctrine of how to deal with remaining sin all men by nature under the dominion of sin proposition to some men by grace have been delivered from the dominion of sin in expounding the doctrines of grace Paul asserts in verse 6 of Romans 6 that certain men have been delivered from sins bondage knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away

7:02 that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin he says there are certain of us who though by nature were part of the all men ungainly under sin's dominion, by grace we have been delivered from that dominion. Verse 17, God be thanked that whereas ye were, that was your past, ye were the slaves of sin, ye are now, he says, made free from sin and become servants to righteousness. That is, you've been delivered by grace from the dominion of sin.

7:45 And we know it's by grace because he says, God be thanked. He doesn't say, thank yourself. Congratulate your preachers. Congratulate your church.

7:54 God be thanked. Grace has been operative in your deliverance. He reasserts this in verses 18 and 22, but the classic statement of it is verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace.

8:14 What is he saying? He's not saying sin ought not to have dominion over you. Eventually sin shall not have dominion over you. He says the moment you come into the orbit of the efficacious work of grace, you are delivered out of the orbit of sin's dominion.

8:33 We are either bound to sin as our master under the condemning power of the law or having been delivered from the condemning power of the law, through union with Christ, we are in the orbit of grace and sin's dominion has been broken. Grace and righteousness and God are the new masters. Now this new dominion is pervasive. Verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over you.

9:05 It is practical. Verse 13, you will present your members as instruments of righteousness unto God and it is perpetual. Verse 12, it is perpetual. Verse 12, it is perpetual.

9:14 Verse 12, it is perpetual. Verse 12, it is perpetual. Verse 22, you are having your fruit unto righteousness. Now do you see the great cleavage between these two conditions?

Proposition 3: Those Delivered Still Have Remaining Sin

9:23 All men by nature under sin's dominion, a dominion that is pervasive, practical and perpetual. Some men by grace are delivered from the dominion of sin, a deliverance that is also pervasive, practical and perpetual. But now the third proposition is this. Those delivered from the dominion of sin still have remaining sin with which they must contend to the end of their days.

9:55 Those delivered from the dominion of sin still have remaining sin which they must contend with to the end of their days. Isn't it interesting in this very chapter, chapter 6 of Romans, in which Paul asserts our deliverance from sin's dominion, he also exhorts us in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign, that you should obey the lust thereof, indicating that though we've been delivered from its dominion, it will still seek to usurp a place of influence in our lives.

10:39 He says let it not become a usurper. Also it's interesting that the chapter of Emancipation Romans 6 is followed by that searching section on the remains of sin which cause such inward agitation. And Romans 7 verses 14 to the end are the classic statement of what happens to a man who has been delivered from sin's dominion yet remaining sin within him. Listen to the words, verse 20 and following of Romans 7, but if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

11:24 I find then the law that to me who would do good, evil is present. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin, which is in my members, to be preaching me. Romans 7, the chapter of Emancipation, Romans 7, the latter part, dealing with this problem of agitation that comes from remaining sin. Now, never forget this.

12:03 Any interpretation of Romans 7 which negates the clear truth of Romans 6 is not biblical. There are people who love this latter part of Romans 7 and they say, oh well, I'm still chasing around with harlots at the bar. and I'm still cussing and swearing and I don't care to read the Bible or pray and I have no hunger after holiness, but you see, I've accepted Christ and it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. They're still under sin's dominion.

12:32 Don't you find consolation in Romans 7 until you can face the truth of Romans 6. But on the other hand, any preaching of Romans 6 that isn't followed by Romans 7 is not biblical either. And to whip the consciences of God's people with the truth that their dominion, the deliverance from the dominion of sin means that they attain a state in which there is no longer agitation from remaining sin is to say that they've gone in their experience beyond the Apostle Paul and when anyone goes beyond him, I'm scared of what they've got and I'm not about to buy the product.

13:08 No, the deliverance from sin's dominion is real, Romans 6, but the agitation of remaining sin is equally real. It's the same thing in chapter 8. In chapter 8 of Romans, Paul asserts in categorical terms that we are delivered from bondage to the realm of the flesh. If we are Christians, verse 9 of Romans 8, but ye are not in the flesh, that is, flesh is not the realm in which you move as the dominant principle of life, but in the Spirit.

13:44 If so, be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not, the Spirit of Christ is none of his. You see, if the Holy Spirit has not delivered you from the dominion of sin, you're not a Christian. But the very chapter that asserts deliverance from sin's dominion goes on to say, verses 12 and 13, So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh.

14:10 If ye live after the flesh, ye must die. But if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Though we're no longer in the flesh, we've got to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We're delivered from its dominion, but not from its present agitation.

14:28 And the same thing is true in Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 24 are an assertion that we no longer move in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit. Verse 24 says, They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. But verse 17 says, The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these two are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye may not do the things that ye would.

14:56 There is conflict. And in the three most definitive statements in the New Testament of this second principle, that all believers are delivered from sin's dominion, in those very contexts, we are told this third principle, those delivered from the dominion of sin still have remaining sins, with which they must contend to the end of their days upon earth. Now, my friends, in 12 minutes, I've given you what it's taken God years to teach me, and what I say humbly, some men never, never understand, and because of it, they are in darkness all their days,

The Confluence of Divine and Human Working in Sanctification

15:39 and they lead others down the road of their own darkness. Those are the three fundamental principles that undergird everything I want to share with you concerning the dominion of sin. And I want to share with you, concerning the dominion of sin, concerning the dominion of sin, concerning the dominion of sin, concerning the dominion of sin, how we deal with the problem of remaining sin. Now, as we come to the principles that must guide us as to how we must deal with this problem of remaining sin, some would raise a hand and say, Ah, but Pastor Martin, isn't this some kind of a works righteousness?

16:08 We are to deal with remaining sin. I thought it is God who sanctifies us. Yes, it is. But never forget this distinction.

16:18 When God lays hold of us, when God lays hold of a rebel sinner to bring him out of the dominion of sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, the sinner has nothing to do with that initial deliverance. Paul emphasized that in verse 17 of Romans 6. The authorized version is weak in its translation. It was almost embarrassed by the emphasis of Paul.

16:41 But verse 17 says, God be thanked that whereas ye were slaves of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered. He said, here the gospel came as a form of teaching and ye were delivered into its mold. And when God put you into the mold of the gospel, then having given you a new heart, you obeyed from the heart that teaching unto which you were delivered. God be thanked you were delivered.

17:13 You see the emphasis upon what the theologian would call monergism? It's all about the gospel. God be thanked ye were delivered. So then, in our being brought into the orbit of grace, in that sense, we are passive.

17:29 It is all of God. But once we are quickened to become new creatures in Christ, we are no longer passive. We are consciously, deliberately, volitionally active in the process of our sanctification. And do you see how modern theology has got it reversed?

17:50 They say you've got to add something to get in and once you get in, don't do anything. Just rely and relax and abide.

17:59 That's got it backwards.

18:01 God says, which were born not of the will of man nor the will of the flesh, but of God. God must bring us in. But having been brought in, he's brought us in living creatures who are to be active. And of course, the key text is Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13.

18:18 And I want you to look at it. I want you to look at it for a moment as the finger pointing in the direction of the instruction that I wish to give in our remaining time. Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. So then, my beloved, even as ye've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works, worketh in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

18:57 I need no greater proof that the Bible was inspired of God than these two verses.

19:02 No man would ever have put those two things together. If man were writing the Bible, this is how he'd write it. So then, my beloved, as ye've obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for unless you do, God will never work in you.

19:27 That's how man would have written it. You work or God won't work. Or man would have written it this way. Since it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do, don't you work, but just sit back and let him work.

19:42 That's how man would have written it. Left to himself, man will always err in thinking that God's work is suspended until we work. And that's one of the cardinal errors of the deeper life teaching. That the process of sanctification goes no further than we allow God to let it.

20:05 Right? On the other hand, there's the cursed, legalistic spirit that would, or the pietistic spirit that would say, well, since God is working, then I don't need to work. Now, these are wrong. This text says, my working and God's working are concurrently, concurrent realities.

20:29 Work out with fear and trembling. What kind of fear? Not the slavish fear that has torment, 1 John, but the realization that I'm in the orbit of God and of Christ and the blood of the everlasting covenant in heaven and glory. I'm in the orbit of the only things that will matter when time winds down and eternity is ushered in.

20:54 I'm to carry out to completion the service of God and of Christ. I'm to carry out the saving purposes of God as far as my responsibility in fear and trembling. Listen, this is a death struggle, this matter of the Christian life. We're not on a fool's errand.

21:11 We're not having mock battles like they may have at some of the battlegrounds down in the area of Philadelphia or other places in Gettysburg where young men all dressed up in confederate suits and in the suits of the enemy come out with real looking guns that make real sounds, but there are never any bullets in them.

21:30 My friend, you and I are not in that kind of a battle. We're in a real death struggle. And remaining sin would kill us if it could. If ye live after the flesh, you'll die.

21:42 That's what Paul says. This is serious business.

21:47 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. But it's not the fear and trembling that wonders what the issue will be. It's a fear and trembling in the confidence that Almighty God who put me in the way is going to keep me there and land me safely home at last. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

22:11 God's working and our working are concurrent realities. May I use another term? They are confluence experiences. That is, they flow together.

22:23 God's working and my working. But not only are they concurrent realities, they are interdependent necessities.

22:34 How are you to... grow as a Christian dealing with remaining sin?

22:40 Your working is essential to that growth.

22:45 But so is God's. And if God doesn't work, He won't make an ounce of progress. But if you don't work, you won't make any progress either.

22:53 Concurrent realities. Confluent experiences.

22:59 Interdependent necessities. And some of you may wonder what in the world is He blowing His fuses about? My friends, listen. If God the Holy Spirit will write these things upon your heart, you'll be saved from errors on the left hand and on the right for the rest of your days.

23:14 And if He doesn't, you're going to be exposed to errors on the left hand and the right.

Principle 1 for Mortification: Keep Your Heart Furnished with Gospel Motives

23:20 Now, those are the three introductory principles. Now, to talk about what we must do in mortification, I've established it is absolutely biblical to talk this way. Now then, what are the things that we must do if we're to make progress with remaining sin? Well, the first one is this.

23:40 And of course, I'm deeply indebted to my spiritual mentor in so many areas, the great Dr. John Owen, for some of the thoughts that I share with you. And I'm not at all embarrassed to say so. He's God's gift to the Church and he's been so helpful to me.

23:58 Here's the first. And there's no significance in the order except the first and the last are most vital and everything must be seen sandwiched in between. The first is this. Keep your heart well supplied with gospel motives and gospel principles.

24:19 Keep your heart well supplied with gospel motives and with gospel principles. You say, what in the world are you talking about, Pastor? Well, you know me well enough to know if I say something that's a little obtuse, I usually pause long enough to explain what I mean. What do I mean?

24:38 Keeping the heart furnished with gospel motives and gospel principles. Well, I'm using the term gospel motive as an antonym to legal motives. Legal motives and principles would be such things as the fear of hell, the fear of the consequences of my sin, and even perhaps the fear of God's chastening rod. But those fears that are divorced from the central truths of the gospel of the grace of God.

25:11 You see, there are unconverted sinners who fear God. They fear God. They fear God. They fear God.

25:13 They fear hell who still go right on in their sins.

25:17 They fear what their sin may do to their reputation, to their family, to their business. They go right on in sin. Legal motives have no power to shrivel up the roots of sin. It's only gospel motives that do.

25:30 Legal motives may put a paper barrier for a while between me and my sin, but paper barriers will be broken down. And the only kind of reinforced concrete barriers between a saint and his sin are gospel motives. That's what I mean by gospel motives. Now, what do I mean by keep the heart well furnished?

25:52 Well, I mean that the heart, in the words of the writer to the Proverbs, is the seat of what we are. Guard thy heart, Proverbs 4.23, for out of it are the issues of life. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

26:09 Jesus said, make the tree good. That's the heart. And then the fruit will be good. Out of the abyss, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

26:18 For from within, out of the heart proceed. And he mentions the sins. Now, the heart must be kept well furnished with gospel motives. It must be like my garden is right now, with all the rain we've had and my three children being little mini-farmers cultivating every day and taking care of it.

26:39 Everything is lush and thick and green. It's a garden well furnished with well-kept, cared for plants and vegetables. Left to itself, it'll become a garden full of weeds. The human heart is like that.

26:56 Left to itself, remaining sin in the human heart will fill the heart with the weeds of indifference to gospel motives

27:06 and therefore, we must keep the heart well furnished by spiritual cultivation, by spiritual planting and watering and nurturing. Having described, what i mean by keeping the heart well furnished with gospel motives what are those gospel motives and how will they work well let me give you two illustrations from the scriptures the first one is the great apostle paul will you turn please to second corinthians chapter five you want to see a man whose heart is well furnished with gospel motives you turn to the apostle paul having

Illustrations of Gospel Motives: Paul and Joseph

27:48 stated in verses 12 and 13 well let's read them second corinthians 5 we are not again commending ourselves unto you but speak is giving you occasion of glorying on our behalf that ye may have wherewith to answer them that glory in appearance and not in heart here were these people that were trying to undermine paul's authority and paul says the only reason i'm talking the way i'm talking is to give you some ammunition to refute those that would undercut my authority as an apostle and therefore my influence over you verse 13 for whether we are beside ourselves it is unto god

28:27 one of the accusations they apparently made is that paul has gone bananas whether we be beside ourselves he said if there are times when i appear as a deranged man in your eyes and in the eyes of others it is unto god that is it is because of my relationship to god and his to me and because of the truth that has come from God and to which I am obligated in the Spirit of God, if I seem to be a man deranged, it is unto God. And he says, if I appear sober and rational,

29:06 it is unto you. So no matter what the outward expression may be, what is it that's really driving me? Verse 14, for the love of Christ constraineth us. That is not our love to Christ, but Christ's love to us, Paul says, is a powerfully constraining influence that affects the totality of my life and my experience, both as a man and as an apostle and the minister of Christ. Now that's what it means to have a heart well furnished.

29:46 With a gospel motive. As Paul contemplated day after day the amazing measure of Christ's love to him, that he, the sinless one, he, the ineffably glorious one, should come from the bosom of the Father, take to himself a true humanity. In that humanity live a life of poverty and suffering. In that humanity go to the cruel death of the cross, all of which was done why? He was bound to his people in eternal cords of love. And he says,

30:26 as I think upon that love, it forges a vice that holds me. It constrains me. To change the analogy, it weaves an unbreakable rope. It forges a chain that binds me to a life of abandonment to the one who loves me. And that's what it means to have a heart well furnished. That's what it means to have

30:47 a heart well furnished. That's what it means to have a heart well furnished. That's what it means to have a heart well furnished. There is a man whose Lord loved me and gave himself for me. There is a man

30:50 whose heart is well furnished with gospel motives. Take one more example from the Apostle Paul. Suppose you have been following around the Roman Empire for three, four weeks, and you saw him working all night, making tents to provide bread for himself and his companions, and you saw him catch a few winks here and there, and then he's in the synagogue preaching, expounding, witnessing out in the marketplace, reasoning, disputing it as well. How are you going to 2009 to co- Squeeze muting, alleging, and opening that Jesus is the Christ.

31:21 You see this man almost obsessed. And you see the outflow of an energy that was superhuman and a zeal and a devotion. And finally, you can take it no longer, and you come up and you tap him on the shoulder and say, Mr. Paul, man, I've been watching you for one solid month.

31:41 And I'm a reporter from the New York Times. And you're creating a little bit of stir even halfway across the world. And we'd like to know, what in the world makes you tick? Have you got an hour or two to sit down and lay out before me your philosophy of life?

31:56 Paul would say, well, my time is precious. But even if I had an hour or two, I don't need it. I'll give you my philosophy of life in less than seven seconds.

32:07 You know what my philosophy of life is? Here it is. Write it down, Mr. Reporter.

32:12 He's waiting for some great, profound opening up of some mysterious, high-falutin' constant. And he says, no. For to me, to live is Christ.

32:26 That's it. That's it.

32:31 No more, no less. A paraphrase of that verse, Philippians 121.

32:41 Life means Christ.

32:46 That's it.

32:48 The poor reporter's disappointed. Imagine sending back not even a one-liner to the New York Times.

32:56 That's it. He's saying the totality of that which constitutes life. And think of it. His life was as complex as yours and mine.

33:06 It involved eating, drinking, sleeping, caring for temporal, physical needs. It involved his legitimate call in life, relationships to men and to God, to people, to responsibility. But he said, in every single area, see me eating, see me drinking, see me praying, behold me witnessing, preaching, nurturing, writing letters. And at every point, one thing dominates.

33:33 Jesus Christ. It wasn't sentimental. It wasn't some kind of mystical, ethereal thing. No, no.

33:41 It was the Christ of divine revelation. The Christ of the Old Testament scriptures. The Christ of space-time history. The Christ who appeared on the Damascus road.

33:52 The Christ who commissioned him. Life means Christ to me. That's a gospel motive. Furnishing a man's heart.

34:01 And then the Old Testament illustration is from the life of Joseph. That godly young man. He was born in the midst of an affluent and no doubt sensuous situation in Potiphar's house. And you remember the record in Genesis, how that Potiphar's frustrated wife cast her eyes upon this handsome young man and day after day sought to entice him with her words, and when her words would not prevail, one day when the circumstances were ripe for Joseph's fall, she laid hold upon him physically.

34:35 And what was his answer when she said, lie with me? Did he say, how can I do this great wickedness and ruin my reputation? Run the risk of being booted out of your husband's house? No, no.

34:47 What was his answer? How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

34:57 He said, it's unthinkable, Mrs. Potiphar. It was God who moved the hearts of my brothers when some would have killed me. It was God who moved the heart of my oldest brother to say, no, let us put him in the pit.

35:11 Let us sell him. It was God who ordered my coming here into this place. It is God who has preserved me. It is God with whom I hold loving communion.

35:20 How dare I sin against so gracious a being as my covenant God? That's the heart being furnished with a gospel motive. Now do you get what I'm driving at? If you're to make any success in dealing with remaining sin, you must keep your heart well.

How to Furnish Your Heart: Diligent Use of Means of Grace

35:41 Well furnished with gospel motives. Having defined what a gospel motive is, having illustrated it, now the great question is, how in the world do you do that? All right, I'm going to answer. You know me well enough to know I won't raise questions in your mind without attempting to answer them.

35:58 And I'm going to answer it by three exhortations, one positive and two negative. You know me well enough to know that that's usually the way we handle things as well. I'm really in a rut, am I not? All right.

36:09 Three exhortations, one positive. Two negative. Now if you're serious about dealing with remaining sin, then you're going to be serious about keeping your heart well furnished with gospel motives. That will mean, positive, you will seriously employ all the means of grace, public and private, which are calculated to keep the heart supplied with gospel motives.

36:35 The tools that God has ordained to keep the heart well cultivated and watered and lush with gospel, is the public gathering with his people, the singing of psalms and hymns of praise to Christ as God.

36:55 Coming with God's people in hearing brethren with some measure of a facility of public prayer, leading us to the throne of grace in amazement that we should be given access to so holy a God through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Coming to the Lord's table where we take into our hands and set before, our eyes the visible emblems of his true humanity and of his giving of himself unto death on behalf of his people, the public means of grace are calculated to keep the heart well furnished with gospel motives. Where there is true biblical preaching, Christ will be the center of that preaching.

37:38 He will be the one that is set before us. When promises are given, it will be shown that they are yea and amen. Amen. Christ. When duties are laid upon our consciences, it will be made plain that they are duties

37:52 to be performed because we belong to Him and in the strength and virtue that flows from Him. Jesus Christ in that sense is central to all biblical preaching. That doesn't mean the preacher just stands up and says, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Nor does it mean he will only expound the explicitly Christological passages. Those passages where Christ, as

38:16 it were, leaps from the very obvious word. No, no. It will mean in the encompassing of the whole counsel of God, we will see all truths as flowing out of Christ and flowing back into Christ when there is true biblical preaching. That's how the heart is well kept, well furnished with gospel motives in the public means of grace and then in the private means of grace. It's a curse that new converts are told, now you're a Christian, read your

38:46 Bible. And so it's something you do. No, no. The advice you give a new convert is, seek the Lord in the pages of His Word. There's all the difference in the world. Seek the Lord

39:03 in the pages of His Word. See the difference? Did not our hearts burn within us? Why? Because

39:11 we were fascinated as to how He opened up prophecy and compared Scripture with Scripture. A lot of people say, oh, well, that's a deep Bible study. You've jumped all the way up. You've gone all over the Scriptures and there's been some little obtuse opening up of some little mysterious thing. I know these people that are prophecy addicts. They're just like

39:28 that. They get a preacher who begins to really expound the Scripture and they're disappointed. They say, we're not fed. We like prophecy. We like to tie the toe into the beast's ear

39:38 and have the dragon stick his tongue into the image's left ear and all the rest. No, no. No, no, dear people. Listen. Listen. Listen. It is seeking the Lord in the pages

39:51 of Christ in His Word. When I've been away from home, I know where my wife is. She's back within the walls of that split-level house in 25 Meadowbrook Lane. But, boy, I'm not seeking that house. When I come through that door, my eyes look for one thing. And

40:06 I'm not content to have the walls where she's found. I'm not content until she's there. Right there! Now I'm content. My friend, you'll never find Him outside these walls. You go

40:18 looking for Jesus in visions, in ecstasies, you'll find something. But it won't be Him. He's within these walls. But, oh, my friend, don't be content with the walls. Don't be content until you can say, my beloved is mine and I am His. When

40:37 I found Him whom my soul loved, I held Him and I would not let Him go. And I am not embarrassed to say I make a veritable pest of myself when I've been away from home a week. I'm going to follow my wife all over that house and I can't keep my hands off her. And she wouldn't want to know.

40:58 any other way but about our heavenly bridegroom that's how the heart is kept well furnished with gospel motives we seek him in the word there's the necessity of private meditation upon the scriptures private prayer why not because prayer and reading the scriptures are some duties imposed upon us they are means to keep gospel motives living in the heart let me ask you very simply this morning how well furnished is your heart with gospel motives this morning hmm why did you

41:39 come to this place this morning because all good christians quote go to church on sunday or can you honestly say i came to see the face of my beloved i came to hear the voice of my beloved what is your prayer as you sit here oh god give me a new sight of the lord jesus give me a new appreciation of his grace of his work past present and future new insight into his will for me new understanding of his grace and mercy dear ones that's what the public acts of worship are

42:20 all about where two or three are gathered in my name doesn't say my word is there my sacraments are there my ministers are there and if we don't see him in word sacrament and through the preaching we've missed it the central issue keep the heart well furnished with gospel motives and how do you do it the first positive exhortation is diligent use of the means of grace public and private with an eye to their purpose and their intention but now there is a negative exhortation to negative exhortation

Negative Exhortation 1: Beware of Anything that Bleeds Away Gospel Vigor

43:02 and the first one is this beware of anything which bleeds away the vigor and the reality of gospel principles in your heart beware of anything which bleeds away the reality and the vigor of gospel principles in your heart now what am i trying to say just this many times we fall into entangling relationships with our besetting sins with our indwelling corruption not directly not

43:44 immediately but indirectly and immediately in other words the heart is first of all stripped of the lushness of gospel motives then it is set up for a fall into sin now there are many things perfectly innocent in themselves let me descend to particulars is there anything intrinsically sinful with the relationship between a young man and a young woman no the bible says it's one of the great mysteries the eagle in the air and the way of a man with a maid one of the life's

44:23 great mysteries nothing sinful it is not good for a man to be alone i will make and help answering to his needs but now i must ask myself what is this relationship with this young man or young woman doing to my heart's ability to maintain a well-furnished set of gospel motives do i find the time spent with him or her bleeds away the vigor of gospel motives or do i find that that

45:01 relationship is being owned of god to intensify my awareness of gospel motives now if it's bleeding your heart of the vigor of gospel motives one of two things is true either the relationship is in itself sinful or you've allowed sinful elements to enter it and i've talked with so many young people who wonder why and they will say well i don't know why i don't know why i don't know why i don't know why i don't know why i don't know why i don't know why i just pulled out of bed cause we're all like tablespoon meals in aending however the hell of espresso routine depending on the 芳ûr tú en tu็r depêta ¡no big deal! the watches then read a thousand words at once and see where did i even get it unless i'm pretty damn lucky

45:42 finally i have to admit it all together in a simple blame you exactly but you have to have some patience enough to often use the main way to prevent Munich the world is making no progress and grace by succumbing to carnal and fleshly appetites one of the others got to go the contemplation of Christ crucified will shrivel and crucify your last or your loss will shrivel and crucify the contemplation of Christ crucified it's the same way with inordinate television watching anything's perfectly innocent not many on the television there are a few left you've got to

46:25 ask yourself does my television watching release my mind from the demands of duty and refresh it sufficiently to come back to duty with greater vigor or is it telling the mind and indisposing it to prayer indisposing it to meditation indisposing it to stay awake on a Sunday morning so that I come dull and lifeless and lethargic and Christ can be set before me gloriously and I don't even see him you I don't even see him because my mind and my spirit have been so dissipated by inordinate television watching on Saturday night my friends we're in a death struggle and until you're

47:06 prepared to deal ruthlessly with anything in your life that bleeds away the vigor and reality of gospel principles you will make no progress in dealing with remaining sin you can pray and fast one week a month you'll make no progress you can agonize and pray and indulge and again one week you'll make no progress you can ask for a role in surrendering but to get something that someone would call the baptism and speak in 45 different languages and when you're all done and come back there'll be no progress because it's a heart well furnished

47:46 with gospel motors that is the heart that goes on in this area of dealing with sin and then the second negative exhortation is this beware of falling back under legal principles see if the�리 now and when we're relying on the devil we're saying deal with ourselves while living behaviors the devil can't get us to the devil can't get you to be bled of gospel motives and principles with dallying in innocent things to the point where they cripple us or dallying in forbidden things, then it will get us so strict that we fall under a subtle form of legalism. And it goes something like this.

Negative Exhortation 2: Beware of Falling Back Under Legal Principles

48:18 Oh boy, I'm really going to make progress because I've been good for the past four days. God must really smile on me because I haven't blown my stack for the past week. I haven't allowed my eyes to look lustfully upon any woman for the past week. Therefore, you see what's happened?

48:40 No longer am I preoccupied with Christ who is my all in all. As Daft, what was his name? Daft Jimmy? Some of you read the little track.

48:50 Daft, no, not Jimmy, something else. He was a man that was very limited in his mental faculties and he was brought before a session of elders to give account of himself and his conversion. And they asked him questions about did you go through great legal terrors and all that. The poor guy didn't know what he was saying.

49:08 And he says, my name is so-and-so and that is all. I am a sinner and Christ is my all in all. And every question they asked him, it was I am a sinner and Christ is my all in all. Well, did you go through great...

49:21 I don't know about that, but one thing I know, I am a sinner. That is all. But Christ Jesus is my all in all. They didn't...

49:30 They didn't know what to do but to admit him into the community of the visible saints.

49:36 Oh, Daft Jimmy or whatever his first name was, it's left me. Jimmy doesn't sound right, but that's what I'm going to call him and I'm sure he won't object where he is today.

49:45 That's the heart of it. And when you move beyond that, then you have become daft.

49:51 When you approach any day with any other posture than I am a sinner, that's all. But Jesus Christ is my all in all. Without me, ye can...

50:03 You abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, beware of falling back under legal principles that unless I do and perform, I have no right to look and to trust. No, no. My doing and performing flows out of my looking unto Jesus.

50:31 It is not the prerequisite to look. I am to look that I may do, not do that I may...

50:40 Look. See the difference? When you say that double talk, no, my friends, that's two different worlds. We're in two different ballparks with two different games, two different bats, two different balls, two everything.

50:53 I do not do that I may look. I look that I may do. And don't let legal principles come in. And when you've fallen before some indwelling corruption and you've been crippled, don't go around in a form of Protestant penance for three or four days.

51:11 Mourning and groaning and licking your wounds. Come immediately to the fountain open for sin and unclean. Come immediately before the Lord Jesus and say, Lord, I've sinned. I've sinned.

51:26 I've sinned against light and privilege and grace. But Lord Jesus, you're ever there as my great high priest pleading the merits of your precious blood on behalf of the likes of me. Well, Mr. Moore, if it's all right, I think I'll finish the sermon.

Conclusion and Application to Believers and Unbelievers

51:43 All right? I think this is enough for this morning. It's 20 after 12. I've enlarged on the first principle.

51:51 God willing, we'll cover four more tonight. The middle three, they'll be briefer and the last one will be heavier because we end with Christ where we started. And I'd be violating the very thing I said about preaching this morning if we started and ended anywhere else but with Christ. But now I do want to round out this morning's study with the exhortation.

52:11 What about some of you who sit here this morning that are sitting in the middle of the room still where the first principle described us? All mankind by nature are under the dominion of sin. My friend, is that where you are? If you've not sat here this morning saying, oh, God, teach me how to fight sin, that's the clear evidence that you're still under the dominion of sin.

52:36 It's the mark of a man who's been delivered from sin's dominion that he pants and longs to know how to conquer in the conflict with remaining sin. That's the mark of a man who's been delivered from sin's dominion. That's the mark of a man who's been delivered from sin's dominion. It's the man who's been regenerate that says, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

52:54 I find a law in my members. Is that your honest confession this morning? Then, dear child of God, remember, that struggle is going to be with you to the end of your days. You'll save yourself all kinds of heartache, all kinds of disillusionment if you just don't run down every path that is paved by something that you don't know.

53:15 Sometimes well-meaning people will say, you're weary of the struggle, weary of the conflict. Come listen to us. My friend, there is no such path. You're going to be in this path of conflict to the end of your days, but thank God in the midst of it.

53:30 God has furnished us with principles to help us in mortifying the deeds of the flesh. The first one is this. Keep that heart of yours well furnished.

53:45 There's some of you who've never had your heart touched by sin. You've never been furnished by gospel motives. That's why you love your sin. That's why you don't care about holiness.

53:53 But once you get a sight of Christ crucified and in the embrace of faith, He becomes yours. You'll know what we're talking about this morning. May God grant that you'll embrace Him in having a heart furnished with gospel motives. You then will be enabled to begin to wrestle with that remaining sin.

54:14 May the Lord help us and may we together pray and have our hearts our expectation from Him that God will teach us and help us to walk in the light of these practical exhortations for our profit and for His glory. Let us pray.