He that Humbleth Himself

Introduction: The Fundamental Religious Question and the Parable's Conclusion

0:05 I hope to conclude tonight our series of studies in this parable of our Lord found in the 18th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. I believe it's somewhere around the 12th study that we've conducted in this parable. This parable bounded by Luke 18, 9 and 14 in which our Lord addresses himself to that which could be called the most fundamental religious question a man can ever entertain, namely, how can sinful man be right with God?

0:45 And these two men set before us in the parable are specimen men. All who would seek to find acceptance with God must do so either in the futile way of the Pharisee or in the efficacious way of the publican. And having spent all of these previous studies in a careful phrase-by-phrase exposition of the parable, we come tonight to the last in our series of studies in which our attention will be focused particularly on the last phrase of verse 14, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

1:29 But since there is a unit of thought particularly, beginning with the word for, about a third of the way, down to the verse for, everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. I will take just a few minutes to show what we covered last week and then pick up our study where we left off.

1:53 Our Lord Jesus, at the conclusion of the parable, stated that the publican, who pleaded nothing but his sinnerhood, went down to his house a justified man rather than the Pharisee, who paraded in the presence of God his seeming virtue of life and the seeming virtue of his religious performances. Having stated in the first part of verse 14 that the publican went down justified rather than the other, our Lord then indicates that this should not surprise us, but that his dealings with the publican and the Pharisee were consistent with this general rule of law.

2:36 Rule or maxim or law of the kingdom of God, namely, everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So we began to consider last week this general spiritual rule, law or maxim of the kingdom of heaven, applicable in this setting, but not applicable here alone, for our Lord uses the same words in two other, distinctly different, contexts, both in Luke 14, and then I believe the other reference is in Matthew chapter 23. Now there are in the statement two fundamental things.

The Pronouncement of Certain Humbling: Universality and Absoluteness

3:20 First of all, a pronouncement of certain humbling. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled. And I underscored last week both the universality and the absoluteness of this law of God. The law of God's kingdom.

3:39 Every single person that exalts himself, as did the Pharisee, shall be humbled, as was the Pharisee. Everyone who lifts himself up above what God says he is, a sinner destitute of righteousness, a sinner standing in desperate need of a righteousness not his own, the Pharisee lifted himself up above that class of people, and in exaltation, exalting himself, he was humbled by God, in that he went down to his house not justified, and unless he repented, and took the place of a publican, he shall be forever humbled,

4:20 as the consuming fire of God's eternal wrath consumes him in the lake of fire. Now we come tonight to the second division of the text, a pronouncement of certain exaltation. For just as surely, surely as our Lord says, everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled, pronouncement of certain humbling, so he says with equal emphasis, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And so we want to take apart this pronouncement of certain exaltation, and then I trust apply it not only to the parable, but to our own consciences.

Defining 'Humbleth Himself': A Continuous Disposition

5:05 Now we must begin, of course, with the meaning of the words humbleth himself. Jesus said, he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. What did he mean by those words? Well, the word humbleth is the same word used in the first part of the verse.

5:26 He that exalteth himself shall be humbled. You remember last week, those who were here, that we said that the word means very basically, to bring or to make low, either in a physical or a spiritual sense. It's the word used in the third chapter of Luke, quoting from Isaiah, that every mountain and hill shall be made low. And hence, because it means to make low things, it speaks figuratively of being made low in one's spirit or in one's estimation of oneself or others.

6:04 Hence, the word abased, sometimes used to translate it. Look at several instances of this usage in the word of God itself. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and in verse 7, the apostle Paul says, did I commit sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for naught. He's referring to the fact that when he came to Corinth, he did not take advantage of his apostolic right, to live by the gospel.

6:40 That is, to live by a physical remuneration for his gospel labors. Now he says, I, as it were, took the place of a common person amongst you. I did not exercise my apostolic authority in this regard. He mentions that in detail in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

6:59 So when he stepped down from the position of legitimate exercise of apostolic privilege, he says, I abased myself. I humbled myself. Same word in the original. It's used in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 21.

7:18 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 21. We should back up to verse 20. For I fear, lest by any means when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not, lest by any means there should be strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, back-bitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults, lest again when I come, my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many of them that have sinned heretofore. Here's the people about whom Paul has boasted.

7:54 He has said, you're my workmanship. You're the epistle known and read of all men. You are my credentials. I don't need to go around with a pocket full of letters.

8:03 He says, you people are my letter. Now he says, must God humble me before you? If I come back and see all the evidence of spiritual declension and see you turning aside from the path of holiness and obedience, he says, this will bring me down from my plane of legitimate joy and boasting, and I shall be what? Made low.

8:24 I shall be humbled before you. It's the word used of our Lord in Philippians 2. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death. He stepped down from the position that was rightly his as God and took the place of a common criminal.

8:43 Well, I think these are sufficient to show the general sense of the word humble. But in this context, it's a present participle. Should be read, could be read this way. But he that is continually humbling himself shall be exalted.

9:02 So it is not speaking of an act. Once performed. But it is speaking of a disposition and an attitude implanted within the heart. And it's important that we catch that.

9:17 Our Lord does not say he that humbles himself in one great act of stepping down shall be exalted. But he who is humbling himself, he who takes the position of the humbled lowly one. For grace is far more seen. In.

9:36 The reality of the dispositions it implants than in the glorious magnificent experiences which it gives along the way. And so our concern should not be so much with whether or not we can locate in ourselves or others some great experience of humbling. But whether or not there is the disposition of humbling within our own hearts. Well, then notice the emphasis on the word himself.

10:07 He that humbleth himself in contrast to the previous humbling in the first part of the verse. That humbling is the humbling of God's judgment in which the proud sinner is passive. He that exalted himself shall be humbled. It doesn't say he that exalted himself shall humble himself.

10:33 But he that exalts himself shall be humbled. God will take the proud Pharisee in hand. And say, aha, so you would not accept my indictment against you. That you are like other men.

10:46 That you are a depraved, polluted, fallen, guilty son of Adam. You will not take my indictment that all your religious services apart from union with me and my son is filthy rags. But you'll dare to bring your fasting and your tithing into my very presence. I'll take you in hand to humble you.

11:06 And I will make you to be bent and broken. Before the eyes of the whole moral universe. But here notice, it is the person who humbles himself. That is, the person consciously, deliberately, intelligently stoops to take the low place.

11:30 And this is the pervasive emphasis of the word of God. James 4.10 and 1 Peter 5.6 you have the exact same phrase.

11:39 Humble yourself. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Humble yourself. Alright, so much for the meaning of the words.

Self-Humbling in the Parable's Context: Judgment Day Honesty

11:50 Humbleth himself. Now relate it to the context. Our Lord is not making this statement in the abstract. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

12:04 He's making this statement in relationship to the concrete realities of the paradoxical, paradoxical parable of the publican and the pharisee. Now, what did it mean in the parable for the publican to humble himself? Well, it's just the opposite of what the pharisee did, you see. The pharisee raised himself above the rest of sinful humanity and said I thank thee I am not as other man.

12:34 The pharisee brought his so-called virtuous religious deeds up into the presence of God as something acceptable in and of themselves. He exalted himself and the opposite of that was the publican who assumed his rightful place and cries God be thou merciful to me, the sinner. You see what he was saying when he uttered those words? He was saying something like this, Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world.

13:10 Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world.

13:14 Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world.

13:18 Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. Oh God, whatever pedestal I may have erected out of the apparent stuff of my world. I volitionally, I consciously and intelligently step down from that pedestal, and I take my place where you must find my place.

13:33 You say in your word there is none that doeth good, no, not one. You say that all mankind is found in the pollution of native defilement and guilt and corruption. Oh God, whatever pedestal I've ever constructed in the past, any pedestal upon which I have stood, I step down, and I now own my place. Be merciful to me, thee.

14:04 In the context, to humble himself for the publican meant that he took a judgment day, honest evaluation. of himself with judgment day accuracy and with honesty. Now let me say by way of application, not only is this statement coming to us in the concrete realities of the Pharisee and the publican, but as I've emphasized all the way through, this parable of the Pharisee and the publican comes to us in the concrete reality of every one of you here.

Application of Self-Humbling: Continually Smashing Pedestals

14:47 Jesus wasn't giving it to us to give a nice little story for preachers to have something to preach about. So they could collect their check and keep a congregation happy. No, no. So every one of you must ask yourself, have I humbled myself?

15:06 Am I conscious that I have stepped down from whatever pedestals I had constructed, that kept me from saying from the heart and from thenceforth adopting this as the disposition of my heart in me. That is in my flesh dwelling. Dwelleth good faith. That's easy to quote it.

15:31 But my friend, if God's ever smashed your pedestal, you'll know it. You'll know it. Because the God who initially smashed it is continually smashing it because we're always trying to pick up the pieces and erect it again. So he says, he that is what?

15:49 He that is humbling himself. He that is continually stepping down saying, oh God, I am what you say I am. I am what your word tells me. And the man who knows the operation of God in his heart, bringing him consciously, deliberately, volitionally, intelligently to humble himself, knows inwardly and experientially whereof I speak tonight.

16:16 And if this all sounds like religious gibberish, my friend, you're in a bad way. A terribly bad way. Well, we must hurry on now to seek to expound the words, shall be exalted. In this statement, of certain exaltation, we've looked at the words, humbleth himself, what they mean, what they mean in the context.

Defining 'Shall Be Exalted': God's Justifying Work

16:40 Now, what do these words mean? Shall be exalted. Well, we saw last week the word exalt simply means to raise high persons or things. It's the word used in John 3, 14.

16:52 As Moses exalted, lifted up the serpent. John 12, 32. And I, if I be lifted up, exalted, exalted from the earth. This spake he concerning the death he should die.

17:07 Acts 2, 33, speaking of Christ. He being by the right hand of God, lifted up, exalted. So then, this text says that the person who humbles himself is to be raised high. Now, the meaning in the context, look at it.

17:25 Who is the author of this exalting? Well, the author is God himself. You see, there's a play in words here. In the case of the Pharisee, who's the author of the exalting?

17:38 Pharisee is. He's going to lift himself up. God says, I'll take you down. But the publican, he goes down, and God says, I'll lift him up.

17:48 The author of this exalting is God himself. And where do we find it in the text? It's there in the first part of verse 14. I say unto you, this man went down to his house, not justifying himself, but he went down justified.

18:05 And what is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace. God did the exalting. God reached, as it were, into the dunghill and set this man amongst princes.

18:22 God was the author of this exalting. He did something for that publican and all who stand with him. And what was the nature of that exalting? He raised him to all the blessings and privileges of justification.

18:39 That is, he raised him to a status of being a fully and completely forgiven sinner. Oh, the world knows nothing of what true exaltation is. The world of teenagers says exaltation is to be what? Well, some say it's to be high on pot.

18:59 And someone else said it's to be high on sex. And someone else says it's to be high on popularity. And someone else, it's to be this, to be that. No, no, you know what true exaltation is?

19:11 To know that you can look up into the face of the God who made you and that he says to you through the word and by the Spirit, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Are you forgiven? That's exaltation indeed. But more than that, when the Scripture says that he went down to his house justified, he was not only exalted to the status of a fully forgiven sinner.

19:37 He was exalted to the status of a fully accepted sinner as though he had perfectly kept the law of God. For that's justification. So that now he had a title to everlasting life. He was an adopted Son of God, an heir of heaven, a joined heir with Jesus Christ.

19:58 You talk about exaltation. We could just take off here and go till midnight and start reading Romans chapter 8, Ephesians chapter 2, Colossians 1, 2, and 3, and go through all of those rich treatments of what it means to be quickened together with Christ, raised up with Christ, seated with Christ, and all the blessings of God stored up in Christ are ours. That's the nature of that exaltation. And in the context it means that the poor publican who humbled himself and graced all of the hard things that God set against him is now raised by that very God

20:40 to all the privileges of the Sons of God. Let me say briefly by way of application what else can we say when we contemplate such things but oh the wonder of God's exalting work of grace. Let me ask you tonight, do you know what it is to be exalted by God to this status? I'm not asking you if you've gone through a little process of self-absolution in which you've played little games with yourself and with God and the Bible and reached around and said to yourself, Son, thy sins be forgiven.

21:15 But do you know what it is to be brought through by the Spirit and the Word to where the Spirit himself bears witness with your spirit that you're a child of God? Do you? He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now having expounded the text, briefly but I trust accurately, I want to draw out your minds along three concluding observations with this text and some of it will reflect back upon the whole parable.

Resolving the Problem: Humbling Does Not Merit Exaltation

21:48 First of all there is a fundamental problem with this text and if you haven't seen the problem I want you to see it now. Does not this seem to say that the sinner's humbling of himself in some way earns the grace of exaltation? It doesn't say, but he that is humbled shall be exalted. Those of us who love the doctrines of grace and want every single verse to unequivocally state them, we'd be a little happier if maybe it said it that way.

22:24 But he that is humbled and we'd say, aha, see the sinner's passive God does the humbling, we'd really feel comfortable with it. But the Lord didn't say that. He says, he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. It's the publican who humbled himself.

22:43 Well then, does that mean that the humbling of ourselves somehow earns the grace of God's exalting work? No, that cannot be the meaning for two very simple reasons. Number one, it would contradict the whole teaching of the passage. The passage was given for what purpose?

23:04 Verse 9, He spake this parable unto certain who trusted in him. Then he said unto them, that they were righteous. He said to them, that they were righteous. And if the publican was exalted to this place of the justified state because he was smart enough to humble himself as opposed to the Pharisee who was so stupid as not to, he could glory in the fact that he was smart enough to humble himself.

23:30 It would contradict the whole thrust of the passage. The publican did not say, God, look upon my humility and justify me. He said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. So you see, that can't be the meaning.

23:47 The attachment between exaltation and humbling cannot be one in which the humbling merits the exaltation, for it would contradict the teaching of the whole passage, and of course it would contradict the teaching of the entire Word of God, which says salvation from beginning to end is all of grace, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works. Well, if that isn't the meaning we're supposed to extract from it, how should we connect these things? Well, simply stated, it's this.

24:28 When God takes a man in hand to save him, He will always save him in a way that brings the sinner to a conscious, deliberate, volitional humbling of himself. That's all this passage is saying. There is an inseparable relationship between salvation and a man humbling himself.

24:56 But you see, it's not that the man humbles himself of himself, and therefore that flips the switch and God says, Oh good, now I'll move in and pick up from there. Oh no. For you'll remember that the reason the Pharisee did not humble himself is that he didn't have right views of himself. And the publican had right views of himself only because God had opened his eyes.

25:23 Not to look at himself through the distorted glasses of his own Adamic pride, but God opened his eyes to see himself as he was in the eye of God. That was God's work of illumination, opening the eyes, turning him from darkness to light. And so when God takes any one of us in hand to save us, He will always save us in a way of selflessness, of humbling and true contrition. You put this in the same category of repentance and faith.

25:54 Who repents and who believes on Christ? The sinner. In that sense, it's perfectly accurate to say faith and repentance are conditions of salvation. They are.

26:06 Except you repent, you'll perish. He that believeth not shall be damned. Isn't that what the Bible says? But the same Bible says that faith and repentance are the gifts of God.

26:20 And faith and repentance, are as it were the reflex response of a man quickened by the Spirit so that he repents and he believes as one whom God has savingly wrought upon.

26:35 And this self-humbling is but one of the branches of true repentance and true faith. That's all. So all our Lord is saying in different words is, He that repents and believes shall be saved. It's the same message.

26:51 The gospel is right here. In these different words. And so if you had that problem looking at the text, maybe you didn't. I did.

Fundamental Theological Truth: Moral Content in Saving Faith

27:00 I believe this is the biblical answer. A fundamental problem concerning the text. I trust we've resolved it. Now in the second place, there is a fundamental theological truth in the text.

27:12 A fundamental theological truth. And that fundamental truth is this. There is moral content in all true saving faith.

27:25 Let me repeat that. Simple. There is moral content in all true saving faith. True faith involves the humbling of oneself.

27:39 The confession that all that is in me is sin, deserving wrath and judgment. My hope must be holy in another so that from henceforth if I find acceptance with God in the words of 1 Corinthians 1.31, I shall glory. If I glory at all in the Lord and in the Lord alone.

28:03 Now historically, and this is where church history can help us, there have been periods when this element has been denied. There was a great controversy in the Church of Scotland. And this came to be known as the Sandemanian controversy because of a man named Sandeman who in his reaction against the kind of legalistic preaching of some of the people who gave the impression that a person had to go around like Bunyan's Pilgrim, you see, with that sack on his back until his knee joints got kind of arthritic with it for about 13 years before he could ever come to solid faith in Christ. And if they found someone who wasn't in the slough of despond for three years

28:47 and as it were by hill legality for six years and said they knew they were saved, they were awfully suspicious. So afraid of Paul's hope that they didn't parcel out anything. Well, you see, the church history is a history of the pendulum going from one extreme to another and moving very quickly through the center of its arc, which is the point of balance. Well, in reaction against this, Sandeman and his followers taught, no, no, faith is simple belief.

29:17 The gospel comes saying, Christ is an able and a willing Savior for all who trust him, acceptance of that proposition, and you are saved. Now, to be fair to them, they said this, if that faith is real, even though it involves just simple belief, it will always be followed with repentance, sorrow for sin, love for Christ, obedience, etc. Unlike modern easy believism, the Sandemanians did teach that holiness will be an essential accompaniment of faith.

29:50 But they tried to strip faith of its moral content. This text shows us that the Sandemanian heresy was a heresy and its modern, counterpart, quote, easy believism. How does it go? It goes like this.

30:05 You get the person to sit down and you show them a few verses. You say you believe the Bible? Well, most people will say it's something special about the Bible. Sure, that's why it sits there at home on the piano collecting dust.

30:17 It's special about it. I mean, really, they don't have Mein Kampf there or something else. They've got the Bible, something special. So there's a general superstitious kind of reverence for the Black Book, right?

30:31 And so when you open that, it almost spooks them a little bit. There's a little bit of a...

30:36 And so you read from there, all have sinned. You believe that? You look them right in the eye and the way you look at them, of course they're going to say, I believe it, because you look like you're ready to hit them with it if they don't admit it.

30:49 Yeah, I believe that. I've sinned. Well, the Bible says, and then a few more verses are quoted, and I'm being a little bit facetious. But then what happens?

30:59 Oft times this is what happens. All right, my friend, you'll admit you're a sinner. You say you believe Christ died on the cross for sinners. Now I want you to pray after me these words.

31:08 Oh God, oh God, be merciful to me a sinner. Be merciful to me a sinner. Save me for Jesus' sake. Save me for Jesus' sake.

31:14 And when you're done praying, you say, now brother, were you sincere when you prayed that? Who in the world is going to turn up and say, no, I was a big fake? Who in the world is going to say, no, I was putting you on? Of course the man's going to say I was sincere.

31:29 Isn't he?

31:31 And then the person is then pronounced by Protestant absolution, saved.

31:41 Now really, it's a form of absolution. You're saved. You've said the right words to the right person in the right way. You're saved.

31:47 Now what's the problem? And all joking aside now, I'm dead serious. What's the problem?

31:53 You see, they've overlooked this very element that every true act of faith has the moral element of a true self-humbling. And it's one thing to put the words of the publican in a man's mouth. It's another thing for God to put the spirit of a publican in a man's heart. And nobody's saved until the spirit of the publican has been whipped in his heart as well as the words of the publican gathering and issuing from his lips.

32:36 For everyone that humbleth himself shall be exalted. How do you know when the person has prayed those words that he's humbled himself? If not, then don't you pronounce him saved. You're not God.

32:52 You tell him the promise of the word. He whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Him that comes, I'll in no wise cast out. But don't you pretend to be God and say that you know they have come and have believed.

33:07 I say this passage has a fundamental theological truth to teach us. It teaches us the error. Historically, the Sandemanian error and its present counterpart in the easy believism. Now please, don't anyone go out and then make mockery of what we've said.

33:25 Because there are sincere people who've been misled who are doing this. Some a lot more earnest and sincere than perhaps we may be in certain areas. And so I'm not knocking people, dear ones. My interest is the proclamation of truth to the issues of our own situation.

Fundamental Practical Truth: The Warrant and Way of Faith

33:43 Well, having looked at the fundamental problem of the text, secondly, the fundamental theological truth in the text, finally, and then I always have a twinge of pain when I say my finally in a passage we've been in for some weeks and I know we have to leave it for a while. There is a fundamental practical truth with reference to our own witnessing and preaching. So I'm speaking to all believers in their witness. I'm speaking particularly to you young men aspiring to the work of the ministry in your preaching.

34:15 There is a fundamental practical truth in this text and here it is. And I want you to be familiar with these terms. You ought to be familiar with the terms the warrant and the way of faith. Now, when I speak, and you'll find this sometimes in your reading, of the warrant of faith, this is what is meant.

34:36 Upon what grounds does a sinner have encouragement to come to Jesus Christ? Suppose someone should burst through those doors in the next three minutes and come running down the aisle, bellering out, Mr., I know I'm lost, I need a Savior, but one thing bugs me. How do I know that Jesus Christ will receive me?

34:57 How do I know I should come? What would I say to him? I'd say, Sir, you have a warrant to come to Christ right now, right tonight, because of three things. Number one, God commands you to believe on His Son.

35:11 1 John 3, 22, this is His commandment that we believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Secondly, God sincerely invites you to come. Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Thirdly, you are not only commanded, you are not only invited, you have the way paved with gracious promises.

35:41 Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if that sinner said to me, Ah, but mister, I don't know if I feel my sins deep enough. I'd say, Sir, the warrant for your coming, to Christ, is not in you.

35:59 It's in God. God commands you to believe. God invites you to His Son. God promises mercy.

36:07 That's why, those of us who love the doctrines of grace, we have no inhibitions about preaching a free gospel. I've never preached so freely and joyfully since I came to understand these glorious truths. I can say to any sinner, in any condition, you have a warrant to come to Christ. He commands you.

36:27 He invites you. He surrounds you with His promises. Hallelujah. What a gospel!

36:35 That's the warrant of faith. That's the warrant a man has to come. But now, when I use the term, the way of faith, what am I talking about? Well, you see, the way of faith is the manner in which men are brought to faith.

36:51 Not the reasons they have for believing, the warrant to believe, but the way in which, they are generally brought to believe. Now, let me ask a simple question. Will a man believe on Christ even though he's commanded to? He is invited and he's promised mercy.

37:14 Will he believe on Christ for the salvation of his sins if he doesn't know himself to be a sinner?

37:20 Yes or no? No. Of course not. So, you see, the way to faith must be the way of what?

37:28 Self-discovery. I can stand before a sinner until I'm blue and hoarse, and say, God commands you to believe. God promises mercy. God invites you.

37:40 And He does all of this for sinners, the worst of sinners, the vilest of sinners, sinners of every sort, every kind, every condition. And a man will stand there and go to sleep while I'm turning purple, preaching to him.

37:53 So, the way to faith is different from the warrant of faith. You see it? The way to faith is the way of what? Seeing himself a sinner.

38:03 Seeing himself in danger of wrath. Seeing the provisions of God in Jesus Christ. Therefore, listen carefully, if I would be an instrument of God to see sinners brought to Christ, I must not only lay out the warrant of faith, give the promises and the commands and the invitations of Christ, but I must under God seek to get them in the way of faith. I must get them to see their danger, see the wrath of God upon them, see their wretchedness, their sinfulness, every man is a Pharisee by heart until the law of God and the Spirit of God makes him a publican in the Spirit.

Illustration: The Mountain City and the Shelter

38:45 So, the way to faith is the way of self-discovery. Let me illustrate it this way. Imagine a small city on the side of a mountain. Within that city, there has been constructed in subterranean depths a shelter strong enough to withstand any kind of natural calamity.

39:05 Just to find a few miles off from that city is a mountain, a nice grass, tree-covered mountain. It's been there for centuries. Suppose, because of certain geological studies that were made, it was intimated to me by men in the know that that apparently placid, quiet little mountain, which had been the scene of many a family picnic and excursion on holidays and the rest, was a seething volcano, about to burst and pour forth its molten lava upon this little city.

39:46 Now, I have a warrant from the mayor of that city to open this place of shelter. And I go out through the town, say, in the name of the mayor, I command the inhabitants, flee to the shelter. Molten lava is going to come and consume you. They look at me and say, what nut is this?

40:08 Molten lava from where? I say, from that mountain. They say, that mountain? You're crazy.

40:13 Look at it. Look at the cows grazing on the side of it and the sheep and my grandfather used to take me up. You're some kind of a nut. Then I go through the town a second time and I say, look, I invite you, I entreat you, come to the place of sin.

40:29 Come to the shelter. They're still treating like a nut. Then I say, look, I give you the promise of my own word that there is provision and safety. I give commands, invitations and promises.

40:43 Are they going to heed them?

40:47 The warrant for going in the shelter is very clear. They have my command, they have my invitation, they have my promise, but they'll never go there. What's the way of going to the shelter? It's the way of convincing them they're in danger.

41:02 And so I'm a set out to say, now look you people, I'm not some kind of a nut who's flipped. And I start bringing out the records from the geologist. And I get the geologist to come and start give lectures and then show their graphs which indicate that they're that they're internal rumblings and then they've taken core samples until what happens? Nothing different has happened to the mountain.

41:24 Nothing different has happened to the shelter. Nothing different has happened to my commands, my promises or my invitations. What's happened? They've become personally convinced of the need to heed the command, to heed the invitation and to avail themselves of it.

41:42 So the way into that shelter is the way of beginning to face the facts about the mountain. You see the application?

Application: Preaching the Way of Faith

41:54 The world is like that city.

41:57 And though some men have a sense of natural pangs of conscience and sense of frustration, men by nature do not have a biblical view of sin as vile and defense against the Holy God. And we can say in our witness verbally as common ordinary Christians or we can say in our preaching God commands us to do the right thing. God commands you to flee. God invites you.

42:23 God promises mercy. We can do that until the cows come home.

42:28 Men will go on unthinking and unheeding. And it's our sober responsibility to begin to unfold to them the terrible facts of their plight. To tell them what God says about them. Some of you wonder why is it that almost without exception every time these doors are open and the word of God is expounded I try to find some avenue legitimate avenue from the truth.

42:52 From the text to the conscience of the sinner it's because I do not believe the Bible teaches that men know how desperately bad off they are. And that's why they despise my lovely Savior. That's why they trample His blood underfoot as an unholy thing. That's why some of you have been able to hear the pleadings and the entreaties of your pastor and your mom and your dad and others for months and years.

43:18 Why? Because you think all the Bible says about the judgment of God and the wrath of God is just a quiet little grassy mountain and all that stuff is in our imagination. But my friend it's not in our imagination.

43:34 It is there. The billows of divine wrath are gathering weight and momentum and they shall break upon the head of men who do not repent. So our great task is to use God's law for the law is God's instrument to show men their need of Christ. What happened to the people that publican somewhere where somehow by some means the law of God began to enlighten his conscience.

44:04 He began to evaluate himself by God's standards not the standards of his fellow men. He began to look at himself in the mirror of God's holiness until he cries out God be merciful to me the sinner. There's no other sinner under heaven. I'm the sinner.

44:21 Have mercy. Have mercy upon me O God. I say this passage contains a fundamental practical truth with reference to our witnessing in our preaching. We must see the difference between the warrant and the way to faith.

44:40 May God be pleased in his grace to raise up out of the ranks of this congregation men who see this distinction and who wisely will preach those portions of the word of God calculated to get men into the way of faith and yet all the time daring to proclaim to the vilest of men the warrant of faith is God's command God's invitation and God's promise to mercy to all who will believe.

Conclusion: Humbling or Exalting Yourself?

45:15 Now I close asking you to take the whole thing now and look in upon yourself.

45:23 What are you doing with yourself tonight?

45:27 Humbling yourself or exalting yourself?

45:31 Well whatever you're doing with yourself God has pledged to do just the opposite. Look at the text again. Look at it.

45:39 Everyone that exalted himself shall be humbled. If you're committed to exalting yourself Almighty God is committed to humbling you and that can no sooner be violated or broken than God can cease to be God.

46:01 If you refuse to take your place as a sinner no equivocation no fancy little adjectives preceding or following take your place as God assigns it to you fallen depraved undone hell deserving child of battle lift yourself up above that so that you cannot from the heart say with the public in God be merciful to me be sinner nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross cycling my friend God is committed to humbling you and all the tragedy of that eternal humbling but thank God

46:45 if you're humbling yourself God is committed to exalting you he's doing it in part now but beloved it does not yet appear what we shall be I'll be better able to preach the last part of this text when I get to heaven he that humbleth himself shall be exalted what's that mean when you can describe the glories of seeing the Savior's face without sin then you can begin to expound the text to me when you can begin to expound what it means to dwell with men and women wholly sanctified think of it irritate nothing to disappoint

47:30 nothing to discourage dwelling together in perfect unity with one another and with the Lamb when you can understand describe that then you can fully expound what it means shall be exalted because that will be the portion of all who humbly humble themselves cast themselves upon the Savior blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven that's the same truth different words same truth what are you doing tonight my friend that puts it pretty close to home doesn't it where are you in this parable humbling or exalting may God grant if you've been one of those

48:14 exalting God is giving you such a sight of yourself that tonight you say oh God I stoop stoop not to something lower than what I am I stoop to take the place of what I've been all along but been too blind to know it be merciful to me the sinner and right now in this place this night the mighty exalting work of grace can be operative even in you he that humbled himself shall be exalted he that exalted himself shall be humbled let us pray