Christ as Our Prophet Part 1

Introduction: The Nature of Saving Faith and Christ's Offices

0:00 I mentioned last week that until we get into the full swing of things toward the latter part of this month, rather than begin a new book study or several chapters in a book, as we generally do here Sunday morning, I wish to sort of bring into focus some of the issues that God has, in a new way, crystallized in my own mind as I've been privileged to be out in different conferences and camp ministries through the summer. I just came back from a two-day conference last night and am privileged to minister four times, Friday night and three times yesterday. And there are a few basic areas of God's truth concerning which I am increasingly convinced the great majority of professing Christians are in such confusion. And these are not matters of peripheral importance. They are not matters of obtuse interpretation about the beast in the Revelation or Daniel's clothes, but they are not matters of peripheral importance. But these are not matters of peripheral importance.

0:58 They are the most basic matters of repentance and faith. And what does it mean to be saving the joint to Jesus Christ? And so, during these few Sunday mornings, before we get into an actual book study, I want to speak to you on some of these very vital areas. Last week, we began to look at the nature of saving faith as taught in the Word of God.

1:25 And I said that most of us are convinced of the necessity of faith, faith is not our Savior, Christ is our Savior. And Christ saves according to the purposes of His grace. By grace are you saved, by Christ. But it's through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

1:46 And so we must understand that when the Bible says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, what does the Bible mean by the word believe? We must not put our own meaning upon that word, but we must seek to discover what the Scripture means in using that word. And so, just briefly, to bring together our thoughts in preparation for our message this morning, I define saving faith in terms of the definition that John Murray gives in his little book on redemption accomplished and applied. Saving faith is that self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of His person and the perfection of His work as He is offered to us in the Gospel.

2:31 That's saving faith. Self-commitment to Jesus Christ in all the glory of His person and the perfection of His work as He is offered to us in the Gospel. You see, liberalism has a faith that would separate the person of Christ from the work of Christ. And they say, well, we will be followers of the teacher of Nazareth.

2:54 We will not talk about atonement and blasphemy. God's sacrifice and literal physical resurrection and literal ascension. Someone called it the missile theory that Christ went up through the clouds. They say this is all a bunch of irrelevant nonsense.

3:11 We just want to be followers of the humble carpenter. And so they would have His person apart from His work. This is utterly impossible. Salvation is in that person who did something in order to procure salvation for His people.

3:25 And the only person who saves is the one who saves by way of a cradle, His virgin birth, God joining Himself to humanity. By way of a cross where He who knew no sin became sin for us. By way of an open tomb He triumphed over death. And by way of a glorious ascension and session at the right hand of the Father where He lives now to make good that which He purchased by His blood.

3:56 And so a plague on the house of liberalism. Who would say we may be saved by this person while rejecting His work. But you now see we've switched the tables and the curse in evangelicalism is that we think we can be saved by the work of Christ apart from His person. And so almost every gospel tract and every book dealing with an invitation to the gospel says if you'll admit you're a sinner and believe that Christ died on the cross for sinners, you will be saved.

4:26 No, no, my friend. The object of faith is not the work of Christ divorced from the person of Christ. You can't have His work apart from His person any more than you can have His person apart from His work. And faith is nowhere...

4:42 Faith in the Bible is nowhere spoken of as a faith directed to the atonement or to the resurrection.

4:54 Faith is always directed to that person who accomplished the atonement and who was the glorious resurrected and is the glorious resurrected Lord. So all...

5:04 All the verses on believe in the Bible are verses that give us as the object of faith not one of the works of Christ but the person of Christ. He that believeth on the Son and whoso believeth on Him as many as received Him. Jesus said, Come unto Me. Him that comes to Me.

5:26 I ever come to Me. And the whole thrust of the revelation of God is that the object of saving faith is the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the focus of that faith? It's not backward to the cross.

5:43 It's upward to the throne. The focus of saving faith is not backward to the cross. Not in my head to the fact that He died. Upward to the throne.

5:53 Embracing all of His work. Believing in my heart that He did die. That God raised Him from the dead. But the focus of faith is that Lord who sits upon the throne and my bowing before Him and coming to Him on His terms.

6:10 And so this is basically the principle, the principle that we tried to enunciate last week. And I don't want to preach last week's sermon again, though it would be no burden for me to do so, because this thing has gripped my heart in a new way. And I trust God by His Spirit is making it to grip your own heart. Now, in breaking down this matter of the person and his work, I want to consider the Lord Jesus as the object of saving faith.

Christ as God's Anointed Prophet

6:37 In His three great offices as taught in the Scripture and wonderfully summarized, in some of the old confessional standards of the Church, the One who is the object of our faith is the One who is God's anointed Prophet and King. Paul told the Philippian jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus, the term Christ as we saw last week means the Anointed One. He is the promised Messiah. We read in 1 John 5, 1, Whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ of God.

7:14 Now, He is the Christ. The Anointed One. Now, in what way did God anoint His Son? For what purpose was He anointed of the Spirit?

7:25 Well, He was anointed and set apart to be the Prophet in the realm of grace. So, this morning we're going to consider just the Lord Jesus as an introduction from the larger Catechism and then we're going to turn to the Scriptures and lay this thing out line upon line, the Lord helping us. I read this statement, Our Mediator was called Christ because He was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure and so set apart and fully furnished with all authority and ability to execute the office of a Prophet and King of His Church in the estate both of His humiliation and exaltation. Our Mediator is Christ, anointed without measure so that in the state of His humiliation and exaltation He should be the Prophet, Priest and King, of His Church. Now, what does the word Prophet mean? Well, we could go into long technical definitions, but I think if we boil it all down, going to the Scriptures, we would come up with this conviction that a Prophet, in a general sense, is a spokesman for God.

8:43 It was a mouthpiece to convey the message of God. You remember as you read through Ezekiel, Isaiah, and all the minor Prophets as well, that again and again they would introduce their message by saying, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, and then when they stood before men, they would say, thus, things didn't amount to a hill of beans. The Prophet's personality may have been somewhat of the backdrop through which God conveyed His message, but His personality wasn't the important thing. His gifts and His abilities to speak were not the important thing.

9:22 When God called Jeremiah, He said, Lord, I know not how to speak, for I'm a little child, so that doesn't matter. The important thing is this, not to say, but He said, whatsoever, I command thee, thou shalt speak. He said, Jeremiah, it's not your ability I'm concerned about. What I'm concerned about is your obedience to simply tell men what I tell you.

9:42 So the whole office of a Prophet, in a peculiar way, is simply to be a mouthpiece for God, to be the vehicle through which God would convey to men His mind and His will, now listen carefully, in verbal announcements. Sometimes, well, I haven't said, what in the world is the Prophet doing? Has he gone crazy? Is he getting senile?

10:12 And he used that object lesson to then to declare the Word of God. Sometimes the Prophet had to be subject to some tremendous trial so that his life would convey the message, but essentially the Prophet did not convey the message of God by his example or by his life, but to one. The lips of Isaiah, he said, now you go and send me. Now I don't want to labor the point, but I want you to see these two great principles as we try to understand what is the office of a Prophet.

10:56 Number one, the Prophet is a mouthpiece, to convey the message of God. Number two, that that message comes primarily in word concepts, in verbal or this introductory definition of a Prophet. Now, Jesus is the Prophet of His people, and saving faith, embracing Him as such. Let's first of all consider, look at the relationship of faith in receiving Him as a Prophet, and then we want to look at some practical implications of these two premises.

The Fact and Finality of Christ's Prophetic Office

11:37 All right? In a peculiar way, He occupies the office of a Prophet, of a divinely appointed would be conveyed to men. It is on the prophetic office of Christ. The first one is in Acts 3, which establishes the fact of His prophetic office, and then Hebrews 1, which establishes the finality of His prophetic office.

12:11 First of all, then, the fact, the prophetic office of Christ. Acts 3, Peter is preaching, and at this point in his message, he says in verse 22, For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall he hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul that will not hear or hearken to that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Now, who's he talking about? Well, he tells us. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.

13:08 What days? These Gospel days. And he brings it to a climax in verse 26. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning every one of you from His iniquities.

13:21 And so, as Peter is proclaiming the Gospel, he says that the Christ whom He has preaching is the Christ who has been set apart as the fulfillment of this promise of Moses, this prophetic utterance. He is the Prophet to whom men must hearken. Now, get it. If they will not hearken, he says, they shall be destroyed from among the people.

13:47 Now, we generally think of Christ as a priest, and we should. We'll take that up, Lord willing, next Lord's Day morning. And we say if we reject His priestly office, if we will not confess ourselves to be needy sinners, so needy that only His blood and what He did for the salvation of men can cleanse our sin, can forgive us, and give us acceptance with God. We say whoever rejects His priestly function, there's no hope for him.

14:15 He must perish in his sin. So, likewise, the Scripture says whoever rejects His prophetic office, whoever will not be subject in mind to the truth of Christ, will perish just as surely as the man who will not be subject in heart to the atoning work of Christ. Whoever will not hearken to that prophet shall be destroyed. And he is the fulfillment of that promise given by Moses.

14:44 So much then for the fact of his prophetic office. Hebrews 1 also states the fact, but the focus seems to me to be more upon the finality of his prophetic office, that he is the final, the expression of the prophetic office. He is the fulfillment of all that of which the prophet spoke, and he himself is the final prophet of God. Hebrews chapter 1.

15:13 God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, many ways, many different forms, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. Now get the focus here. This comes back to our definition. The whole emphasis is God spoke, not the prophets.

15:33 God spoke by the prophets. They were his instants. But the whole thrust of the prophetic office was God spoke from heaven. And this cuts the nerve of the new theology which says it's absurd to think that the God of such transcendence and majesty and power, a God who is infinite, could in any way make intelligent communication with finite sinful creatures.

15:59 Who says it's absurd? I have no right to make such an assumption and then build a whole structure of theology on it. My Bible says God, in all his infinity, in all his majesty, in all his glory and grandeur and power, go to the Father. You see, with one side of the mouth, these new theologians would say, well, God is so great and high and mighty, he can't talk to us.

16:31 But they've limited him and said, well, he can't do something. Well, my God's so great, he can do nothing. Then somehow to communicate to little worms in the dust like you and me. God spoke by the prophets.

16:42 But now, what do we read? Notice. Verse 2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by a son.

16:53 These different ways, through different means, all of this time period, now God's final expression of his truth. He's spoken unto us in or by a son, by his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. There will be no further revelation beyond what he said and beyond what he authorized. The prophet is a prophet.

Conclusions Regarding Christ's Prophetic Utterances

17:23 We've seen the fact of his office, the finality of his prophetic office. Certain conclusions are warranted. Number one, the utterances of our Lord Jesus are authoritative. He said in John 3 and verse 34, a key word in this matter of his office as a priest, John 3 and verse 34, he whom God had...

17:44 I want you to underline the next word. The word. He didn't say, it is from God. Somehow, in a vague way, about the character of God.

18:02 No, no. Speaking of Christ, it's the very of God. We cannot know the thoughts of God unless God is to put those thoughts into verbal context. That was the ministry of a prophet.

18:21 And here the Lord Jesus is God's anointed prophet, declares he who is of God is authoritative. He says in John 17 and verse 24, verse 8, similar words, John 17 and verse 8, I have given unto them the word. You mean the Lord Jesus, the anointed prophet, did not think his own thoughts or speak his own words. That's exactly what he said.

19:00 He said, I stood in the place of your anointed prophet and the prophet had no right to concede his own message. He had to be able to say the word of the Lord came to me, thus saith the Lord. Jesus said, I have given to my people, the very words that you, Father, gave to me. He didn't say, I've given them the thoughts that you gave to me in my own words.

19:25 He says, I've conveyed those thoughts to them, the word unto me. Now stick with it. Some of you say, well, this is just a tempest in a teapot. Why be concerned?

19:38 Just trust my judgment at this point. This is vital to your own salvation and to the life of this fellowship in church and its ministry. So stick with me, all right? His words are authoritative.

19:50 Secondly, they are absolutely final. He said in Matthew 24, 31, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away. They are final, because he is God's final prophet. There is no one else who will come, anointed of God, to be a vehicle of communicating truth, ultimate truth in the sense that our Lord was.

20:14 And then he says, not only are those words authoritative, final, but they'll be the very basis of judgment in the last day. Jesus said in John 12, 48, he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judges him. The word that I have spoken shall judge him in the last day. Now we could enlarge this ad infinitum if we chose to do so this morning, but we don't have the time.

The Relationship of Saving Faith to Christ as Prophet

20:39 I trust you're convinced that Jesus Christ occupies the place of a prophet. He is that final prophet of God. Now, secondly, we want to see what is the relationship of faith to the Lord Jesus as our prophet. Coming back to our original definition of faith, saving faith is self-commitment to Christ in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work.

21:07 Now, if faith is commitment to Christ's person and work, then I cannot believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ without coming to grips with him as my prophet, for that's his person. He has been exalted to that place not only in the state of his humiliation but in his exaltation. He is the great prophet of his church. The focus of faith is not backward to the cross but upward to the throne.

21:36 Well, when I commit myself to this one, to whom do I commit myself? I commit myself to one who is a prophet as well as a priest and a king. Could it be that this is what the Lord Jesus had in mind when he said in that wonderful verse, in that wonderful and well-known gospel invitation found in Matthew 11, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and what?

22:07 Learn of me. He said, if you come to me, you're going to find in me an authoritative teacher. And if you come to be rid of the burden of your sin, you must come with a disposition of mind that is willing to be directed so that your thoughts become my thoughts and my thoughts become yours. Come, learn of me.

Marks of God's People: Receiving and Keeping Christ's Words

22:37 And so what is that faith, that coming to Christ? It is not only coming to receive the benefits of his priestly office, but it's coming to submit to the implications of his prophetic office, a willingness to be taught of him. Will you turn please to John 17, where we see in the description which our Lord gives of his people. John 17 is a prayer I've mentioned in just a little aside here.

23:06 It's a prayer, but in this prayer there is found some of the richest teaching on basic theological and practical issues to be found anywhere in the word of God. The great doctrines of election, perseverance of God's people, all of these doctrines are found in John 17. In fact, when in my heart I was fighting those things, this is one passage I hated to turn up in my devotions. I was always embarrassed.

23:33 When I came to John 17, kind of hoped I'd get a phone call or get sleepy or something else, because it just embarrassed me. What I used to read here in verse 2, thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to the whole world. No, but to as many as thou hast given him. Oh, that used to bother me.

23:50 I said, you know, that kind of sounds like maybe God has some people he's given to his son. That used to bother me. God stirred me until God in his mercy was pleased to dispose my heart to just believe what it said, what it obviously teaches. And also in this passage, we have some wonderful insights to the prophetic office of Christ in relationship to saving faith.

24:14 Will you notice carefully verses 6 and 8? I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. The Lord Jesus said in the counsels of eternity, the people of God are those who were given to him by the Father, but in the outworking of time, how can they be recognized?

24:47 God knows them from eternity, but in the outworking, in the application of salvation to the hearts of men, how can they be recognized? Our Lord says, here it is, they have kept thy word. Now verse 8, I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. Now this is part and parcel of the description of those for whom Christ is praying.

25:13 Do you take comfort this morning that he is praying for you? Is it a source of continual encouragement in the midst of a wicked world, under the pressure of a wicked devil, with the remains of a wicked nature? All of these things militating against your perseverance, your persevering in grace, does it bring comfort to know that there is one at the right hand of the Father who bears you upon his heart day and night? Ah, you say, yes, it does.

25:42 It does. I believe he is praying for me as we sang him a hymn this morning. Well, the people for whom he prays are marked, among other things, by these two things. They have received the words of Christ, and they keep the words of Christ.

25:57 You see, they are his believing people. They are people to whom he has become prophet. And he is not praying for any others. He says, I pray not for the world.

26:08 Well, who are the worldlings? Well, among other things, they are the people who do not receive the words of Christ, and they do not keep the words of Christ. And so there is this contrast between the people of God and the people of the world. And so saving faith is that commitment to Christ in the glory of his person and the perfection of his work, his person and work as prophet, and the people of God are described as those who bow to him in his prophetic office.

Contrast: Saving Faith vs. Delusive Faith (John 6)

26:37 Now, notice our Lord says in verse 8, they have received them. They have received the words, not just the words that are convenient to receive, but they have received all that he spoke. Will you turn to John 6 to see a contrast between saving faith and mere delusive surface faith, and between that faith which is unto salvation and that faith which falls short of it? You remember our Lord has fed the multitudes, and now he begins to expound the true significance of the bread, and he had been speaking of himself as the bread of life and the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And notice beginning with verse 57 what happened. As the living Father, John 6, 57, hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead.

27:39 He that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, now here were men who professed an adherence to Christ. It says when they heard this, they said, ah, this is a hard saying.

27:59 Who can hear it? And Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at him. He said unto them, does this offend you? What if you see this other man ascend up where he was before?

28:10 It's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. Notice verse 66. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. They faced some words, some utterances of Christ that ran utterly contrary to the natural inclination of their heart.

28:30 And they said, now here's a point where we've got to do one of two things. Either our minds in all of their limitations must be subject to what he uttered and we must pray for faith to embrace it, or we must rise up and say, since we cannot fathom what he's saying, we will not receive what he's saying. They took the latter choice and it says they went back and walked with him no more. Now he turned to his true disciples.

28:58 Notice verse 67. Then said Jesus to the twelve, one betrayer in there, he mentions him in verse 64, and said, will you also go away? You've heard the same saying. You've heard me talk about the necessity of eating my flesh and drinking my blood.

29:15 You've heard me say, verse 65, that no man can come to me except the Father draw him, that salvation is not in the hands of men but in the hands of God. Are you going to go away too? And notice Peter's answer. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?

29:32 Thou hast what? The words. The words of eternal life. Even these hard words about eating your flesh and drinking your blood and no man can come except the Father draw him.

29:43 Lord, these are your words. They're words of life. We cannot go away. We'll embrace anything you tell us.

29:49 That passage took on new meaning in preparation for this message to see the difference between the false disciples who will profess adherence to Christ up to the point where the natural predispositions and suppositions of his mind and nature are contradicted and at that point he shows he's his own God. For rather than submitting himself to the dictates of deity, he rises up and says, I'll follow no more. So saving faith embraces the Lord Jesus as prophet and is willing to be subject to his pronouncements, difficult pronouncements, as well as the more joyous pronouncements. Now, just briefly, I'm torn. I've got so much more to say. I don't know whether to round this out and quit today and finish next week or try to get through it.

Implications: Receiving Christ's Words as Children of God

30:49 Let me just mention the implication of these things and perhaps then we'll have to develop it in another message. I didn't think it would take as much time to get through the first two points as you did. What are the implications of these things? We've seen Christ in his prophetic office anointed of God to be that, both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.

31:04 We've seen that saving faith is an embrace of him in the name of Christ and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've seen that saving faith is an embrace of him in all the glory of his person and the perfection of his work. Now, what are the implications of this to us? Well, the first implication is this.

31:20 Only those who receive the words of Christ are the children of God. We saw this in John 17. One of the marks of the children of God is that they received his words. John 8, 47, another key text.

31:35 He that is of God heareth the words, plural, of God. Not just the words that he would like to take. But he that is of God heareth the words of God. They have bowed through and embraced a definite and limited authority.

31:51 The words of the living God. He declares this truth. Acts 3, 23 says, Whosoever shall not hearken to all things that this prophet will speak shall be cut off. And so is God's people when we read of our Lord Jesus speaking of outer darkness.

32:10 Where their word dieth not and the fire is never quenched, these shall go away into everlasting torment. As much as everything in our flesh questions and rebels against the concept of a place of conscious eternal torment. Dear ones, there is nothing for us to do but to bow to our Lord and say, Lord since you have taught it, it is so. It is so.

32:34 When we read the exclusiveness of Christ, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the light. No man comes to the Father but by me. And in these things and in the sentimental disposition of our fallen, depraved natures we think, well, surely there must be some other way. Jesus said, I am the way.

32:59 There is no other way. And so we must bow to the exclusiveness of Christ. When we read our Lord's words concerning the necessity of the new birth, except the man be born of the Spirit, he cannot see, perceive the kingdom, let alone enter. When we read our Lord talking about the absolute sovereignty of his salvation, no man knoweth the Son save the Father.

33:20 No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. We must bow and say, Lord, thou art my prophet. Those who receive the words of Christ are the children of God. All that he declared is truth and all that he authorized is truth.

Implications: The Authority of Scripture and the Reformation Issue

33:44 And he authorized the whole Old Testament. He put his seal of approval upon every major section of the Old Testament. Upon its accuracy. Upon its true history.

33:54 And then he promised in John 14.26 and 16.13 that the apostles would be given special endowment of the Spirit to bring future revelation. And so in Ephesians 2.20 we read that you and I as people born of the Spirit are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus is a cornerstone. And I would remind the people of this fellowship and visitors present with us today this is still the burning issue in our day. All the talk about the new Romanism don't believe a word of it. The basic question in Romanism is still this.

34:32 Where do I go to get answers on the issues of my relationship to God and truth? The great issue of the Reformation has never changed. The issue for which Martin Luther and the other reformers fought was not church what would we call it church polity but the issue not primarily church government not even certain church dogmas the issue was this. Martin Luther stood and would not recant he said my conscience is held captive to the word of God.

35:09 That's the issue. Rome says word of God plots tradition as interpreted finally and authoritatively by the Pope. And when Luther would enter into debates with Acts and some of the other great leaders of the Roman Catholic Church the issue again and again would come up they would quote the fathers Luther would quote the scripture and he said in essence father schmothers I care not my conscience is held captive by the word of God. That's the issue in our conflict with Romanism that's the issue in our conflict with liberalism and so-called neo-orthodoxy.

35:48 The experts are going to tell us what is the word of God oh God can communicate some thoughts but that God can't. The issue is as a Christian I receive the words that God gave to Jesus. They have received the words that thou gavest me to give to them. And I say with some reservation that I trust you understand me that this is the basic issue even in our evangelical circles today.

36:14 May I give an illustration that came home so forcibly to my heart and then I'll have to leave some of the other things till next week. I was in these tent meetings over in Morris County a few weeks ago with 18 evangelical churches cooperating as they do each summer for these meetings and God was pleased to make His presence very real to us in some of those nights. I told I think the folk in the prayer meeting that I have never preached with greater liberty and a greater sense of the enablement and help of God and there was a sense of conviction upon those meetings some nights that was very very obvious to anyone who had any discernment. And a friend of mine from Denville whom I know very well I was just with him and he was there every night and at the end of one of the meetings he told me this later he was talking with a man who was an evangelist who was formerly a Roman Catholic and he was brought out of the terrible traditions of Rome and simply worshipping traditions into the light of the Gospel. He'd been an evangelist for some time and he was talking to my friend Pastor Mehir and he said you know these have been wonderful meetings with my friend Mehir and he said you know I've heard him giving an invitation he said well here that fellow had the congregation right in his hands and he never gave an invitation and my friend Pastor Mehir said what? I was here every night I heard him giving an invitation he said I saw him stand up in the pulpit

37:44 and stretch his hands out and plead with people to seek the Lord he said I saw him stand there and plead with people to go and seek the Lord and if they needed help to come and find help he said oh what I mean is he didn't ask people to go in the pulpit he said listen I think what it means to give people an invitation and send them that one but he is still and if Этот did move in his juts to word then if this this, I, we, all of us together, where we as evangelicals will take some of the words of Christ, but we'll refuse the others. We take his words, come and I'll give you rest, and we refuse his words, take a yoke. We take his words, promising life, but we refuse his words, demanding a cross. Our Lord never planted the cross back in the shadows. He planted

39:00 it on the threshold and said, if you come to me, you come to take a cross, you come to die. Our Lord talked about plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands. He talked about striving. The Greek word is agonize to enter the narrow gate. We've improved on our Lord. We've got a nice simple way to get in the narrow gate now. Mother, this is the issue in our day, and I'm convinced I don't know what God is going to say to us in the church, what he's trying to do with us, but I know this much. Whatever God has for us in days ahead.

39:35 This church will know the blessing of God only to the extent that we, like Luther, say our consciences are held captive to the word of God. Where we stand and say tradition means nothing, whether it's the tradition of Rome or the tradition of the Alliance or the tradition of North Caldwell Church or anything else, we're going to follow the word of God, no matter what it costs. Into whatever doctrinal path it will lead, wherever so to when our Lord begins to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, having a deep, heart-to-heart conversation with the Lord, we're going to follow the word of God. We're not going to stand back and say, Lord, that's too hard for me to embrace, that you're absolutely sovereign in salvation, and that salvation is nothing less than an active, deep, intimate acquaintance and participation with Christ. No, we're going to say by the grace of God, like Peter, Lord, where else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. The mark of a Christian is that he receives the word of God.

40:44 All forms of professing Christians which give lip service to Christ but will not receive his words and the words of his inspired apostles, all such forms are sham and nonsense. You cannot have Christ without his words. For he said in John 12, 48, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, the two stand to fall together. You can't have Jesus without his words, and you can't have the saving power of Jesus without his words. You can't have all of his words without him, the two stand to fall together. Say, Pastor, what have you got in the back of your mind by making a statement like this? It's nothing. I don't know what path God wants to lead us into as an assembly of believers, but I know that there'll have to be a biblical path. I don't know where God wants to lead you as an individual, you

41:38 young men preparing for the ministry, but remember if you're a believer on Christ, you're subject to him in his prophetic office, and wherever scripture leads you, follow. If you walk alone, or you don't walk alone, like those disciples, you realize if you have his words, you have him. You have him. Lord willing, next week we'll enlarge on some of the other implications, but our time is gone. I would say to those of you here this morning who have never by the Holy Spirit been brought to see that by nature your mind is darkened to the truth of God, and the Holy Spirit is not revealed to you that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He is the truth as well as the way of life. God grant that this morning you may look up into his face and fall before him and own him as your prophet as well as your priest and your king. And I trust that you as God's people, we who know him, may leave this place determined with a new revolution, Lord, by your grace. I want to be one who receives

42:48 the words of Christ, his words about my home life, his words about my family life, his words in every area of my life. Lord Jesus, I recognize anew your prophetic office and I want to hearken unto you in all things that you declare unto me. May God grant that this hour will produce that in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us unite together in prayer.