Struggling with the Spirit of Legalism

Introduction: The Danger of Satan's Devices and the Second Generation

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 10, 2002, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I would ask you to follow with me as I read a portion from the book of Philippians. I will not be expounding this as the focal point of the ministry this morning, but about two-thirds of the way through the message, we will be considering the heart of this passage, and so I want to familiarize your minds with its content. Philippians chapter 3, and I shall read verses 1 through 9.

0:41 Philippians 3, verses 1 through 9.

0:47 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me, is not irksome, but for you it is safe. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the knife-wielders. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

1:19 Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more. 4. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, as touching zeal, persecuting the church, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. 5. How be it, what things were gained to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.

1:59 6. Yea, verily, I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, 7. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but barnyard manure, that I may gain Christ, 8. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, 9. even that which is through the law.

2:30 10. But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, by faith.

2:43 Now let us again pray and ask God to help us by the Spirit to hear his voice in the preaching of the word.

2:54 Father, we thank you for helping us as we've sought to worship you in the Spirit, that we have not simply stumbled through a well-worn liturgy, with our minds in the ends of the earth, but that to some degree you've enabled us to render you worship from our hearts, from enlightened, engaged minds. And now we come asking for that special help of the Spirit, that special help that the preacher needs, that special help that the hearer needs. O Lord, come to us in all of our corporate need, and minister to us with power, we pray.

3:36 In Jesus' name, Amen. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, the Apostle Paul wrote these words, For we are not ignorant of his, that is, Satan's, devices. And in the context of those words, Paul was referring to those devices, those stratagems of the devil, which he feared would be operative in the church at times, if he did not do what he was doing in that particular section of the letter. And those words contain a most vital principle

4:21 with respect to the duty of those of us who've been given a stewardship of leading the people of God. And the principle is this. We who lead the people of God must help those whom we lead to recognize and to avoid the particular ways in which the enemy of our souls will seek to gain an advantage over us. Far better to anticipate how he might gain an advantage and to be forewarned is to be forearmed than after the wreckage to figure out what happened, to put the wreckage together,

5:06 and then pray for grace that we might learn the lesson of the devil's stratagems on the heels of sorting out the wreckage. And it is the pressure of this principle of responsible spiritual leadership that has constrained me to preach this relatively brief series of messages which I have entitled The Privileges and Blessings, Liabilities and Dangers of the Second Generation. First of all, by way of brief review, let me say a word about what I mean by the second or the third or the fourth generation.

5:51 I'm speaking of those young men and women and children who have never known any other primary molding influence other than the molding influence of parents who have been members of this church, have had their views of life, of marriage, of parenting, of the world shaped and molded by this ministry. I'm thinking of the generation of young adults who sit here this morning, children and young people who sit among us for whom this is true. The primary molding influence upon you has been that of your parents, your pastors,

6:34 and your teachers associated with this place. Secondly, I have sought to identify, identify what these foundational privileges and blessings are. And I've suggested that they can be understood as arranged under two basic categories. And the categories are these.

Review of Previous Dangers: Assurance, Presumption, Neglect, and Pharisaism

6:55 First of all, you of the second, some of you of the third generation, have been sovereignly and graciously surrounded from birth with the God-appointed means of saving grace. Among all of you, among all of you, among all of you, among all of you, among all of you, among all the privileges and blessings, this stands heavy on shoulders above all others. You never know a time from the dawning of your consciousness when you were not surrounded with those means that God himself has appointed to be effectual in the salvation of sinners. And then secondly, you have been lovingly and carefully nurtured

7:39 in a biblically framed, total character-molding context. Your parents, your pastors, and your teachers have not only been concerned that you know and embrace the only way to heaven, they want you to know what you need to know and to be in order to be as useful as you can on your way to heaven. And therefore they have surrounded you with a biblically framed, total character-molding context. A biblically framed, total character-nurturing context.

8:14 In other words, they're on your case lovingly and patiently about every facet of your life because they want you to be prepared for every facet of life when you come to your mature years. Well, having identified those two major categories of the privileges and blessings of the second generation, I then identified three major dangers and liabilities arising, from that first category. Namely, the blessing of being surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace. You, of that second generation, will be especially susceptible to agonizing struggles

8:59 with the assurance of your salvation. You will be especially susceptible to the damning delusion of presumption concerning your salvation. And you will be especially liable to the danger of neglect and hardness of heart with respect to your own salvation. Then, last Lord's Day, I began to address the particular dangers and liabilities arising from that second category.

9:26 The category of being surrounded with this biblically framed, total character context of loving nurture. And I identified the first of those liabilities and dangers in this way. You will be particularly liable to a spirit of Phariseeism. And then I described that spirit of Phariseeism in two directions.

9:55 Pharisaic externalism, and we look particularly at Matthew 23, verses 25 to 28, in which our Lord said with the Pharisees, you appear, but you are. That's the key to it. You appear beautiful, unto men, but you are. And then the contrast is between the outward and the inward.

10:19 And you who have had so much to make your outward appearance attractive to others are liable to this wretched spirit of Pharisaic externalism. And then secondly, looking primarily at Luke 18, 9 to 12, Pharisaic pride. And judgmentalism. Because of that nurture, you are not like other young men and women in your generation.

10:49 You are not out drugging and drinking and using your sexual appetites like an animal. There is structure. There is order. There is decency in your life.

11:01 And you are particularly vulnerable to this spirit of Pharisaism that says, I thank you that I am not as other men. And to judgmentalism, in which you stand above others, look down your long Pharisaic snoot in judgment upon them. Now in the ministry of the Word this morning and again this evening, I want to identify and address two more very real dangers and liabilities connected with this unspeakably wonderful privilege of being lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically framed total character, molding context.

Introducing the Danger of Legalism: Definition and Misconceptions

11:45 And the first liability, if the first liability is Pharisaic externalism, pride and judgmentalism, the second is this. You, of the second generation, or the third, you will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with a soul-killing and soul-crippling legalism.

12:11 You will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with a soul-killing and a soul-crippling legalism. Now first of all, let me define in what sense I am using the word legalism. Since legalism is not a biblical term, we cannot turn to the Bible and let the Bible expound what it means by its own term. However, once I have defined legalism as I am using it, it will be abundantly clear that the problem encompassed and held within that word is indeed

12:55 addressed in many places within the lids of our Bibles. Now I want to give a definition then of legalism. What does legalism mean in the sense in which I am using it? And as I often do in definition, I'll approach it negatively. What it does not mean,

13:14 and positively, what it does mean. And in so many areas, this matter of precise definition is critical. We live in a day in which the term legalism is bandied about by sloppy, careless, easy-going Christians. For example, so many who name the name of Christ, when they see someone deeply concerned about rendering a meticulous obedience to the Word of God in every area of life, he's immediately labeled, oh, he's legalistic. In other

13:51 words, when many people confront someone who takes seriously Matthew 28 in verse 20, Jesus said, Make disciples, baptize them, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, all things particularity whatsoever extensively when they meet someone who's concerned about the all things and the whatsoever, they say, oh, he's a legalist. He's honest to a penny. I'm honest with my dollars and my ten dollars, but who cares about pennies?

14:34 Or when they meet someone who takes 1 Corinthians 10 31 seriously, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And many, when they encounter someone who is passionately committed to the perspectives of that text, will not put anything into his mouth of particular stuff and amounts of stuff that he cannot say, Oh, God, to your glory I eat this

15:19 in this amount at this time Oh, he's a legalist. Whatever he does, he's passionate that he must be able to do it knowing he glorifies God in it. At the work bench, on the ball field, in the way he drives his car, in the way he responds to someone who cuts him off and is careless, insulted, in every area he's passionate. I want to glorify God.

15:56 I want to be a legalist. Or, meet someone who with Paul can say in Acts 24, 16 Herein do I exercise myself and that word exercise means submit myself to strict, rigorous spiritual disciplines. It's the word from which we get our word ascetic. Herein do I asceticize myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God at any point at any time to be able to look up unashamed into the face of God and unashamed into the face of his fellow man.

16:38 Now, in our day a person who lives like that will be labeled by 95% of evangelical Christians as a legalist. Furthermore, when people find a church that is deeply and passionately concerned to do what I alluded to earlier today to conform this corporate life to the scriptures to give priority not to what society says they want the church to give priority to we want a laid back worship service we have enough heavy stuff in the world we want something light we want to come in and get something to breathe

17:20 we want to feel chucked under the chair but a church that says no when we're doing church we're going to do God's church and we're going to do it so far as God gives us light every particular that's a legalistic church I had to smile recently when someone didn't know what they were saying and I didn't check them up on it but they were repenting of the fact that they had tried us out some years ago and left and then came back and looked at us a little different and said you know, when I first came I felt you folks were very legalistic I knew what he was saying preachers didn't come up here hands in the pocket and say hello folks

18:04 it's a little day so glad you came and the Lord's really pleased that you gave a little time today we're not going to lay on you any heavy stuff we're going to have some nice upbeat music and I'm not going to preach a sermon I'm just going to share with you for about 20 minutes so don't be upset anything beyond that, legalistic now my friends when I use the word legalism and I say to you young men and women of the second generation you're going to have a life long struggle with the soul killing and soul crippling legalism, I'm not talking about that which is called legalism

18:47 I pray God every one of you with that stuff if that's legalism I pray we'll all have a baptism of it and get so immersed in it it oozes out of our pores but I'm not talking about that I'm talking about legalism in this way I'm using it to describe a disposition or a desire a disposition or a desire to attain or to maintain one's acceptance with God on the basis of one's privileges

19:30 or one's performance now follow me closely I know this is going to make you think but your soul is at stake and if it isn't worth thinking about it then you're going to be killing your soul legalism is the futile attempt the futile attempt to attain or to maintain one's acceptance with God on the basis of one's own privileges or performance and it is in that sense that I am using the term legalism

How Godly Nurture Can Lead to Legalism in Initial Acceptance

20:14 I don't even have secular dictionaries on my side for when you look up the word legalism it says legalism with respect to theology is the attempt to obtain salvation by works so that's the sense in which I'm using the term and I want God helping me in pastoral passion and concern to address this issue to you so having answered the question what do I mean as I use the term legalism now secondly in what way does a biblically framed total character molding

20:59 context of nurture make us particularly or especially liable to a lifelong struggle with this soul killing and soul crippling legalism how does it fit this godly bible based prayer saturated total character concerned nurture how in the world can it make its recipients particularly liable to a lifelong struggle with legalism well I want to show how it does this in two areas first of all

21:44 with respect to our initial acceptance with God and secondly with respect to our ongoing standing with God alright our initial acceptance with God and our ongoing initial acceptance before God and our ongoing standing with God first of all then our liability to legalism in relationship to our initial acceptance with God we are made conscious that all of life is open to the eye of God and that we are obligated to live all of life before the face of God

22:28 in the light of the word of God Deuteronomy 4 Deuteronomy 6 Ephesians 6 4 these are the framework these constitute the framework of our nurture talk of them when you lie down talk of them when you rise up that when it considers any relationship to life any facet of life any activity within life they think in terms of what God requires what God says what pleases God what displeases God and in that setting again and again we say to our children it has been said to you

23:13 who have had this kind of nurture thus and thus you must do what is kind to my brother because it pleases God why do I have to say sorry and say I was wrong because it pleases God why do I have to do my homework because it pleases God why can't I do this because that would displease God and that becomes part and parcel of the very climate in which we are reared certain activities displease God why do I have to stand up in church and not slouch because it pleases God why do I have to sing out loud

23:57 and not just mumble because it pleases God all of life in church, at home, in school wherever we are also in that context we point the child when he knows he has displeased God to the fact there is only one way to get forgiveness of God and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Christ alone there is forgiveness for sin in Christ alone there is power to overcome sin but now as that child begins to mature and begins to have a clearer concept of all of these realities the gospel comes to that child

24:40 it comes to you of the second generation it comes to all of us and it tells us that all of our obedience all of the kindness that we have learned to show to our siblings and to our classmates all of the attention we seek to give in church and at family worship all of our efforts to sing lustily that put them all together and you know what they are in God's sight a bunch of filthy rags Isaiah 64 and verse 6 we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as

25:21 menstrual cloths not our baddies our goodies all our righteousnesses in the sight of God as far as forming any basis of acceptance with God they render us utterly absolutely totally unclean that is what God says and when it comes to the whole issue of what is the basis on which I can be accepted with God here we come to our Philippians 3 passage that basis has nothing to do with all of the privileges

26:05 of my godly nurture and all of the performances growing out of that nurture neither privileges nor performance count for when I am wrestling with the question on what basis can I be accepted with God look at Philippians chapter 3 Paul says though I might have confidence in the flesh that is though I might seem to have good grounds to find acceptance with God based upon my privileges

26:48 and my performances I have given up all of that now what were his privileges look at them verse 5 the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews all of the things which he inherited by way of privilege not talking about what he did his performance these were inherited privileges they formed the context of his birth and of his early training among all the nations God said to Israel you only have I known as part of that nation

27:32 and he was part of a privileged tribe within that nation and then he says as far as my performance as touching zeal persecuting the church as touching the righteous standard that is in the law blameless my religious training and context gave me an externally blameless life he said now if anybody is going to come before God and say God I claim acceptance before you based on privilege and performance he said I've got more credentials than anybody else and he said I'm more anybody got credentials I've got more but now what do you do with all those credentials

28:16 listen to him how be it what things were gained to me these have I counted loss for Christ what was in my credit column I now see in the debit column yea truly I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I suffered the loss of all things and count them but scubala scubala refuse dung manure scraps that I may gain Christ and be found in him

29:00 not having a righteousness of my own a righteousness in any way rooted in my privileges or my performances but that righteousness rooted solely in the person and in the work of Jesus Christ Christ Paul says can only be gained by the utterly empty hand of faith bringing nothing to him of privilege or performance and taking all from him in grace in saving faith we say oh God I desire nothing other than Christ nothing less than Christ nothing more than Christ

29:45 nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling now here as I speak now very pointedly by way of application to you of the second and third generation here you are surrounded by this godly nurture and all of its benefits marvelous here I am a 68 year old man reaping to this day the benefits of such a nurture that's why I called it unspeakable privilege and I want you to think in terms of the image of a wheel barrel I said Lord help me to come up with something that will make it click and this is the best I came up with

30:28 alright you got a wheel barrel and in that wheel barrel you put all of the things that you have because of your privileges and your performance you've not stiff armed the pressure of that nurture you have sought to be compliant and you've learned you've actually learned how to be kind be a brother and sister amazing three more spankings about being snobby one worth it you're like the little girl that my wife dealt with years ago in the camp and she came to her she was Aunt Mickey and I was Uncle Al and said Aunt Mickey I've got a problem with lying so my wife dealt with her told her now

31:12 every time you lie you've got to go to God and ask His forgiveness then you've got to go to the person you lied to and tell them you lied and make it right we got home from the camp for a few weeks and had this lovely letter dear Aunt Mickey blah blah blah blah blah I want you to know God's helped me overcome my lying I did what you told me a few times and I found it wasn't worth it I found it wasn't worth it so here's your wheel barrel and in it are all your inherited privileges from your birth surrounded with all of the knowledge of God and of Christ and of His word real vital though not perfect Christians earnest passionate biblical preaching fervent prayers by your parents and the people of God

31:55 and now this total character molding context and you've complied with much of it and you've begun to learn that you know life is really easier when you're not snotty and you're not selfish and you're thinking about someone else other than yourself you know it really is life gets on a little bit better this way now I want you to think then of all your privileges and all your performance in the wheel barrel now when you ask the question what good is this in order to help me to live in the world that wheel barrel is full of gold nuggets when it comes to the

32:39 question what is it's worth to help you to live life as it ought to be lived that wheel barrel is a wheel barrel full of gold nuggets now bring all that stuff in that wheel barrel before the infinitely pure holy God of the universe who judges actions by the motive who judges actions by the standard of his inflexibility holy law that touches thought and word and deed who says love me with all the heart and 99% is not enough the 1% makes me liable to hell and I look at all of those gold nuggets and I bring my wheel barrel before God

33:24 and say now God I want to know I'm accepted before you I want to know that you received me as your son your daughter I want to know if I died tonight you take me into your presence God what do I do with my wheel barrel full of gold when I think of being accepted before you you know what God says make it a wheel barrel full of manure make it a wheel barrel what things were gold to me I count that I may have Christ that's hard

34:06 to call gold manure but until you're ready to call all the gold of your privilege and performance derived from your godly nurture until you're ready to call it manure you'll never have Christ you'll never have Christ you don't reach into that wheel barrel and take one nugget and say Christ plus I didn't do this I didn't do that no no no no Lord the whole wheel barrel that is gold with reference to how it will fit me to live in the world but is manure with respect to how it will help me to gain acceptance with you now that's a crude

34:50 illustration but I hope it makes the point and with all my heart I want to ask you of the second generation have you looked at your gold and called it manure that you might have Christ that you might have Christ and the righteousness which God extends to vile sinners in him so I say your privilege can be a life long struggle that can be soul killing

How Godly Nurture Can Lead to Legalism in Ongoing Acceptance

35:33 when you consider the matter of your acceptance before God but now what about this problem our liability to legalism in the maintenance of our ongoing relationship to God that will be a life long struggle a life long struggle let me again show how this danger arises you've been reared you have the second third generation by precept and example with the awareness that a consistent Christian reads his Bible daily a consistent Christian prays daily a consistent Christian confesses his sin to God and to men daily a Christian who's

36:17 consistent prepares his heart for the Lord's day every Saturday night diligently performs his God given task at school in home in the marketplace now having totally repudiated our privileges and our performance to lay hold of Christ we've said all the gold in the wheelbarrow that is gold when it comes to how to live in the world how to serve God in the world and that's where it's gold and I'm going to regard it as gold but when it comes to the grounds of my acceptance with God it's a wheelbarrow full of dung what happens well as we begin to live the Christian life and by

37:02 the grace of God and the enabling of the Holy Spirit we've been relatively consistent in daily Bible reading relatively consistent in daily prayer relatively consistent in dealing with our sins we begin to come into God's presence with a little more measure of boldness and confidence and liberty and joy and what has happened our boldness and confidence and liberty and joy is not rooted in the fact that we've come to clearer more biblical more heart cheering views of and trust in Christ alone

37:44 but our liberty and our joy and our freedom are based on the fact we've been relatively consistent in Bible reading so I come tripping into God's presence as a pretty consistent child relatively consistent in prayer and what happens now when the next week you miss reading your Bible through carelessness your time of prayer is skipped through hardness of heart you don't confess your sins and through stubbornness and pride you won't acknowledge that you spoke a nasty word to your wife or to your husband

38:29 what happens in your approach to God you start slinking off in the distance and you don't draw near to God you say how can I come to God I blew it I didn't read my Bible how can I come to God I didn't pray you see what you've done you've replaced Christ with your performance for you see if your freedom and liberty in coming to him was being preoccupied with Christ then when you failed you'd be all the more preoccupied with Christ because your felt sense of need for his intercession and

39:13 advocacy would be heightened and so your failures instead of driving you from him would drive you closer to him am I talking about anybody sitting in this place this morning am I the only perverse legalist in this place or have I got a few cousins here see it's not an issue follow me closely now when people are set before people when the spirit of God sets before people the freeness of grace Paul realizes there's a devil's logic where sin abounds grace does much more abound Romans 6 1 says what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Paul says God forbid may it never be this is not a question

39:57 shall we continue in sin that grace may abound this is a question what do we do when we have sin that proves our confidence is in grace and not our performance and here I don't want to simply quote as I've done a number of verses I want you to get this through the eyeballs as well 1 John chapter 2 remember my definition of legalism the futile attempt to attain or maintain one's acceptance with God based on one's privileges or performance we come to 1 John chapter 2 my little children

40:42 these things write I unto you that you may not sin what he's been writing in the first chapter he said has as its focused intention that you may not sin its aim and goal is overcoming sin its aim and goal is pursuit of and progress in holiness but now notice and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous one and he is the propitiation for our sins I write

41:25 that you may not sin and every true believer says oh God hasten the day when I'll sin no more and between now and then Lord give me grace to overcome as much sin as a redeemed sinner can overcome in this present life oh Lord I don't want to sin and our hearts comply with that intention but now if any man sin there's the realism at the point of our sinning this is what you must grasp if any man sin we have not after a day of gloom and distance from God and using our

42:08 joyless dull prayerless Christian lives as a form of penance at the point that we sin look at the text we have not after a day of groveling not after a day of self-imposed internal disruption we have at the point of our sin what do we have we have two things all in one person we have an advocate with the father an advocate in this sense was not a lawyer as we know it some distant

42:52 hired person who pleads our case dispassionately it was a friend who would take our case directly into the presence of the legal authority and there plead it on our behalf if any man sin we have one who pleads our case at the point of our sin at the point of our sin we have we have an advocate with the father and that advocate is also our propitiatory priest the one who bore the full brunt of the wrath of God against our sin swallowed

43:35 up all of the deserved wrath and now in his place at the right hand of the father as advocate to plead our cause he is our priest who embodies in his person all the virtue of his sin bearing sacrifice and you and I must learn that's how we deal with God when we sin we don't go out and get our wheelbarrow and try to put some gold of our own performance that we can then bring that pathetic stuff to God our performance is

44:19 still dung when it comes not only to our initial acceptance before God but our ongoing acceptance with God we gained initial acceptance in Christ alone we if I thought cranking up a few more decibels would do it I'd try but I might blow out my pipes see the problem because

45:03 our godly nurture has conditioned us to think and rightly so this kind of action pleases us God this kind of action displeases God we transfer that over and say this kind of action will give us some acceptance with God this kind of action will bar up the way of our acceptance to God my friends that's legalism it is the futile attempt to attain or maintain one's acceptance with God on the basis of one's privileges and one's performance

45:47 done work one of my favorite hymns from my own devotions and I sang it to God again this morning it's a wonderful hymn of Horatius Boner and it's this I hear the words of love I gaze upon the blood I see the mighty sacrifice and I have peace with God tis everlasting peace sure as Jehovah's name tis stable as his steadfast throne forever more the same the clouds may come and go and storms may sweep my sky

46:32 this blood sealed friendship changes not the cross is ever nigh my love is oft times low my joy still ebbs and flows but peace with him remains the same no change Jehovah knows I change he changes not the Christ can never die his love not mine the resting place his truth not mine the tie dear child of God your remaining sin is as a verse

47:15 to coming to Christ with naked hands day by day as your reigning sin was a verse to come to him in your conversion that's reality and it's heightened when you've had the unspeakable privilege of godly nurture that is rightly so performance oriented and must be if it's biblical it must be but if we by the grace of God and the power of the spirit through the word do not break through performance orientation and come to grips

Application to Unbelievers: Renounce Your Performance for Christ

48:00 with the fact that our salvation in terms of acceptance with God is Christ at the beginning Christ at the middle and Christ at the end well let me try to bring some concluding applications I've tried to explain to you what I meant by this lifelong liability to a soul killing soul shriveling spirit of legalism let me say a word to all of you who are not in Christ whether you are reared in a Christian home or a pagan home you may be one who's had all the privileges and performance

48:43 of a modern day Saul of Tarsus biblically framed lovingly administered total character nurture my friend I must tell you it doesn't mean diddly before God and until you're ready to call it what God does you'll never become a Christian I'm an upright man in the community I'm decent and moral I've been faithful to my wife for twenty thirty forty years that mean anything with God no sorry to tell you means absolutely nothing God will not accept you on the basis that you've kept your pants on or you've kept your hands off other people's property God accepts sinners on one basis only that's his son

49:26 and no one has his son until you're ready to call all your performance a wheelbarrow full of dung now you'll be offended and angry at me but my friend I challenge you to go to your Bible and prove me wrong don't just go out angry and say I don't agree with the preacher you won't stand in the day of judgment before this preacher but before the God who says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags you may be sitting there saying Pastor Martin you got it all wrong I haven't had none of those privileges I was reared in a home where the name of God and of Christ was nothing but a curse word dishonesty, unfaithfulness cheating, lying that was part and parcel of the context

50:10 in which I was reared and I was taught how to curse and to swear and to cheat by my own parents and none of that my friend I've got wonderful news for you that'll make a bit of difference Christ received sinners as sinners not as sinners with a good nurture and a good wholesome Christian atmosphere to frame character or without such blessings Christ received sinners as sinners and there's nothing he loves more than to receive sinners of all kinds and all stripes Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners but now to you who are in Christ I urge you you must not allow your performance

Application to Believers: Christ as the Sole Ground of Acceptance

50:53 to shove Christ aside as the sole and constant ground or of your acceptance with God something that fascinated me in my preparation this week was to look at those passages in the book of the revelation and to turn to them I'll just cite them Revelation 7 13 and following 21 21 to 23 22 1 and 3 where you find terminology like this and the river of life flows out from the throne of God and of the lamb they follow the lamb whithersoever he goes even when you and I are perfected in heaven all of our blessings will flow to us

51:36 through the lamb purchased blessings and we'll know they're coming from him how much more when we're still stained with our sins let me ask you sitting here today suppose you who've had the benefit of this kind of nurture suppose instead you were the son or the daughter of a prostitute and you were born in a crack house and as you grew older you learned before you were 10 years old how to deal drugs on the street you were a young man and before you're 15 you're pimping your 13 year old sister

52:19 have I painted a picture of someone into dregs suppose that were you dear young man or woman with all the benefits of Christian nurture let me ask you something would you have any silly notion if you were that person son or daughter of a prostitute giving drugs before you were 10 pimping your own sister would you have any silly notion you could come strutting up to God saying now God I think you ought to take me in because of my privileges and my performance oh you say oh no pastor now I want to ask you do you say it just as quickly when you come before God

53:04 with all the benefits of your privileges and your performance can you say just as quickly oh God I know I've got nothing more to commend myself than the son or daughter of the prostitute born in the crack house dealing drugs before I was 10 pimping or being pimped in my early teens now some of you older ones may be offended by my blunt language but frankly I don't care I'm fishing for the souls of these precious young people and I don't want them to go to hell because they won't turn their into the dung that it is and lay hold of Christ and become a Christ obsessed

53:48 loving generation rather than a nice proper formal believing bunch of young people who say they're in Christ but in their heart of hearts they're trusting in their wheelbarrow of gold never recognizing that it's a wheelbarrow of dung when it comes to their acceptance with God I have one other imagery to press before you I pressed it on myself picture with me that God gives you the privilege

The Deathbed Test: What Will You Present to God?

54:32 of not being cut off suddenly unexpectedly but you know you're on the death bed and God's allowed you the privilege of still having your consciousness you're not all doped up to ease pain your brain is not off in la la land you're fully conscious but the doctors have told you and the nurses the end is near your soul is going to leave that body in the language of the hymn writer it's going to wing its flight to worlds unknown and you're going to stand before God what would you tell yourself in a few moments a couple of hours my soul will enter the blistering

55:16 blazing light of the glory of almighty God what will I present to him will I say oh God receive me with favor because of all the privileges with which I was surrounded oh God receive me with favor because of all of the performance that has flown out of the privileges of my Christian nurture would you dare to offend God with such thoughts or would you say lying on your death bed oh God in a few moments what I've known from the distance by faith I'll know face to face

56:00 oh God I tell you from the depths of my being while I bless you for the gift of all the privileges of my Christian nurture and while I bless you for all the disciplines and all of the development of character that help me to live more usefully and fruitfully oh God I spit upon them all I repudiate them as having anything whatsoever to do with my hope that you will receive me with favor only for the sake of your well beloved son

56:41 what would it be my friend listen to me if you live in the faith of Christ himself and Christ alone both the ground of your initial acceptance with God and the ground of your continuous acceptance before God live in that faith and you'll die in that faith and you'll wake up and see the face of God in Christ with joy live in any other faith and you'll face an angry God and in the day of resurrection you'll hear him say depart

Concluding Prayer: Breaking Chains of Works-Righteousness

57:26 from me you cursed into everlasting fire well that's what I'd hope to say to you today I pray God the Holy Spirit will write it upon your hearts let us pray our Father we feel so helpless when we have done our best to try to lay bare these issues that are life and death issues and feel that we've done so with such bumbling poor expression of the glory

58:11 the reality of the truth we can only beg of you Father take scales from eyes break the chains of works righteousness the smugness oh Lord do what must be done that with the apostle those who count their privileges and performances gain will count the but loss and regard them as dung that they may be found in Christ having a righteousness that is from you and received by faith alone help us as your people Lord we're ashamed at how often we've let our own pathetic

58:55 performances become partially our savior and then when they failed us we've been dejected and gone around gloomy and cheerless and joyless Father what a disgrace to your grace we ask you to forgive us and help us to be a people who while we hate sin with increasing holy hatred and while we pursue holiness with ever increasing measures of genuine passion oh God may we ever remember whenever we sin we have an advocate we thank you we praise you seal then your word to the prophet of everyone here today and to your name

59:39 and to your name alone be praise and honor and glory for Jesus sake Amen