Once again, I want to simply
preach or declare what God's word says. I do not get my sermons
from books of men, but from the Bible, the book of God. Thus saith the Lord is what every
true preacher says and does. We don't preach our thoughts
or opinions and not modern philosophy, but we preach the word of the
Lord, the word of truth. In Luke chapter 7, the Gospel
of Luke chapter 7, the Lord Jesus Christ said many things here.
John the Baptist was in prison. And the Lord commended John before
the people. He said in verse 24, What did
you go out in the wilderness to see? Speaking of John, a reed
shaken with the wind, a weak fellow who is easily shaken by
every wind of doctrine that comes along, or those that oppose him. What did you go out to see, he
said in verse 25, a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they
which are gorgeously appareled, wear long ecclesiastical robes,
and live delicately. They are in king's court. But
what did you go out to see, he said? A prophet? Yea, I say unto
you, much more than a prophet. This is he. of whom it is written
in Malachi 3, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee. And our Lord said, I say
unto you, among those born of women there is not a greater
prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. Every preacher called and sent
by God, and there is no other kind but those sent Romans 10
says, how shall they preach except they be sent? But every preacher
like John, he says and he does what John says and did. Scripture says that John prepared
the way before the Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture
says every valley shall be exalted and every mountain made low,
meaning that the preacher brings down the pride of man, the loftiness
of man, and lifts up every poor, humble, broken sinner and points
to the Lord Jesus Christ. John preached repentance toward
God, repentance toward God, and he preached, Behold the Lamb
of God. John preached, It's the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul, the Lamb of God, a substitute
who came to save sinners, not good people, not righteous people.
John preached repentance, cry for mercy, pardon, forgiveness. Beginning with the proud Pharisees
and all sinners, he preached repentance. Do you ever hear
that today? Well, from a true preacher you will. John preaches
only salvation in one way. Not our works, not our morality,
not religious ordinances or abstinence, but the blood of a lamb, a substitute. Behold the Lamb of God. Verse
29, all the people, it says, heard the Lord. And the publicans,
it said, justified God being baptized with the baptism of
John, but the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against
themselves, being not baptized of John. They wouldn't submit
to this baptism of repentance. It says, all the people heard
him. Another gospel says, the common
people heard him gladly. Common, old, ordinary sinners. People on the street. Real people,
not fake, phony Pharisees. with an outward facade of religion
and morality like the Pharisee. But these were common, ordinary,
working class people living in a sinful world whom the Lord
convicted in their hearts of their sin. Publicans and harlots
were among them, chief of sinners. It says they justified God. When they heard the Lord Jesus
Christ preach, when they heard John preach, they justified God
and were baptized. The baptism of repentance. What
does it mean, a justified God? Well, it means they declared
God to be just. They confessed that God was true,
that His Word is true, that God is just in everything He does
and everything He says. All of His Word that condemns
man is just. It's true. All the people, they
confess that if God were to send us to hell, He would be just
in doing so, because we're guilty. God is clear. Like David said
of the Lord in Psalm 51, he said, Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that you will be just
when you speak. Whatever you say is right and
you'll be clear when you judge. If you send me to hell, David
was saying, you'll be clear because I'm guilty. That's what all who
really hear the truth must say and do say. And so they plead
for mercy. But not the Pharisees. Oh, no. Pharisees, lawyers, those that
fancied themselves that they kept the law like many today. Pharisees. Scholars, Bible scholars,
outwardly moral, upright before men. The people thought, our
Lord said, within they were full of extortion and excess. Whited
sepulchers, that is whitewashed graves, dead on the inside. The Pharisees, verse 30, says
they rejected the counsel of God against themselves. You know,
God's Word doesn't say anything good about man. False prophets
do. people all the time how much
God loves them and accepts them just like they are, that there's
no judgment, no sin, nothing wrong with you. God loves you
just like you are. The Word of God doesn't say any
such thing. The Word of God condemns us.
The Word of God, the law of God says we're all guilty. It shuts
every mouth and declares all of us to be guilty, subject to
the wrath and the judgment of God. And you see, only this message
creates the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord causes
someone to call on the Lord for mercy, for forgiveness, for pardon,
for their guilt, for their sin. And that's who Christ came for,
the guilty, not Pharisees. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners. Sinner. Are you a sinner? You
who listened to this this morning, are you a sinner? Or you quit
sinning? Did you quit sinning? You no
longer sin? You over that? Huh. Then you're
a Pharisee. They fancied themselves. They
trusted in themselves, Scripture says, that they were righteous.
The Pharisees said, no, we'd be not sinners. We're not publicans
in Harlot. We don't drink. We don't smoke.
We don't even go to restaurants that serve. drink. We are holier
than thou. They thought they were righteous,
but our Lord condemned them all. John called them vipers. The
Lord called them hypocrites, actors, actors. The Lord said
the publicans and the harlots would go into heaven before the
Pharisees. Oh, my! And those that do not go, He
said, they would be more tolerable in the judgment for a whore on
the street than a self-righteous preacher woman. Verse 31 and
32, the Lord said, Whereunto shall I liken the men of this
generation? To what are they like? They are
like children sitting in the marketplace, calling one to another,
and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced.
We have mourned to you, and you have not wept. See, the Gospel
is for sinners. The Gospel is for sinners, not
for good people. It's for sinners. Oh, the gospel,
the Word of God, the Spirit of God and the new birth makes a
person to be a good person, takes a bad person, makes a good person
out of them, but they don't think so. That person whom the Lord
saves, they don't ever think they're a good person. The self-righteous
do. The unsaved do. They think they're
a good person, but not the truly The gospel, God's power, makes
an unworthy sinner worth something. Scripture says the world is not
worthy of God's people. They bear fruit, they give glory
to God, but they don't think they're worthy. That same sinner
never thinks himself or herself to be worthy. All they can say
is worthy is the Lamb. See, the gospel is good news.
It means good news, but it's only good news for the unrighteous. It's the good news of righteousness,
the righteousness of another, someone else's righteousness
imputed or charged or reckoned to the account of an unrighteous
person. The gospel is only good news
for the sinful. Good news of holiness put upon
a holy, righteous, white robe, clothing, covering for the naked,
for the sinful, for the unclean. The gospel is good news for the
guilty, good news of full, free, final, eternal forgiveness of
all sin by which you cannot be justified by the law. That's
for the guilty. Good news. I've got good news
for the undeserving. I've got a message of mercy,
sovereign, free, eternal mercy that endureth forever for the
undeserving. Mercy is sovereign. It must be.
not getting what you deserve, wrath, judgment, not getting
what you deserve. Mercy then, by definition, must
be sovereign. It's God's to bestow. He said,
I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But bless God He
shows mercy. But it's only for the undeserving.
Good news for those in debt to God and built up a life of sin I've gotten good news of redemption,
full redemption. The price is paid through the
Lord Jesus Christ. When this joyful sound is preached,
they dance. Sinners dance. David did before
the ark. He danced before the ark. His
self-righteous wife said, You showed yourself in front of the
maidens today. And David said, I'll be more
vile. Dancing before the Lord in gratitude and thanksgiving
for forgiveness of sin, for the ark which represents God's mercy,
the mercy seat of God. He said, I'll be more vile. I'll
dance all the days of my life before the Lord. You see, He
said, we've piped unto you, you have not danced. We've mourned
unto you, and you have not wept. The Gospel breaks hard hearts. The Gospel breaks proud Pharisees. The Gospel convinces and convicts
of sin. And our Lord said, blessed are
they that mourn. They shall be comforted. Mourn
over what? Sin. Sin. A broken and contrite heart
over sin against God, those who weep shall be comforted. But
the Lord said of most people, No, you don't dance, you don't
mourn, because you're not sinners. Verse 33, John the Baptist came,
neither eating nor drinking. They said he had a devil. He
said, but the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, came eating and drinking,
and you said he's a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber, a friend
of publicans and sinners. Did you hear that? He's a friend
of publicans and sinners. Winebibber, they called him.
One time in Mark chapter 7. I'll close with this. In Mark
chapter 7, he said of these Pharisees, you make the word of God of no
effect through your tradition, through your rules, through your
regulation, when the word of God doesn't say any of what you
say. And he turned to the people and said to the people, hearken
unto me, every one of you, listen to me, understand this, there's
nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile
him. Nothing that goes into your mouth can defile you. Sin is
not in a bottle or a box. If it were, it'd be easy to quit,
wouldn't it? There's no sin in alcoholic beverages
or tobacco. Sin, he said, comes from your
heart. He said, from within the heart
of man proceed evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murders,
Covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, all these things
come from within and defile the man. Not what you put in your
mouth, but what comes out of your heart. Now, what are you
going to do about your heart? Nothing. There's nothing you
can do about your heart. God has to give you a new heart.
But sin is not in things, it's in an attitude. And the worst
sin of all is self-righteousness. Go and learn what this means.
I'll have mercy. and not sacrifice.