This is one of the most important
series that we've ever discussed because we're dealing with the
inner man. I know something about the inner
man. I'm sure that each one of you
knows something about the inner man. We began the discussion of a
heart the heart of the unsaved person, which is turned hard,
insensitive, wicked, depraved, deceitful, a cesspool of iniquity, and from that we connected the
thoughts of such a heart in the second message, which was two
weeks ago today. Then last Sunday we sought to
make that connection by using the thirteenth chapter of the
book of Leviticus. This morning we want to review
just a few things from Leviticus chapter 13 that will bring us
up to what we want to discuss with you this morning. We know that the heart is depraved. Most religionists today deny
the depravity of the human heart. My wife, just this past week, In discussing this very subject
with her brother, who is a Methodist minister, was informed that the twins,
they have, you know, twin girls, and reference was made to one
of them and her actions, and my wife said, that's a manifestation
of the depraved heart. To which my brother-in-law replied,
that is not depravity. Now, beloved, I'm not making
a statement that is not commonly known. It is commonly known that
Methodists do not believe in total depravity. I'm not just picking out the
Methodists. Most religionists today do not accept, do not embrace
total depravity. We saw last Sunday morning from
the twelfth chapter of Leviticus that whenever a woman gave birth
to a male child, She was pronounced unclean for a period of seven
days. However, when she gave birth
to a female child, she was pronounced unclean for a period of two weeks. I gave to you last Sunday morning
why she was pronounced unclean for a period of two weeks when
she gave birth to a child. The twelfth chapter of Leviticus
emphasizes original sin. Original sin is denied by most
religionists, as I have already stated. I want to give to you
just a few quotations this morning by different persons. I'm talking
about religious men. who have given themselves for
the study and proclamation of the word of God. To prove to you that religion
as a whole do deny depravity, let me give to you just a few
statements. Adam only brought sin into the
world thus exposing all men to sin. Man is as holy as God until
he chooses, after he reaches the age of accountability, whatever
that is, I added that, to become evil. It is error to say that
man's original nature is evil. By man's own choice, After the
age of accountability is reached, the image is changed from God-likeness
to devil-likeness. Adam sinned in his own proper
person only, and there is no reason why God should impute
that sin unto infants. These are quotations, not taken
out of context either. It is absurd that by one man's
disobedience, many should be made actually disobedient. You who are familiar with the
scriptures know that these statements are in direct contradiction to
scriptures I could give, but I'm not taking time to give them.
I'm only establishing the point that most religionists deny the
practice. Infants are simply in the estate
in which Adam was before the fall. Infants as infants have
all the same innocency. That which we have by birth can
be no evil of sin because to be born is plainly involuntary. It must be voluntary or it can
be no sin. It is against equity that one
should be accounted guilty of a sin that is not his own. Finally, God neither does nor
can injustice appoint any person to hell for original sin. Leaving those thoughts I take you now to chapter 13
to bring us up to the place we want to begin this morning. The 13th chapter of Leviticus
deals with the subject of leprosy. Leprosy is an internal disease. The priest had a very important
role in the spirituality of the Israelites. The priests were to watch, they
were to observe for any manifestation of leprosy in the lives of any
of the Israelites. Now I'm not going back into this
again this morning for the simple reason that all of us, I'm sure,
understand that leprosy is the greatest description, biblical
description, of the heinousness of sin. Thus, throughout the actions
and the lives of the Israelites, the priests were to observe,
they were to watch. If there was a scab that was
seen on one of the Israelites, that scab was observed. Let me
establish once and for all this morning that distinction must
be made between a forgiven Israelite
and an unforgiven Israelite. just as distinction must be made
between a professing believer and one who possesses the grace
of God. All of us who have passed from
death into life carry in our lives marks or scars of the depraved
nature. These scars often manifest themselves. So the Israelites were to be
observed by the priests, let me emphasize, by the priests,
in the same manner that the members of the local church are to be
observed by the elders. to care for the soul of the members
of the flock. Beloved, that is a biblical analogy
and you can't refuse it. Thirteenth chapter of Hebrews. We are told in the first part
of the thirteenth chapter that if there is a rising of scab
or a bright spot and it be in the skin of the person's flesh,
like the plague of leprosy, then of course this person was under
the observation of the priest. Sometimes it was necessary to
set that person aside for a period of seven days and observe him
carefully. During that period of time, if
this scab or this sore that appeared did not spread, notice now what
I'm saying, did not spread, then it could be pronounced clean.
In other words, it's just a scab. He's a forgiven person, but he's
made a mistake or he is making mistakes, but he's not guilty
of leprosy. Now if there is still some doubt,
the person was set aside for another seven days unobserved. So to hurry through this thirteenth
chapter to get to our point this morning, there can be a manifestation
of the old man in the life of a person who is saved without
that person being guilty of leprosy. Beloved, whenever something is
seen spreading in the life of a professing believer, and it's
spread from that person to other persons, then not only is that
person to be under observation, but the persons who have been
contaminated by that, they are also to be under observation. Let me stop here. Would you,
in all honesty, just like for me to not go into things like
this and just stand before you on Sunday morning and give to
you a little positive message without probing into your inner
man and asking you to search your heart? That's what religionists want,
but that is not what Christians want. See the difference? David said, search me, O God,
try me, know my fault, and see if there be any wickedness in
me. That is the language of a born-again person. Now we're getting hastily
to our fourth. In the latter part of the thirteenth
chapter of Leviticus, the person who was sore in his was pronounced utterly unkeen. Why? Because, you see, leprosy
is an internal disease, and we were told when we began our study
in Mark 7 and Matthew 15 that it is out of the heart that evil
thoughts proceed. I have also said you never know
a person until you know his thoughts. I do not know you until I know
what you're thinking. You do not know me until you
know what I'm thinking. But here finally this letter
This person who had leprosy manifested what was in his heart by expressing
his mind, and when he expressed his mind and his thoughts were
revealed, the priest pronounced him, what, unclean, utterly unclean,
and he was cast outside the camp of Israel where he belonged.
Now, it's at that point we're beginning this morning. Turn
with me now to the 14th chapter. I want to begin with the 14th
chapter. Here's a good beginning place,
and then we'll go to Ezekiel and discuss the new heart, and
I hope we'll have time to complete our message with some discussion
of the whole heart or the one heart. So then we will have discussed
the depraved heart, the new heart, and the whole heart. The three
parts that I gave to you the subject when we started about
three or four weeks ago. Let us now begin with chapter
14 of Leviticus. Verse 1, And the Lord spake unto
Moses. You'll notice now, he is not
speaking unto Moses and Aaron. I hope that you're following
me because I am making an important distinction. This shall be the law of the
leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought unto the
priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and
the priest shall look And behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed
in the leper. Now two things stand out here. The healing of the leper and
the cleansing of the leper. The priest could not do one thing
for the leper until he first had been cleansed. Now mark that. That's regeneration. That's the
new birth. We're talking about the healing
now of the leper. So the priest went outside the
camp, where the leper rightly was, outside of Israel, just
as unsaved people are to be outside the liturgical church, not in
it. There must be the healing of
the leper just as there must be the regeneration of an individual
before he has a right to become a member of Israel, if it pertains
to the Israelites, or the church as it relates to you and the
nation. Now look at this. The priest shall go forth, verse
3, out of the camp. And the priest shall look, and
behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then,
that's an important word, then shall the priest command to take
for him that is to be cleansed. There's a difference in healing
and cleansing. Beloved, you and I have been
healed. as sinful persons by regeneration. Cleansing is something that is
begun in regeneration and it continues throughout the life
of the Christian while he's on the earth. Isn't it wonderful that these
great truths are portrayed in the Old Testament? This just makes the subject live.
all over again to the same person. All right, verse 5. Then the
priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an
earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall
take it, and cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,
and shall dip them in the living bird, and the blood of the bird
that was killed over the running water, or living water. And he
shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the
living bird loose into the open field. And he that is to be cleansed,
now to show you another point, he that is to be cleansed shall
wash his clothes. The person who has been healed
or regenerated is cleansed, of course, and then there is something
for him to do. What I'm saying this morning
is there is something for you as a healed or cleansed person
to do. All right? Verse 8 again. That
will be as far as we'll read. And he that is to be cleansed
shall wash his clothes, shave off his hair, wash himself in
water, that he may be cleaned. And after that he shall come
into the camp and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven
days." Now you've got the picture and you see the connection between
this passage and that in chapter 13. Now let me run through this
briefly before we turn to Ezekiel and begin our discussion of the
new heart. The new heart. You see how all
of this ties in? The man has been pronounced unclean,
utterly unclean because the thoughts of his heart have been revealed,
proving that he is a leper. He's never been healed. And a
person who has not been healed does not deserve to be in the
assembly of Israel anymore. That an unsaved person desired
or should be a member of the local assembly. Now let's go
back to verse 1. I'm going to have to show you
some things. Chapter 13, if you'll go back and notice, is addressed
to Moses and Aaron. Aaron, you see, being the high
priest. Chapter 14, verses 1 through
32, is addressed to Moses only. Then beginning with the 33rd
verse, through the 53rd verse, the latter part of the chapter
is addressed to Moses and Aaron as was or is chapter 13. Now, what does this signify?
Priestly discernment is called for in the section where Aaron
is addressed. I said priestly action is called
for in the section where Aaron's name is found. But in chapter
14, verses 1 through 32, this is the setting forth of the mind
of God as to the healing of the leper and his cleansing before
he is to be found inside the camp of Israel. Now what's the significance of
all of this? Very simple. The leper must first be healed
before the priest can do anything. Beloved, unless you're regenerated,
I can't do a thing for you. You see what I'm talking about?
I can preach to you, I can talk to you, I can give exposition
of Scripture to you until I'm black in the face, but if you
are a leper, All of my talking is in vain as far as you being
here. Do you see that? Very simple,
isn't it? So the leper must be healed before
the priest can do anything. A person must be regenerated,
he must be given a new heart before the preacher can be of
any help to him. And, beloved, this will be amplified
over and over again throughout the book of Ezekiel. So we'll
be studying some very practical things as well as prophetical
things in that great prophecy. The Lord puts the cleansing of
the leper entirely on the ground of sovereignty, Luke chapters
4 and 5. Beloved, I must believe that
the sovereign God alone can regenerate you and
give to you a disposition of heart for the things that are
spiritual, that are to be ministered by me to you. It's just that
simple. The cleansed leper committed
himself to the divine sovereignty. Now, in the case of the sinning
believer, the advocacy of Jesus Christ must be answered by a
discipline which would bring the individual to submission.
I want you to know when I see persons in this church family
and you rebel against teaching, I guarantee I'm going to watch
you. I'll watch every move almost
you make. And if that old sore keeps spreading,
before long you'll have to be pronounced a leper upon the authority
of God's Word. You see, discipline is a part
of God's plan. And discipline is to be administered
in the local church, something unheard of almost in our day. Discipline brings the believer
or the heel person to submission. Now when a person keeps kicking
against it, rebelling against it, and they'll always find justification
for it, and I could spend about 30 minutes here giving you analogies
from what we have witnessed and some of you have been witnessing.
You see, you can't convince an unsaved person of truth. But
you can convince a regenerated person. You can convince a person who
has sold out his soul for some political view. And if anything is contrary to
that view, he won't accept it. He'll start looking for specific And he will not be willing to
accept the substance of the matter or the pattern of life. Don't
you see how this ties in? The reason this has been so interesting
to me this past week, I have appreciated one or two of these
lawyers. One young man in particular seems to be a very brilliant
young man and has manifested a wonderful attitude. Of course,
I realize that all of them know their own television. And some
of them, of course, realizing this, they try to manifest their
best behavior. But this one person kept talking
about the pattern of behavior, the pattern of life. He was right. This is exactly what we have
here in Leviticus 13. It's the pattern of life. I am
not to judge you upon one act of sin, but I'm going to watch
and see if it becomes a pattern in your life. And if it becomes
a pattern in your life, then you need regeneration. That's simple, isn't it? Very
simple. Are you willing to be brought
to submission? Yes, you are, if you have passed
from death into life. Now, we've talked about the depraved
heart, the hard heart, the deceitful heart, the heart that is desperately
wicked. Let's now begin with the renewed
heart, and that is the same as the healing of the leper. I'd
like you to turn with me, if you will, please, first of all
to Ezekiel chapter 36. I must remind you at this point
that this is addressed primarily to Israel, but spiritually speaking, it
has an application for us. God regenerates every individual
in the same manner, whether that person be a Gentile outside of
the sheepfold of Israel, or one of the elect of God within national
Israel. God's regeneration of an individual
is the same. I like for us to read, beginning
with verse 25, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. Actually, this is justification,
but I'm not going to go into detail on that. Verse 26. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh." What else will the Lord do? Because of this, I will put
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And ye shall keep my judgments
and do them." Now I'd like you to go back, in order to complete
our scripture reading, to the book of Jeremiah. First of all,
I want to call attention to Jeremiah chapter 31, beginning with verse
31. Then I want to read some verses
taken from the 32nd chapter, and oh, what gracious verses
they are. Jeremiah 31, 31, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel. I'm not discussing the new covenant
now. And with the house of Judah.
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them out by the hand to bring them out
of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although
I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this should be
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, After
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write them in their hearts, and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Will you now turn to the 32nd
chapter? Begin reading with me with verse
36, reading through the 41st. Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger, and
in my fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. And they
shall be my people, and I will be their God, and I will give
them one parting from Him." That's perseverance. Then look at verse 41. We must
not conclude our scripture reading without noticing this text. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly.
Of course, this is a promise that is made directly to Israel. but it has its application for
us in a spiritual manner. Now here it is, the last part.
With my whole heart and with my whole soul. What are you saying? Beloved, God blesses his people
with his whole heart and with his whole soul. And if that be
true, beloved, he demands of you and me as regenerated persons,
our whole heart and our whole soul, and I'll explain that later. He'll accept nothing short of
that. Now, for the discussion of the
new heart. In the light of Ezekiel 36, 25,
26, and 27. The doctrine that gives the professing
believer room to boast that his ability, either whole
or in part, brought him to salvation cannot be of God. Have I made
myself clear? I admit that's a strong statement,
but I make it again, because it is scriptural, and anything
other than this is heresy, regardless of who the person is who makes
the statement. I said that doctrine that gives
the professing believer room to boast. that his ability, either in part
or as a whole, brought him to salvation cannot be of God. Salvation is of God. Regeneration
is of God. You play no part in it. I will give it, God says. The new heart indicates a change in the whole character
of man. I will explain the new heart,
just as I have spent much time in the discussion of the evil
heart. You see, the heart is the seed of intelligence. It
is the seed of affections. It is the seed of man's will. There must be a change, therefore,
in his intelligence, in his thinking, in his affections, and in his
will. Let's take those three things
and break them down one by one. A new heart means there has been
a change in the whole inner nature of man. God alone can make that change. We'll take the intelligence,
first of all. The intelligence of man, darkened
by sin, Ephesians 4.18, being alienated from the life of God because of the blindness of the
prayed heart, is enlightened by grace and regeneration. That's what we're talking about
when we refer to the New High. The enlightened mind is the work
of God in regeneration according to John chapter 3 verses 1 through
8, a familiar passage to all professing believers. The enlightened mind as a result of regeneration is
instructed in conversion. That's why, you see, the priest
couldn't do a thing for the leper until he was first healed. But when the leper was healed,
then the priest could do something for him. The man of God today can't do
anything for a person. until God gives him the disposition
of heart for spiritual things. Let's look secondly at the affections.
I could spend a lot of time, but I'm going through it as rapidly
as I can. The affections of the unrenewed
man We know are cold, they're senseless, they're insensitive,
they're unyielding to spiritual things. Beloved, don't get mad
when some friend of yours or some loved one rebels at spiritual
things. You don't get mad at him. After all, the Lord hasn't given
him a disposition of heart. Now all of us have been guilty
of getting angry with people and getting disgusted with people,
all of us, including this preacher. But we can't give that disposition
of heart to an individual. The unremoved heart is insensitive,
it's unyielding to the things of Oh, but beloved, when that heart
has been made new by the grace of God, then what happens? It's made tender, it is made sensitive, and it yields to the things of
God. It says, not my will, but thine
be done. Let me illustrate this. The affections
of the new heart are tender like the eye. You know, the eye is
the most sensitive faculty or member of the human body. It is a bundle of nerves. I don't have to be a medical
doctor to describe that to you. You know that by experience.
You can get the least thing in your eye and it drives you out
of your wits. get it out. It's sensitive. I want you to know that the heart
that has been renewed by grace is sensitive. And when there's
something arises in that heart that shouldn't be there, that
old scab or a sore arises, it is sensitive to it. If it is
insensitive to it, it has never been renewed. You know, that's why we're told
to get the molt out of our eye before we try to get the two
before out of our neighbor's eye. You see what a serious thing
it is for one person to sit in judgment on another? That's why
I brought out what I did last Sunday morning, and whenever
I use an illustration, I don't ever want to leave the impression
that I'm making an excuse for someone for being absent or something. I don't mean that. You who've
heard me over the years know that I don't mean that. But when
one individual judges another individual, he better be sure
the moon is out of his own eye before he begins to try to pull
a big old splinter out of his neighbor's eye. The renewed heart is sensitive. I know it, and so do you. And
when there is no sign of sensitivity, it's a manifestation of lapis,
so watching, observing. You see, the affections of the
new heart are tender. They're tender. The sign of the stony heart's
removal and a new heart having been given is a tender sense
of one's own sinfulness and the provision that God has
made for him in Christ Jesus. Sometimes some of you may think
I'm rather brutal. Wait until we get through studying
Ezekiel. You will be shocked some of you. Yes, there must be discernment. The affections are amended by
the removal of a heart of stone. Thus, the affections which were
for carnal things are amended by the new heart to be for spiritual things. There isn't a one of us here
this morning who is saying, certainly there are things we enjoy, things
I'm talking about. But, beloved, when those things
begin to come between us and our Lord, it isn't long until
they become obnoxious to us because of the sensitivity I've heard various testimonies
from many of you, and I rejoice when I hear them. Things that
you have done, things that you have found enjoyment in as doing
them, and there are a lot of things that are not wrong for
us to do as Christians, but but later when those things begin
to magnify themselves and to take us away from the things
of God and the things we are to do for God, I want you to
know the sensitive heart is brought to submission unless that person
is a leper. Let's look thirdly at the will. The will which was selfish because
of the darkness and hardness of the depraved heart is transformed
by grace. The nature of the will has changed
from self-will to not my will but thine be done. I observe people, and when I
see people selfish and they continue to manifest their selfishness,
I watch something. I'll continue to watch. And it
may become necessary to say, Thou art a leper. The transformed will recognizes
that God's will goes before all other wills. You and I know that
it is God's will that makes us willing to do his will. We find not only a new heart
in this passage in Ezekiel 36, but a new spirit. What does this
mean? But I mean you must make the distinction between the spirit
of man and the Holy Spirit in the study of this passage. Do
you see two spirits? There is the spirit of man, but
there is also the Holy Spirit in this passage. The new spirit
refers to the inner principle which directs the heart's activities. That's the new spirit. He's not
talking about the Holy Spirit at this juncture. He's talking
about the new spirit, the new disposition of heart. You see,
the new spirit is nothing short of a new disposition. The new
spirit is different from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
within enables the new disposition to manifest itself outwardly. The new spirit is the ability
or the capacity to perform spiritually. The Holy Spirit is put within
the elect center in regeneration. This makes the believer have
a God-like disposition or nature that we read about in 2 Peter
chapter 1 verse 4. Yes, the Holy Spirit causes the
new spirit or the disposition to perform that which is pleasing
to God. Isn't that what it says in the
27th verse? I'll put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments
and do them. Now let's look lastly at the
new way of life, and we'll compare this with the one way of the
whole heart. This is so wonderful. What a
climax this is to our present study. Look with me once again at the
32nd chapter. and the 39th verse of Jeremiah. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear
me forever. I'll discuss that in just a moment.
I will discuss that text in the light of its content. You see, the Christian life is
not passive, it is active. therefore, in a manner pleasing
to the Lord." That's the admonition of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesian
Christians. We know that principle must precede
practice, and practice must follow principle. Please get that statement. Someone has said, as leaven pervades, as the spring
overflows, so faith that embraces Christ works by love. How true! Another is said, as through faith
the soul is justified before God. So through works, James
2, man is justified before men. The Holy Spirit working in a
new heart produces a spirit of obedience and service. That's why the one way is magnified
by Jeremiah. The one way to you and me is
the way of Christ. as Brother Pennington brought
out in such a marvelous way last Wednesday night, looking from
the great host of patriarchs and looking onto Jesus, the Christ. The one heart is
the one desire to follow the Lord Jesus. for our concluding
remarks as we want to give an exposition of a text in the light
of its context. We're talking about the one heart,
the whole heart of the renewed heart. When we look at the 41st verse
of chapter 32, we see that it is God who blesses his people
and he blesses his people with his whole heart. Look at the text. Yea, I will
rejoice over them, to do them good, and I will plant them in
this land assuredly. Will you observe the word assuredly
for a moment? You may look at an amplification of that word
in the marginal reference of your Bible. The word assuredly
confirms the truth of certainty. Now, what do we mean by the whole
heart or the one heart? It has been explained like this.
I cannot improve upon it. When a person is absorbed by
single purpose, you see, Jehovah God was absorbed
by single purpose, his eternal purpose. Can you deny that? When a person is absorbed with
a single purpose, it may be necessary for him to do other things, but you will see him bend all
matters toward his chief end. Bloodied, apply that principle
to the actions of the sovereign God of the universe. Jehovah
is a God who has a purpose, and He is absorbed with His eternal
purpose. Everything He does in providence,
everything accomplished in time, there may be a bending here and
a bending there, but everything is bending toward the fulfillment
of His eternal purpose. Now let's make a personal application
of this. You are a born-again person, you say. You say, I have
a new heart. I have a new disposition, do
you? Is your job your God? Is some particular pleasure in
your life your God? Do you work on your job and everything
you do, are you bending and are you doing it for the glory of
God and thinking about what you can do by doing this that will
honor and glorify God? If you are fortunate enough to make
good money, are you thinking about spending that money for
the glory of God or for your own personal self-interest. That
doesn't mean that we are not to have nice things, but I'm
talking about what is the chief goal. That's what I'm talking
about. I think there are some people
who make a God out of a hole, make a God out of some particular
sport. make a God out of this thing
or a God out of that thing is everything that is done bending
toward the objective and the objective is the glory of God. That's why Paul said, whatsoever
I do, in words, in deeds, all for the glory of God. That's why I'm concerned about
Christianity. when they live and while they're living and
while they are accumulating some of this world's good, what are
you thinking about? What provision are you making
for it to be used and how it is to be used after you're gone? Do you want it to be squandered? Used wrongly? Or do you want
it to go for the glory of God? So I think this person gave a
wonderful exposition of the meaning of the whole heart as he was
describing verse 41. Listen to it again. What did
he say? He said, when a person is absorbed
by a single purpose, we know the Bible talks about a single
eye, doesn't it? It may be necessary for him to
do other things. You can't give all of your time,
you men and you women. You women have to do your housework.
You can't give every moment of every day to the things of the
Lord. So you do have to give time to other things. So it may
be necessary for the person to do other things, but you will
see him bend all matters toward the chief end. The same is true
with The Lord withholds nothing that is for the good of the Spirit. This person would only say, since
God's whole heart is for us, how can he accept anything less
than our whole hearts? Now, look at verse 38. They shall call, they shall be
my people and I will be their God, verse 39, and I will give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever. You know, Christianity is described
in various ways in the Scriptures. Let me give you four, and notice
as I'm giving you these four ways, the prepositions that I'm
going to magnify as I give them. Christianity is sometimes spoken
of as trust in God. Christianity sometimes is spoken
of as love for God. Sometimes Christianity is spoken
of as obedience to God. And finally, in the light of
our times, Christianity is sometimes spoken of as fear of God. I want to give to you a statement
by John Pratt. I have his commentary on the
Old Testament which has not been available for many, many years.
I got it from a used bookstore in England many years ago and
this is a great statement. I saw Charles Haddon Spurgeon
always referring to John Trapp, so I knew it must be good, and
I was able to secure a copy of it and had it rebound. Here's
a significant statement, and I want to close with this. Godly fear is the fruit of grace. Mr. Trapp said, There is a twofold
fear of God, which all of us servile and filial. Perfect love casts out the former,
breeds and feeds the latter. By this fear of the Lord, it
is that men depart from evil, Proverbs 16, 6, that they abound
in God's work. that they abide in his love,
that they set a jealous eye upon their own hearts and suspect
a snake under every flower, does that surprise you? A snare in
every creature? And do therefore feed with fear
and rejoice in fear? and pass the whole time of their
sojourning here in fear, yea, work out their own salvation
with fear and trembling, all the blessings of such fear."
I love that every one of you ought to have that in the margin
of your Bible. It could not be summed up in
a better way. It's a correlation of Scripture I'll put my teeth in their hearts
that they might not depart from me." Do you know what that means? Do you see why that Christianity
is often spoken of as trust in God, sometimes as love for God,
sometimes as obedience to God, and sometimes as fear of God. This is not a cerebral fear,
this is a filial fear. I was attracted by that
statement when he said, that the person who fears God
with such a fear has set a jealous eye upon his own heart, and he
suspects a snake under every cloud. That's exactly what you and I And he said, a snare in every
creature. Some of the worst snares I have
encountered have come from individuals. Therefore, feed with fear, rejoice
in fear, pass the whole time of our sojourning here in fear,
working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Oh, what
blessing! The heart is deceitful, wicked. God alone can give a new heart,
remove that old heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. give
a new spirit, a new disposition, having put the Spirit of God
in you, to use that new disposition, to feel Him, to serve Him, to
love Him, to do His will. We don't do it perfectly. That
old scab keeps manifesting itself, and we have to go constantly
to the Lord. But oh, what a blessed difference.
I'm so glad that the Lord has given me a new disposition of
heart. And even though that old scab manifests itself sometimes,
it has to be cleansed. I'm not a leper. By the grace
of God, I'm not a leper.