Notices for the week, if the
Lord will. Your pastor will preach next
Lord's Day at 10.30 in the morning and two o'clock in the afternoon.
Mr. Brian Mercer will preach on Thursday
evening at seven o'clock. There'll be a prayer meeting
on Tuesday evening at seven o'clock. Let us begin the worship of Almighty
God by singing together the hymn 416, the tune is 698 Columbenus. Let us love and sing and wonder. Let us praise the Saviour's name. He has hushed the law's loud
thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai's
flame. He has washed us in his blood. He has brought us home to God.
416. Let us love one another. Let us praise the Saviour's name. Liebeskönig, so großartig Liebeskönig,
so großartig Liebeskönig, so großartig Liebeskönig, so großartig
Liebeskönig, so großartig He has brought us home to God. Let us know who He brought us,
He took us when we were weak. O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord! O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord! O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord! O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord! O come, let us adore Him, Christ
the Lord! In His court has come to know. Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, Grant us, faithful, His exaltation,
Grant us, faithful, His exaltation, He will surely hear their cry.
He has watched us in His Word. He has brought us home to God. Let us wonder, Christians, past
this, Joy in the cross, Jesus is born. Wrapped in grace in Christ our
God's feet, Just this once and us and you, He has washed us
in His blood, He has brought us home to God. Let us praise
Him to Him and more. Let us praise Him to Him and
more. Let us praise Him to Him and
more. Let us praise Him to Him and
more. Let us praise Him to Him and
more. Let us praise Him to Him and
more. He may trust in Him because All
the praises Him have sung Him has washed us in His blood He
has brought us home to God. Yes, we praise thee, praiseworthy
Savior, God to whom earth bestows thy name. Alleluia for ever, Hated for
the worse of way. We turn now to Luke's gospel,
chapter 5. The gospel of Luke and we read chapter five for
our instruction. And it came to pass that as the
people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by
the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake,
but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their
nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the
land. And he sat down and taught the
people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking,
he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your
nets for a draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and fueled both
the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw
it, He fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all
that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had
taken. And so was also James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus
said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all
and followed him. And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing
Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately
the leprosy departed from him, and he charged him to tell no
man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. But so much the more went there
a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear. and to be healed by him of their
infirmities. And he withdrew himself into
the wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of
Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was
present to heal them. And behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means
to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could
not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling
with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw
their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, he answering, said unto them, What reason ye in
your hearts? whether it is easier to say,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk. But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said unto
the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise and take up
thy couch and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before
them and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen
strange things today. And after these things, he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of
custom. And he said unto him, follow
me, And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made
him a great feast in his own house. And there was a great
company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But
their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying,
why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus
answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a position,
but they that are sick. They came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. And they said unto him, why do
the disciples of John fast often and make prayers? And likewise
the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink. And
he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bride chamber
fast, while the bridegroom is with them? For the days will
come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and
then shall they fast in those days. And he spake also a parable
unto them. No man putteth a piece of a new
garment upon an old, if otherwise then both the new maketh a rent,
and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with
the old. No man putteth new wine into
old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be
spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be
put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also having
drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is
better. So reads the word of God. May
the Lord give us understanding according to his word and may
help us now as we pray. Almighty and ever gracious God,
help us to humble ourselves before thee, for thou the God of heaven,
the God of truth, the eternal, unchanging, infinite God, one
who is holy and righteous in all thy ways, seated upon an
eternal throne of glory and majesty and power. Nothing happens in
this world by chance, but thou dost work and rule and reign
in the midst of the affairs of this world to bring to pass thy
purposes of grace for thy people, for the good of thy church, and
ultimately for thy glory. Lord, help us as we come together
this morning hour in worship. May our hearts be touched. May
we be in tune. May we know something of the
sweet melody of the gospel in our hearts. We thank you, O Lord,
for the chapter that we have read and the wonderful displays
of Christ's compassion and power and grace. And Lord, we pray
that thy word may be a blessing to us today. Come in amongst
us, we pray. Make thyself known to us in the
breaking of the bread of thy word. We pray that the hearts
of the people may be touched, that they'll grant ears to hear
and hearts to understand. We pray it may prove to be like
it was for Lydia all those years ago, whose heart the Lord opened
so that she attended unto those things that were spoken of Paul. We pray, Lord, thou be pleased
to work the work of thy grace through the ministration of the
gospel. We pray that thou be pleased
to speak with power from on high by means of an effectual call,
that wandering sheep may hear the good shepherd's voice, that
they may recognize that voice and begin to follow after him. Lord, thou does know the state
and condition spiritually of all who are present here this
morning. And so we pray for those who
are yet wandering, those who are yet dark, dead in trespasses
and in sins, without any conscious sense of their need of a saviour. Though perhaps they may know
these things well in their minds, have heard these things time
and again, but we pray, Lord, they may hear with new ears and
we pray that bless them And we pray, O Lord, that thou be pleased
to get glory and honor to thy great name. Come to bless in
us, we pray. Grant repentance unto salvation. Grant faith in believing. A looking
out of self to Christ alone, who is able to save unto the
uttermost all who come. And so we pray thou be pleased
to work this work that no man can perform. No individual can
perform it for themselves, and no one else can perform it for
them, apart from the Son of Man, He who came from the heights
of heaven to the depths of this earth to live as a man amongst
men and to perform all things necessary for a perfect and complete
salvation. We thank you, O Lord, for the
precious shed blood of Christ. and for his perfect righteousness
while here below, this righteousness that is imputed to those who
believe, who are brought to trust in Christ, alone for salvation. Lord, we pray that bless those
that are young, we pray for the very young, that thou give them
to realise and to feel that thou art amongst thy people, and may
they come to realise that they have sins that need to be forgiven.
They have a soul that needs to be saved. We pray the Holy Spirit
may teach them these things while early in life. May this be the
happy experience of all that are young, whether teenagers
or young adults. We commend them to thee and to
the word of thy grace, that they may be blessed with the blessings
of thy people. May it be put into their hearts
to desire to know these things. And may it be their prayer as
we find in the song of Solomon, draw me, we will run after thee. May there be then that genuine
heartfelt need of a saviour, a desire to run to him for refuge. And we pray, Lord, that they
put real prayer in their hearts, wrestling prayer, which can wonders
do. Heartfelt desires to know thy
mercy and grace, that they may not be left out, left to perish
in their sins. May this be a deep concern to
their minds and understanding. And so we pray, Lord, that thou
shalt make thyself gracious to them and manifest thyself through
the preaching of the everlasting gospel. It may be that there
are some that are not in the category of the young anymore,
but we pray, Lord, There are any who yet do not know Thee,
but advance in years, we pray, Thou bless them and save them. And we pray, Lord, for Thy people
who have been taught by Thy grace, who love the Saviour's name,
who desire to walk in the tender fear of the Lord. Graciously,
O Lord, draw near to bless them too and to confirm their hearts. in the knowledge of the truth,
that their hearts may be strangely warmed and their hearts may be
softened together as we think of the wondrous grace that flows
through Christ alone. May Christ be lifted up, may
he be exalted high, may sinners look unto him and live, and may
we see a fresh glimpse of the glory of his grace Lord, we thank
Thee for sending him into this sin-cursed world, this world
of sorrow, this world affected by the fall, this world that
remains out of fellowship with Thee, this world that rejects
the truth, and yet he came out of infinite love and compassion.
We bless Thee, O Lord, for intervening in human history and providing
such a saviour. And we thank thee for the wonderful
exploits of the gospel, souls that have been saved, and the
wonders that have been performed through the preaching of the
everlasting gospel throughout this wide world. And so we pray,
Lord, that in these days in which we live, thou be pleased to stretch
forth thine hand to save. Make bare thine arm, we pray,
as it was with Israel of old, that they were delivered with
a mighty deliverance from the power of the enemy, a providential
deliverance and redemption, prefiguring this true spiritual redemption
in Christ alone. Lord, we pray for not only this
congregation, but we pray for this village, this locality. In thy mercy, thou art pleased
to work by thy Holy Spirit to create a sense of sole need,
to unsettle and disturb the peace of those that are content in
their sin, living without any consciousness of the judgment
day, without any real serious thought of the issues of life
and death and eternity. Lord, we pray that Thou come
as in former days to work by Thy power and to bless. Lord
we pray that Thou be pleased then to arise and to come and
favour Zion again as it was in former times. We thank Thee O
Lord for the long continuity of gospel preaching in this place
and the many pastors that have been raised up to minister to
the people. and we thank thee for friend
and brother, the pastor here, that thou be with him in his
labours and we ask that thou bless him today and refresh his
soul, that he may return in the power of the spirit to preach
the everlasting gospel afresh and it may be with renewed vigor
and unction from on high. Lord, we commend him to thee.
and to the word of thy grace. Keep him safe, we pray, in his
journeys, and bring him back, we ask, and do him good. Lord, we pray that thou hear
us as we call upon thee. We are conscious of the poverty
of our prayers, and it is true, as the Apostle Paul said, we
know not what to pray for as we ought, but may we know the
Holy Spirit's gracious aid time and again as we seek to draw
near day by day. And may we know answers to our
prayers, not just when we have prayed upon our knees, but as
our hearts have gone up to Thee during the course of the day,
while we've been busy about other things. Lord, we pray that Thou
go before us still and help us and keep us. And so, Lord, we
commit ourselves into Thy hands. We realize that there's much
to confess before Thee, for we are sinners in the sight of a
holy God. We pray, Lord, that be pleased
then to help us now as we turn to the holy scriptures. We give
thanks for the word of God, for the way in which it has been
given by inspiration of the spirit through chosen instruments who
are used to append the scriptures and provide it in a permanent
form. We are thankful too for the providential preservation
of it down through the running centuries, in spite of the enmity
of the evil one and ungodly people who have sought to either add
to it or to take from it or to physically destroy the Word of
God. But Lord, Thou hast been pleased to preserve it to us
that we have the whole of the Scriptures in our possession. When may we prize highly this
precious volume And may we know time and again that heavenly
voice speaking to us through the pages. As one has prayed,
divine instructor, gracious Lord, be thou forever near. Teach me
to love thy sacred word and view my saviour there. So Lord, we
come to thee seeking thy gracious aid and assistance. Lord, be
with us now, we pray. as we ask all these things for
Jesus' sake. Amen. We sing together now our second
hymn, 908. 908, and the tune is 441, Windsor. Saved is the sinner that believes. The sacred gospel annals show To him repentance Jesus gives,
and sins complete. O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave? And when the first drop is dropped,
The earth and heavens shall see your strength. O Jesus Christ, Lord at Thy birth, He chose the right path and the
right way, and he did so out of love for you. ♪ O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ And heaven and earth ♪ ♪ Will
praise you all the day ♪ ♪ Praise God this day ♪ ♪ And all the
years past ♪ ♪ God the Lamb of God ♪ Please turn with me now to the
chapter we read earlier, the Gospel of Luke, chapter five,
the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. And I particularly direct
your thoughts to verses 31 and 32. And Jesus answering said
unto them, that's the scribes and Pharisees, they that are
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The occasion of
these words were on the occasion when Levi, having been called
by God's grace, gave a feast with his friends and fellow publicans,
and Christ gathered with them with his disciples, which caused
occasion for criticism by the self-righteous Pharisees. and
they found fault with Christ for so doing. And this was the
answer to them. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. There was a gracious purpose
for which Christ had gathered with them. It wasn't just to
socialize with them or show himself friendly. There was a purpose
of grace in his being with them on this occasion. Now you will
recognise that these two verses have parallel phrases. It begins,
they that are whole need not a position, which of course corresponds
with, I came not to call the righteous. And then there are
those that are sick, mentioned in verse 31, that these are the
sinners that are brought to repentance. Now all of the events described
for us in this chapter are pointing in the same direction. directing
us regarding God's dealings in grace with sinners, the way whereby
our sins can be forgiven. You may say these two words,
though they're familiar to us, they are abounding in grace,
demonstrating for us the wonders of God's love towards guilty
sinners. And sometimes we hear people
use an expression, having a mission statement. And certainly this
statement reminds us of the mission of mercy of Christ into this
world. He came not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. And there are other similar expressions
that Christ used on the occasion of the conversion of Zacchaeus
recorded for us in Luke 19. Christ said this, for the Son
of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. On another occasion he said the
Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give
his life a ransom for many. So these familiar words then
are reminding us of the wonders of God's grace in sending his
beloved Son into this sin-cursed world and providing a complete
salvation. I want to notice these words
with you under three heads and First I want to consider with
you what is meant by sinners here in this verse. And then
secondly, we'll notice that such are called to repentance. And then thirdly and lastly,
those who are solely passed by. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. So let's begin on this important
matter of sinners. I dare say if you ask the question,
what is sin? or what are sinners, you'll be
able to give some sort of answer to that question. But it would
not be wise for me to assume you have a proper understanding
of what this means. We're living in a day when there's
a lot of confusion in society, and the very mention of the word
sin becomes offensive. Even the slightest disapproval
of a person's wicked lifestyle is considered offensive. And
we're living then in days of much chaos and departure from
the basic principles of the Word of God. So what is sin and what
is a sinner? Well the first thing to say here
is surely this, that there is a law that we have broken. God issued his law on Mount Sinai. It is true, you can go back to
the Garden of Eden and God made it clear to Adam and Eve his
whole requirements of them. They had access to all the trees,
the fruit of all the trees of the garden, if they so wished,
apart from just one, a very fair test to their obedience. But God revealed his law much
more fully on Mount Sinai. You remember the awe-inspiring
circumstances in which that law was revealed. The mountain shook,
there was the thunder, the lightning, the voice of words, the sound
of a trumpet, there was a boundary set that not even a beast should
pass over that boundary, if so they ought to be thrust through
with a dart. And in these awe-inspiring circumstances
God spoke those ten commandments, which is a perfect reflection
of his holy nature and his righteous requirements of us, his creatures. But we have broken that law,
that makes us an offender, that makes us a sinner, But it's by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Now you children, no doubt you've
seen from time to time, maybe on a gateway, trespassers will
be prosecuted, or no trespassing, or something along those lines.
And that means simply, if you go over that boundary, or past
that gateway, you are trespassing. You have offended. And we have
done so in the sight of a holy God, we have trespassed. We have
offended him by breaking his holy law. And not just outwardly
necessarily, but inwardly in our thoughts and by our words. The law of God is spiritual.
It doesn't just have to deal with outward actions, but it
has to do with the thoughts and the motives and intents of the
heart. As God looks upon us all, we
are sinners in his sight. And not only are we lawbreakers,
but there's a spirit of enmity in our hearts and our minds against
God, against His truth, against all righteousness. We react against
those things that are good and pleasing in the sight of Almighty
God. Well, this is what it is to be
a sinner, a lawbreaker in the state of enmity against God,
to be, as it were, in a foreign country, a far distant country
from Almighty God. This is our state by nature.
We find that King David freely confessed this in Psalm 51, Behold
I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. He wasn't speaking about the
circumstances in which his mother conceived him, he was talking
about the state in which he was found by nature as he was born
into this world. This introduces us to the doctrine
of original sin. We are part of a fallen race,
we are fallen descendants of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Many years ago, there was a pastor
at Grove Road Chapel Eastbourne by the name of Mr. Offer, and
he had a doctor who was a General Baptist. On one occasion, when
he visited his doctor, the doctor said, do you believe in original
sin at your chapel? And of course, Mr. Offer said,
yes, we do. And the doctor replied, I never
used to believe that doctrine until I saw it in my own children. We never had to teach our children
how to sin. And you think of ourselves when
we were children, no one had to tell us how to tell lies,
no one had to tell us how to disobey, how to be naughty. It's in our hearts, we knew how
to do these things, we wanted to do these things, even when
we were told not to. There's a rebelliousness in our
hearts by sin. We've inherited then this sinful
nature, this corrupt nature that has a propensity to go astray,
to do that which is opposite to that which is good. Can you
begin to see what it is to be a sinner? What sin is? This sense
of corruption, this ungodly principle in the heart that is against
God and against truth. Not so long ago, a little girl
came to our home with her mother. I think this little girl might
have been two or three and it was time for them to go and
her mother said to her, put your shoes on. But this little girl
didn't want to go and she stamped her foot and said, I won't, I
won't. Now, no one had to teach that
little girl how to say and to respond in that kind of way.
It's rebellion against a word of command. Circumstances that
made things worse, no doubt, she was tired, she was hungry,
it was near lunchtime, but nevertheless it indicates, even lovely little
girls, though she was, yet she has a sinful heart. And that's
true of you, and it's true of me. It's true all of us, by nature,
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. But then
it's not just about having a sinful nature, it's about the practice
of sin as well, isn't it? We sin because we are sinners,
we are wrong in our hearts and therefore we think wrong things,
we say wrong things, we do wrong things. You remember in 2nd Kings
chapter 2 we read of the prophet Elisha, the people of Jericho
complained that the waters of Jericho, that cursed city, they
said the waters were nought and the land was barren. And Elisha
performed a miracle, a cure, and he took a cruz and put salt
in the cruz and cast it into the spring of water. He went
to the fountain head and then the waters were healed and the
land became fruitful. You see, it's a picture of our
hearts. It's the fountain head of our hearts. It's corrupt and
therefore there's a spiritual barrenness in our hearts. We
don't bring forth fruit to the glory of God in a state of nature. even though we may try our best
to be good citizens, as it were, and behave well externally, none
of these things will perform works that are pleasing in the
sight of Almighty God. You see, sometimes we think too
simplistically about this matter. We think the problem in our lives
perhaps and the problem in other people's lives and the problem
in society is about sins, in the plural. We might identify
certain particular sins. We may say, well the trouble
is people are not honest anymore. Of course that's true. We may
say that people are immoral and we may name certain immoral acts
that people are content to live in and to practice continually.
So we may go on naming these various sins, but they are symptoms
of the problem of sin in the singular, the problem of the
heart, the root cause of all these things. The ills we see
in society are because hearts are sinful and out of fellowship
with Almighty God and restraints are being thrown off. The restraints
of the teaching of the Word of God are being thrown off in these
times and we're living in the terrible consequences of these
things. We're living in days not too
dissimilar to the days before the flood, when the earth was
filled with violence. And that is because of the root
cause, the depravity of the human heart. It becomes the responsibility
of parents to try and curb the sins of their children, to instruct
them to how to behave rightly. It becomes civil rulers to put
restraints upon people in society and to issue punishments where
boundaries are crossed. These are the responsibilities
regarding these things, but the root cause is the depravity of
the human heart. Can you then begin to understand
what the Word of God says when it speaks of us as being sinners
in the sight of a holy God? But there's one more thing I
need to say before we move on, and it's this. There are sinners
who know it and they feel it. It's not just a notion, it's
not just a theory, it's not just a truth they read in the Word
of God, but they know it and they feel it. And there are those
of you here this morning, and you know it, and you feel it,
regarding yourself. You're not just pointing fingers
at everybody else, but you point the finger at yourself. Because
God's holy law has pointed an accusing finger at your heart
and your life. You are the sinner. You may feel
to be the chief of sinners, and why is that? Because of the teaching
of the Holy Spirit, who has opened up to our understanding the holiness
of that wall that we have broken, and how far short we have come,
how we have sinned, how we have failed, and God's all-searching
eyes being upon us, and we've felt it, and we've known it,
we've known something of the condemnation of God in our conscience. We have had to acknowledge that
all that God has said about sin and about ourselves is true from
beginning to end. And we only know part of the
sinfulness of the sins of our hearts. We only know in part.
It would be unbearable if the Lord was to show us the complete
reality of the sinfulness of our hearts. It's the Holy Spirit
that must teach us these things. is a lady who was baptised fairly
recently in a chapel in Sussex. Going back some years, she attended
the chapel for one reason only, to show respect to her mother-in-law. After her mother-in-law died,
she became irregular and eventually stopped going at all, in particular
for this reason. She was offended when ministers
spoke from the pulpit saying that we are sinners. She didn't
want to hear that kind of thing. But then after some time the
Lord took her in hand and convicted her by the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, something of the sinfulness of her heart. She began to see
things in the light of God's truth. She saw something of the
darkness and depravity of her heart. And the Lord brought her
to a saving knowledge of the truth. And when she gave her
testimony in speaking about her sins, she wept on account of
her sins. Now what a turnaround, what a
change. How do you explain such a change
apart from the grace of God extended to guilty sinners? And this is
what is necessary. We can't set up an exact standard
or provide a template precisely regarding these things because
God is a sovereign in the way in which he works. Some are convicted
very deeply and may go under a sense of the condemnation of
God's holy law for some long time before they find deliverance.
Others it's much more gentle, gradual work, a more elongated
experience, perhaps from a child, first touching their conscience
regarding their sins and little by little the Lord leads and
teaches and deepens that work and brings them to a point of
relief in finding Christ and his so great salvation. But whichever
way it is, there must be that sense of realization in our hearts
that we are sinners, so that we freely acknowledge before
God and wish to confess our sins before God, pleading for his
mercy. Many years ago I was preaching
from a very solemn text in the book of Revelation regarding
the Day of Judgment. After the service, as I walked
down the aisle, I passed a little boy. He was about seven, and
he burst into tears. Now, I knew that little boy very
well, so I stopped and I spoke to him calmly about what it was
that was troubling him. And after some time, having composed
himself sufficiently, in between his sobs, he said, I'm a sinner. That was his trouble. I'm a sinner. Are you a sinner in that sense
of the word? Has the Holy Spirit touched you
in that way, made you to realize your danger, your liability to
the just judgment of God, and that God would be completely
just if he sent you to an everlasting hell of punishment, but you desire
to know his mercy. You want to find relief, you
want to find deliverance. You can be easily misunderstood,
those lines of Joseph Hart when he said, a sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. And William Gadsby wisely placed
a footnote under that hymn. Let me read the verse from hymn
89. What comfort can a savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
new life from him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. And Gatsby put this note, that
is the Holy Ghost teaches and convinces him what a sinner he
is. Can you identify with William
Gatsby there? Can you understand what Joseph
Hart was saying? The importance of Holy Spirit
conviction of sin. So we realize we cannot help
ourselves, we cannot save ourselves, we cannot make amends, for what
we've done, we are helpless and we are hopeless in ourselves. We realize we need a savior who
is full of power and grace to deliver us. You think of the
way in which Simon mentioned earlier in this chapter, he was
taught something of his sinfulness. As he says in verse eight, being
so amazed at the remarkable catch of fish, He said this in verse
8, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying,
depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. The natural man
doesn't say things like that. Simon Peter was so moved with
something of the glory of Christ, he realized he was the son of
God, of a truth, he saw his hand of remarkable providential provision
in his miracle-capture fish, and he felt his own unworthiness.
He saw the disparity between the Son of God and himself, a
fallen son of Adam. He did not feel to be fit for
the presence of Christ. Depart from me, O Lord, from
a sinful man. I used to be puzzled by that
when I was a child. Why was Peter saying to Jesus,
go away? but I believe I can understand
it now, at least in some measure. A sense of utter unfitness for
the presence of the Lord, a sense of unworthiness. So then we've
thought about what it is to be a sinner in the sight of a holy
God. But we move on to notice secondly
that such are called to repentance. Okay, not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. Now, the repentance spoken of
here is not a mere legal repentance. There is such a thing. A person
may be aware that they have done certain things wrong. They may
feel a sense of guiltiness in the sight of God. They realize
that there's going to be a day of judgment, and so they may
try and make amends. They may try, as it were, to
behave better, to be more moral, more upright in various ways.
They may try in their own strength to be a Christian, to live up
to Christian standards, And yet, for all that, it's only a legal
repentance. I don't want to be punished,
so I'll reform. And people may try very hard
on the ground of legality to make themselves fit for God in
their own strength. But the repentance spoken of
here is an evangelical repentance, a gospel repentance. A repentance
that is the gift of God. You may remember that when Peter
having preached at Caesarea, and the Gentiles had been blessed. He'd opened a door of faith to
the Gentiles, we're told, and the Jerusalem church were astonished
when he rehearsed these things to them. Then hath God granted
to the Gentiles repentance unto life, they said. They could see
that this gift had been poured out upon them, that their hearts
had been touched and changed by grace. They had been convicted
of their need. They had been softened. They
had been brought to Christ for salvation. It was an evangelical
repentance, the gift of God. And the change that takes place
as a result of true repentance can be quite dramatic, illustrated
for us by the conversion of Legion, this man who was possessed of
many evil spirits and what a dreadful condition he was in, what a wretched
condition. cutting himself with stones,
living amongst the graves, trying out in pain, being driven into
the wilderness by the power of the devil, we're told. But when
Christ dealt with that man, spoke a word of command, delivered
him from that power of evil, we find the lion turned into
a lamb, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right
mind. And that's what happens when
repentance is given as the gift of God hearts are changed, lives
are transformed, and sinners are brought to the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ in free and frank confession. Sometimes people,
if you try and reason with them regarding the reality of sin,
they may say, all right, I'm a sinner then. It's a kind of
grudging admission. But not so when real repentance
is in the heart, we freely confess. as sin before the Lord. And you
think of the woman recorded in Luke chapter 7 at the feet of
Jesus. We don't know her name. Various
people have guessed as to who it might have been. But we are
told that she was a sinner, and the Greek of the original New
Testament tells us what sort of sinner she was. For the sake
of not being unnecessarily explicit, let me put it like this. She
was a street woman. She earned her living by dishonorable means
and yet she'd been brought to repentance and there at the feet
of Jesus she burst into tears and a sense of indebtedness to
Christ, felt an attraction to him, a love to him and Christ
was not offended. Simon was somewhat scandalized
but Christ was not offended and he confirmed his grace towards
him saying, daughter go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee. She
loved much because she'd been forgiven much and you can sense
the repentance, the godly sorrow in her heart because of her sin.
Now her heart had relented, now her life had changed, now she
felt a love to Christ and his so great salvation. Or you think
of Peter who denied the Lord for reasons of fear, not wanting
to be arrested and the possible consequences of that. And so
he denied the Lord, but we're told he went out and wept bitterly. What brought him to that point
of weeping bitterly on account of his sin? We're told that Christ
turned and looked upon Peter. You see, it was this work of
God's grace in Peter's heart. It was the Lord's doing that
brought him to that point of weeping bitterly on account of
his sins. That was evangelical repentance,
wasn't it? Do you know something about these
things? I hope not speaking to you in a foreign language. I
trust you can identify with these things. Your heart has been touched,
your soul has been softened, and the conscious sense of the
mercy of God in Christ Jesus. You have known this call, this
call from heaven, the call of the Son of God, the Good Shepherd,
who calls to the wandering sheep. You see where repentance is real,
there's a change of heart that leads to a change of direction.
So vividly illustrated for us in the account of the prodigal
son, who in callousness went far far away from his family
and was thinking only of himself. But having spent all his substance
on riotous living, then he came to himself and he started to
think about what he'd left behind, how he had spurned all those
good things that were there in his family, in his father's love
and compassion. But he went back, it wasn't a
kind of legal return, was it? It was because he was worthless
in himself, he wasn't worthy to be called a son anymore and
he went back looking for the father's grace and in going back
he was well received, wasn't he? His father ran and fell on
his neck and wept and kissed him and called for the best robe
to be put upon him, and a ring on his finger, and they made
merry. And these are wonderful descriptions
for us of real repentance, coming back to the Lord with a contrite
heart before him. You see, those who really have
this spirit of repentance, who've heard this gracious call, are
those who are brought to that point of realizing something
of the cost of salvation. In coming to Kent, it reminds
me of William Huntington, who lived not too far from here,
nearer to Cranbrook. But having read his book many
years ago, it left a deep impression on me, particularly that period
when he was under a great sense of conviction and condemnation
in his conscience, could find no way of relief in spite of
all his best efforts. And then he got to the point
where he was ready to give up when the Lord touched his heart
and he felt moved to turn aside from his employment, go into
a garden shed and call upon the Lord. And the Lord opened his
eyes, the eyes of faith, to see Christ, who suffered and died
for him. And for the first time in his
life, he knew evangelical repentance. He realized something of the
cost of salvation, that his sins had helped to nail Christ to
that cross. And this is where we find genuine
heartfelt confession of sin. Heartfelt sense of hatred to
sin and a godly sorrow for sin in realizing what Christ has
done and Christ has suffered for sinners. You see, such are
called to repentance, these sinners who are taught by the Holy Spirit. And we read in this passage of
Levi and his conversion, this man who was a publican, That
means a tax collector or a public man who served the community,
served the Romans, but was hated of course by the people because
he was seen as a traitor to the Romans. But they were also hated
because of their extortion and dishonesty, putting people under
pressure to pay more taxes than were due. But here was Levi at
the receipt of custom and Christ passed that way. And all Christ
had to say to him, verse 27, was two words, follow me. And such was the power, the effectual
call of Christ that he rose up immediately and followed Christ. And as a result of this, as we
see from the subsequent verses, he gathered with other publicans
and Christ gathered with them at this feast. Here was a sinner
who had been snatched as a brand from the burning, His heart and
his life were changed by grace and he was repentant before God.
He was one that was sick, who needed the physician. The one
who was a sinner who's being called to repentance. So this is an effectual call,
isn't it? And we use the term effectual call because it has
an effect. This call has a gracious effect,
a saving effect, a lasting effect. as it was with Levi and so many
others could be named. And it leads to true forgiveness,
doesn't it? And we are told concerning certain members of the church
at Corinth, as Paul reminds them of what they once were in the
days of their unregeneracy. He says this in 1 Corinthians
6 and verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What a change had taken place
in their lives. Their lives had been completely
turned around by the power of the Gospel. There was repentance
before God. They were living life anew as
the Lord enabled them to do so. What an important subject we
have before us then, the subject of true repentance. I trust you've been able to follow
me at least to some extent thus far. What it is to be a sinner,
but also I trust you know something about this real repentance before
God. The name Philip Henry may not
be familiar to you, but he was the father of the famous Bible
commentator Matthew Henry. Philip Henry was ejected from
the Church of England along with 2,000 other ministers in 1662. And Philip Henry was once asked
the question, What did he wish to be found doing if Christ was
to return in his lifetime? And his answer was rather interesting.
He said, if I'm in the pulpit, I hope I'll be preaching repentance,
and if I'm out of it, I hope I'll be practicing it. You see,
it's a life-changing experience to know true repentance. It's
not a one-off experience. It's a way of life in a sense.
Daily I repent of sin. Daily wash in Calvary's blood. We need to keep short accounts
before the Lord, don't we? Sometimes we get fresh contractions
of guilt upon our conscience. We need to come again to the
Lord. That's why the Gospel, the glorious message of grace,
is so attractive even to well-seasoned believers, because we are still
sinners. We still need to hear of this
mercy that is full and free. So then we've noticed something,
what it is to be a sinner, and this call, this gracious call
to repentance. But thirdly and lastly, we've
noticed those who are solemnly passed by. I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that are whole
need not a position, but they that are sick, the righteous. Who is being referred to here?
It's the self-righteous. The scribes and the Pharisees
were spoken of initially, but it's a word to all nations, to
all people, because this is their position by nature, self-righteous. We don't think we're sick, we
don't think there's anything wrong, or at least we don't feel
it to be so. We may know it's true theoretically,
we may look back to Days when we heard the truth preached,
we ignored it to be right and true, we had perhaps a fairly
clear understanding of the gospel plan and so forth, but it was
all theoretical, it was just notions in our head. Not until
the Lord convinced us of our sin made us to realise that we
were lost and undone and we needed Christ, the saviour of lost sinners. Self-righteousness is a real
problem, isn't it? J.C. Royal, that good Bishop
of the Church of England, he put it like this, that self-righteousness
is the family disease of the human race. Now, none of us like
to experience pain, do we? But pain has its own purpose,
doesn't it? Let me give you two scenarios. You think of a person
that has perhaps an aneurysm in a main artery. They may feel
no pain, They may be completely unaware that they have that condition,
but it could suddenly rupture, they could die without a moment's
notice. But then you take another situation where a person experiences
pain, and the pain doesn't go away, but it gets worse. They
have no realization of why they're having this pain, and it makes
them think of the doctor. It makes them feel, yes, I know
I need to go and see him. I need to find out the cause
of this pain. And so they go. and the doctor
sends them to a specialist and through means of various inspections
and scans they realize the cause of the problem, an operation
is performed and a complete cure is effected. Now pain was the
cause of bringing them to realize the problem and likewise the
Lord by his gracious spirit pains our conscience, pricks our conscience,
cuts our conscience and makes us aware something is wrong. We may not realize at first what
is wrong, but as time goes on, the Holy Spirit makes us realize
that we need Christ. And in him alone is the answer
to the needs and the necessities of our souls. You see, this is
what is to be delivered from self-righteousness. We need to
know about this pain of sin. I remember some years ago speaking
to a man who was offended because time and again from the pulpit,
he heard the word sinners mentioned. He said, I'm not a sinner. And
my wife and I spent several occasions trying to explain to him the
reality of sin. Sin is to break God's holy law,
thought, word or deed. On the last occasion, and he
was seriously ill in hospital at this stage, on the last occasion
I saw him, and tried to explain to him simply John 3 verse 16
and tried to ask him some important questions. He became quite angry
with me. I've been going to that chapel for 15 years. He thought
that was enough. Sadly within 24 hours he was
gone. Self-righteousness and excusing,
exonerating ourselves. I'm no worse than anybody else
is the way people think if they don't actually articulate those
words. You may not be angry with me
this morning, but maybe you're indifferent. You know what I'm
saying is true, you know you've done things wrong, you know you're
a sinner, but it doesn't really trouble you. You're happy to
go on day after day, night after night, without any thought of
your soul or eternity of Christ and his so great salvation. You,
as it were, assume all is well, perhaps, without any felt sense
of forgiveness. Do you remember the parable of
the man without a wedding garment? Let me just read to you those
words in Matthew 22, verse 10, we read this. So those servants
went out into the highways and gathered together all as many
as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished
with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he
saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment, and he
saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment? And he was speechless. Then said
the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him
away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. It's a solemn thing to go on
indifferently to the gospel, indifferent to our sense of need,
going on in darkness and ignorance, and at last be found naked in
the sight of a holy God, to be exposed to his solemn displeasure. Adam and Eve, you remember in
the Garden of Eden, they were afraid when God called them in
the cool of the day. They sowed themselves fig leaves
to cover their nakedness. William Gadsby used to say some
strange things sometimes in the pulpit. He once said this, you
may sow to yourselves a fig leaf righteousness, but remember God
can see through the needle holes. He can see right through our
attempts to cover our tracks, as it were, to make ourselves
look better, to try and calm our own conscience. We need to
realize then our vulnerability, our guiltiness, our need of something
more than we can perform for ourselves. What will you do on
Judgment Day? Will you present your shabby
rags and tatters righteousness and hope that will do? Or are
you looking for a perfect righteousness which Christ alone can give?
He came to work out this righteousness by his holy spotless obedience
to God's holy law while here below. And that righteousness
is given as a free gift to those who believe. The wonders of God's
grace, the righteousness of Christ is a lovely subject. It's a subject
that suits the guilty sinner because we know we need it. Now since I came This time last
year, two young men were taken from this life. You know of both
of them, no doubt. Last August, George Jemson, 19
years of age, died without any known cause. Fit and well, so
it seemed, but suddenly taken. And then, only a few weeks ago,
another member of that wider family, as a result of a serious
accident, was taken. These are solemn things, aren't
they? There's a voice in these things and the Lord is using
this. I know of two cases where the
Lord has spoken through these things to young people to make
them realize they need to be right. That death could come
at any time. We tend to assume it's just old
people that die or people with terminal conditions. But it can
happen at any time. Even in this day and age, young
people may die. You need to be ready. You need
to know about this repentance. You need to hear this gracious
call that touches your heart so you come to know Christ as
the good physician. You need to know about your sin
sickness and apply to him for that glorious and effective remedy. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And you think that gracious gospel
verse in Isaiah chapter 1, come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they should be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they should be as wool. And remember this, that Christ
is seated at the Father's right hand, exalted as a prince and
a saviour, for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. The blessings of God's grace
are full and free, as full as your necessities. Do not dishonour
the Lord by saying, I'm sure he could never forgive my sin.
He can. Such is the fullness of grace
in Christ. The all-sufficiency of Christ
is a glorious theme in the Gospel. His blood is enough, it's more
than enough. His righteousness is enough,
it's more than enough. Such is the sufficiency of Christ. May the Lord touch your heart.
May you hear his gracious voice and be drawn savingly to him
so that you confess freely your transgressions, applying to him
for his mercy. He will never turn such a way.
He will never spurn those who come to him feeling their need,
but he will show himself gracious and merciful. May the Lord bless
his word to us then this morning. We're going to conclude by singing
together the hymn 723. The tune is Celvedon 676. Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is willing, Doubt
no more. 723. In excelsis Deo Nobis Deo In
excelsis Deo ♪ With a constant faith in Him
♪ ♪ Our hope in His holy name ♪ ♪ For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory ♪ O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free Each and every day of life, Here
in heaven above us all. Our God, righteous, Savior and Jesus,
nature, Lord, we thank thee for the aboundings
of grace in Christ Jesus. Be pleased to apply with power
to the hearts of the hearers, we ask. May Christ be made known
to them. Give them the eyes of faith to
see, to look out of self to him and to him alone. And now may
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father,
the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all, now and evermore. Amen.