So one thing I do want to look
back at in Ephesians 4, if you just go back and we'll read verses
18 and 19 again. Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who
being past failing have given themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all in cleanliness with greediness. And if that is not a better description
of who we are by nature, I don't know what is. Yet all around
these two verses is surrounded by the oneness of Christ and
the difference between those who are past feeling and those
who are not. And who makes thee to differ? Yet it seems like
in our life, when I think about being past feeling, it seems
like a lot of the times, if I'm honest, that's exactly where
we tend to find ourselves, towards Christ. These feelings are not
ours. These are not feelings we have
toward each other. These are not feelings we have
about something good that happens with our job. These even aren't
sad feelings necessarily when somebody we love dies. These
are feelings by themselves about what think ye of Christ. And
that question really is answered by another question is, what
does Christ think about you? And if we have any feelings towards
him, that's where the answer is going to be found. And are
we past feelings? Can we get past feelings? What
happens if we do? And if we do, what is our hope? I mean, our most sincere feelings
that we feel, and we feel a lot, I mean, we are, our feelings
are nothing but vanity, nothing but deceit, nothing but self-righteous. They're iniquity. I mean, they're
not equal to anything God demands. And we see this in modern religion.
You know, people all the time try to get people to feel bad
about themselves, to call on Christ as their personal Savior.
And we all know this, anything that in our feelings, if somebody
can make you feel bad about yourself, somebody can turn around and
make you feel good about yourself, and we still die in our sin.
The feelings when Paul talks about this here being past feeling,
these feelings do not come from us. If we are not past feeling,
that comes from Christ alone. These feelings are the result
of being confronted with our own sin, and Christ alone does
this. And when we're confronted with
our own sin, it makes any other feeling we have ever had in this
world pale in comparison. It makes them almost like they're
imaginary, like they don't even matter. But the thing is, most of the
time, believers view their feelings towards Christ as cold, We see
ourselves as, a lot of times, not even caring. And even worse,
lukewarm. And we know what Christ said
about lukewarm. Spews them out of His mouth. And this is a terrible
state to be in. To be past things, to not care
about the gospel. to have little desire to be where
he is. And that's why when we're in a place like this, by his
mercy, we have a desire to be here that he says were two or
three are gathered together in my name. So will I be there in
their midst? And the thing is, we're not saved by feeling. We'll
never say we're saved by feeling. We tend to look to our own feelings
and experience for assurance of salvation. I'm guilty of that.
We always tend to look backwards trying to find some assurance
in feeling as to know that we're saved. But we're not saved by
feeling or experience. But you cannot separate feeling
from a believer when it's quick and made alive unto you from
God, when Christ has revealed to their soul. And see, these
feelings not only cause us to rejoice in Christ, but also to
mourn when we hear the truth of the gospel. And if you would
turn to Job 42, and this is just a perfect example of what I'm
talking about, what the feelings of Christ causes us to do. And
if we have true feelings, this is what it'll be. In Job 42,
in verse 5, and this is Job talking. This is at the end of Job. And
we all know what Job had been through. Most of it was not good. Most of it paled in comparison
to what Job states right here, though. He says, I have heard
thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee.
Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. If
we're not past feeling, that is the feeling that comes from
Christ alone. Nothing else that happened in Job's life mattered
any at this point. It all paled in comparison. And
the thing is, until Christ opens our own eyes, we are absolutely
blind to the fact that we are completely past feeling, have
absolutely no desire to be where He is, don't even know we're
not, we even don't have any feelings. And that's the most ironic thing,
if there was something that was ironic with God. We don't mourn
our sins or bow to Christ without Him showing us that we absolutely
are at enmity against Him. And to us, when we think about
this and think about our own feelings, it's kind of like in
Luke when he says, and this is something we truly fear, when
he says, I know you not which you are. Depart from me, all
you workers of iniquity. Because we see that as our own
feelings is exactly that. Our best feelings are iniquity,
which means they're not equal. I mean, you think about Pharaoh.
He was sorry. It was not enough. I mean, Judas. Judas went and hanged himself
after he delivered Christ. I mean, there was never enough
feeling that was going to even come close to what Christ demanded. You know, the rich ruler, he
went away sorry because his feelings were like filthy rags. They're
never enough. But to be past feelings towards
Christ is to have no emotion whatsoever. Be indifferent to
the word of God and no desire in our flesh. We know we are
capable of this. We know we are. And at many times
we feel ourself past feeling or in droughts of when we see
through a glass darkly and we struggle to look to Christ. We
look, like I said, we look to our past experience for assurance
that I'm guilty of this. We think in our minds, unless
we're happy and rejoicing, then we can't see Christ or somehow
that makes us sure of our salvation. And the thing is, there is nothing
we are not capable of. The only thing I know, the only
thing I know we are not capable of in the flesh at all is trusting
Christ, looking to Christ and believing. We're not capable
of that. That's the only thing we're not capable of. And even
Paul knew this. He said, for that which I do,
I allow not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. That's
what Paul said. And the thing is, to be nothing
in past feelings, just like in chapter 18 and 19, is ours by
nature. We own that nature. That is exactly
us. We're born and sold in sin, and
our imagination and our mind is nothing but enmity against
God. And I've read these before, but this is where our feelings
come from. In Genesis, and God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. and in Jeremiah, and they said,
there's no hope, but we will walk all after our own devices,
and we will, everyone, do the imagination of his evil heart.
So if we have feelings in ourselves, what else do we expect to come
from that? If we are not past feeling, it can't be ours. And
Spurgeon said this, he said that we can't even, we don't even
have the grace enough to know that we're past feeling. We don't
even have the grace enough to know that. that we don't have
the grace enough to know that we hate Christ, that we hate
His sovereignty, and know that we are nothing. The only way
we know this is God gives it to us. He gives us this knowledge.
But to know we are nothing, to see our true nature, that's a
gift of God alone. But the hope is, in Ephesians,
that we're there saving faith in Christ, A regeneration of
the dead, which is us. Christ said, I kill and I make
alive, I wound and I heal. Where there's regeneration from
the dead, there will be healing. And where there is a true experience,
there will be faith. And that's God's faith in us.
Not our faith. Our faith, he said, if it was
a grain of mustard seed, we could move a mountain. That shows you
what our faith is. And the one way I look at this,
and this is just a comparison, is I know Carl read not long
ago and John about the vine, is comparing our state of faith
and our state of feeling to a tree. And I had this wisteria tree
in my yard, and I spent a lot of hours making it look real
nice and getting it all, getting the vines pulled out of the ground
and trimming it up. But a wisteria, if y'all know
what that is, it's a plant that has absolutely zero value, zero. It's one of the ugliest plants
you'll ever see. The wood, you can't do anything
with it, because it's too green and won't break. I mean, the
leaves really look like no other good, pretty plant at all. There's
no nutritional value. Even kudzu, you can bale kudzu
and give to cows when there's a famine, because they used to
do that. But not wisteria. It looks like a mass of twigs
and sticks. But the thing about wisteria,
if you've ever seen it, for about two weeks, it's got this bloom
that's purple. And I've had people say, man,
I've never seen a plant that pretty. And you tell them it's
wisteria, they don't know what you're talking about. But most
of the time, I think this is how believers see their state
of fate, their state of feelings. And if there's any blooms that
come from it, that's Christ. Any fruit we have is Christ.
You know, our feelings and faith are like the branches during
the seasons. In the wintertime, it's just a mass of sticks. In
the summer, it's just green and ugly. But for a couple weeks,
it blooms. But the thing is, like every
other tree, What is important is the root of the tree. Christ
said that I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. And we see here the root of wisteria
never changes. It's always the same. And this is pretty much how we
see ourselves. He's the author, he's the sustainer,
he's the finisher, he's the preserver of wisteria in our minds through
all the seasons. It never changes. And like I
said, Carl, in John 15, Carl read recently, he said, I'm the
vine, you're the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Does that sound like
a wisteria tree? For without me, you can do nothing. Christ says, for without me,
you can do nothing. That's a pretty plain statement. To some people,
that's offensive. But to people that look to Christ,
that's absolutely comforting. To know we can do absolutely
nothing, we are completely relying on Him for all things. And the
thing is, this is pretty much my experience with my own feelings.
And it seems to be the state of my faith as well. So why do
we fear big and past feeling? Why do we fear? Because by faith
authored by God, this is when we hear. So if you would, turn
to Habakkuk chapter 3, and that's near the end of the Old Testament,
if that helps you any. And look at Habakkuk chapter
3. And this is what we hear when
that faith and feelings are offered by God. In verse 16, he says, when I
heard my belly tremble, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness
entered my bones, and I trembled in myself. Christ reveals that. that I might rest in the day
of trouble. When he cometh up into the people,
he will invade them with his troops." Even that statement's
comforting. We have nothing to do with that.
Although the fig tree, in verse 17, although the fig tree shall
not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of
the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The
flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd
in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. And he will make my feet like
hind feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. You know, that's the root. That's
what keeps us from being past filled. Even though we see nothing
else, we're completely bare from the seasons, there's always going
to be feelings towards us from Christ. So, how are these feelings made
known to us? Now what is our assurance? We
walk through this earth, like we said, we look through a glass
darkly. Where are these feelings at?
Why do we seem like we so rarely see them? And what the way Christ does
this in His mercy, in His grace, is He reveals to a dead and blind
sinner the sense of pardon and sin. He doesn't reveal our sins
to us. He reveals our pardon sins to
us. You know, we were once blind,
but we now see. And this is not just our sin,
but forgiven sin. Because without seeing the one
who forgives, we will never call on Christ just seeing our sin.
Spurgeon said we would be at the foot of a steep cliff, every
bone broken by the fall. You know, floodwaters of guilt
would come over us, transgressions of sin would pile on us. And
you know what we would do? If all we had was seeing our
sin, we would still look to ourself. We would still look to ourself
for deliverance. We would still have self-trust.
We would not call on Christ. The only time we call on Christ
is when he reveals who pardoned those sins, when he reveals himself
as a substitute, when he reveals to us salvation is of the Lord.
That's the only time we will have feelings towards Christ.
In Job, he says, how many are mine iniquities and sins? Make
me to know my transgressions and my sin. Make me to know the
deceitfulness and wickedness of my heart. and the one who
forgives. And these are iniquities that
Christ said, I have passed by the iniquities of Israel. Teach
us to know what we mean when we say, behold, I am by, when
we know what Job said, and I abhor myself. But the revelation as
a result of saving faith, and it causes us to have assurance,
and it's been granted that the covenant's been sealed. And he
says this in Jeremiah, this is what in Jeremiah 31 says, he
says, But this shall 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 right in their hearts and will
be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. This is the command.
From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more. And that's a statement I can't reconcile. To know that
God says, I will no longer remember your sin when we see it every
day. And if you've ever had feelings towards God, if you've ever had
Christ tell you that your sins are many, are all gone, and I've
even heard one preacher say they were never there. I can't explain
that. It's just like with the woman,
he says, wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many
are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little was forgiven,
the same loveth little. But he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. And the knowledge and sound of
that voice to our heart, to our soul, not of sin, but that your
sins are forgiven. That creates feelings that infinitely
exceeds any feeling we ever had on this earth, any enjoyment
by this world, if we've ever had that. And what this causes
us to do is see, have more of a need of his blood, his righteousness,
his intercessions. It causes our soul to say with
Micah, he said, who is a God like unto thee that would pass
by our iniquities when we are full of sin? So when Christ does this, when
He reveals Himself, causes feelings in our soul through the revelation
of pardoned sin, first there's a sense of pardoned sin that
God gives to a sinner. And this is a revelation of knowledge
that you have been forgiven. Typically, or most of the time,
it's the first time Christ ever deals with a sinner. This is
the sense of the soul that beholds itself completely ruined, just
like at the foot of the steep cliff. Every bone broken by the fall
and the command by the Word of God is to trust, to believe. The Holy Spirit begins this work
of regeneration by quickening the soul, by making us known
to who we are, known to our sin, known that we have rejected God,
And that pile of sin will fall on us, and we look to every direction
but Christ to find some kind of assurance. And a sinner that
when you feel totally, completely undone, completely undone with
no reason to be saved, only at that point do we cast ourselves
at the throne of grace. But the thing is, we don't wait
for feeling or pardon to come to Christ. If you remember, when
he talked to Lazarus, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus
came forth, and this is the same call that he issues to every
dead sinner. Without hesitation do we come
forth. Without hesitation did Lazarus come. And as a result of this, Christ
creates that new man that he talks about in Ephesians 4. And if you would turn to Job
33, which you read in Job just a minute ago, and we'll see what
this looks like to a dead sinner. In Job 33, verse 21. And this is us. His flesh, and
this is us by nature. And this is what Christ reveals
to us when He does reveal sin. His flesh is consumed the way
that it cannot be seen, and his bones stick out. His bones that
were not seen stick out. Yet his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one amongst a thousand, to show a
man his uprightness. And see, this is sin revealed.
If Christ and God left it alone at that, we would never come.
This is the sin revealed to a dead man with no hope, aware of being past feeling,
but you're also aware that you hate God and His sovereignty.
We will still have self-trust, look to ourselves for deliverance. But if you look in verse 24,
it says, Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver
him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." And these
words are when Christ reveals pardon sin that substitute. Just like when He said to Abraham,
I will provide myself a land. And as soon as these words, as
soon as this command is given, I have found a ransom. You have
hope. Read in verse 25. His flesh shall
be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he shall pray unto God,
and he will be favorable unto him. And he shall see his face
with joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness. This
is the feeling Christ gives to us. Only Christ gives this to
us. And when Christ does this for
a sinner, we will not be past failing and have hope. So the
second sense of pardon sin, and we say, you know, this is when
Christ first crosses a sinner's path and makes him to know that
his sins are pardoned. So what about the rest of our
life? You know, I still remember Rupert saying, and I think I've
said this before, And this was Rupert saying it. He said, I
feel like the only time I ever caught on cross was the first
time. So are we past feeling? But there is another sense of
pardon sin. And as we go through our lives,
it never seems sometimes that there's a time that we feel the
joy that's comparable with the first. Does that mean we're past
feeling? We were pardoned before the foundation
of the world, in the covenant of grace. But in our flesh, as
God saves us daily, our experience is different as we move through
life. And what this feeling is, what
I've learned, is this feeling doesn't arise as forgiveness
only as a sinner, but as a forgiven child of God, too. A pardoned
child that's already been forgiven, that's already faced judgment,
that's been freed by the judge, And a lot of times I hear John
talk about growing in grace. If we grow in grace, then why
doesn't it seem like we feel more joyous and more joyous as
time goes on? Why do we continue to look through
a glass darkly and feel like we're past failings? Because
the truth is, growing in grace is a journey downward. And as
we go through life, we experience that God must increase and we
must decrease. We sink in our own self-esteem.
We think less of ourselves as we go through life. But when
we think less of ourselves, He becomes that much more glorious
and precious to our soul that we need Him more and more. And the thing is, Christ fulfilled
all feelings in Himself. In Hebrews 4, it says, For we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are,
yet without sin. Christ's feelings were perfected
in his work. He felt all things, and we were
made righteous in him. And if we're not past feeling,
if we have these feelings as we move through this world and
this life, it's because of our own sin. It's why we look to
Christ for our feelings. And this daily need of pardon
sin is what keeps us from being past feeling. If we go through
life, like Rupert said, if we never feel like we call on Christ,
if we never believe like we did the first time, if we never had
that joyous feeling we had, that is Christ's providence working
itself out in our life. because it continually calls
us to look to Him alone for our grace and mercy. Even recently, John said a couple
of weeks ago that we're saved before the foundation of the
world. In time revealed in our soul, we're saved. We're saved
daily. And then we're saved again when
our faith is made sight. We talk about this a lot. We
talk about salvation being today. Yet we continue to look backwards
to assurance in the past instead of looking to Christ. And we'll
look at an example of this, of salvation to a sinner daily.
Salvation to a sinner that's been saved over and over again.
And if you would, turn to Luke 22. And this is a story that we're
all familiar with. In fact, I think in John or in
Matthew, we recently talked about this. But this is the story of
Peter. This is when Christ confronted
Peter with the fact that you're going to deny me three times.
And Peter said, I'll never do that, ever. We would say the
same thing. We would be no different, say
the same things Peter did. He told Peter, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day, for thou shalt thrice deny
me that thou knowest me. In our own self-righteousness,
Peter, this is what he did in his own emotion. He said, I'd
never do that. And he continued in his unbelief,
past feeling, denied Christ two times. But on the third time,
in the presence of God himself, the God-man, if you look at Luke
22 verse 60, and this is what Peter said, he said, Man, I know
not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he spake,
the cock crowed. In verse 61, this is the only
place this is recorded in the Gospels. In verse 61, and the
Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, and that was not by accident. He remembered how
he said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. So how was Peter saved here? How was this the day of salvation?
Because if you look in 2 Corinthians, here's what Christ
said. He said, I have heard thee in a time accepted, in the day
of salvation I have suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
So how was this the day of salvation? To keep Peter from being past
failing. Because here, the God-man who turned and looked at Peter,
and Peter just denied Christ three times. He was ashamed of
Christ. He didn't want to be identified
with Him. Just like we are in the flesh. We can sit here and
talk about Peter being a really bad sinner, but this is us exactly. We would do the same thing. So
what did Christ see? When He looked at Peter, what
did He see? So if you would turn to Hebrews
chapter 2. When Christ turned and looked
at Peter, what did He see in Peter? In Hebrews 2 and verse 10, For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
into glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are the sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren." That's what Christ saw. He is not ashamed
of us. Here is Peter standing before
Christ at shame. And when Christ looked at Peter,
Peter looked at him. That's what Peter saw. He saw a man standing
before him who was not ashamed of him. And Christ did not look
at him as a judge. There was no condemnation here.
There was zero condemnation. For as far as Christ was concerned,
there was no sin. And this is after what Peter
did. And how do we know this? Why is there no judgment here?
There's no condemnation. This is Christ looking at a forgiven
sinner. In Isaiah 38, he says, O Lord,
by these things men live, and in all these things is the life
of my spirit. So wilt thou recover me and make
me to live. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind
my back. And this is what Peter saw, and
he wept bitterly. There is no sin. Behold, for
peace I had great bitterness. And Peter wept bitterly. His
sins are gone. They were put away before the
foundation of the world. As far as the East is from the
West, remembered no more. He was not ashamed of Peter.
I cannot explain this, but to Peter, there's, to any of us,
there's no explanation needed for that. This is what Peter
saw. Christ revealed it, not his sin,
but his forgiven sin of the presence of the one who became sin. And
he wept bitterly. This is feeling. This is how Christ reveals it
to us. This is given by God. Because, behold, for peace I
have great bitterness." Well, that's not the feeling
I want. I want to be joyous. But the feeling that we need
is the one that puts us at God's feet looking for mercy. That's
the only feeling we need. For peace we have great bitterness. It's like the song, it's one
of my favorite songs. One verse says, and from my smitten
heart with tears, two wonders I confess. The wonders of his
glorious love and my own worthlessness. You don't have one without the
other. That's feeling. For bitterness we have peace.
And for Peter, today's the day of salvation. This is salvation.
This is what daily salvation looks like to a dead sinner.
Again. And why is that? In Romans 5,
it says, Moreover, the law entered that offense might abound. But
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So why did
grace much more abound here where there was so much sin? I tell
you, the reason being is because when Christ looked at Peter,
there was no sin. The sins were cast behind His back. They were
gone. And to every dead sinner, grace
will much more abound. So what do we say then? You know,
shall we sin like Peter? Because we're not under the law
but under grace? God said, I forbid that. And to believers, when
God says, God forbid, it cannot happen. He will not let it happen.
Not because we don't believe, we don't trust, or we're ashamed.
We're still all that. But because God forbid. And He
will intervene with sufficient grace in our time of need, just
like He did with Peter. Because his sins are cast behind
his back. They're not there. And where
sin abounds, does grace much more abound. The thing is, we
won't weep bitterly. We won't have feelings until
this point. And I pray that today is that
day, every day. Don't look back. Paul said at one point, he said
he was the pattern of salvation for those who would believe.
And the more I read about Peter, I think Peter is the pattern
for a pardoned sinner. Peter's one of those guys that
I really relate to. He was a man that Christ said,
I'm not ashamed to call you brother. He constantly renews Peter. How
often do we read of Peter doing this stuff? Again, constantly
being saved by Christ. But what a better place to be.
constantly renews him, gives him sight, brings him to the
throne of grace and gives him rest, gives us help in times of need.
And in great bitters we find peace in that, that we are not
past feeling. So should we fear our finding
ourselves past feeling? From my experience, as long as
we're in this flesh, we will fear that. because we know what
we're capable of. We know if we look to ourself,
we will find nothing but death and vanity and self-righteousness.
And if you turn to Psalm 62 real quick, even David speaks about
this, but gives us hope at the same
time. In Psalm 62, we're still the
old man. We still have that. In Psalm
62, in verse 2, he said, in speaking of confidence in God, he said,
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. But David, knowing himself and
us knowing ourselves in our flesh, It says, I shall not be greatly
moved. But there is acknowledgment that
we can be moved in ourselves. But if you look just four verses
down, he repeats himself. When we look to Christ alone,
when Christ is our only hope, when everything we know that
Christ demands is found in him, this is what David said. He only
is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. And you see the difference there.
In Christ, we cannot be moved. Christ said, you can do nothing
without me. If we look to ourself, we'll constantly find vanity
and self-righteousness. But in Christ, He only is my
rock and my salvation. He alone. And so our hope, our desire,
my prayer, is that we should never be past feeling regarding
Christ. I mean, to say that I don't fear
that or I don't feel that, I wouldn't be telling the truth, because
in our flesh, we know what we're capable of. But our hope should be that we
are saved daily, that in Philippians, We talk about the conversations
in heaven. It says, for our conversation
is in heaven, which is put off the conversations of the old
man that we read in our text today. From whence we also look
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our
vile body, deliver us from the body of this death, like Paul
said, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself." And the word subdue is to conquer and bring under
subjection. That is my prayer that Christ
would do to us, that we would not be past feeling. And what
this does, it leaves no doubt or question as to who's responsible
for our salvation. No question as to who's responsible.
If we are not past feeling, who makes us to be so? Who causes
the feeling in our soul? And my hope is that if these
feelings cause us to have a lower thoughts of ourselves, but a
higher thought of Him, then we have a reason to be thankful.
And we are not fast feeding.