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