Now, I've often made statements like, I'm not
going to do much preaching tonight, I'll do a little teaching, and
I've always quickly made the comment, whatever that whatever
the difference may be. But I think you'll clearly see
a contrast. I think there is a difference.
There is a difference. I think a pastor needs to be
both. I think that's what Paul was saying in his epistle about
the gifts of God being teachers and pastors. That's one and the
same term, a teaching pastor. This morning, I hope, by the
Spirit of God, we're able to do a little preaching, which
is more a proclamation or a loud, a bold proclamation of the truth,
of the gospel, a clear and bold proclamation, definitive proclamation
of divine truths. And teaching would be more expositional. what the theologian call exegetical
expounding of verses down through them, teaching style. And that's what we're going to
do tonight. That's what our Lord did. And it says in there in
Matthew 5, it says, and this is where we're studying tonight,
Matthew chapter 5. It says that the Lord, when he
entered up into the mountain, it says he opened his mouth and
taught now. The Lord is teaching here, and
that's what we will do, endeavor to do tonight, just expound upon
some of what he says, some things he said in a teaching style.
I want you to look now, if you have your Bible, I want you to
look carefully with me at several portions of Scripture. We're
going to run down through in a kind of a, this is the word,
chronological order of Scripture through the, for ease of, so
that you can easily find them. Let's begin with Romans chapter
twelve. I'm going to have you turn to about seven epistles
and read a few verses in each, and I want you to follow along
very carefully. I gave very much study to this
lesson, very much study, and every word and every verse
of Scripture is carefully planned, and it all pertains to our lesson. Romans chapter twelve. Let's
look at the first two verses here. I beseech you therefore
brethren and notice. As we read these now see if you
can't pick up. The. Overriding principle theme
of what is being said in all of these verses that we're going
to read. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God." Now, Galatians. Galatians chapter five. We looked
at this this morning. Galatians five. Verse 22 through
25, he talks of the fruit of the
Spirit. Verse 22, Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit, for
that which the Holy Spirit produces when he does a regenerating work
in the heart and the life of a human. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such, against such, there
is no law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. And if
we live in the spirits, let us also walk in the spirit. Now, Ephesians, the next book
over, Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four, verses
through twenty-four. Ephesians four, now if so be,
verse twenty-one, if so be, got it? Ephesians four, twenty-one,
if so be that you have heard him. Verse twenty said, you have
not so learned Christ. If so be that you have heard
Christ and have been taught by him as the truth with the gospel
is in Christ. You've put off concerning the
former conversation or life, the old man. which is corrupt,
according to deceitful love, and be renewed, be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Next book over, Philippians chapter
four. Philippians chapter four, verses
eight and nine, a very familiar portion. Philippians 4, verse
8 and 9. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good purport, if there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. And those things
which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do, and the God of peace shall be
with you." Colossians, next book, Colossians
3. Colossians 3 verse 5, verses
5 through 12. Colossians three verses five
through twelve mortified therefore your members which are upon the
earth. Ornication uncleanness inordinate
affection evil concupiscence covetousness which is idolatry
for which things take the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience. And in which you also walk sometime
when you lived in the but now. Also, put off all deeds, anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old
man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where,
or in Christ, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or
uncircumcision, barbarian, sithian, bondman, or free, but Christ
is all and in all. So put on, therefore, as the
elect of God, holy. and beloved, put on bowels of
mercy, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, longsuffering,
and so forth. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, next
book. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse
1. Remember when Paul said there
in Romans 12, verse 2, knowing that the perfect will of God,
the good and perfect will of God, well, here it is. 1 Thessalonians
4, brethren, we beseech you. Furthermore, brethren, we beseech
and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of
us how you ought to walk and please God so you would abound
more and more. You know what commandments we
gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel,
that is, his body, in sanctification and honor. Timothy is full of these exhortations,
but the book of Titus is very clear. Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Titus 2, 11. The grace of God that brings
salvation at the pier to all men, that is, all sorts of men
all over the world, God has a people. And this is what it does. It
teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. 1 Peter. 1 Peter. Look at these powerful verses. 1 Peter. Peter begins to pick
up this theme. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 14
through 16. 1 Peter 1, 14-16. Peter quotes from Leviticus 11
here. Now, as obedient children, not or don't fashion yourselves
according to the former lusts in your ignorance. But as he
which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation. That is, life, because it's written.
Why? Because it's written. Be ye holy. I'm holy. Now, lastly, James, the book
of James. You knew I had to go there, didn't
you? The book of James. That's not next in order, but
I'm saving this for last. James chapter four. James four,
verse five and six. James four, verse five. Do you
think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy. Do you remember when Paul said
that the spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh against
the spirit so that you cannot do the things that you would? Do you remember that when Paul
said that? The spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh
against the spirit so that you cannot do the things that you
would. I thank God that he led the James
to write verse six here, but he giveth more grace. He giveth
more grace. All right, there you get the
picture. How many more verses of Scripture
do we need to read when we're talking about this thing of salvation?
What it's all about, in other words. What is salvation all
about? What's it all about? What are
the responsibilities of a believer? What are they? Now, you can turn
to our text, Matthew 5. What are the responsibilities
of a believer? What is salvation all about? Now, I began last
Wednesday night's difficult message, and tonight's a difficult one,
too. But I began by saying this, and this is the reason I wish
that we would all be here. The introduction to messages
and all are very important to me. It lays the foundation for
what's to be said, and I want everything to be heard. And I'm
not just saying words to take up space. But I said this, and
I'm going to repeat myself. Because of our fleshly tendencies,
Because of our fleshly tendencies and our prejudices, we struggle
with certain portions of Scripture. Now, everybody in here will have
to admit that. There are certain portions of
Scripture, there are certain words. I'll readily admit it.
I was talking to a brother after the service last Wednesday night,
and I said, I remember as a very young believer, When I'd run
across exhortations like we just read, all those passages we just
read, I would go, and anybody would ever say law or godliness,
I'd say legalist, without hearing him out. I just didn't know how
to deal with it. I wasn't knowledgeable enough
about scriptures and so forth. Now, Arminians, everybody in
here, I believe, has a basic understanding of what we mean
when we say Arminian. people who don't believe in the
sovereign grace of God. Their salvation is totally up
to the Lord. Armenians struggle with scriptures that deal with
God's sovereignty. I bet most Armenians have cut
Romans 9 out of their Bibles. Like that king who took a penknife
and cut out the scriptures he didn't like. As a matter of fact,
they probably cut out the whole book of Ephesians and practically
all the rest of it. Arminians struggle with words
of sovereignty. Do we Calvinists, and I don't
apologize for being called a Calvinist, not at all. As I tried to say
this morning, Calvinism is just a nickname for the doctrines
of grace, which we boldly hold to and believe that it is nothing
short of the gospel. Do we struggle with scriptures
that deal with our responsibilities? works. I've been guilty. Anybody else
want to confess with me? Our problem, I heard someone
say this, and we've all said this at times, when we run across
scriptures like we've just read and so forth, and when we deal
with things, subjects like imputed and imparted righteousness, and
we say, I don't, it says that, but I just don't understand. I really don't believe that's
our problem. I don't really, I really don't believe that is
our problem. I really don't believe our problem is trying to reconcile
sovereignty or responsibility or imputed righteousness and
imparted right. I don't think that's our problem.
I think our problem is we don't like it. You remember what I started out
by saying? Because of our fleshly tendencies, because of our fleshly
prejudices toward what? Sin. We love our sins. Will anybody stand up here and
admit before God and man that you do not love sin by nature? We love our sins. Yes, we do. The new man hates it. The old
man lives in it, loves it. We love our sin by nature. And
we want to hold on to any excuse we can find for sinning, even
if we have to use the Scriptures or the Gospel to do it. And that's
wicked, isn't it? Paul and the other apostles talk
about not using our freedom, our liberty, as a cloak of licentiousness. You know what the word licentious
is? Give you a license. I'm looking for a license to
sin. Isn't that the nature? Isn't that our nature, Stan?
Huh? Yes, it is. Now, I'm telling you this from
experience. I'm a man. I'm speaking as a man with the
same problems that you have. Two men. I feel this way. Exactly
what I'm accusing you of is because that's the way I feel. We're looking for excuses to
hold on. Licentiousness means give me
a license to do what I want to do. Turn me loose. Find me a
scripture that says I can live like the devil. Is that brick anybody's conscience?
What is salvation all about? According to the scriptures that
we just read, how many did we read? How many epistles? What is it all about? What is
salvation unto? Holiness. Right? Salvation is unto holiness, godliness,
Christlikeness. Let me make a very bold statement,
and I thought about it a long time before I wrote it down,
and I thought about it a long time before I said it, but I'll
say it. If you don't desire, above all
things, to be free from sin, I doubt very seriously if you
are a saved person. I doubt very seriously. We're not saved in our sins. We're saved from them. Right? We're not free. The liberty that
Christ gives us is not liberty, freedom to sin. It's freedom
from it. The bondage of it. Right, Vicki?
Freedom from it. Titus 2.14. Listen to this. There's
not a clearer verse in all of the Scripture. It could not be
plainer. Listen to this very carefully
as I read from God's Word here. Christ gave himself for us. Salvation is God sending his
Son, giving himself for us as a sacrifice for sin. He came there. Christ gave himself
for us. And the depths of that condescension,
or the height, whatever adjective you're supposed to use there.
In other words, how far down he had to come to do what he's
doing, what I'm about to read to you, is unimaginable to us. Righteous, pure, loveless Son
of God who dwelled in righteousness, holiness, light which no man,
no wiggling worm like a man can approach unto. Let that gloriously
pure and spotless presence of God to come down in here and
just wallow in cesspool. Just to smack dab, it should
be like us getting out in a cow field and just spread eagle and
muck and mire. around it, and it worked. You
talk about vexing his righteous soul. But it says, Christ gave
himself for us. It was necessary to do what he
was coming to do. He gave himself. And what a gift,
what he went through to do that. That he might redeem us from
all iniquity. Get us out of the muck and the
mire, John. Right? Were you living there,
buddy? Literally at times? I mean literally
on your face. Sure you were. And he came to
get us out of that muck and that mire. Not just a legal thing,
this is an actual thing. To redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, a purchased, different,
transformed, recreated, new creation, born from above, spiritual people
zealous of good work. What could be plainer? Could
you find a plainer verse of Scripture about what this thing's all about?
Now, once again here, let's look at our text and consider this
thing of the law and righteousness and fulfillment of it and so
forth. All right? With all that said, do you understand
now what this thing's all about? What this thing's all about.
Free us from sin. Why Christ did what he did. Why
we're exhorted to do what we're exhorted to do. All right. Matthew
5, verses 21 and 22. Let's read this. He said, Now
you've heard it, that it was said by them of old time, Thou
shalt not kill. Whosoever shall kill shall be
in danger of the judgment, but I say unto you, whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment. Whosoever shall say to his brother
Rekha, for that he is vain fellow, shall be in danger of the counsel.
Whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire."
Five times in our text here, look at verse twenty-seven, he
says, you've heard that it was said. Verse thirty-three, again
you've heard that it had been said. Verse thirty-eight, you've
heard that it had been said. Verse forty-three, you've heard
that it had been said. Who said it? God said it. God's law. I went back and looked
and started reading the book of Leviticus and read for hours
through the law of God. I read some of those to you,
didn't I, John? I mean, it's good, it's holy,
it's just, it's right, it's a good thing. And I'll show you here
in a minute, but five times the Lord says, you've heard it said. Five more times he says, but
I say unto you. Now again, Christ did not pit
himself against the Father. And he says, he said, when we
began this study, he said, I didn't come to destroy the law, but
to fulfill it, to fulfill it. And Isaiah 42, 21 says he'll
come and magnify the law and make it honorable. Magnify it. And I would blow it up and show
you the real picture, what it's all about. Now listen very carefully. Men, because men broke God's
holy law, because men, and this is the gospel, very simply put,
because men broke God's holy law, man has broken God's law.
Christ came down as a man and had to keep that law, fulfill
it. He said, it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness to
John, didn't it? I've got to fulfill it all because
not one jot or one tittle shall pass away from the law till all
be fulfilled. So Christ came down as a man to keep or fulfill
that law of God for his chosen people. for his elect, for some
men, some women, and many of them sit right here. This interests
us now. This is not just die doctrine.
This is your standing before God. All right? Christ fulfilled that
law because man broke it. It has to be fulfilled. So Christ
became a man. Now, because man, particularly
the Pharisees and the religionists today, have abused the law, have
misused the law, have blasphemed the law by their hypocritical
half-interpretations of it. We've got some people in our
community right now that try and live according to law, according
to their half-interpretations of it. And that's hypocrisy and
that's blasphemy. Just take one verse here and
one verse there and keep it and say you're keeping the law. Christ came to magnify it. He said, You've heard that it
had been said? Well, let me tell you how deep it really goes. Let me show you the whole picture. That's the outward performance
of it. Let me show you what it requires on the inside. To magnify it, show its true
meaning. And as I quoted to you, He came
to make it honorable. You follow what that's saying?
Christ came to make the law honorable, not just to honor it, but to
make it honorable. In other words, every bit of
God's wisdom, His holiness, His eternal knowledge was put into
that law. Right? Huh? Is that the good
and perfect will of God, the law? Every bit of God's wisdom,
His character, His ways, His holiness, went into the making
of the law. Right? And Christ came to honor
that, to show men the glory of the law, to honor God's wisdom. to show me, and by living that
law, listen to me now, by living that law as a man, to show men
what a man should be like. Isn't it? He lived according
to the law perfectly to show the world and all the universe
what a man should be like and what a man could be like if he
could live according to that holy law. What was Christ like?
Do you want Christ-likeness? How was Christ? Perfectly according
to God's law. Right? What a man could be if
he kept that law perfect. How was Christ? All together. Lovely. Holy. Now, we can't keep
it. I'm not saying by any means that
Christ gave us an example to follow that we might, so that
we could be, reach this level. No. I'm telling you that Christ
came and made that law honorable, magnified, and made it honorable
to show you what a man could be like if he could keep it.
Christ's the only one who could. And he did. And you see what
he was like, don't you? Now, all of this is in the keeping
of the law. Anything wrong with the law? Now, listen very carefully. The wages of sin is death. Somebody
give me a scriptural definition. You don't count, John, you've
already given it, of what sin is. A very short sentence in
the scripture says, sin is the transgression of the law. There
it is. Sin is the transgression of the law. That's the simplest,
shortest definition of what sin is in the scripture. And in the
Old Testament, nearly every breach, or at least gross sins, every
breach of the law was punishable by what? Death. You go through,
I went through it and looked at it. They'd stone you, buddy. They'd stone you. God said, kill
them. And I'm not so sure it wouldn't
be too bad now. Some of these false prophets
and all weren't lined up and stoned. And you can, I can be
recorded on that. And some of these things, this,
I'm not, I want to call down fire on heaven and some of these
iniquitous places throughout our world. It'd be fine with
me if they were lined up and stoned. I'm very much in favor
of capital punishment. And if I did it, I'd be worthy
of it. But sin is a transgression of
the law. The wages of sin is death. Nearly every breaking
of the law in the Old Testament, the gross sins anyway, were punishable
by death. I'm glad we're not under the
law. Because Christ magnified it. Ricky said that you think
it, you're guilty. But the gift of God is eternal
life. Now, what is eternal life? Well,
you're going to go to heaven. You're going to be in the sweet
by and by. Go to heaven. Is that eternal
life? It doesn't have any... Well, it does have something
to do with the duration of it. Eternal. That means it's going
to last forever. But that's... Eternal is what
defines... Eternal is just an adjective.
pertaining to the word life. What we have is life. But what
is life? It's the life of God. It's holy. When I hear that, That's the
biblical word, it's got God's name in it. Godliness, holiness,
righteousness. The gift of God is eternal life,
real life, the way life is meant to be lived in God. Conscious
of God, the enjoyment of God, communion with God, fellowship
with God, knowing God, worshiping God, in the presence of God.
That's eternal life, part of it. through or by the gift of. And by the works of righteousness,
which we have done, but by the gift of God's son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through or by the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Now, look
at our text here. Look at verse twenty three. Therefore. Now, Christ had just
magnified the law there in verses two and show you how that it
requires uh, inward keeping as well as outward. Verse 23. Now
he says, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there,
remember us that thy brother has anything against they, you
bring your gift to the altar. What gift is that? What do we
bring to the altar? I just read it to you. The gift
of God. What we bring back to God is what? How are we going
to please God? What is it? It's impossible to
please God without. Without faith, it's what is faith? Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is. We just bring back to
God what God has already given us, right? We don't bring our
work. We don't bring this. We bring
back faith in Christ. We say, Lord, we come to God
in worship. We offer the we offer the Sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving. Where that where's that? What's
that's all about. It's in Christ. We come back to God, just bringing
what he has provided. We don't offer to God anything
strange fire. We offer up his what he has provided,
and that's Christ. And we come to the altar. We
come to worship God. All right. This is the context.
We come to worship God. We come to the altar, come to
minister about the tabernacle and so forth, the sacrifices.
We come to the altar. And we bring our gifts. What's
that? Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. God's gift.
We bring our gifts. The scripture says, the law says,
you've broken the law, you need to sacrifice. Without blood,
there's no remission. How are we going to come to the
altar? What do you come to the altar with? Blood. Alright, is
that clear? When you come to the altar, this
is not talking about some pagan sacrifice of rites or coming
to the altar and kneeling down at the mourner's bed. I'm not
talking about that at all. You bring your gift to the altar.
And what is that, spiritually speaking? Now, but, now, listen,
if your brother, here it is, you come to worship, come by faith in Christ, but
if he has something against you, you leave, verse 24, you leave
your gift before the altar. You better. You still bring it
to the altar. But you go your way. And you
first be reconciled to your brother, and then you come and offer that
gift. Now, does anybody follow the sense
of what he's saying here? What this is dealing with? Are
you with me? We have an altar. Hebrews 13.10
says that we have an altar, which is Christ. And we're kings and
priests, even you women. Sherry, you're a priest. It's
permissible now. We're kings and priests before
God, because there's no male or female in Christ, right? No
Jew or Gentile, no male or female. We're equal. You and I are equal.
We're kings and priests before God. We minister about the sanctuary.
You and I. That's the church, temple of
God, isn't that the sanctuary, temple of God, the church, the
things of God, the worship of God, ministering to God's people.
You minister in song, I minister here, the rest of you minister
in giving or whatever helps whatever the scripture deals with. Now,
if we come to worship, we come to the sanctuary, come to worship
Christ, come to the altar in a sense, we come to worship. And if we attempt to do or say
anything, bring our gifts, sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving and worship,
and remember, our conscience smites us. Our brother has something against
us. Now, he says, leave your gift to alter, worship anyway. But you better go be reconciled
to your brother. You better straighten this thing
out before you attempt to do any worship. If not, God won't
accept it. It's hypocrisy. What's the fulfillment
of all the love? Love. Love. Love. We bring our gifts and so forth.
You know that the Pharisees, this is what pharisaical religion
is all about. This is what self-righteous religion is all about. This is
what hypocritical religion is all about. This people draw near
to me with their lips when their heart is far from these principles
set down in the fruit of the Spirit and so forth. Love, joy,
peace. I have a heart far from that.
Christ said, now you've done it to the Pharisees. He said,
you've tithed men, and it's incumbent and so forth, and you've omitted
the weight of your matters of the law. He said, now these things you
ought to have done. He said, and not leave the other
undone. Not leave the other undone. In
other words, it's hypocrisy to pretend to worship God and be
a believer and talk good theology and sing and pray and read and
so forth if we're acting like a moron. I wish I could use the word I
wanted to use just now. A male mule. Get the picture? It's absolute hypocrisy. God
won't accept any part of our worship if we're acting like
a fool toward our brothers or sisters or our wife or our husband
or our children or whatever, whoever. Acting like a devil
and pretending to be a saint. God won't have it. Right? Now, this is talking to believers.
Talking to believers. Before we come to God, before
we come before God, this is what Christ is saying here. Before
we come before God Almighty in pretended piety and worship,
now listen very carefully, be diligent to remove that sin in
your life or whatever it may be, that bosom sin, before you
blaspheme God's name and bring reproach upon his gospel. Psalm 66, 18. Anybody quote that
verse? Psalm 66, 18 says, If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Didn't he say that? If I regard
iniquity, the Lord will not hear me. Now, that's not saying if
you're a sinner, God won't hear you pray. Oh, no, we're always
going to be sinners, always. That doesn't say, he's not saying
that we've got to quit sinning before we can start praying.
I'm not saying that at all. But that's written to a believer
who's been forgiven, justified, acquitted, regenerated. And it's
saying here, if I harbor any secret sin, Buzz on the sands, and only you
know what that may be. Didn't you remember reading over
there? I forget where it was. We read so many. He said, Brethren,
put away these also. It's Ephesians, wasn't it? Ephesians
4. Brethren, put away all these things. Colossians. Anger, wrath,
envy, jealousy, malice. Didn't he? Put it off. Do away
with that. Don't be a baby. Isn't that what
they're saying? That's what, do away with that. Quit that. Peter said it. Just
like a father to a child. Cut that out. Put that down. Put that off. Get your clothes
on. That's exactly the sense in what
he's saying. We can handle this, can't we? We better be able to. If I harbor secret sins and bosom
sins and so forth, Scripture says, 1 John 3, verse 20 says
this, if my heart condemns me, and Christ was saying that here
in Matthew 5, your brother hath aught against you. Your heart
condemns you, and only you know what's going on. If your heart
condemns you, he goes on to say, the Lord is greater than your
heart. He knows all things. He knows all things. If your
heart condemns you, my soul, God knew it a long time before
your heart even pricked you. He knew what was going on. And first pray. So here it is.
We come before God to worship. And it's absolute hypocrisy if
we're acting like a fool, if we're acting like an unbeliever,
if we're acting like a devil, if we're harboring some secret
resentment or envy or jealousy. Here's two women, or men. I won't
pick on you women. Here's two men. There's a man
over here and here's a man over here. Okay, this man over here
is thinking bad thoughts. He's got this root of bitterness
creeping up in him about this man. Who does he think he is? Look at what he's wearing. Did
you hear what he said? Where is he? What's he doing?
What's he do that for? I wouldn't have done that. He's talking
to his wife. Did you see that? That man better do some serious
repenting. No matter what he says about,
if some of it's true, he's the one with the problem. Not that
fella. Right? He's got this root of bitterness
in him that'll destroy him. Destroy him. Women. Take care of this man. Put that
off. Put off anger, wrath, malice, envy, jealousy, all of these
things. Be reconciled to your brother. And then come worship
God. Because God won't have God won't
have fighting, bickering children in his presence. Does that make
sense? Sure it does. We've come before the presence
of our Heavenly Father. We cry in the spirit of Abba
Father. He's not going to hear his child that's living like
a child of a devil. First pray, Lord forgive me.
Do you remember when the disciples said, Lord, teach us how to pray,
teach us to pray? How did he say about forgiveness?
What did he say in the condition, you'll be forgiven conditionally?
You know, he did say it'd be conditional. Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us. In other words, does
that sound to you like we're not going to have ours forgiven
if we're not ready to forgive? In other words, he's as merciful.
Whoever is merciful, he's going to take mercy. So first pray,
Lord, forgive me as I forgive. Cleanse me, wash me from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my secret sin.
Sins of presumption. Lord, make me a Christ-like man
or woman. Make me a better husband. Make
me a better father. Make me a better child. Make me a better mother. Make me a better Father, make
me a better brother in Christ, make me a better member. And
before I come in here and all this pretentious theology and
piety, you know. Right? That's just where the
rubber meets the road in this thing of worship. Let not thine
heart be... Let's turn to 1 Samuel. You want
to turn to a scripture? 1 Samuel, Hannah's prayer, or
Hannah's warning. 1 Samuel chapter 2. First Samuel
2 is where it's found. Hannah. First Samuel 2. Look at this.
She prayed. Verses 1, 2, and 3. Hannah prayed
and said, Oh, my heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted
in the Lord. That is my strength. My mouth
is enlarged over mine enemies. I rejoice in God's salvation.
What a testimony. There's none holy as the Lord.
Hannah knew the Lord, didn't she? There's none beside thee. This was a woman. God sure did
pour out the spirit of prophecy in this woman's mouth, didn't
he? Well, I wish I could preach like this. None holy is the Lord. There's none beside thee, neither
is there any rock like our God. Now listen to this admonition,
or rebuke. Don't you talk so exceedingly
proud. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth. The Lord is the God of knowledge, and by him what
sway? You're not paying attention to
what we're saying, is it? He's watching what we're doing.
Is that right? God's not paying attention to
what we're saying. Or how we're acting before men. No, He's not. Thou, Lord, seest me, the psalmist
said. The fear of the Lord. What does
that produce? What should that produce? Thou,
Lord, seest me. By him, God's a God of knowledge. By him, actions are way. What
would that produce in a man? What should it produce? Fear.
That's what we've been talking about. Fear. Before I come and make a pretense
at religion, I better listen to this statement. Before God exposes me, I'd better expose myself to God.
Take good advice. Scripture says, be sure your
sins will find you out. David got found out, didn't he? Before God exposes me in all
my hypocrisy, in all my unloveliness, in all my un-Christ-likeness,
even though I pretended piety and religion, I feel I quit. But before he does, before he
exposes me, I better expose myself to him. Say, Lord God, please,
purge me. That's what David said then,
after he's all over. Lord, cleanse, wash me, through
me from my iniquity. My sin is ever before me. Don't
take your Holy Spirit from me. Remove not your lovingkindness.
Don't leave me, Lord. You deserve it. Don't do it."
He should have said that nine months earlier, shouldn't he?
Because the Lord, the sword, never departed from his house
from that day forth, did it? Huh? Who knows? If David brought
afterward, he didn't. I thank God and God's purpose
that that went on and God allowed it to happen and so forth. We've got Psalm 51 now. I'm thankful. But who knows what God might
have spared David had he not acknowledged his sin immediately
and sought to be reconciled with his God. Right? Right. Well, listen quickly, verses
25 and 6, and we'll quit. Agree with thine adversary quickly
while you're in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, or of the truth
I say indeed, thou shalt not, thou shalt by no means come out
thence until you have paid the uttermost part of him. Thine
adversary in the way, agree with him. Who is your adversary? Well,
by nature, whose man is every man's adversary? The carnal mind
is enmity against who? Whose adversary? God. Right? Scripture says God's angry with
the wicked every day. Thank God for the blood of Christ.
Are you thankful for the blood? Are you thankful like you ought
to be? God's angry with the wicked every day, John. I'm wicked. He ought to be real angry with
me, too. But thank God he's only like a father to me now. You
think he ever still gets a little bit angry? Grieve with me? Upset? Huh? Sure he did. Yes. Angry with me every day? God
hateth all workers of iniquity? Thank God that God's hatred toward
workers of iniquity has been extinguished in Christ. Thank
God Christ was The rod was broken on his back and not mine. God's
hatred was poured out on him. It says, God will by no means
clear the guilty. Oh, my soul, I'm guilty. Every point of the
law, guilty. Thank God for Christ. Well, how
do we agree with God? How do we agree with God, who's
our adversary? How do we agree with Him? Right there. We better
come to God in Christ. We better we better believe Christ.
Quickly, he said, agree with your adversary quickly. Today
is a day of salvation. Believe Christ, trust Christ,
and I'm telling anybody in here who has not. Yet believed and trusted Christ
and professed him, confessed him before men, you better do
it fast. Quickly. while you're in the
way. What does that mean? You're right
now. We're in the way. We're all in the way here. We're
in the ways of God. We're studying the things of
God. We're under the sound of the gospel. There may not be
tomorrow. Don't boast of tomorrow. Well, when I get time, when I
get a more convenient time, no problem for tomorrow. Better
do it fast. Does that sound too Arminian? Does
that sound too... It's true nonetheless, isn't
it? Better agree with God. Come to
Christ by faith, walk by faith in Christ. All right? Second,
what is our adversary? It's the law of God. It's the law of God. The law
of God is against us. It has somewhat against us, doesn't
it? Somebody has a claim on us. The
law of God. Thank God Christ met those claims. He fulfilled that law for us.
He faced it head on like old Boaz did. But that kinsman nearer
than he, right? Thank God, took his shoe off,
gave it to me. Took his righteousness off, gave
it to me, spread his skirt on me. Thank God Christ met the
law. Nonetheless, I'm to agree with
it. I'm to agree with God's law concerning me. Do not I love thy law, O Lord.
Not to despise it. God doesn't have any rebellious,
despising children. He doesn't. He doesn't have any
children that hate his law. Didn't Paul say in Romans 7,
it's what you and I were talking about in depth the other day.
Didn't Paul say, I delight in the law of God after being with
man. Didn't he say that, Ed? I delight in it. What's the delight
in something? Love it. Do not I love thy law. All the commandment of God is
holy, just, and good. And like I said, I read the John
laws like don't have any idols. Love your Lord God, you want
to. Are we not under that? Don't steal, don't don't kill.
Do what's right. Do what's right to your brother.
We're not under that. Isn't that good? Isn't that right? That's
what we wanted. That's what I want to do. I love it. That's good. I'm so sorry. And I repent that I can't keep
it, but I love it. That's good. That's right. Everything
God says is right. It's justice. It's holy. It's
true. It's good. Thank God Christ kept it for
me. But that doesn't say that I'm trying to put away that.
I don't need that anymore. I don't need that. Quickly. The law, we love it,
respect it, fear it, reverence it, strive to keep it. Yes, sir. Not out of duty. God won't accept
that. We don't keep the law out of
duty. We keep it out of love and gratitude. That's our motive. That's what constrains a believer
to keep the law of God. After all, it's God's word, isn't
it? It's God's word. He's magnified his word above
all his name. It's God's law. Lest at any time,
and this is a difficult scripture, lest at any time the adversary
delivers thee to the judge, the judge delivers thee to the officer,
you'd be cast into prison. You're not going to come out
until you've paid the uttermost part of it. A very literal stance,
and I'll A very literal sense, Christ is saying that if you
don't reconcile or make reparations or restitution, if you don't
take care of your material responsibilities in this life and so forth, you're
going to pay for it. Quite honestly, you're going
to pay for it. You're going to pay your bills
if you don't do this and that, and if you don't live according
to the law of the land, you're going to pay for it. Literally,
that's what Christ is saying, and you bring approach upon The
gospel. Back in our Lord's day, under
Roman rule, you'd be brought into strict bondage and imprisonment
for serious crime or trespass. Strict bondage. I mean a hell
hole. Bread and water, if that. That's
what Christ said. You'll not come out until you've
paid the uttermost part of it. Literally. But in a spiritual
sense, Christ says, we're to agree with God. Be reconciled
with God. Else we be delivered to Christ,
who is the judge. Is not Christ the judge now of
all? Be delivered to the judge, and to be condemned. All his
enemies are going to be cast under his footstool, however
he says. And in Christ to deliver to the angel, the angel of death. Did he in turn deliver the people,
his enemies, to the angel of death? Here, now you cast them
into the lake of fire, and they'll not come out. Until they paid
the uttermost pardon for their sins. That means never. That's spiritual. And also, there was an example
in 1 Corinthians 5 of a man caught in the act of, well you know,
hideous sin is too evil to even repeat too many times. And God, who delegates authority,
Hands down authority in other words God. The adversary. God given to Christ. Any professing believer. They're
given to Christ all the church given to Christ and this man
in first Corinthians five under the authority and dominion of
Christ who in turn delegates authority to. Pastors elders
and so forth and Paul the apostle was one of those who had this
authority, who in turn chastised that man, rebuked him, admonished
him, corrected him, and if absolutely necessary, according to the wisdom
and the prudence given to that man, an apostle Paul, and as
a last resort, after the first of admonition, he was rejected. Right? He was chastised, but Paul went
on to say, in hopes of his recovery, and I believe the I believe the
man was recovered later on. Second Corinthians, Paul said,
No, you restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Then
you restore him. This is a serious message to
the church, I hope you graft. It's a tough passage, tough,
so much there. But it's a serious passage dealing
with our Lord's Fulfillment of the law and requirements of the
law and the believers responsibilities toward it in my soul. One message
won't suffice. I've got books down there. Books
full chapters full of it, but it's a serious message given
to the church by the lawgiver himself. Christ is the lawgiver. He's the one that wrote it. And
as I said before, if anybody would deal honestly with us about
it, he he did. And what he says is, and I'll
quote Peter, who quoted God, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Say, what does
that mean? I think we know. I don't think,
our problem really is not understanding that, is it? Like I said, it's
our old flesh that gets in the way and says, And we can't do
that, so I'm not even going to try. That's not the attitude
of a child of God. The attitude of a child of God
is, whatever He says, I'm going to try to do it. Well, you can't. I'm going to try anyway. I'm going
to trust Christ and live like Christ. Here's a good Here's
a good statement. Trust Christ and live like he
tells you to. Trust Christ and live like he
tells you to. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this and pray. Dear Lord, we fear more than
anything. bearing false witness against
your word, against you. We fear more than anything preaching
another gospel. We fear more than anything not saying the truth as it is
in Christ, according to your word. We fear more than anything
keeping back anything profitable to your people, not preaching
the whole counsel of God. God will not hold us guiltless. who do such things. If any man
break the least of these commandments and teach men so, he'd be called
least in the kingdom of heaven. And if we're to be any use in
God's kingdom, we want to preach the whole counsel of God, keep
back nothing profitable. And whatever we say, whatever
we do, whatever we teach or preach, we want it to redound under the
glory of God, and which glory is found in the fruit of His people, whom God has purchased
for Himself, peculiar people, purified to Himself, peculiar
people, zealous of good works. That's what we want, Lord. We
want to be instruments of God for His glory. We want to be
just like Christ. We say we love Christ, and I
think we do. Lord, You know all things. We know whether or not we love
You. We need to know our own selves whether or not we love
him, lest we be reprobate. And we want to love Christ, and
if we say we love Christ, then we want to be just like him,
and we want to do everything he tells us to do. Lord, grant
that desire. Once you grant that desire, you
have to first give that desire before you can give the strength
and the will to do it. Grant us first the desire to
do, to be willing. It's required first of a servant
that he be willing. Lord, make us willing. Let us
be rebellious children, but be obedient children to our great
God, to the glory of our great God, to the commands and precepts
and beauty of the gospel. We pray and we've met together
through this day. Bless your word, Lord, in Christ's
name. Amen. All right. You're dismissed.