Good morning, everyone. Good
to see you here. If you want to be turning there, our text
for today is the Book of 3 John. And the title of this message
is Walking in the Truth. Walking in the Truth. That's
an important subject, for that's an apt description of every true
believer. They walk in the truth, so it
behooves us to understand what that means. Some of you may recall
I preached message not long ago on the doctrine of Christ. It
was taken from 2 John verses 9 through 11, the epistle just
prior to the one we're looking at today. And there we read the
admonition to not bid God speed it, to not condone or give comfort,
to not receive, it said, as it pertains to religious fellowship,
those who would not abide or who would not consistently adhere
to the doctrine of Christ, that is, the truth concerning His
person and His finished work. Well, there's a real interesting
contrast between that admonition of 2 John to not receive those
he described there to that which we're going to consider today
in John's third epistle, that is the instruction to receive
those described therein. And I think that comparison of
receiving and receiving not in these two epistles is helpful
to our understanding of what it means to walk in the truth. So, with that, let me read through
this short epistle, the book of 3 John. The elder unto the
well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Now, you're going
to hear those words, the truth, emphasized a total of six times
in this short book, in these 14 verses. So, he writes unto
Gaius, he says, whom I love in the truth. I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and they testified of, and here it is again, the
truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth." John is speaking of his
spiritual children in the faith, those converted under his ministry.
And he continues saying to Gaius, Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. And
strangers here is referring to other spiritual brethren, but
who were before strangers to Gaius. Excuse me, strangers which
have borne witness of thy charity before the church. whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well. Because that for his name's sake,
that is the name of Christ, for his glory, they went forth taking
nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore, and here's the
instruction, ought to receive such that we might be fellow
helpers to the truth. I wrote unto the church, but
Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, he
receiveth us not." So here we have the issue of receiving and
receiving not. Wherefore if I come, if I come
I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating, that just
means speaking nonsense, prating against us with malicious words,
and not content therewith And neither doth he himself receive
the brethren, and he forbiddeth them that would, and casteth
them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which
is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God,
but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good
report of all men, and of the truth itself." Yea, and we also
bear record, and ye know that our record is true. I had many
things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee,
but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face
to face. Peace be to thee, our friends
salute thee. Greet the friends by name." So
here in 3 John, we read the clear instruction to receive a people. Whereas in 2 John, we heard the
clear instruction to not receive a people. To refresh your memory,
look back at 2 John, those verses we read there, verses 9 through
11. It reads, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, the doctrine of Christ, receive
him not into your house." And that's speaking of religious
fellowship, and that day they would meet in their houses for
worship. Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds. So here in 2 John, the instruction
was to not receive those who did not abide in the doctrine
of Christ. And today in 3 John, we see the
instruction to receive the brethren. Now the brethren, that's the
spiritual family of believers, fellow adopted children of God
in Christ as evidenced, revealed to us by God-given faith and
repentance. Faith, not just any faith, but
faith that abides in the truth, in the doctrine of Christ. And
that's how the spiritual families identified. They walk in the
truth. You know, at first reading, I
know my natural tendency would have been this. I know I have
been taught from 3 John before, so I may have recalled this,
but in general, if someone out of the context of 3 John asks
you What does it mean to be walking in the truth? I think our tendency
would be to think, well, that's probably to be walking as one
whose life is not marked by deception or by cheating, misleading others,
not like a liar, as in living a lie. In other words, we would
tend to think of it as walking truthfully, but that's not what
John said. And I want you to see that in
the context of 3 John, The apostle is referring to something much
more specific, not walking truthfully but walking in the truth, a specific
truth that would distinguish the believing brethren from unbelievers. And so the truth spoken of in
our text today in 3 John, it's the same as the doctrine of Christ
as John called it in his second epistle. And I'm certainly not
going to revisit that entire message on the doctrine of Christ.
It is complementary to this message, and I think helpful to our understanding.
So if you missed it, you may want to get a copy. But regardless,
in short, the truth in which believers walk, the doctrine
of Christ, is the gospel. Not just any gospel. Not all
of the false gospels that the epistles warn us against, but
God's gospel. It's His one way of salvation
is set forth in His Word. And that way is distinguished
for us. We know the scriptures warn,
as I say, of so many false gospels, ways that we might imagine we
can be saved, a way of salvation, but there's only one true gospel.
And how can it be distinguished? Let's distinguish from all false
ways, though there be many different false ways, only the unique true
gospel of God can be said to have this. It's identified uniquely
in that therein, in that message, That message that is the power
of God unto salvation, the message that is ultimately believed upon
by all who are saved, in that message is the righteousness
of God revealed. That's the unmistakable language
of Romans 1, 16 and 17. Multitudes who profess to be
Christians, like me in years past, have no idea what the righteousness
of God is or what it refers to. I know I thought I believed the
gospel, the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ at a time
when I was totally ignorant of righteousness. And I had never
heard the term imputed righteousness, which you'll hear me refer to
later on. But that righteousness of God,
it's simply this. that perfect satisfaction to
justice, to God the Father's justice, that Christ accomplish
for all those he saves by his obedience unto death on the cross. The truth spoken of here in 3
John is the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
doctrine of Christ. That is, it sets forth his person,
who he is, and his finished work. whereby he actually accomplished
what the angel declared to Joseph that Christ was sent to accomplish,
to save his people from their sins. So the truth, in the context
of 3 John, refers to the truth of God's gospel of sovereign
grace in which true believers walk. And the issue in these
two epistles of having religious fellowship, it's described there
as receiving or not receiving others, that is part of the cross
that believers are said to bear. You know, we don't bear a burden
because we choose to. None of us look for a burden
to bear. This is a burden that just comes
with the territory. For when someone, say, is given
faith to believe God's gospel, they immediately come to the
sad realization that the majority of folks that they are acquainted
with may include their best friends, maybe their closest relatives.
Certainly, if they're religious, it would include those they go
to church with. Of them, they immediately are
faced with the truth that they're resting in the same false gospel
from which they've just been delivered by God-given faith.
And you know, most people who profess to be Christians, they
don't believe they've ever believed a false gospel. But yet that
denies the truth of repentance, of initial repentance from dead
works that always accompanies faith. When we turn to truly
to God in Christ in truth, we turn away from what the writer
of Proverbs says was that broad way that leads to destruction.
And so, excuse me, the way that seems right to a man, but is
the way that ends in death. I'll talk in a moment about that
broad road. But what we're faced with is
that those around us, we know what they believe because as
many various ways as there are that people concoct and are taught
that they might be saved, the one common denominator among
all of false religion is this, that they believe salvation is
based at least in part on something other than or in addition to
Christ and that finished work of righteousness, that righteousness
that's revealed in the one way of salvation. in Christ. So, confronted with that, the
new believer asks this question. I ask this question often over
the years. How can so many be so tragically
mistaken? But believers, ultimately, by
God's grace, they're brought to bow, to submit to God's word,
to the gospel as set forth in this book. and so then no longer
make their judgments based upon the majority opinion of others.
The command of 2 John is basically this, do not condone a false
way of salvation. Do not comfort those in a way
that we have discovered leads to death. In other words, do
not lie to others who expose to us by their doctrine that
they do not believe the specific truth of God's gospel of grace. Now listen, if your salvation
is dependent upon in any way to anything done by you or me,
the sinner, we may call it grace, but that really works. disguised
as grace. So believers ultimately bow to
God's truth and we don't make our judgments based on the majority
opinion of others and yet we're tempted to comfort others, to
mislead others on what we know to be such a vital issue. Now
why is that? It's because of remaining sin.
You know, Christ totally put away the guilt and the merit
of sins for every person he lived and died for. And yet the presence
of sin will plague us until we leave this body. Our sins can
no longer condemn us. The penalty's been paid in full
before God's justice for those sins. And yet because of remaining
sin, we're awful. in so many ways awfully tempted
to compromise God's gospel. Yeah, I know myself by nature.
I would much prefer to be aligned with the majority. I'm a conformist
to a fault, and I don't like to be an oddball. I like to fit
in. I would rather be in in line
with my family, my friends, on everything, including religion
by nature. And that's true, that temptation
to feel that way is true, even though we know the Bible says
that the way to eternal life is a way of the minority. It's
not the way of the majority. As Mark taught last week, Christ
described it as a narrow way that leads into eternal life,
a straight gate or a narrow gate. And he said, few be that go therein
at. And in contrast to that broad
way that leads to destruction, and it says many go in that way. Well, as for myself, I selfishly,
out of self-love, I want folks to like me. And so, for the most
part, I want to get along with everybody, and there's always
that temptation then for me to mislead those who, just like
me, before God-given faith, they've not yet been blessed with the
eyes of faith that would have them embrace the truth of the
gospel. And you know, we do that, we
compromise, sometimes by what we say or do, and sometimes by
just being quiet, by what we omit saying or omit doing by
words or actions or silence or inaction that would suggest to
them that they're okay, comfort them in a false refuge, they're
okay spiritually and of like mind perhaps with us. In other
words, religiously receiving the very ones that believers
are commanded to not receive, not when it comes to religious
fellowship with them. Now, that doesn't mean we're
to go out and pick fights with folks. You know, the Bible tells
us that we should strive to get along peaceably with all, but
the occasions inevitably will arise, and when they do, we are
not to deny Christ, but rather we are to take sides with our
spiritual brethren when it comes to this vital issue of the gospel
of grace. of how God saves sinners by Christ,
listen, alone. Based solely upon his doing and
dying. In other words, not at all determined
by some response of ours to what we presume he did or did not
do. Nothing that comes from our hand. Simple as you make it, that's
the difference between grace and works. And of course the
scripture is clear, salvation is by grace. The prophet Jeremiah,
he made note of this sort of compromise of God's gospel. He
described those who would sinfully cry unto others, peace, peace,
when there is no peace. Meaning, when there was no evidence
of peace having been made between them and God. no evidence of
genuine God-given faith that trust in Christ alone for salvation. Crying peace where there is no
peace is to cause others to assume we judge them spiritually okay
while all the while we have learned better. You see, how does a believer
know better? The believer knows better because
with genuine faith always comes repentance of the very notion
that they all in common hold, that they still embrace. And
that's this, that deadly false assumption that salvation is
at least in some way gained by something we do or do not do. It may be because it's all Christ,
you must believe, or you must accept him. And they set forth
the truth that, look, all believers will accept him. All true believers
will believe, but they don't believe in order to be saved.
In fact, that's the very notion, those are the very notions of
which they repent. So crying peace, as Jeremiah
puts it, You know, that can relieve tensions. It can help us be better
received socially. It's easier, but it doesn't do
them any good. And listen, as we read in 2 John,
God says it's to partake of their evil deeds. So I hope you see
the importance of this. Now, just as believers are instructed
in 2 John to not condone a false gospel, not receive those who
abide not in the doctrine of Christ. Conversely, the command
of 3 John is to receive any and all who do abide in the doctrine
of Christ, in the truth of God's gospel. And this command to receive
others or not receive others, when it comes to their religion,
it can bring on some tension. It can be quite unsettling for
us. We live in this world, and we
want to get along, and we want others to like us. But maybe
it'll help if we think about it this way. You know, there's
a sense our physical family is similar to the spiritual family
of God in this. When I say spiritual family of
God, I'm talking of all the adopted children of God for whom Christ
died. You and I had nothing to do with
deciding whose earthly families we would be born into. We had
no say in picking our parents or our brothers or our sisters,
and we likewise have nothing to do with deciding, determining
who will be born of our Heavenly Father, who will experience spiritual
birth that is ultimately evidence to us by the God-given gift of
faith by which spiritual brothers and sisters are identified. That
is, those who make up that eternal spiritual family. Now while we
are to be involved in the ministry of the truth, the gospel, the
doctrine of Christ, we're to be involved for we know it is
the means God uses to draw his people unto himself. I'm not
suggesting we play no role, but we play no determining role.
You see, this means that the spiritual destiny of those individuals
we might prefer. Maybe those most like us or those
we just like the most or whose company we prefer. Folks, we
have something in common. Listen, even our nearest and
our dearest loved ones like our own spiritual destiny, their
spiritual destiny, their being spiritually kin to us is a matter
out of our hands. And that's tough to know and
to face. But as Jonah proclaimed, salvation is truly of the Lord. See, God reduces those he saves. They actually become mercy beggars.
They realize they truly are at the mercy of Almighty God. As it relates to our spiritual
family, and these are some tough things to consider, Think of
what Christ, the tough words he gave us in Matthew 10, beginning
in verse 34. He said this, he said, think
not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
mother or father more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. So this is describing
at least part of what it means to take up our cross and follow
Christ. And do you see here how obedience
then to these commands, these instructions to receive or to
not receive, is cited as an evidence of love for God, of godly love? If you refuse to religiously
fellowship with others, as they might put it, simply because
we hold a different gospel doctrine, That doesn't seem very loving
to most folks, but you know God's word teaches just the opposite.
And we can all relate to this if you think about it. We know
that our natural love for our family and our friends is manifested
in our desire for their well-being. We want the best for them, especially
those we love the most. Think of your own children. We
desire they prosper in every way, just as John expressed to
Gaius in our passage this morning. But in love, that doesn't mean
we always tell them what they want to hear. Even when we know
it may bring on some animosity towards us. Think of the tough
love that all responsible parents show their children. And how
often have you heard a parent discipline or tell a small child
no, and that child will lash out, I hate you, you know, and
I don't think they usually mean that when they say it, but it
is the expression of their anger. They don't like it, you know.
You know, Johnny, you cannot play in the street because playing
in the street will get you killed, you know. You're doing what's
best for them, and you're willing to take their anger and their
animosity because it's for their own good. You know, it's out
of love people arrange for interventions for dear friends or family, such
as those with addiction problems. And you know, that's often not
well received. But if we truly care about them,
we're willing to upset them. We're willing to bring news that
might disturb them, especially if it's something that really
matters. Yeah, another way we could go
on and on. You could think about if you're out late one night
and you're driving down the road and you drive by a friend's or
family member's house and you see the lights are out, they've
retired for the evening, but you also see smoke billowing
out of the attic. You wouldn't say, well, I don't
I know they would hate to be awakened, and I know they're
not gonna wanna hear their house is on fire. Maybe they won't
die of a smoke inhalation. That's nonsense if you cared
about them. You would alert them to their danger they're in, the
grave danger they're in. Most of us would do that for
complete strangers. See, here, another example. You've heard many of these before.
If a doctor, he diagnoses your dearest loved one a life-threatening
disease, and you're the first to learn of it, don't you think
you would immediately want the patient, your dear loved one,
to know, either from you or the doctor, that they're not physically
okay, they're facing a deadly disease, but you would particularly
want them to know that if there remained a possibility of a cure
that they could begin to pursue. And when it comes to religion,
when you deliver that kind of news of grave danger, eternally
speaking, folks are more likely to think of you as overly judgmental,
if not downright cruel, if you dare to suggest to them that
they're not okay spiritually, but rather that they're in grave,
eternal danger. And there is a difference between
all those examples. And the difference is, They don't
believe you. They don't believe that they're
in grave eternal danger unless God begins to do a work and reveal
that to them. A few weeks back, there was an
article in our bulletin by our former pastor, and it was titled,
Speaking the Truth in Love. And you know, walking in the
truth, will have us bear that cross, accept that potential
animosity, because we hope and we desire that they will seek
the certain cure that we have come to know. And it's certain,
and it's sure, and we're convinced of it by God the Holy Spirit.
We're convinced of it under the very gospel of grace that I'm
striving to preach to you this morning. Well, I mentioned this
article that Bill wrote a few weeks back titled speaking the
truth in love. And in that article he was referring
to a very specific love, a love that's foreign to the natural
spiritually dead man because as the scripture tells us a natural
man cannot know the things of God and that includes that specific
truth of which John writes, the truth that all believers walk
in. And this love that Bill wrote
of in that article is love in the truth, just as John expressed
it to Gaius, speaking of his love for him in the truth. And
that article's title, Speaking the Truth in Love, the language
was borrowed from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus in which
he was teaching how truth and love go together. And in that
article, Bill wrote this. He said, the greatest love we
can show anyone is to tell them the truth in light of God's gospel
of eternal salvation and final glory based on the righteousness
of Christ alone." That's that identifying mark of the true
gospel, the righteousness of Christ. He went on to say, the
greatest show of compassion is to expose their disease, the
guilt and defilement of sin, and then show them the only remedy. Christ established a perfect
righteousness. that demands the salvation, demands
the salvation, and final glory for all for whom he lived, died,
and arose. Now, with regards to this burden,
you nor I won't bear that burden at the risk of rejection from
those whose fellowship we covet and those we care about unless
we have truly experienced the love of God toward us in our
own salvation. as undeserved objects of God's
mercy and grace toward us. How do we know we were one of
those objects? For we have been taught, we've
learned under the preaching of this very gospel of his love
for us from all eternity and Christ our Savior. And it's God's
love for his people that's manifested by what he's done for them in
Christ, their substitute. that causes true believers to
bear that cross. As I said, it goes with the territory.
Godly love is what causes them, one, to receive in religious
fellowship spiritually like-minded brethren regardless of their
background, their economic status, their race, their cultural differences,
regardless. And then two, it's that same
love of God that constrains us to not receive in religious fellowship
those who have not embraced this specific truth. You see, it's
that love that causes us to not compromise the truth, the doctrine
of Christ, even to those whose friendship and fellowship we
desire most. Again, it's because we know there's
no hope for eternal life outside of Christ and the truth concerning
salvation in and by Him alone. You know, believers are drawn
by God the Holy Spirit to see that what Christ said of himself
is really true, that he is the way, the truth, the truth that
believers walk in, and the life, and that no man cometh unto the
Father but by him. Well, we saw in today's text
the apostle, he commends the actions of those such as Gaius
who walk in the truth. He commended Gaius as one who
was consistent. He said he faithfully received
fellow believers, even those who were previously mere strangers
to him. He commends his faithful charity
and financial support of the missionary efforts of the gospel
ministry. Believers should financially
support the ministry of the gospel. He makes note of how these missionaries
were sent forth from Judea to the Gentiles and that they didn't
take anything in the way of support from the Gentiles. It's believed
that was to be sure that none could accuse them of being in
the ministry for their own personal gain. And so in verse 8, John
says that we, speaking, yes, we Jewish believers, saying we
ought not only to support them but receive them so that we might
be fellow helpers to the truth. All believers should be fellow
helpers to the truth by identifying with the truth and supporting
the spread of the truth, the ministry of the true gospel of
God's grace. And as we read, John went on
to speak of an evil man in a position of leadership in the church whose
name was Diotrephes, and he explained he was evil in that he would
not receive fellow believers in the truth. It's believed Diotrephes
was an elder in the church and he obviously had some influence.
He had received letters from John and had concealed those
letters. Some think he may have concealed,
he may be referring to the letters of 1st and or 2nd John, I'm not
sure, but we see the seriousness of this issue of receiving or
not receiving in John's characterization of the actions of Diotrephes
as an evil that they should not follow. And then the apostle,
he goes on, he commended another man named Demetrius. He said
he'd been given a good report on him from other believers,
a good report as it pertains to the truth itself. And you
hear my emphasis on the truth. There's several lessons we might
take away from these descriptions of how true believers are to
act. But I want to emphasize to you
that their walking in the truth, their walk of true, genuine faith
is set forth here as the issue, and it's evidenced by godly love
in those two ways we've talked about. It's a love that refuses
to receive in religious fellowship those who abide not in the doctrine
of Christ, in the truth. And secondly, it's a love that
readily does receive those who do abide in the doctrine of Christ,
in the truth. So to recap, we've seen here
in 3 John that believers are described like Gaius as those
one in whom the truth is found, verse three, who walk in that
truth, the end of verse three, and who are described like the
spiritual children of the apostle, meaning his converts, because
they walk in the truth, verse four. And finally, those who
are involved in and identify with a true gospel ministry as
a fellow helper to that truth, verse eight. And now with all
those descriptions, we know that religious folks under the broad
banner of Christianity will apply these same evidences to their
own versions of the truth. Not the truth, but their versions
of it. And so they will commend men,
as if it's akin to John's commendation of Gaius and Demetrius, commending
those who financially support their ministries who in so-called
Christian charity and hospitality receive other professing so-called
Christians. But if we're to make an accurate
application from this passage as whether that's an identifying
characteristic of a believer as to whether we be in the faith,
whether we're walking in the faith, we must do so with a clear
understanding of the truth in which true believers are said
to walk. Do you see that giving money
to support a ministry and all believers should financially
support a true gospel ministry to the extent they're able? Or
do you see that being hospitable and receiving strangers who profess
to believe as we do, and all believers should if it's the
true gospel of grace that they profess to believe, I hope that
you see that while those things are to be encouraged and commended
among true believers, that if they're not accompanied by a
belief of this specific truth, then these traits which others
will commend, they're not the identifying marks of a true believer
and they're not at all commendable. We wouldn't commend someone for
helping to propagate a lie. But where the truth is present,
these things are manifestations of the love of God that a true
believer has experienced in Christ. So one may give, one may be kind
to others of like profession and not be in the faith or of
the faith. And how do we know? We know by
whether or not they walk, they embrace, abide, and continue
in the truth. The doctrine of Christ, salvation
by Christ alone. the truth of God's gospel of
grace. And you know, the only reliable
standard for discerning spiritual truth is this book, God's Word. It's not what this man says or
this man or this man says. We better see if we're speaking
according to this word. You know, this word in the Bible
is referred to as a word of regeneration. It's not the preacher setting
forth of the gospel, it's the preacher as he's setting forth
the gospel from this word. We walk in the truth when our
spiritually enlightened hearts and minds bow to that truth and
embrace it. The doctrine of Christ, as John
called it in his second epistle, So no matter how charitable or
receiving of other religious folks one may be, if the specific
truth of God's gospel of grace is absent, they are not walking
in the truth. So intentionally being repetitious,
because there's nothing more important, what is the truth?
You know, that's what we preach week in and week out from this
pulpit. It's the doctrine of Christ.
It's the simple truth of one who he is. and to what he's done
according to this book to save his people. So here's how you
can know if you're walking in the truth. Do you see that Christ,
see and value that Christ is both God and man, that's who
he is, a suitable substitute, a suitable mediator between,
to bring peace and reconciliation between God and man, the God-man,
the sinless substitute, that's who he is. Do you see how he
truly accomplished what God's own Word tells us He was sent
to accomplish and did accomplish. God's Word said Christ came into
the world to save sinners. Not to try and save them, not
to make their salvation merely possible, but to save them. Now, you either believe He truly
saved His people from their sins by His justice satisfying obedience
unto death on the cross or else you believe that he didn't. Perhaps
you believe he did something but he didn't quite get the job
done. For you see multitudes, like most of us in years past,
we would call him our Savior while at the same time believing
that his doing and his dying on the cross in and of itself
didn't save anyone unless, and you can fill in the blank, unless
they receive Him, unless they'll accept Him as their Savior, unless
they'll invite Him into their hearts, whatever, some response
by the sinner in some form or some fashion. The truth is that
all those for whom Christ lived and died, that for all of them,
Christ did accomplish what God tells us He came to do. He saved
His adopted children from their sins. He did so in perfect and
complete satisfaction to the justice of God the Father. That's
what righteousness, that's the righteousness that's revealed
in the gospel message. The Lord Jesus Christ paid in
full the entire dead owed due unto their sins against a holy
God by His precious shed blood, His infinitely valuable death
on the cross. Having seen the demerit, the
guilt of their sins imputed or charged to him, and in turn the
entire merit of what he accomplished, his righteousness imputed or
charged to them." So that a sinner like me can stand before a holy
God, unreprovable, the scripture says, unblameable, holy, not
in me, but in Christ, my substitute. His righteousness is put to my
account. Now that's a sure and certain
remedy to the spiritually death-threatening disease that we all face. The
truth, the doctrine of Christ is that Christ fully met all
that was required for the salvation of his people and as such, their
salvation is not pending, some remaining condition which they
must meet in order to save themselves. It's not their baptism, though
believers are commanded to be baptized. It's not their church
attendance, though they should attend a true gospel church. It's not their so-called confirmation
or their adherence to a catechism. It's not their living a good,
honest life, although they certainly should. It's not even their acceptance
of Him, although they will. It's not their act of faith that
makes the difference. It's nothing. that they can do
to save themselves. If it is, then quit calling it
grace and quit talking about needing the mercy of God. You
don't need His mercy. All you need to do under that
form of doctrine is cut your end of the bargain. If you'll
just believe, you'll just reach out your hand or if you'll just
say this little prayer, you don't need God's mercy and grace. You're
in control of your own destiny. And you know, by nature, we cling
to controlling that. We cling to it. Men who will
read and study the scripture cannot refute that Christ did
not live and die for everyone, and yet in our determination
to hold on to controlling our eternal destiny, they'll say,
oh, okay, Christ didn't die for all, but he looked down through
time and he saw that I would believe, and so he saved me based
on knowing what I would do. That still works, and that defies
the language of Romans 11 that calls it an election of grace. So according to the doctrine
of Christ, Christ did it all. He does not fail to save even
one of those for whom he lived and died. You see, in this issue
of salvation, only God is to receive the glory. That's why
he saves sinners. It's for his own glory. He will
not share that glory. And that redemptive glory is
uniquely found, only found, in the person and saving work of
Christ alone. His death got the job done. Their
debt to God's justice was paid in full. Christ has saved his
people from their sins. And that's the truth. And we
evidence true, God-given, blood-bought faith when we embrace and continue
in that truth. trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone for all of our eternal salvation, repenting from ever
having dared to imagine that anything done by us sinners could
contribute even one iota toward procuring our own eternal salvation. As if our response or our decision
to accept Jesus, something the sinner could do, could achieve
that which God declares could only be and was fully achieved
by the infinitely valuable, priceless, precious blood, the death of
the Lord of Glory. That's when we see the evil of
having dared imagine it was conditioned on us. When we see we're placing
our act of faith, our decision for Jesus, in rivalry with, really
in superiority over, the very death of the Lord of Glory. God
won't have that. See, God-given faith does not
look to itself. It looks to Christ alone for
all of salvation. The truth really is that simple.
And I pray by God's grace that all who hear this message will
be convinced by the Spirit to look to Christ alone for all
of their salvation. And so identify with the spiritual
family of true believers walking in the truth. Thank you.