This sermon was preached on Sunday
evening, May 31, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville,
New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn
with me in your Bibles to the 15th chapter of the Gospel according
to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 15. and follow as I read the first
14 verses. Verse 1, Then there come to Jesus
from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, Why do your
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not
wash their hands when they eat bread. And he answered and said
unto them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because
of your tradition? For God said, honor your father
and your mother, and he that speaks evil of father or mother,
let him die the death. But you say, whosoever shall
say to his father or mother, That wherewith you might have
been profited by me is given to God, he shall not honor his
father. And you have made void the word
of God because of your tradition. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah
prophesy of you, saying, This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me. teaching as their doctrines the
precepts of men. And he called to him the multitude
and said unto them, Hear and understand. It is not that which
enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but that which proceeds
out of the mouth, this defiles the man. Then came the disciples
and said unto him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended
when they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father planted not shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They are blind
guides. And if the blind guide the blind,
both shall fall into a pit. Now, before we come to focus
our attention particularly upon verse 13 in this passage, may
I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to do a very simple
thing, very simple, that children can understand what I request
as well as every adult. And that is this, that as we
take a moment to pray, Will you dare to ask God that if no one
else tonight hears his voice speaking from his word, that
you would hear him speak to your heart? Would you dare to pray
that? Lord, if no one else hears your
word, give me ears to hear. You remember what Jesus said
in this very passage, hear and understand. Will you dare to
pray, O God, if no one else will listen and understand, help me
to listen, help me to understand your word. Will you pray that?
We're going to bow in prayer, have a moment of silent prayer,
and give you an opportunity to pray that prayer silently to
God, and then I will lead us as we pray together. Let us pray. Our Father, we have heard the
words of our Lord Jesus coming to us over the centuries from
that time when they were first spoken, saying to us as well
as to the multitude there in Palestine, hear and understand. And we come to you, O living
and true God, and pray that you will indeed give us ears to hear
minds and hearts to understand and then wills and affections
to choose to walk in the way of your truth. Send your spirit
upon every mind and heart. Send him upon your servant who
seeks to open and apply your word and bless our meditation
together. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Now, in this section of the Word
of God that I have read in your hearing, we have the record of
just one of the many open encounters between Jesus and the scribes
and the Pharisees of that day. Now, as many of you are well
aware, the Pharisees and the scribes mentioned in chapter
15 and verse 1 were the official leaders of the popular religious
system which dominated Jewish life in the days of our Lord. However, while supposedly basing
their beliefs and practices upon the Old Testament scriptures,
They had effectively negated the practical impact of the Word
of God, so much so that Jesus says of them in verse 3 that
they were transgressing the commandment of God by the very traditions
that they said grew out of the Word of God. Furthermore, he
says in verse 6, that they were making void the Word of God. They were not only transgressing
the Word of God in order to keep their man-made religious traditions,
they were actually at many points negating or canceling or neutralizing
the impact of the Word of God upon their own lives and upon
their followers, all in the name of tradition. Now, because our
Lord came actually fulfilling the Old Testament Scriptures,
preaching their true meaning, and insisting upon thought and
life conformed to their true intention, it soon became evident
that He was marching to the beat of a different drum than that
of the scribes and of the Pharisees. So wherever our Lord went, these
scribes and Pharisees dogged His steps, opposed Him, tried
to catch Him in His words, because it was evident that if He was
right as the interpreter of the Scriptures, as the enforcer of
the Scriptures, as the very fulfillment of the Scriptures, then they
were dead wrong. and they were not about to admit
that they were dead wrong and so they constantly opposed him,
withstood him, sought to catch him in his words in order to
discredit them. Now it was in just such a setting
that we find our Lord having entered into this encounter with
the scribes and Pharisees calls the multitudes, verse 10, around
him and then he publicly exposes one of the fundamental fallacies
of the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees. It was a religion
of externalism. They were always meticulous about
external washings and rituals of cleansing, but they had no
understanding that the seat of sin was in the human heart, not
in touching that was declared by them to be unclean. And so after the Lord publicly
exposed them to the multitude, the disciples come to Jesus either
privately or take him aside, and we read in verse 12, they
said, do you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard
this saying? Well, the Lord well knew that
they would be offended, but it didn't concern him to offend
Pharisees. And then he makes a most profound
and in many ways gripping statement in verse 13. But he answered
and said, how does he respond to this information brought to
him by the disciples couched in the form of a question, do
you know that the Pharisees were offended at your saying? Our
Lord's response is to make this blunt affirmation Every plant
which my Heavenly Father planted not shall be rooted up. Now it is that statement of our
Lord to which I would direct your attention for the remainder
of our time together in the ministry of the Word tonight. Every plant
which my Heavenly Father planted not shall be rooted up. And the first thing I would ask
you to notice is the imagery employed. The imagery employed. In this
passage, Jesus is using an extended metaphor, a figure of speech
in which there are two dominant factors. Look at them in the
text. First of all, God the Father, who is likened to a domestic
gardener, or we might say a horticulturalist, someone who is taken up in the
planting and nurturing of exotic domestic plants. See how our
Lord puts it? But he answered and said, every
plant or planting which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be
rooted up. So here our Lord likens the Heavenly
Father to a domestic gardener who either has a greenhouse or
a specially protected and specially watered and kept garden in which
he plants special plants with his own hands. Now that's the
imagery. The imagery employed is the imagery
of God the Father being this specialized gardener, this professional
horticulturalist who is involved in the planting of these domestic
plants either in his garden or we might say in contemporary
parlance in his greenhouse. But then the second part of the
imagery is this. Every true child of God is likened
to one of God's special plants which He Himself has planted. Do you see that? Every plant
which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up.
The clear teaching being that every plant which he himself
plants shall not be rooted up, but it shall remain in God's
garden. And so here, everyone who truly
understands the message of the Word of God, who comes to experience
its power in his heart, who enters into a vital saving relationship
to God through Jesus Christ, is likened to a planting of God
in the garden of his redeemed oneness. Now, perhaps the best
commentary on that imagery is found in 1 Corinthians chapter
3, where Paul, writing to the Christian church at Corinth,
likens every believer in that church to God's special planting,
plants of God that were planted as God used the instrumentality
of gospel preachers. But notice how the emphasis falls
upon the activity of God. Now in this context, Paul is
writing to correct this spirit that was rife in the church where
the believers were lining up behind their favorite preachers
and were dividing up into this carnal party spirit and trying
to show how stupid that was. He says, verse 5, what then is
Apollos and what is Paul? ministers through whom you believe
now notice and each as the Lord gave to him I planted Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he who plants
anything, neither he that waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who
waters are one, but each shall receive his own reward according
to his own labor. We are God's fellow workers. God is at work in planting true
Christians in his church. There at Corinth, God was the
mighty worker. Paul and Apollos were simply
workers together with God. He said, we are God's fellow
workers. You are God's tilled land. You are God's special garden. and every one of you believers
is God's planting in that garden and then he changes the imagery
and he says you are God's building. So the church is likened to God's
garden, his tilled land, and his building. So that's the imagery
behind our text. God the Father is the great gardener
Every true Christian is a planting of his own sovereign, gracious
working, even though he uses the instrumentality of men who
bring the gospel, who pray, who counsel, who labor, who plead,
who entreat. It is God and God alone. who makes a true Christian under
the imagery of a plant of God in the garden of God. So that's
the imagery employed. But now notice, secondly, the
assumption expressed by our Lord. Now in these words, every planting
which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up.
Our Lord is assuming that there will be some plants found in
the garden of God's visible people that are not the result of God's
work, but they got there by somebody else's work. Do you see that
in the text? Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not
shall be rooted up. There are some plants that seem
to have life. And they are found among the
plants that God has planted, but God did not plant them. You
see, that assumption is in the imagery used by our Lord. And in the context, it's obviously
a reference to these Pharisees. They have the status of religious
people. They go through the very rituals,
many of them ordained of God in the Old Testament. They went
through the sacrifices, and the washings, and the feast, and
all of the other celebrations. They prayed, and they fasted,
and they gave alms to the poor. You see, they had the appearance
of lovely religious plants, but they were not God's planting.
They were not God's work, graciously and powerfully transforming them
into plants of His own mighty work. They were someone else's
work. They were not planted by the
Heavenly Father. And the assumption of our Lord
is that there are such plants, and they appear among God's visible
people. And they go through the forms
and the rituals and the language of religion, much of it even
deriving its flavor and its tenor and its color and fragrance from
the Bible. And yet their hearts are far
from God. They have no true knowledge of
God. They are simply religious plants in whom God has done no
saving work. Now that assumption ought to
shake us a bit. We are here tonight. In one of
God's visible gardens, in a sense, every church that claims adherence
to the Word of God is one of God's gardens, one of God's greenhouses,
where God's plants are found. But the assumption of our text
is being found in this place or any other place set apart
for Christian worship and the preaching of the Word does not
mean that you are God's planting. The assumption is that there
are plants among God's plants that are not His planting. So
we've looked at the imagery used, the assumption expressed. Now
thirdly, notice the prophecy made by our Lord. The prophecy made. What is it?
This is a prophecy made by our Lord. Look at it. Every planting
which my heavenly Father planted not shall be rooted up. And that verb, rooted up, means
literally to pull it up by the roots. Now, you know, kids, the
difference between pulling weeds up by the roots and merely hacking
them off at the level of the ground? Our brother Rick Anger,
when he was still in the grass-cutting business and hadn't moved up
into The kind of work he's in now, or moved into, I shouldn't
say up to demean the other kind of lawn care that he did. I wasn't
speaking in terms of a snootiness, but moved into a different field
of work. He and his men used to cut our
grass, and last year they went into a section where weeds had
encroached upon our lawn, and they cut it back, and they worked. in one of the hottest periods
of the summer, and they got all those weeds cut down, and over
the winter we saw our whole backyard. But an amazing thing happened
this spring. While the grass was up this high, the weeds were
up to here. Many of them we had not pulled
out by the roots, we had only cut them down. If you want to
kill the plant, you must pull it up by the roots. Its life
is fed by the root system. Shake out the dirt and let the
sun wither its roots and that particular weed will never grow
again. Now that's the picture here.
A prophecy made by our Lord, a solemn prophecy. that every
plant which my heavenly Father planted not shall be rooted up. What does that mean? Well, it
means simply this, that God knows every single plant that He has
planted in His garden And every other plant that he has not planted,
he will one day personally and effectively root out of his garden
and discard it. Tear it up by the roots and discard
it. And what's the best commentary
on what that means? Well, just turn back for many
of you a page in your Bibles to Matthew 13. And here we have
God's commentary on what that means. The Lord gives the parable
of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13, 24 to 30. And those tares, the darnel,
was a weed that looked as it began to grow so much like real
wheat that you could hardly tell them apart. And if you tried
to pull out the darnel, you would end up pulling up real wheat.
And so the husbandmen, the pharmacists, let them grow both until the
harvest. Then it will be evident And then
they get aside with our Lord and say, please explain this
parable to us. Verse 36, explain to us the parable
of the tares. Now listen to our Lord's explanation.
And he answered and said, he that sows the good seed is the
son of man and the field is the world and the good seed. These
are the sons of the kingdom and the tares are the sons of the
evil one. And the enemy that sowed them
is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the world, and
the reapers are angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
up and burned with fire, so shall it be in the end of the world.
Here is the meek, lowly, gentle Jesus speaking. The Son of Man
shall send forth His angels. They shall gather out of His
kingdom all things that cause stumbling in them that do iniquity,
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall
be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that
has ears to hear, let him hear. Our Lord, under a little different
imagery, is underscoring the same truth in this passage. He's
making a solemn prophecy that at the end of the age, at the
second coming of our Lord Jesus, the Father, through the instrumentality
of His Son, will administer a separation in which everything that is not
a tree, a plant of God's own planting will be utterly rooted
out and cast into the lake of fire. Every plant, without exception,
which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up. Now, in the light of this clear
teaching, As we've sought to just open up the imagery employed,
the assumption expressed, the prophecy made, there is one simple,
direct question I want to ask of every man, woman, boy, or
girl within the sound of my voice tonight. Based upon what we've
seen in these words of Jesus, every plant which my heavenly
Father planted not shall be rooted up. Here's the question. Very
simple, very direct. And I ask it of every one of
you. This is the question. Are you one of God's plants? Now forget your brother, your
sister, your mother, your dad, your son, your uncle. Forget
everyone else. I'm asking you this question.
Are you one of God's plants? Very simple question, isn't it?
In the light of this passage, are you one of God's plans? If you're not, you better become
one. The day is coming when God himself
will root you out and cast you into outer darkness. That's pretty
straightforward, isn't it? You see that? I've read that.
It's just there, nice and simple. You say, I like the teaching
of Jesus. It's so simple. You like this teaching? This
is Jesus' teaching. You see, His knowledge of the
Father is perfect, not distorted. And His knowledge of the Father
takes into account that an hour is coming when His Father will
take every plant that He has not planted and root it out.
Therefore, you better ask that question very personally of yourself. And with Judgment Day honesty,
am I one of God's plants? What is there about me that has
no explanation, that defies any other explanation, but that Almighty
God, the great heavenly horticulturalist, has graciously and powerfully
worked in me to make me a true living plant in his garden of
his people? That's a pretty straightforward
question, but you better ask it. and you better ask it intensely
of yourself, and you better make sure that you don't give yourself
a quick positive answer without sufficient grounds for that answer.
Oh, you say, I must be one of his plans. I go to church. So
did the Pharisees. Oh, I give tithes. So did the
Pharisees. Well, I pray. So did the Pharisees.
They even fasted twice a week. Two days a week. They didn't
eat from morning till evening. Well, you say, I'm zealous in
the cause of religion. So were the Pharisees. Jesus
said they compass land and sea to make a proselyte. And yet
he says of them, these religious people, who in common ordinary
20th century parlance carried their Bibles under their arms
and they were there every time the doors of the church were
open, sat on the front row, entered into the prayers, always put
something in the plate. And yet Jesus says, every plant
that my heavenly Father planted not shall be rooted up. My friend,
listen, listen. Don't give yourself a quick,
easy, shallow answer to this question. Am I God's planting? Am I God's planting? Oh, I pray
that question will burn its way into your mind, follow you to
your home, track you down to your bed, cause you to toss and
turn if necessary. Am I God's planting? And you say, Pastor Martin, you've
made your point. All right, all right. My friend, the years have
taught me that people don't like to scrutinize themselves with
judgment day honesty on such questions as these. And it's
out of love and concern to your soul that I'm pressing that question. And I hope I've pressed it to
the point where now you're saying, well, how can I know if I'm God's
planting? Ah, good. If you're asking that
question, then the remaining ten minutes of what I have to
say will be meaningful to you. All of God's plants have five
elementary characteristics to them. All of them, without exception. However they may differ in their
flowering, however they may differ in their size, however they may
differ in the shape of their leaves, and they do, they have
these five characteristics in common. You ready for them? Number
one, all of God's plantings are people who have been given a
humbling discovery of their own total lack of righteousness before
God. All of God's plants are people
who have been given a humbling discovery of their absolute destitution
of any righteousness to commend them to God. To use the language
of Matthew 9, they've come to understand that Christ did not
come to call the righteous, but sinners. You remember when Jesus
gave the Beatitudes, those eight blessings? What was the first
one? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Isn't that what Jesus said? What
does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to be brought to the
place where I see that I have nothing, I am nothing, and I
can do nothing of myself to commend myself to God. I have no righteousness
of my own to commend me to the God of heaven. Now my friend,
let me ask you. Have you come to that discovery
that because of who and what you are as a fallen sinner of
Adam's race, Who in what you are by nature in terms of this
very passage, what you are in your own native condition of
heart, you are defiled and your heart is a veritable cesspool
of iniquity waiting to break forth to change the imagery like
an artesian well of pollution. Have you ever come to discover
what you are as a sinner? If not, you're not God's planting
because all of God's plantings have this first fundamental characteristic. They have been given a humbling
discovery that they have known righteousness of their own to
commend them to God. But secondly, this is the second
mark of all of his plants. They have been given a sight
of the perfection of God's righteousness in Jesus Christ. They have been
given a sight, I don't mean with their physical eyes, but with
the eyes of the soul through the Scriptures read and preached
and taught, they have come to discover that in the person and
work of Jesus, particularly in Jesus' perfect life of obedience
and in His death upon the cross, God has provided a righteousness,
a right standing with Him, that is His own gift to men. After showing us we have no righteousness
of our own, through the gospel He displays to us His own perfect
righteousness offered to sinners in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. This is why Paul could say in
Romans 1, 16 and 17, I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. For therein, in the gospel, is
revealed a righteousness of God. The heart of the gospel is the
revelation of a perfect righteousness which God has wrought for sinners,
and God offers to sinners in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. And you see,
these Pharisees had not a notion about that. They had no need
to look up to God that he would give them a gift of righteousness.
Just read the record of that Pharisee who went into the temple
to pray in Luke 18. And he stands before God and
says, Oh God, I got lots of righteousness to get my way into your presence.
I do this, I fast, I tithe, I'm not a murderer, I'm not this,
I'm not that. He's preening his own feathers in the presence
of God. He doesn't have a clue of what a rotten sinner he was.
Standing afar off was another man. He wouldn't even lift up
his eyes to heaven. But he beat upon his breasts
crying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus said this man
went down to his house justified. That is, he went down to his
house in the possession of a perfect righteousness as the gift of
God. But it was only given to him
when he saw he had none of his own. Every plant which my Heavenly
Father planted not shall be rooted up. If you have not been brought
to see that you are utterly destitute of any righteousness of your
own, that the righteousness which answers to God's demands is to
be found only in Jesus Christ as He's revealed in the Gospel,
in His perfect life, in His death upon the cross for sinners, in
His mighty resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of
God the Father, in His sending of the Holy Spirit, if you have
not been brought to see that in Christ there is righteousness,
and in Him alone. You're not God's planting, my
friend. But then thirdly, God's plants all have this third characteristic. They have been brought to turn
from their sin, the sins of self-righteousness as well as self-will. The sins
of rebellion against the gospel and against the law, they've
been brought to repent. That means to turn their back
upon doing their own thing, thinking their own thoughts, running their
own lives. And they've been brought to faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20, 21, Paul said, testifying
to Jews and Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ and all of God's plantings. are plantings
that know what it is to turn away from sin, from self-centeredness
and self-will and self-trust, and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that is, to hurl the whole weight of our sin-laden
soul upon Jesus Christ as He is freely offered in the Gospel. But then the fourth mark of all
of God's plantings is this. that they are people who have
been inclined to a life of obedience to God out of gratitude for His
mercy in Jesus Christ. Let me repeat that. They are
a people who have been inclined to a life of obedience to God
out of gratitude for His mercy to them in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll
keep my commandments. And what brings us to love Him?
The Scripture says we love Him because He first loved us. You
see, it is the believing reception of God's love in Christ which
alone subdues and inclines the rebel sinner's heart to love
God and to keep His commandments. And that's why Jesus said, my
sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Not everyone who says
to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom, but he that does
the will of my father who is in heaven. How do we know these
Pharisees were not God's plants? Instead of obeying the word of
God, they were canceling it. They were transgressing it. With
what? Not by shacking up with whores. Not by blaspheming on the street
corner. How did they break God's law?
Not by cheating on their income tax. They did it by a whole bunch
of religious traditions that kept them away from God's word,
where his will is revealed. and acted like a kind of spiritual
drug to keep them out of touch with reality. They thought they
were the very epitome of obedience to God and all the while they're
breaking the law of God at point after point by their stinking
rotten religious tradition. My friend, listen, obedience
to God may not be what you think it is. How long has it been since
you took up this Bible and started to read it with this end in view?
Oh God, show me if indeed my heart is inclined to keep your
commandments out of love to you for your mercy in Jesus Christ. All of God's plants, you see,
have this mark. They are inclined to a life of
obedience to God. out of gratitude for his mercy
to them in Jesus Christ, and then the fifth mark of all God's
plants is this, they are increasingly becoming like Christ in their
character by the power of the Spirit of Christ. They are increasingly
becoming like Christ in their character by the power of the
Spirit of Christ. For the Scripture tells us, he
that says he abides in Him, ought himself so to walk, even as He
walked, 1 John 2, 6. And then 2 Corinthians 3.18,
but we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord are transformed into that image from one stage of glory
to another even by the Lord the Spirit. You see the mark of every
one of God's plants is that they become more and more like Jesus
Christ in their moral character. That is, more and more they love
the things He loves, they hate the things He hates. They choose
the things that He would choose, and they refuse the things that
He would refuse. More and more, they are like
Him, in that one thing mattered to Him, doing the will of His
Father, even when it meant saying, not my will, but Thine, be done,
even though it meant shame and opposition and pain and the abandonment
of the cross. Now you see, those are the five
indispensable marks of all God's plans. Have you got them? They've
come to see they have no righteousness of their own. That's conviction
of sin. They've come to see that there
is a perfect righteousness offered by God in the gospel. Conviction of sin, spiritual
perception of the gospel, They've come to turn away from their
sin and self-righteousness and self-will and to rest only in
Jesus Christ. That's repentance and faith.
And what always follows from true repentance and faith are
a life of obedience motivated by gratitude and a life of increasing
conformity to Jesus Christ. Now, dear people, listen to me.
Those things are not true just of the plants that are going
to win first prize at the flower show. If those things are not
true of you, you are not God's plant, not even the least of
them in his garden. Have you got that? Can I make
it any simpler? Can I state it any more plainly
than I've done? Dear people, hear me, hear me.
Don't take this as just another sermon by another preacher. Oh
yes, a little more animated, talks a little more with his
hands. And my friend, listen, put all of that away and hear
me. Every plant which my Father planted not, Jesus said, is going
to be rooted up. Do you want to prove in your
experience that that prophecy is true? Do you want to feel
the hand of Almighty God upon you in the day of judgment, rooting
you up and casting you into hell before you believe this verse?
Or will you say, no, God is gracious and merciful and brought me into
this building tonight and laid upon the heart of that preacher
to open up this passage. And as I've asked the question,
am I God's plant? I don't have those five things
that he talked about. Oh yes, I walked an aisle, I
raised a hand, prayed a prayer, I go to church, I live a reasonably
respectable life. But I don't know what it is to
see myself as utterly destitute of any righteousness before God. Then, my friend, you're living
in a never-never land of self-deception because that's your true condition.
The Bible says we have all sinned and come short of the glory of
God and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in His sight. Pray that God will show you your
true condition. That's the first indication that
he's taking someone in hand and going to make them a plant in
his own garden. He gives them the painful self-discovery
of true conviction of sin. And if you've never considered
that in the gospel God offers not a happy feeling, God offers
not peace and prosperity, but He offers what you desperately
need now and in the day of judgment, a righteousness that will make
it right for God to admit you into heaven, consistent with
His justice. Every sin must be paid for. You
must be credited with a perfect record if you're to enter the
presence of a holy God in the holy city. Thirdly, my friend, if you've
never turned from your sin and thrown yourself upon Christ,
never turned in repentance and in faith, then you're a stranger
to the most elementary factors of what it is to be a true Christian. And if you say, oh yes, I've
repented and believed, if there is not the inclination to a life
of obedience out of gratitude, obedience not to gain brownie
points, but obedience, because Christ gained all the points
I'll ever need. And because He did, I love Him.
And because I love Him, I want to obey Him. And then increasing
conformity to His moral likeness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Those are the marks of all of God's plans. Have I described
you? Is that a description of you?
If so, friend, be humbled afresh tonight. and say, Oh God, if
I'm that kind of a plant, I didn't make myself that way. And my
mom and dad couldn't pass on to me genetically that which
would make me that way. Lord in grace, you've worked
upon me and you've made me your planting in your garden. But
if you cannot say that's a description of me, my friend, Go to God through
Jesus Christ, even tonight, even in this hour and say, Oh God,
I don't know who else that word was intended for. But when the
preacher challenged me at the beginning to pray silently, Oh
God, if no one else hears and understands, help me to hear
and understand, Lord, I didn't know what I was asking for. But
oh God, thank you. You burst my bubble. Lord, You've
yanked me out of never-never land, and You've shown me that
I'm lost, I'm undone, I'm destitute of any righteousness. I can only
find it in Jesus Christ, O God. I would have Christ. I would
have him on his terms. I would have him that my sins
might be forgiven, that I may be credited with a perfect righteousness. I would have him that he would
give me a heart to obey him and give me of your spirit that I
may be made more and more like him. Oh, friend, I plead with
you. Go to God, the Heavenly Father,
who alone can make you a planting in his garden. Go to Him through
Jesus Christ and beg of Him to give you what only He can give
you. And you have His promise, ye
shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with
all your heart. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
for he will have mercy. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. And you who by grace are God's
planting, may God give you a new appreciation of the grace that
made you such a plant. that you can look forward even
to the day of judgment with confidence. As in a few moments the brethren
will remove this pulpit and we make our way into the baptismal
tank, what are we witnessing? Well, dear people, in a sense
what we're witnessing is the confession of these two young
men that Almighty God took a couple of weeds that were out there
in Adam's garden bearing all kinds of horrible seeds of a
life of rebellion against God. And God chains the weeds into
plants, and He's put them in His garden by His grace. That's
their confession. And their baptism doesn't make
them plants. It's a declaration of what God
in grace has done through the gospel of His own dear Son. And
if you do not possess what they bear witness to, The only way
you can is to get it where they got it, at the foot of a cross,
in humility, in penitence, in faith, and look to Christ and
Christ alone. May God help you to do so. Even
as we sing a final hymn and the brethren make their way to the
back and I join them there, may your heart run out to Christ
himself. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for
the words of our Lord Jesus that we have been privileged to examine
and consider tonight. And we pray that the Holy Spirit,
who moved Matthew to write them centuries ago, will even now
make them to come home with power to all of our hearts. that we
may hear the words of Jesus ringing in the chambers of our hearts
and echoing over again and again. Every plant that my heavenly
Father planted not shall be rooted up. O God, make that word effectual
to the salvation of some, and to your name be praise and honor
and glory now and forever. Amen.