Now, I've got four texts this
morning. So if you will, turn with me
first to Ephesians 2. The Apostle Paul preached Christ. He preached Christ. He said that's
what he preached. All the accusations that men
brought against him, that's what they accused him of. He preached
to him in all the glory of his person, in all of his ancient
appointments, in all the mystery of his incarnation, in all of
his accomplishments, in the power of his resurrection and in his
victorious rule as our Lord and Savior at the right hand of God. He preached Christ in foreign
lands to people who knew absolutely nothing about God or the promised
Messiah. He preached Christ to the religious
Jew who thought they knew everything about the promised Messiah. He
preached to the wise Greek and to the pagans. He preached Christ
to lost sinners, and he preached Christ to young believers, and
he preached Christ to churches that had been long established
and grounded in the faith. And because he was determined
to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
he was often accused of not preaching the whole counsel of God. I tell you this, this morning,
this accusation is as old as the gospel. It's as old as the
gospel. Adam preached Christ to his two
sons. And one of them acknowledged
what he heard and brought the substitute with him to the altar
to worship God. But the other, Cain, he saw no
satisfaction He did not see a sufficiency of satisfaction in the substitute
alone. And so he brought the works of
his own hand. To him, that sacrifice was not a declaration of the
whole counsel of God. It's as old as the Gospels. And
you can go on and on and on, right down through the Scriptures,
and I can show you these things. In Acts chapter 20, Paul bids
farewell to the elders at Ephesus. And he tells them, he said, I
kept back nothing profitable to them, but taught them publicly
and from house to house and testified to both Jews and Greeks repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He said he
faithfully carried out the ministry which he received from the Lord
himself. To testify. Now I want you to
listen. Here's what he preached to them.
To testify of the gospel of the grace of God. That's what he
taught them. That's what he preached to them.
Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Wherefore, verse 26, he said,
I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood
of all, that is, all that he ministered to, For I have not
shunned to declare unto you," now listen, all the counsel of
God. Ain't that what that says? Now
one of the local pastors, and I won't mention his name, took
it upon himself to write an article making some pretty serious charges
against sovereign grace preachers. And he accused them of preaching
what he calls gospelism. Gospelism. That's a term I've
never heard before. Gospelism. And if I understand
his accusation, it is that we preach Christ crucified to the
exclusion of instruction concerning the believer's walk and his conduct
in this world. He said that we basically meet
and rehearse the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and
totally ignore all scriptural instruction and commandments
concerning the duties and responsibilities of the saints. Now he was confronted about this
article with one of the members of this church. And he denied
that the article was aimed at me or this church. But I'm going
to say this to him. Be careful when you shoot a scatter
gun, because you're going to hit things you weren't aiming
at. And I'm a sovereign grace preacher, and this article was
written against sovereign grace preachers, and he hit me. And
I took offense to it. And that's where this message
was born. It was aimed at those who preach
Christ continually. And again, I'm guilty by the
grace of God. That's what I preach. If you
come here next Sunday, by God's grace, that's what I'm going
to preach. You won't have second one about what. What are you
going to preach on next Sunday? I'm going to preach Christ. I'm
going to preach Christ. I take offense at this article,
and I want you as a church over which God has made me your pastor
to understand both the accusation and why I feel I must preach
the way I preach. I want you to understand this.
I don't want you to just say, well, whatever he thinks right
is right. No, I want you to understand why. Why? In the four years and the few
months that I've been here, I've taught verse by verse through
the Gospel of John, every single verse. The Epistle of Ephesians,
18 chapters in the book of Matthew, most all of the book of Romans
and Colossians, all of the book of Jonah, the entire book of
Genesis, and half of Exodus. and about 200 messages scattered
throughout the Word of God. I'm going to tell you something.
It is utterly impossible to preach verse by verse through any book
of the Bible and not deal with the believer's walk in this world.
You can't hardly get through a chapter, let alone an entire
book. What I will confess is this.
By the grace of God, I refuse to teach any doctrine, especially
the believer's walk of faith, apart from the person and work
of Christ. I want you to listen to me. Christ
is our only source of knowledge. How are you going to walk before
God, whom you don't know? No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal it." Well, I just
don't think God's like that. Well, what do you know about
God? Nothing, outside of Christ. Not outside of Christ. Outside
of Christ, it seems to me, well, I think, well, it's my opinion,
that's your opinion, and so on. That's all you're going to get
outside of that. But in Christ, we learn who the Father is. Who
the Father is. And that's what He calls eternal
life in the Scriptures. You can read about it over in
1 John, chapter 5. Christ is the King of the Kingdom
in which we're citizens. You're going to walk in God's
Kingdom and ignore the King. Is that what you're telling me? Christ is the way. Thomas said,
we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way. He said,
I am the way. How do you know if you're walking
in the way if you don't know Christ? Christ is the way. I
can't teach you the way apart from teaching you Christ. And
Christ is the source of everything needed to walk as saints. I'm
going to have to walk in love. Well, where is the love of God?
Where is it manifested? In His death, burial, and resurrection. Is that not right? What's going
to keep us from being separated by something in this world? The
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's what
he tells us in Romans chapter 8. Gratitude is born from an
understanding of how God saved our wretched souls in Christ.
Gratitude. And Christ is the object to which
we shall be conformed. Whom he did foreknow, then he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of Christ. How are
you going to be conformed to the image of Christ if I don't
preach Christ? Take Christ out of the picture,
and there's nothing left but one sinner trying to tell another
sinner how to live. That's all it is. My friend,
Christ is preeminent in all these things, and to preach Christ
is to preach the whole counsel of God. If my understanding is
correct, of Revelation chapter 5, that book sealed within and
without by the seven seals is the book of God's eternal decree.
This book concerns the salvation of God's elect and all that He
has predestinated to bring to pass to accomplish that salvation. And what John was permitted to
see in chapter 5 of that book of Revelation is that there was
only one worthy to open the book. You can't teach the book if you're
not worthy to open it. No man was worthy to look on
it, no man was worthy to take it, and no man was worthy to
open it. But the fam won. You know who was worthy to do
it? The lamb slain. But I ought to preach something
else. I ought to stand here with my finger in your face and say,
now, here's what you ought to do. No, I'm going to tell you
here's what you will do if you know Christ. That's what I'm
going to tell you. This is what believers do. It's
not what believers ought to do. This is what believers do. They
love God. Every one of them. Some love
Him more than others, but they all love Him. They're all gracious
because He's gracious. I've got four things that I want
us to look at this morning concerning the preaching of Christ and the
works of the believer. First of all, I want to tell
you this, it is the sovereign decree of God that the believer
be created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Turn with me to Ephesians
2. Believers are not the product
of man. They are not self-made. They
are not self-made. They are not born of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And
they are new creatures in Christ Jesus. He is saved because He
was ordained to be saved. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life, believe me. He is called because God eternally
decreed to call Him. Now watch this here in Ephesians
2. Let's begin with His relationship with Christ before the world
began. Verse 4, But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, that's
a statement of past tense now, hath quickened us together with
Christ, by grace ye are saved. That believer was quickened or
given life when God chose him in Christ and predestinated him
to be His Son. And He raised us up, verse 6,
together. He put us in Christ. And He slayed
Christ. And He raised Him from the dead.
And He raised us up together. And He made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know what that means? In
order that, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And that's exactly what the believer
learns in the experience of grace. God shows him His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. For, he said, by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. It is not of works, lest any
man should boast. Now listen, for we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in. This is the purpose of God
before the world was that His children be created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. There are no good works that
are not created in Christ Jesus. There are self-righteous works.
There are proud works. There are covetous works. There's
ceremonial works and there's traditional works, but there
are no good works that spring from anything except Christ. Paul told the Thessalonians that
he knew their election of God because the gospel came in power.
And they become submissive. They become teachable. You can't
teach a man until God humbles him down, brings him down. You
can't teach him anything. They become submissive, and they
become, he said, examples to all that believe. And I'm going
to tell you this, and I hope you'll hear me. Good works do
not come from preaching good works. Good works come from preaching
Christ. It's the fruit of the Spirit. It's the fruit of faith. Good works. Good work. All right,
here's the second thing. Good works are the fruit of our
union with Christ. Now, turn with me to John chapter
15. Good works are the fruit of grace,
not the product of religious duty. If you only come to church
because it's your duty to be here, I feel sorry for you. I
feel sorry for you. If you only come here and give
because you feel it's your duty to give, I feel sorry for you.
If you only read the Word of God and pray because it's your
duty to do it, I feel sorry for you. My friend, good works are
the fruit of a vital union with Christ. Now watch this, John
15.1. Christ tells His disciples here, I am the true vine and
my Father is the husband man. He's the one with the garden.
He's the one who planted the vine. It's his garden, his vine. Every branch in me, that is,
that professes to be in me, that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He
trims off the unnecessary sprouts, the old water sprouts. He cuts
away the rotten and diseased parts. He purges it. Now, he said, you're clean through
the word which I've spoken unto you. Abide in me. Don't leave
me. Don't unplug yourself from the
vine. Don't leave the vine now and
run off on your own because you've got a few leaves. He said, abide
in me. And I in you as a branch cannot,
it cannot, are you listening? It cannot bear fruit of itself. It's an impossibility except
it abide in the vine. No more can ye except you abide
in me. Boy, that's clear, ain't it?
Huh? I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in
me, and I in him, the same ought to bring forth much fruit. For
without me you can do nothing. You take a natural man and stick
your finger in his face and say, now it's your duty to be here
Sunday morning. You're commanding him to do things he can't do.
You're commanding a man who has no love in his heart to love.
You can't do it. Outside of Christ, you can't
do it. If a man, verse 6, Abide not
in me. He's cast forth as a branch and
withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire,
and they are burnt." They're burnt. All that good works require
can only be found in Christ, and only those who love Him and
believe on Him are going to serve Him. All right? Here's the third
thing. We preach the gospel of Christ
as the spring and foundation of good works because we're plainly
commanded in the scriptures to do so and forbidden to do otherwise. You mean we're forbidden to teach
good works? Apart from Christ, we are. Turn
with me to Colossians chapter 2. Preachers are not freelancers. We're not freelancers. We're
not turned loose to do what we want to do. We're not sent out
without instruction concerning the means and methods that we're
to employ in the preaching of the gospel. Colossians chapter
2, in verses 1 and 2, this expresses Paul's concern for their spiritual
welfare. His hope and expectation was
that they'd be knit together in love, and to have all the
riches of the full assurance of understanding, acknowledging
the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ." Verse
3, "...in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words." I did a little work on
that word, and I was talking with Don about it last night
on the phone. Here's what that word beguile means. A wicked
young man with hormones raging out of control. He cooks up a line to tell a
young lady to have his way. That's what it means to beguile. It's to lie to have your own
way. and in a very wicked sense. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3,
Paul said, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted,
now listen, from the simplicity that is in Christ, You know what
that word simplicity is? I don't mean that everything
in Christ is simple. That's not what he's talking
about. Singleness. The singleness that is in Christ. The oneness. And he warns them
of this beguiling, of enticing words. What would entice a believer? What would entice a believer?
Well, something that he believes would honor his Lord. That would
entice him. Something to honor his name. That might entice him. Something
to honor that church. And what would more entice him
than good works? Good works. Now listen to what
Paul tells them over here in Colossians concerning this beguiling. He says in verse 6, Colossians
chapter 2. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, how did you receive Him? Well, you received Him as God
set Him forth, didn't you? There is no other way to receive
Him. Otherwise, we just receive the figment of our imagination
or receive the testimony of the tradition of man. But we received
Him according as God has set Him forth as His propitiation.
We received Him as our Savior and our Lord, our High Priest. We received Him as God has set
Him forth and declared Him to be the promised King. He is the
King. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Don't go nowhere. You stay right there. Stay right
there. walk in Him, rooted and built
up in Him, and established in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy. Now, when that young man who
beguiles that young woman, if he gets his way, he spoils her.
And that's what Paul's talking about here. That's what he's
talking about here. If he gets your ear and gets
your heart, he's going to spoil you. How's he going to do that?
Through philosophy. Reasoning with the flesh. Appealing
to the flesh. Doctrining the flesh. And he's
going to do this. He's going to spoil you through
vain deceit after the tradition of men. After the rudiments or
rudimentary principles. basic principles of the world,
and not after Christ. What are some of these basic
principles and philosophies of the world? Well, they tell you
if you straighten up your life, you'll be more apt to be successful
in this world. That's true, isn't it? Well,
sure it is. Sure it is. If you turn your life around,
your marriage is more apt to be successful. That's kind of
true, too, isn't it? A man who's a drunkard and lays
out all the time, and if he turns his life around, he's a whole
lot more apt to save his marriage than if he didn't. If you turn
over a new leaf and reform your life, you'll be more loved by
the world. That's true, too, isn't it? That's
true, too. But here's the real truth of
the matter. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, which is
the head of all principality and power. And nothing and no
one can bring order into your life as He who has full principalities
and powers and made an open show of them. Nobody can turn your
life around quicker than Him. Nobody can show you the falsehood
and danger and beguiling of worldly religion and worldly philosophy
quicker than him who spoiled the whole thing and revealed
the whole thing in his life and death and resurrection. And to
attempt to walk outside of Christ would be like walking through
a maze with no eyes. No eyes. He calls it the blind
leading the blind. Everything about our walk depends
on him. The new man the believer puts
on is renewed, he said, in knowledge after the image of him who created
him, where Christ is all in all. It's the love of Christ, Paul
said, that constrains us. It's the glory of Christ that
motivates us. It's the wisdom of Christ that
teaches us. And it's the spirit of Christ
that leads us. It's the rule of Christ that
preserves us. As you have received Christ Jesus,
your Lord, so walk ye in Him. And then fourthly, we preach
Christ in connection with good works because good works, like
everything else in salvation, is designed to glorify God. In Matthew chapter 5, the Lord
uses three things to describe His work in the believer's walk,
in his life in this world. Salt. Some of you will remember
this from my son's school lesson here in Matthew. Salt and light
and law. As Christ is the salt of the
everlasting covenant and makes it a sweet savor to God, so the
believer having Christ in him by faith is the salt of this
earth. That's what he tells them. But
he said if salt has lost its savor, Christ in him. If he can't sweeten by Christ
in him, what good is he? Just like salt with no savor,
you just throw it out on the ground, it's no good anymore.
No good anymore. No matter what he goes through
or what crosses his path, It is his union with Christ that
takes away the bitterness. As Christ was a blessing upon
this world everywhere he went, so the believer is in all that
he does in Christ. And then secondly, as Christ
is the light of the world, so the believer, like the moon,
reflects that light and shines as a light in this dark world.
And then thirdly, Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf,
and we walk and serve Him as willing bond slaves, not as captive
slaves. So what does all this have to
do with the glory of God? Matthew 5, verse 16. Let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works,
now watch this, and glorify your Father. Not you. Glorify your Father which is
in heaven." Well, what is our light? If we walk in the light,
John said, as He is the light. Huh? That's your light. Christ
is your light. And what are these good works
that we walk in that don't glorify us but glorify Him? What are
these? Repentance. True repentance. What does that mean? That means
I hate myself. What does that mean? I can't
find anything in myself. I turn from myself. The only
person who's going to do that is a man who knows God. Faith. He believes God. He believed
God when he was the most powerful man in the East, like Job was.
And he believed God when he was down there a bull covering his
body, all of his kids dead, his fortune gone, his land gone,
everything gone. His friends standing there, they
were sorry comforters, standing there just throwing one accusation
after the other against him. And he still believed God. That's
faith. Worship. Worship. Obedience. submission, perseverance,
order, unity, love. Men see self-righteousness in
men, and it's condemned of the world as hypocrisy. But there's
no hypocrisy in a work of grace, because it doesn't come from
that man. It comes from God. It comes from
God. And it's not maintained by man,
it's maintained by Christ. And it ought to be our constant
prayer and desire before God to give us grace to be useful
to others while at the same time glorifying God. That's why I want to do that.
I want to do that. Repentance that is effectual
to turn us from sin and false religion and to turn us to God
in true worship in glorifying God. That's the kind of repentance
I want. Faith that is effectual to bring peace and rest and joy
even in times of trial. That's glorifying to God. Service that's void of reward
and free from self-glory and self-righteousness. That's glorifying
to God. The bottom line is that believers
walk with the mind of Christ, and all others walk in the vanity
of their own mind. He said, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Gospelism, you decide. You decide. But I'm telling you
this, what Christ Wherever he's not preeminent, wherever he's
not preeminent, especially in the pulpit, there'll never be
any good works honoring to God. You write it down.