Right, we're looking this week
then at Matthew's Gospel chapter 18 and the parable that we find
in verses 23 down to the end of the chapter. Now, we've been
looking at a series of parables in no particular order and last
week we looked at the parable in Matthew 20, the parable about
the vineyard and the laborers in the vineyard And just to recap
very, very briefly, what we saw in that parable, the obvious
lesson, and this is what we're looking for, is the obvious lessons. The obvious lesson of that parable
was that in the Lord Jesus Christ, His servants, for we're all His
servants if we're in Him, His servants are all equally and
freely rewarded. No difference. Equally, freely
rewarded. And the corollary of that we
saw was that in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're judged as well
in Him. not for our own works, not for
our own works. Notice the words of the hymns
that we've been singing. In fact, I'm going to look particularly
at the words of the hymn that we intend to sing at the end
of this as part of the message because they're so clear. If
you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're believing in Him, if
you're trusting in Him, it's because He died for you and He
lived for you and He stood in your place and He did all that
was necessary for you and you are rewarded in him for the father
looks upon you in him and says this is my beloved child in whom
I'm well pleased why because he's perfect no he's a sinner
but I look at him in the Lord Jesus Christ and I judge him
in the Lord Jesus Christ he looks upon us as he does on the Lord
Jesus Christ and that is why Christ is all our hope this is
the gospel this is the message of this book whatever men would
seek to tell us in different ages and particularly in our
day in terms of distorting this gospel of grace, the message
of this book from front to back is that in the Lord Jesus Christ,
his people are counted as he is. They're judged as he is,
they're rewarded as he is, they're counted as he is. And so that's
true for us if we have true faith. Do we have true faith? We're
encouraged as we saw briefly last week 2 Corinthians 13 verse
5, Paul says this, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
This is not to become morbidly introspective, constantly looking
at ourselves to see whether we're good enough to be counted Christians,
but it is to look for some things, some basic things. If you're
in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have true faith, and I'm
saying this of myself as well, then there'll be certain things
that are true. Answer these questions. Where is your affection? Where
is your affection? Where is your heart's affection?
Where is your trust? Where is your hope? Where is
your desire? Look at David's last words, 2
Samuel chapter 23 2 Samuel chapter 23 and he talks about the Spirit of the Lord speaking
by him. These are the last words of David,
verse 1. The anointed of God, the anointed
of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel. And the Lord
spoke by him. And the God of Israel said, The
rock of Israel spoke to me. He that rules over men must be
just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds.
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain although my house David's house was a mess verse
5 although my house be not so with God yet this is you see
this is where his affection is yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant a covenant of salvation that covenant of grace between
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem a people.
He has made with me, He has made known to me a covenant of grace,
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, no doubt
in it, for this is all my salvation. This was David's testimony. This
is the testimony of a believer. This is the testimony of true
faith, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my
salvation and all my desire although He make it not to grow. This
is all my desire, all my desire. Is that your desire? Is that
your affection? Is it mine? Because that's a
mark of true faith. We may fail constantly. We know
that we are sinners and if we say we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. But where is my heart?
I know where my heart's affection is. Is it on Him? Is it on those
things? Do I desire his glory? Do I desire
to walk in his ways? And what about my attitude to
others? What about my attitude to others? Do I still have that
natural bitter streak to others? That selfish streak to them?
That proud streak? That streak of superiority over
them that's the natural bent of mankind? Of disrespect for
one another? Or do I view them as I do myself? do I view them that I don't want
to do them any harm I want to do them nothing but good as far
as is within me I just want to be able to do them good you see
it's not what we do or how well we do it but what is the heart
motive this is what the scripture is about what is the heart motive
is our heart motive love for God and the good of others now
look what Peter asks in verse 21 of Matthew 18 you see he's
been thinking about these things and so Peter comes to him and
says Lord, okay then, how often shall my brother sin against
me? Alright, you're saying we've got to be forgiving to one another.
How often shall he sin against me and I forgive him? As many
as seven times. Do I have to keep, you know,
he keeps, he does me wrong and I forgive him. And he comes back
and he does me wrong again and I forgive him again. And you
say, I've got to keep forgetting. And he comes back and he does
me wrong again. And I forgive him again. How many times? Is
seven times enough? Is that enough? How often? In
order to have done enough to qualify, to be right in your
kingdom. How often? And Jesus replies
this. Jesus says, I say to you, not until seven times, but until
70 times seven. What? Until 490 times. And then
you can not forgive him on the 491st. That's not what he's saying
obviously. He's saying it's without measurement.
It's not subject to measurement. It's not a question of measurement
of what have you done to have qualified to be good enough.
It's about motivation and attitude. You have an attitude of forgiving.
And then he goes on and tells them a parable which shows how
forgiving we ought to be. You see, he's saying this, if
you have been freely forgiven everything, me, you, all of us. If we have been freely forgiven
everything, that should motivate us to forgive others always and
without limit, without measurement. That should be our attitude of
mind. It should be a forgiving attitude of mind. So, what does
the parable say? Let's just look at it briefly.
There's one is a kingdom and the kingdom of heaven is likened
to a certain king which would take account of his servants.
God is the king of his kingdom and he's going to take account
of his servants. There's going to be a judgment
in this world. And when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought to him which owed him 10,000 talents and he
had not the wherewithal to pay. It was such an enormous debt.
You imagine the debt. It's a debt that is great beyond
all possibility of paying it. Not even Bill Gates, the richest
man in the world, could come anywhere near paying this debt.
It was such a big debt. It was beyond the wildest dreams. You know, if somebody says to
you, you owe £200,000, you might think, well, with an awful lot
of effort, I might just about be able to get together that
in a lifetime and pay that debt off. But the sort of money that
Bill Gates has got in his bank account, you know it's absolutely
impossible and this is the idea here, it's a debt which is far
too big to even consider being able to pay and so he's judged
and he's condemned and he hadn't got the wherewithal to pay and
his Lord commanded that he be sold, that his wife and his children
be sold, that all that he had be sold, you know the bailiffs
come in and they sold not just the telly and all the other things
but the wife and the children as well, everything that he had
for payment to be made. Not that that payment would offset
the debt. Not that that payment would clear
the debt. It would just deal with a little bit of it. It would
just make some contribution towards it. And this is the situation
of that man. He's been judged. There's an
enormous debt and he can go nowhere near paying it. And so look what
he does, verse 26. You see, he's got no other alternative. He's got nothing else that he
can call upon. There's nobody else to help him. There's nobody
else to come. There isn't a Bill Gates and
another rich man standing in the wings to come in and pay.
Nothing. He falls down and worships him saying, Lord have patience
with me. Have mercy on me and I will pay
you all. Not realizing that he couldn't.
And the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and
loosed him and forgave him the debt. He forgave him the debt
and so he lets him go and that man comes out of there freed
from an enormous debt and he finds somebody who owed him a
few bob as we might say not very much at all just a tiny little
bit owed him a tiny little bit and he gets hold of him and took
him by the throat you know that expression he shook him warmly
by the throat he got hold of him shook him by the throat pay
me what you owe me And his fellow servant fell down at his feet
and pleaded with him saying, have patience with me. Do you
hear an echo of words that this man pleaded with that king? Have patience with me and I will
pay you all. But he would not. The one who
was forgiven much would not. He went and cast him into prison
till he should pay all the debt. And so the fellow servants reported
to the king and there was a reckoning. and he was handed over to the
tormentors, this unforgiving servant, till he should pay all
that was due to him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you. If you from your hearts forgive
not everyone, his brother, their trespasses." We're not formulating doctrine
here. We're not formulating doctrine
about the people of God and their judgment for the things that
they do in this flesh and the fact that you could read this
that this is teaching doctrine that one who has been forgiven
ends up not forgiven and ends up being tormented for eternity.
That's not what this is teaching, not at all. Again, I would say
we don't formulate our doctrine from the parables. We look for
the obvious lessons because they're illustrative of doctrine. They're
illustrative of scriptural foundational principles. And the obvious lesson,
the one to look for here is this, that the unmerciful works of
that one who was forgiven were utterly inconsistent with his
own experience of limitless mercy. If you and I have experienced
limitless mercy, if we have, then we'll find it very, very,
very difficult to be unforgiving to others. If you've been let
off an enormous debt, you will find it very, very difficult
to exact a debt, however trivial, from somebody else. Because you'll
know what you were. You'll know what's been done
for you. If you have true faith, you'll
feel something We all have different degrees of emotion and tenderness
of conscience. But if you have true faith, you
will feel something of the debt that Christ has paid for you. You see, this is the lesson of
this. If you know something of the debt that Christ has paid
for you and for me, then we'll behave differently. There'll
be a different character to our lives. There'll be a different
outlook. We'll trip up and we'll fail
constantly, but there'll be a different outlook and character to who
we are and what we do. We need to see what is our debt.
You see, as creatures of the living God, we owe God our Creator
absolutely everything. Is that not true? We see all
around us men and women behaving as if there is no God. They're
just like the Athenians of Paul's day. You know, they're just seeking
pleasure and philosophy and ideas and who knows what else, anything
new that they're into, and anything other than the knowledge of the
true God, without realizing that we owe Him everything. This God
who is the true God, who's created all things, who sustains all
things, who gives us our life, and we owe Him everything, and
this is what we owe Him. you know the people came to Jesus
and asked him what is it that we owe God effectively is what
they were saying what must we do to inherit eternal life and
he summarized the law the whole law of God in two words didn't
he these two statements love the Lord your God with all your
heart and mind and soul and strength that's the first one and the
second one love your neighbor as yourself. That's it. The whole
law and the prophets are all bound up in that. Your attitude
to God, your attitude to others. Love him first, then love our
neighbor as ourself. Now we constantly fail. We constantly
fail from the moment we're born, from the moment we're conceived.
David said, in sin did my mother conceive me. He's not talking
about his mother being loose living. He's talking about the
fact that it's common to all of us who were born. It's the
trait and nature of man that we're born in sin. We're conceived
in sin. It's the natural state of us
as we are. And by thought, by word, by deed,
by our very nature, we constantly fail and we owe God a debt. We build up a debt that we owe
Him. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You
know, I'm not as bad as other people. I know I'm not perfect,
but I'm not as bad." Ah, we all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God. And James says, don't go saying,
oh, I haven't sinned very much. If you've offended in one, you're
guilty of all, is what he says. This is the judgment. There's
none righteous, no, not one. And the sin debt requires a payment. The sin debt earns wages. And the wages of sin, Romans
6, end of it, the last verse of Romans 6, the wages of sin
is death. That's it. The wages of sin is
death. That's what's required. The debt
is so great that that's the only thing, that's the only price
that God can exact. The justice of this God who is
our God. You may shake your fist in His
face, you may object, but this is the way it is. If you believe
the Scriptures, this is the truth. This God who has made us, He
requires of us a perfection, and none of us have given it.
And we all owe Him a colossal debt, like a financial debt.
Look at Isaiah with me, Isaiah 59. Prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 59. Remarkable. I wish we had time. Maybe we'll come back to it in
another week. But the whole of this chapter,
chapter 59, It begins with these words, words of comfort. Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither
His ear heavy that it cannot hear. You know this God who has
turned His face away from us as we'll see in the next verse.
His hand is not shortened that it cannot save. He can save.
He is able to save. But He says, your iniquities,
verse 2, have separated between you and your God. and your sins
have hid his face from you that he will not hear for your hands
are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity and so
it goes on read I commend to you read that chapter when when
you get home Isaiah 59 your iniquities have separated between you and
your God and you have to read a long way until you get down
to verse 20 and the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them
that turn from transgression in Jacob says the Lord You see,
there is a Redeemer. And then chapter 60, Arise, shine,
for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
you. But the condemnation is this. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from
you, so that He will not hear, even though He's able to hear.
His arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy
that it cannot hear, but your sins have separated. And you
know, different people of different tenderness of conscience feel
this in different ways. I remember reading John Warburton's
testimony. He was a preacher about 200 years
ago in the time of Gill and Gadsby and Huntington and people like
that and knew the Lord and really did and was a tremendous blessing
to his generation in his preaching and his knowledge of the truth
and his preaching of the gospel of grace but his testimony of
the time before he came to know the sweetness of salvation in
Christ was of this enormous debt this enormous crushing heavy
burden of the just and righteous law of God against him as he
was as a sinner and oh how he sought relief from that how he
sought peace with God until he found that peace with God seek
and you shall find and he did he found peace with God and it's
the testimony of so many of his saints to a larger or lesser
extent but we all know this if you're in Christ you know this
that you've been released from an enormous debt all debt must
be paid there are degrees of debt this parable indicates there
are degrees of debt and there are big sins and smaller sins
but all sins require a consistent banishment from God And whilst
the Word of God tells us quite clearly that different degrees
of sin will obtain different degrees of punishment, we know
that against that in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no degree
of reward for how good or how bad we've been in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But as we are by nature, all
debt must be paid and we can't pay it. We read right at the
very start in Psalm 49, at the start of the service, we read
those verses about the cost of redemption. Psalm 49 and verse
6, you see, you might think you can buy your way into the kingdom
of heaven. They that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them,
however rich they are, can by any means redeem, buy back his
brother from eternity, from a lost eternity, nor give to God a ransom
for him, because there is a ransom that is due For each one, for
each one of us, there is a ransom that is due. You know, I suppose
it still happens today, doesn't it, with kidnappings. But, you
know, you used to hear of kings being kidnapped and there being
a ransom due to release them. And it was the price that had
to be paid. There was some money had to be paid to set them free.
And that's what this is talking about. None of them can by any
means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom. for him,
a ransom to release him from his debt, from the situation
that he's in, for the redemption, the cost, the price of their
sin debt, the cost to clear that sin debt, the cost of their souls,
the redemption of their soul is precious, is precious. It ceaseth forever. In other
words, there's no hope in this life, in time, of a man ever,
ever paying that price. It cannot be paid. We can't pay
it. There's no sacrifice that we
can offer. You could turn back to Psalm
40 where we read, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
Our sacrifice and offering you did not desire. Because it doesn't
bring God pleasure. And the pleasure is to have that
sin debt paid. So all of our sacrifices and
our offerings can never pay that sin debt. Mine ears have you
opened. Burned offering and sin offering
you have not required. You see, if we can't do it ourselves,
you know what the scripture teaches. We need somebody else to do it
for us. Then said I, this is Psalm 40 again, following on
from that verse about sacrifice and offering. Then said I, lo,
I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God. Yes,
your law is within my heart. This is Christ. This is Christ
who is coming. on behalf of his people as a
substitute. You see, to pay that sin debt
needs somebody who is able to pay it and it needs somebody
who is willing to pay it for us. You see, the king in the
parable didn't just sweep the debt under the carpet. He found
somebody else who had paid it. Release him, says that text,
from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. And the
ransom that he has found for his people is the ransom of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is able and willing to pay
that ransom for us. Look at Genesis 43. You don't
need to turn to it. I'll read it to you. But you
know the story when Joseph was down in Egypt and his brothers
had been down there for corn because there was a great famine.
And his brothers at that stage knew that there was this powerful
ruler but they didn't recognize him as Joseph, their brother
who they'd sold into slavery. They didn't recognize him for
who he was. Doesn't that echo about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Doesn't that ring a bell in your heart? How we are by nature? They didn't realize who Joseph
was. We don't realize who Christ is
until we see him as he is, do we? Until we see what he's really
like. And they go down without Benjamin,
the youngest brother. And Joseph says, have you got
any other brothers? And they blurt it out. Yes, we
have another brother, a younger brother. Well, bring him to me.
We can't do that. It'll kill our father. Jacob
will die. If we bring Benjamin. He's already lost Joseph. He's
already lost Joseph. He'll die. If he loses Benjamin,
he won't be able to stay. If you want corn, if you want
all the things I can give you, you will bring Benjamin to me.
And so, they go back and Judah says, let him come with me to
Jacob." I can't let him go, I cannot let him go. And Judah said to
Israel, his father, send the lad with me and we will arise
and go that we may live and not die both we and you and also
our little ones. Now this is it, verse 9, look
at this. I will be surety for him. I will be sure. I'll stand
as the guarantor for him. You know whenever you enter into
a legal agreement that involves money in this country More often
than not, you have to have a guarantor, you know. You have to have something
that says, well, if you default on the agreement, somebody else
will stand in your place. And as far as the law is concerned,
they will be accountable just as your signature on this paper
says so. You need somebody to stand surety, guarantor for you. Look at Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. and verse 22 we've been talking
about priests and oaths and Melchizedek and then in verse 22 by so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant Jesus was made a surety
a guarantor a stand in the place of of a better covenant of a
better agreement and that agreement was the agreement to purchase
the salvation for the people of God. Who are those people?
Those whom the Father gave to the Son from before the foundation
of the world. Christ has paid the sin debt
of His elect. If we know that, if we know something
about that, we'll live differently and we'll have different attitudes.
If we know that Christ has paid my sin debt, He's paid it for
me and on behalf of all of His elect. Galatians 3.13 says this,
Christ has redeemed us. Paul is writing to believers.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He's bought
us back. He's paid the price from the curse of the law because
He was made a curse for us. He stood in our place for us.
2 Corinthians 5.21, you know it so well, for He made Him,
God made Him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us,
to bear it, to bear its responsibility, to bear its guilt, to bear its
actuality, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is a specific thing. This
is a particular thing. All that the Father gave to the
Son from before the beginning of time, Christ bore their sins. Their sins their sins alone,
their actual sins, its guilt, its penalty in that body that
was prepared for him on the cross of Calvary. I want you to turn
to a hymn, we're not going to sing it at the minute but I just
want you to turn to number 576 because this is going to be our
final hymn but it was written by Augustus Toplady and He didn't live very long, did
he? 1740 to 1778. Just 38 years he lived. But look what he knew. Look what
he knew. 576 it is. From whence this fear
and unbelief? Why am I full of fear and unbelief? Has not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me? So why should I be upset? Has
not the Father put to grief His spotless Son for me? And will
the righteous judge of men, because he is a righteous judge, condemn
me for that debt of sin which Lord was charged on thee? Do
you see what that's saying? Do you know that the majority
of the world that calls itself Christian does not preach that?
Do you know that's right? Do you know what they preach?
Do you know what they preach? This is what so many people think
is Christianity. They believe and they teach that
Jesus paid the sin debt for everybody that has ever lived. And you
make it yours by coming to the front or believing the gospel
or whatever else. That is a lie. And I tell you,
in these days, even in these days, especially these last 20,
30 years, even those that purport to proclaim the truth in Christ
of the Reformed doctrines of grace, they sound as if they're
preaching grace, but they're not. They're preaching that hideous
Arminian doctrine. that the righteous judge of men
charged all the sin of mankind to his son and he paid for it
and yet he throws some of them into hell. He cannot do it. The
righteous judge of men cannot condemn me for a debt of sin
that Lord was charged to thee. Because if Christ paid for it,
believe me, the Word of God is true. If Christ paid for it,
it is paid for. He will not. He will not require
it twice. The fire of God has fallen. You
know the forest fire, it's many years ago when we were living
near the New Forest and I remember in one very dry August, a forest
fire breaking out about three or four miles from where we lived
and it went absolutely rampant, didn't it? It just burnt so much
of the New Forest heathland. And when you went there, when
it had died down, when it finally went out a few days later, I
tell you, it wouldn't matter what you did with matches and
anything else. You wouldn't get a fire going
there because there was nothing left to burn. It had gone, absolutely. It was just ashes. The wrath
of God, the judgment of God, the justice of God has fallen
on Christ for his people and it will not fall on his people
ever again because they're in him. We tend to find this so
hard to understand because we live in a realm of time but in
eternity this is done this is the done thing it is done purely
and solely by the grace of God absolutely the righteous judge
of men will not condemn his people for that debt of sin which Lord
was charged on thee look at verse 2 complete atonement you have
made and to the utmost you have paid whatever your people owed
to that sin debt how then can wrath on me take place if sheltered
in your righteousness and sprinkled with your blood." He can't, can
it? The wrath of God cannot fall
upon his people if sheltered in his righteousness and sprinkled
with his blood. If you have my discharge procured
and freely in my room endured the whole of wrath divine, payment,
listen, payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding
surety's hand and then again at mine. He can't do it. The
God of all the earth is just. He cannot. And can you see that
if what is preached as Christianity in our day, even amongst some
who call themselves reformed is true, they can't sing this
because they're not preaching this. They're preaching that
it's possible by you refusing to hear that the debt that's
already been paid for you because it's been paid for everybody,
that you will then have to pay it yourself. They don't believe
this. Turn then my soul to your rest. The merits of your great
high priest have brought you liberty. Trust in his efficacious
blood. That means does the trick. Trust
in his blood that satisfies justice. Nor fear your banishment from
God since Jesus died for you. Leave your hymn books open there
in a couple of minutes. We're going to sing that. This is particular
redemption. This is what Christ has done
to pay the sin debt of his people. A specific debt actually paid
in full. As I said before, if you have
true faith, you will feel something of the debt that Christ has paid
for you. Now, has he paid your debt? Has
he paid my debt? If he has, you will certainly
hear that voice of God calling you. That will certainly be true.
You'll hear that voice of God calling. You'll hear Him saying,
Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. And you will come to Christ now. You won't put it off. You'll
come now. Why? Because now is the day of salvation. You'll hear His voice calling.
You'll feel the Father drawing. You'll be aware that whereas
you weren't able before, the Spirit has made you able to come,
to hear. You don't know why, but you can
come to Him. you'll be awakened, you'll be
confident as he promises, come to me all who labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest. Nobody can come unless the father
draws him but he who comes I will in no wise cast out. You come
confidently knowing he will not turn you away and you will certainly
repent of your sin. Oh that's true. Do you know this
was the message of the kingdom isn't it? Repent and believe. Repentance and faith. What do
we say to this generation? What the Gospel has always said.
Repent and believe. Repent of your sins. You will
repent of your sin. You cannot. It's like the concept of getting
married and there with your fiancé, with your sweetheart and it's
meant to be a total commitment to one another and your mistress
is sitting on the front row next to you. That's what it's like
to not repent of your sin. That's what it's like. It's to
enter a marriage with Christ holding your mistress of sin
in the background. No, you will repent of your sin.
You'll hate it. You'll turn from it. You'll constantly
every day want to put it to death. You'll fail constantly. Constantly
you'll fail. If you ever say you have no sin,
you'll deceive yourself and the truth will not be in you. But
you'll hate it and you'll repent of it and you'll want to turn
from it. You know, just as an illustration of this, you know,
it's good on health grounds to give up smoking. I think everybody
agrees with that. Even those that enjoy smoking
probably agree that on health grounds, it's very, very good
to give up smoking. But you know, there's lots of
people who give up but they don't repent of smoking. And then they
very easily start again. But I've heard of treatments
where people go to psychologists who are very, very good at getting
into the brain. and making the one who smokes
absolutely despise and detest the thought of smoking as much
as I personally do today. Because I know that I've got
very good friends who really enjoy it, but I cannot think
of anything more repulsive to my own body to suck smoke down
into my lungs. I just cannot envisage it. And
the psychologists make people who are heavy smokers repent
of their smoking. So they look at a cigarette and
rather than going, Or better not, but I'd love to. They go,
oh, I can't stand the thought of it. That's what we need to
be like, repenting of our sin, not clinging onto it with affection.
And look what else we do. In the parable, what did that
man do? All that he could do, plead for mercy. Verse 26, he
fell down and worshipped him. Have patience with me. He pleaded
for mercy. And this is what we do. We plead
for mercy with God because we know salvation is all. free grace. And if free grace,
why not for me?" And we look to Christ alone. We don't look
to ourselves as to how good we are. We don't look to ourselves
for qualifications to pay that sin debt, to qualify us to be
in His kingdom. We look to Christ alone. For
we are the circumcision. We are the circumcision, says
Paul, Philippians 3 verse 3. We are the circumcision who rejoice
in Christ Jesus, worship God in the Spirit, Rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You see, that's
true religion. Worship God in the spirit, in
spirit and in truth. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. You
rejoice in Him. He's all my desire, all my hope,
my heart's desire. Song of Solomon, those echoes
in Song of Solomon of that romance. He is all my desire and I add
nothing to Him. I have no confidence in the flesh.
I will not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name." And finally, if you see something that He's paid the
sin debt for you, and you have that true faith, and you've believed
Him, and you've come to Him, but you'll also be changed. And
this is the hallmark of true faith. You'll also be changed. You'll live differently. You'll
constantly fail. You'll always fall short in this
flesh, as long as we're in this flesh and in this life. But you
will be changed. The person who is redeemed by
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is brought to faith in Him, who
sees what He is in Christ, who sees what God has done for him
in Christ, will be changed, will live differently towards God.
God will be first. Where are you going to live?
Where are you going to go? What are you going to do? All of those
things. God will be first in all of those things and your
fellow man. You'll forgive your fellow men.
You won't want to do them harm. You'll only want to ever do them
good. It's the hallmark of true faith. James says this, I'll
show you my faith by my works. Okay, well let's sing that closing
hymn, number 576 from Whence This Fear and Unbelief. Can you stop the recording now
as well?