I want to point out a few select
verses in this chapter to you this morning and attempt by the
grace of God to speak to you a message I trust that God will
own and that He will make clear to all of your hearts. I read
in the 32nd verse of the 8th chapter of John these words. And ye shall know the truth,
the Lord Jesus speaking, and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And then in John 8 and 36, it
says, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed. And then in John chapter 14 and
verse 6, just hold your place here. We'll quote this verse
to you. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Now Christ Jesus, according to
these verses, spans that great gulf between a holy God and the
sinner. Christ Jesus spans the gulf between
a Holy Father, a Holy God, and the unholy sinner. Man would
manufacture a way of his own, and by means of his resolution
and reformations, his prayers, his tears, he would climb up
to God if he were able. But this, according to the Word
of God, is impossible. Jesus said, you shall know the
truth, and the truth will make you free. He said, if the sun
therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. The
Bible says in Proverbs 4 and 19, that the way of the wicked
is as darkness, they know not at what they stumble. And then
a thousand systems has the mind of man, fallen man devised in
which he might get to God, in which he might bridge the gap,
in which he might come to the understanding and to the knowledge
of the truth. God hath made man upright, the
scripture says in Ecclesiastes 7 and 29. God hath made man upright,
but they have sought out many inventions. Romans 3 and 11 says
there is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. Man left to himself is unable
to find the way to God. He must be instructed by the
Holy Spirit and the way must be revealed unto his heart. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. He said, I am the life. He meant
by that that he was spiritual life and he was eternal life. This life is in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the great emancipator from death. He's
the one that delivers souls from spiritual death unto spiritual
life. The Bible says in John chapter
5 and verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. The Lord Jesus is that great
emancipator from spiritual death and darkness. Lost man is alive
to the things of this world, but he's dead to heavenly things.
Those that are outside of Christ are dead to the things of the
Spirit. Now our brother read to us out
of I Corinthians this morning, and I just want to mention a
couple of these verses to you. In verse 11, it says, For what
man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now what Paul is telling us here,
that a man in the flesh, as it were, in his natural state, without
the Spirit of God in him, he does not know the things of God. Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man. You say, well, let a man get
him some books. Let him get a good education,
and he'll be able to find out who God is. But we just heard,
read to us, that the scripture says that after that, in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
so God must reveal himself, he must make himself known, and
no man is able to find God on his own. We read further in the
second chapter of I Corinthians in verse 14, But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him. When he hears the gospel, he's
in his natural state, he's blind to spiritual things, he has not
the light of God in his soul, and so he says, this preaching
of the cross, this preaching of Christ and Him crucified,
it's just nothing but foolishness. And the Bible says, neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually understood. They
are only understood by the Spirit. And so when the Spirit of God
comes with His anointing and His unction into the heart of
a sinner, that sinner comes to know the Lord. And he can appreciate
the truth of the Gospel, and he can rejoice in the truth of
the Gospel. Now, the one who is out of Christ
merely exists. but he has no spiritual life.
He exists, if that is true, but he has no spiritual life. He
has flesh life and natural life, but no spiritual life. The one
who believes in Christ has passed out of death unto life. He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now in John chapter 18, I would
invite you to turn over there for a moment with me. John chapter
18, and we hear Pilate asking the Lord Jesus Christ a question. And I'd like to read verse 37
and 38 to you at this time of John 18. Pilate therefore said
unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king, to this end was I born, and for this cause came
I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Now every one that is of the truth heareth my voice, saith
the Lord Jesus. This will make more sense to
you in a moment. Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no
fault at all." Talking about the truth. What is the truth? I want to speak on two things
this morning, and that is, number one, what is the truth? Number
two, and how do we know it when we hear it? Now Pilate voiced,
I believe, the perplexity of multitudes when he asked, what
is truth? First of all, as we address this
question as to what is truth, might I say simply that Christ
is the truth. He told us that in John chapter
14 in verse 6, where he said, I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. You'll never have true faith
If you do not have, you will not have God's salvation until
the Son sets you free, until you find truth, Him to be the
truth to your heart. Now the closest thing that we
can come to capitalizing the truth is to say that the truth
is a person. And that's what the Lord Jesus
means when He said, if the Son sets you free, You'll know the
truth, and the truth will make you free. If the Son sets you
free, you'll be free indeed. Christ is the personification
of the truth. You will never know the truth
till you get in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I speak the
truth in Christ. Again, he said, the truth is
in Jesus. That's where it is. Well, how
can we know the truth? Now the devil is the father of
lies. He's a liar from the beginning,
saith the Lord Jesus Christ. We go to bed and we get up to
lies. We are under the influence of
lies in this world. From the political realm, from
the religious realm, lies, beloved, from twenty-four hours a day,
from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, we're
under the influence of lies. There's such a thing as false
faith. Faith in a lie. There are many,
many people who are trusting in that which they've heard which
is untrue, and they're trusting in that for their salvation. They have faith in a lie. Now
there is a way, the Bible says, that seemeth right to a man,
but the end thereof is the way of death. Now false faith can
do much, and yet, while doing so very much, do nothing for
the eternity-bound soul, but that which is damning. Now false
faith can excite the emotions as it did those who cried Hosanna
to Christ as he entered Jerusalem and later they cried crucify
him, the same people. False faith can reform the life
and make men morally upright as it did the Pharisees. False
faith can attain high office as it did Judas who was numbered
with the apostles. False faith may even speak well
of Christ, as did Pilate, who said, I find no fault with him. False faith can bring one to
be baptized, as was Simon. False faith can give large gifts,
as did Ananias and Sapphira. False faith can fellowship and
amaze you with believers, as did Demas and Diotrephes. False faith can be zealous, sincere,
and even fight for its beliefs, as Saul of Tarsus did before
his conversion. False faith can even persevere. in his confidence until the day
of judgment as those we read of in Matthew chapter 7 who prophesied
and cast out devils and did many wonderful works in the name of
Christ only to hear him say in the end depart from me ye that
work iniquity I never knew you but false faith no matter how
sincere hear me out cannot produce the life of God in the soul It
cannot. It cannot know that we have passed
from death unto life. It cannot know that. False faith
can never produce a heart that is broken for sin, such as we
read of when David, who said in Psalm 51, Against thee, and
thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Again, false faith can never
bow to the sovereignty of God in all things and give Him full
glory. Have you ever been suspect of
people who were not able to bow and surrender themselves to the
absolute sovereignty of God and to give Him full glory for the
salvation of the soul? Well, my friend, we have reason
to suspect them because they're not able, they do not understand
who the God of the Bible really is and they're not able to give
Him full glory. I remind you, let Him that glory. Let him glory in the Lord. False faith can never look to
Christ alone. apart from all human works for
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Just can't do
it. They gotta have a part in it. They cannot trust Christ
alone just to save them, to provide everything for them as far as
the salvation of their soul. False faith can never love and
forgive the brethren for Christ's sake. They cannot do that. They
hold a grudge. and they're constantly always
trying to drive a wedge between the brethren. They are not able
to forgive and they're not able to love the brethren for the
sake of the Savior. False faith can never love and
desire the Redeemer more than all the things of this present
world. Can't do it. You're not going to find anybody
sell himself out and love the Lord, give himself lock, stock,
and barrel over to the Lord, unless he has a true faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. False faith will never, never
bring him to sacrifice fully unto the Lord, to give himself
all on the altar of sacrifice. The song said, I've laid, and
only those can do that. that know the Lord Jesus Christ
and have the true faith of the gospel. Now, false faith may
appear genuine, deceiving both the one who possesses it and
those around them, but it does not fool God, it does not come
from God, it does not lay hold of eternal life in God's Son.
Only faith in the truth, Christ, given by God Himself through
His Spirit and Word, will do that. Now when Pilate asked Christ
what is truth, Christ didn't answer him. He did not answer
him. And I think this is unusual because most of the time when
the Lord Jesus Christ was asked a question sincerely, he answered
it. Paul said that Christ witnessed
a good confession before Pilate and I don't think he was wrong.
He said, Paul did, that Christ did witness a good profession
and confession before Pilate. No, Pilate was not sincere, that's
my opinion. Christ was over 30 years in this
world at this time, and he had been in this world, the world
knew him not, and Pilate certainly didn't know him. And he asked
this question, Pilate did, what is truth? He didn't wait for
the Lord Jesus to answer. Another reason why he didn't
answer is because Pilate was not hungry for the truth. The Spirit of God was not working
in his heart. The Spirit of God did not prompt
this question in Pilate. It was a sarcastic word. What is the truth? He wouldn't
have known it. He was standing right in front
of it, and he didn't know what the truth was. The truth is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he was not hungry for the
truth. And the Lord Jesus knew his heart,
and so he did not elaborate, he didn't say anything. He knew
his heart as he knows your heart this morning. Whether there is
any hunger and thirst after the Lord Jesus Christ in your soul
or not, My friend, we believe that the first workings of an
almighty, all-powerful, sovereign God in the soul is that He gives
an appetite, He gives a thirst, a hunger and a thirst for the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have that in your heart? God has reserved the best for
people that want it. You mark it down. People that
get saved want to get saved. People that get saved on the
most part are people that are desirous to know the Lord, and
the Lord has created that hunger and thirst in their soul. Notice
the text again, when he said this, he just went out. Pilate
said, what is the truth and he just went out that's in John
18 38 and Well, apparently didn't want to know anything more about
the truth or didn't have time to find out anything about the
truth Now the truth must be revealed by God. It must be revealed by
God. You never know it until if he
doesn't reveal it and make it known. The Holy Spirit must take
the things of Christ and make them known unto you. You cannot know a person unless
he reveals himself, and the truth is a person, it's Christ, and
he must reveal himself to you. It must be hungered for and sought
after and this is also the gift of God and it's the working of
the Divine Spirit. This is very important in the
field, I think, of practicality. Truth will be known by those
people whom the Spirit of God moves to seek after it and to
know it. If any man wills to do my will,
Jesus said, he'll know. He'll know the doctrine whether
or not it be of God or whether or not it be of man. Do you come
here with a readiness of mind or are you hungry? You remember
those noble Bereans who were more noble than the Thessalonians. in that they received the word
with all readiness of heart and mind and soul, and they believed
the word when it was presented to them, and they searched daily
to find out whether what they were hearing was the truth or
not. Well, my friend, you don't approach
truth like you approach a television. When you sit down in front of
a television, you lock your brain in neutral, and it just idles
on. But if you want to know the truth,
you must be willing and hungry for God to show you the truth.
This must be the state of affairs with your soul. God must stir
up your heart, and only those that are hungry are going to
know the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 25 verses 4 through 5,
Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths, lead me in thy
truth, teach me, for thou the God of my salvation, on thee
do I wait all the day long. But what was the psalmist waiting
for? For God to show him, for God
to teach him, for God to lead him. You say, Preacher, how long
do you wait? Well, I believe that a man, if
he's sincere, if he's hungry, if he desires that the Spirit
of the Lord's working in his heart and his working faith in
his soul, I believe that he'll wait until he hears from the
Lord, I am thy salvation, until he hears that from the Lord.
It takes a little waiting on God to get a readiness of mind
to want Him to teach you The truth. It must be hungered for,
it must be sought after, it will be hungered for, and it will
be sought after before you get it. I believe that with all my
heart. Well, what must I do while I
wait for God to reveal Christ to me? Well, I believe you ought
to attend church where the gospel is preached. You ought to continue
to attend the house of God and to hear the Bible read and to
hear it preached. And I think that it would be
good for you to read good books. My friend, if you want to get
wet, the old saying is, jump in the water. And if you want
to get hot, get next to the stove. If you want to know Him who is
the truth, go where He is known and where He is preached. Now
Baptists, and I don't like to say about them because they are
my people, are among the most ignorant people on the face of
the earth. Why do I say that? Well, They don't go to church
enough in the first place. They're not hungry. They have
no appetites. Most of them are not regenerate
because they received another Jesus and they received another
gospel. They're living in this day when
the earth is full of a Jesus being preached that is not the
Jesus of the Bible. And they've received another
gospel. Turn over with me to the book
of 2 Corinthians. And in the 11th chapter, I want
to read a verse of scripture here to you this time. Here it
is, it's verse 4. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus whom you've not preached, whom we have not preached,
or if you receive another spirit which ye have not received, or
another gospel which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear
with him." And what he's saying is, you people have so digressed
from the truth of the pure gospel of the grace of God, that you
now, when one comes preaching another Jesus, whom we've not
preached, you receive him cheerfully. I mean, you clap your hands,
as it were, inwardly, rejoicing that you have heard what this
man, who is preaching another Jesus, who brings another spirit
and another gospel and sets it before you, and Paul said, I'm
afraid of you people. I've espoused you as one husband
to Christ, and here it is, you're now clapping your hands as it
were, and being cheerful about this fellow who comes and talking
to you about an entirely different Jesus. Now beloved, the true
Jesus of the Bible is a sovereign Christ. He is Lord. He is Lord
indeed. He's Lord of Lords, the Bible
says, and He's King of Kings. And He's in this world to save
His people from their sin. Luke 1 verse 53 says, He hath
filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty
away. And beloved, I believe this is
the law of the kingdom. Oh, for the anointing of God,
I pray for you only that you'll be awakened, first of all, and
that you'll be desirous of knowing the truth. You'll be awakened
by the Holy Spirit, and that that unction of the Holy One
will be given to you, and that it will not be needful that any
man teach you, but you'll receive that unction from the Holy One,
and you'll know the all things of God. Well, if we're hungry
and seeking the truth, how will I know the truth when I hear
it? How will I know the truth when
I hear it? Well, I believe there's a five-fold
test that you can apply to what you hear from week to week to
determine whether what you're hearing is truly biblical or
merely an invention of a man. whether it be another gospel,
whether it be another spirit, whether it be another Jesus.
These are five things that you can apply to what you hear to
find out whether it's the truth or not. Bear with me and it won't
take too much longer and I'll be finished here. Number one,
does it give God all the glory? What you hear from week to week,
what you are hearing this morning out of the Word of God, does
it give God all the glory. Now there is no getting around
this acid test, because this will reveal the truth. that which
does not glorify God in all of his perfections cannot be of
God. It cannot be of God. What is
our motive in preaching the gospel of Christ? We need to understand
that it is our motive that determines the very value of our ministry. It is our motive. Why do we meet
here? Why do we come in here on every
Lord's Day and preach the Word of God? Why are we doing it?
What is our motive? Well, without question, let me
say that there are several worthy secondary reasons for proclaiming
the message of Christ and Him crucified. It can be said that
we preach for the salvation of lost sinners. It's said that
we preach for the edification and the comfort of God's people. It can be said that we preach
to leave unbelievers without an excuse. But beloved, hear
me and hear me carefully. Our first and primary reason
for continuing to minister the gospel must always be the glory
of God in Jesus Christ. And we will never stay true to
the glory of God, stay true to the message of salvation by Christ
alone, through grace alone, if any of the secondary motives
become the primary one for our ministry. Don't ever forget it.
Now, we will be tempted to compromise the message which we preach.
For example, should the salvation of sinners, which we greatly
desire and we do pray for the salvation of sinners, become
our primary reason for opening the doors of this building and
for preaching, then we would be tempted to take away the sharp
edges of the message of the gospel for the sake of more sinners
being enticed to come to Christ. Perhaps we could make the narrow
way a little bit wider. Somebody might see. We are to
a degree interested in results. Yes, we are. We all would love
to see this house full, to hear the gospel of redeeming grace. However, we must not make the
secondary primary and compromise our message. We must not do so. I believe the one thing that
will keep us on track and consistent in our message and method is
to do everything for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's
motive must be ours. He said, whatsoever you do, do
all for the glory of God. Now that which shares God's glory
with the creature cannot, cannot be true and must not be tolerated
in the preaching of this church. Now then, in order to illustrate
that, I want you to turn with me to the ninth chapter of the
book of Romans. Romans chapter 9. I want to illustrate
this. Now what we're saying is that
that which shares God's glory with the creature, and there
is so much an attempt in our day and time to to share the
glory of God with the creature. Man must have his part in the
preaching of the gospel. He must have his part in the
salvation of his soul. The message, as far as this religious
world is concerned, is Sinner, save thyself. And that's their
message. And the reason why they want
the message of Sinner, save thyself, is because they want a share
in the glory. They want to be able to point
to themselves and to say that they have had a part in their
salvation. Now, I wanted to read here these
verses found in Romans 9. In verse 10, we begin with verse
10, and not only so, or not only this, but when Rebecca also had
conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And I wanted to read to you out
of Philip's translation on this very passage because I believe
it's so clear, so much clearer in Philip's translation. And
let me read this to you, beginning there again with verse 10, and
it says, And then again a word of promise came to Rebekah at
the time when she was pregnant with two children by the one
man Isaac, our forefather. It came before the children were
born or had done anything good or bad, plainly showing that
God's act of choice has nothing to do with achievements, good
or bad, but is entirely a matter of His will. The promise was,
the elder shall serve the younger. And we get a latter endorsement
of this divine choice in the words, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated." Now, do we conclude that God is unfair? Never. God said long ago to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. It is obviously not a question
of human will or human effort, but of divine mercy. Now this
is to be made clear, and what the example and what I'm illustrating
here is, and I'll just use a further word, a personal word, to illustrate
this portion. My son Mark, who recently was
converted in Indiana, has been talking with the assistant pastor
of a huge Baptist church in Brownsburg, Indiana. And he's been talking
to him about these very verses. And as he was speaking to him,
they had said, well, what you need to understand here,
Mark, is that the Lord looked down through history. He knew
what Esau was going to do. He knew that Esau was going to
sell his birthright. And so therefore, he said the
elder will serve the younger, He said, but Esau have I hated,
Jacob have I loved. Well, of course, if you, and
this is their way of getting out. of the Scripture, the truth
of the Scripture. Now hear what this verse says
and you'll see how subtle it is for people to rob God of His
glory, for them to place attention upon human nature and upon the
works and the will and the merit of man and take away from God
His sovereign prerogative and right to have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. Now notice what it says again.
For the children, in verse 11, being not yet born, neither have
done any good or evil. And so God's choice of Jacob
over Esau had nothing to do with what either one of them were
going to be. Now we know that Jacob was no
saint of God before God done a work in his heart. And he was
one that if you followed him real closely, even after that,
you would have been suspect of him. Jacob was a conniver. He was a con man, in putting
it in the language of our day. He was a con man. And he was
not a man who could commend what he did to God and thus receive
any blessing and any salvation from God. And of course Esau,
we know what he was. He sold his birthright. But I
tell you that if Jacob would have been what he ought to have
been, he would have never demanded that Esau that he give him his
birthright before he give him a bowl of beans. He would have
given him the beans if it had been what he ought to have been.
But in order for the Word of God to be fulfilled, that the
elder would serve the younger, Jacob being the conniver, the
deceiver that he was, the greedy soul that he was, he did not
give his brother the beans until he got the birthright in the
family. But I want you to see that God,
and look in verse 11, that the reason why it was done before
either one of them was born, either one of them had done any
good or evil, was that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth." Now, you
will not find one preacher out of a dozen that will tell you
that the difference here was made by God. and that it had
nothing to do with these boys. And the world and religion always
wants to look to man that man calls God to do what he does. God's will is the only free will
in the universe. All men are under the domination
of a sinful nature and they're in bondage to their nature. and
only God can deliver them from it. But God has a will and the
sovereignty of God must be upheld in the teaching of Scripture
in order for the Lord to receive the glory that is due unto His
name. So I say to you that that which
shares God's glory with the creature cannot be true. And Mark has
run into a stone wall. These people will not budge.
They are work mongers and they do not know the truth of the
Word of God. Salvation by the works of man,
the will of man, or the merits of man, is contrary to sound
doctrine, for it takes away from the glory of God's free and sovereign
grace. So that's the first point. Does
what you hear, is it honest with the Word of God, and does it
give God all the glory? That's the first point of this
test. of how can you determine when
you hear the truth. The second thing, does it humble
man and put him in the dust before this great sovereign God? Does
it humble man put him in the dust? Well, when the scripture
says it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy, Does that not show that God is not
looking to the will of man, that God is not looking to the strength
of man, and to the righteousness of man, but it's His purpose. He said, I will have compassion,
I will have mercy on whom I will, on whom I will. And so flesh
is humbled by this. You mean God's not going to take
something I've got? You mean God's not going to consider
who I am? You mean to tell me God is not
going to reward me for all of my doing right and my failing
to do wrong or my not doing wrong? You mean God's going to reward
me for that? I tell you that God is sovereign and if you listen
carefully to the Word of God it'll humble you before God. It's what we're hearing these
days against fleshly pride Or does it promote it? Does it promote
it? I hear preacher after preacher,
I read tracts and different things wherein it is spelled out clearly
that God, by these modern day false prophets, are telling people
that God cannot do anything unless they let Him. That God's hands
are tied. He can't do a thing unless you
let Him. Now my friend, that's a lie from
hell. There isn't any truth in that. If God's done everything
He can and you're still in the mess you're in, there isn't any
hope for you. There isn't any way out. You
don't have the ability. I'm not going to stand up here
and tell you you're a little God and you can do what you want
to with the Lord. You can tell Him when you're
not and tell Him when you are. No! I'm here to tell you this
morning that God is an absolute sovereign and that you, as far
as the Word of God is concerned, that you are to humble yourself
before Him. You remember what the Lord called
Jacob? He said, Jacob, you're a worm. That's what you are.
Jacob, you're a worm. Now, beloved, Jacob is the one
that God loved. And He loved him out of the pit
and saved him, but He still called him a worm. And I want you to
understand that if you're hearing the truth of the Word of God,
the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, and the wage of sin is death. And if you hear correctly the
Word of God, it'll burst your balloon of fleshly pride. It will destroy it. And I trust
God that there will never ever be anything said from this pulpit
in this building that will promote the pride of man. in any way,
shape, or form. God is sovereign and He'll do
with man what He wills. You are not, my friend, you're
not in control of God's salvation. You're not in control of it.
God is in control of His salvation. Salvation is not a human project. It's God that will have mercy. It's God that will have compassion
and He'll do it when He pleases. Now this doctrine puts man in
his rightful place on the dunghill, not on the throne, but on the
dunghill. And if it puts God in his rightful
place upon his sovereign throne on high, ruling and reigning
over all his creatures, disposing of each according to the good
pleasure of his will, to him be glory. Number three, does
it honor the justice of God and the law of God? What do you hear? from week to week. Whatever God does must be in accordance
with His own righteous character. God cannot justify without a
Redeemer. He cannot save apart from a sacrifice. The Lord Jesus only is the Savior
and His work on Calvary, His redemption that has been accomplished
and God must and can justify and forgive all of those who
are unable to put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Number four, does it exalt the
person and the work of Jesus Christ the Lord? All true doctrine
begins and ends with the person of Jesus Christ. He is the center
and the substance of the entire Word of God. Any teaching which
detracts from Him or His work to any degree must be set down
as untrue. It is not true. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God's beloved Son. The Lord Jesus Christ came down
from glory. He's the true bread of life.
He's the water of life. And there's salvation in none
other but in Jesus Christ. And only as you trust in His
accomplished work can you be saved, can you pass from death
to life. Number five, does He give consolation
to believers? Does it give consolation? What
you hear from week to week. Does it console the hearts of
those that are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ? True doctrine,
far from being harmful and dangerous to God's people, brings solace
to the hearts of those who trust in the Lord. It brings solace
and comfort to their hearts. Divine truths form solid foundation
upon which we find security and hope as we travel through this
world. We're on our way to glory. Many
are the struggles, many are the difficulties, many are the afflictions
of the righteous, and they need solid comfort. They need the
Word of God. They need God's truth. They don't
need a watered-down version of the truth. They need to hear
straight from the Word of God. Thus saith the Lord as to how
God can and will undertake and intervene on the behalf of His
tried and tested people. They need to hear that. They
need to hear that there is comfort in the Word, and God is the God
of all comfort, and the God of all grace, and the God of all
mercy. And if what you hear is consoling,
and if it's always lifting you up instead of dragging you down,
then you know as a believer you're hearing the truth. You're hearing
what the Word of God teaches. Martin Luther once said that
there were three things which he dared not think of without
Christ. And there are three problems
that every man, woman, boy and girl is born with as they come
into this world. Three problems that must be dealt
with. Number one, his sins. Martin
Luther said, I don't want to think about my sins without thinking
about Christ. Now, here in this place, we tell
you that Jesus Christ, His death, the sin, was the believer's death,
the sin. That Christ was the sacrifice,
and that He took away our sin. He laid down His life for us,
and He took our sin away. And He's cast it behind His back,
as far as the east is from the west, never to remember it against
us again. The Word of God says it is appointed
unto men once to die. The second thing, that second
problem is death. Everybody's gonna die. Everybody's
gonna die. Now one time there was an evangelist
up preaching in a church and he made the statement two or
three times and he was provoked to make the statement because
there was a man sitting down on the front row who was laughing
while he was making the statement. But this man said, every member
of this church, every one of you church members are going
to die. And that man was laughing. And so he said it again, every
one of you church members are going to die, looking right at
this fellow. And the fellow still had a big grin on his face. And
so he said it the third time, every one of you church members
are going to die. And then he went on, in his message,
and after the meeting was over, he'd come up to this man and
he said, I want to know why you were grinning and why you were
smiling when I was saying that. And he said, well, I'm not a
member of this church. I'm not a member of this church.
Well, listen to me. It doesn't make any difference
whether you're a member of this church or not. It's appointed unto man
once to die, and then the next thing is judgment. Martin Luther
said, I don't want to think about my sins, I don't want to think
about death, and I don't want to think about judgment without
thinking about Christ. Now, my friend, you got an appointment,
a personal appointment to stand before God. And those of you
that have died in the Lord Jesus, those of you that have come to
faith, those of you that have trusted in Christ and has finished
work on your behalf, and your reliance is totally on Christ,
the way, the truth, and the life, then you don't fear judgment.
You passed out of death unto life. But you'll have to face
God one of these days. I heard a story about, well,
it was over in China, And there was a fella that got together
an orchestra. And he had this fella that supposedly played the flute. But yet, as the truth came out
later, this man paid good wages for his musicians. And so this
fella got him a job, but he never sounded a note on his instrument.
But he just went through the motions. And so one day, of course,
he collected his money like everybody else. And it was a huge orchestra.
And one day, while the fellow that was paying the wages and
that had put the orchestra together, he wanted a solo from every one
of his musicians. And so they started appearing
before this fellow to give their solo. Well, come time for this
fella to give his solo. And so he acted like he was ill
so that he couldn't go, but they said, you got to do it anyway.
And so he committed suicide rather than face the music. And that's
where that phrase, you've heard people say, you gotta face the
music. Well, that's where it came from, right there. And you're
going to have to face the music one of these days. You say, well,
I've been going to church, but you're pretending. You're playing
church. You haven't really come to the
place in your heart where you're trusting unreservedly the free
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of Christ. And that's
what Martin Luther was talking about. He said, I don't want
to face the music without Christ. I don't want to come before Him,
because you know, The Lord has instructed us on what to do,
what not to do in His holy law, and every one of us have failed.
And we need a Redeemer. We need a Savior. Our sins must
be forgiven. Sins must be dealt with. And
so Christ, He's the answer to sin. He's the answer to death.
And He's the answer to judgment. And those that are in Christ
need not fear the judgment, because the Bible says we've passed.
from under condemnation, and it says that there is no longer
any condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Are you
in the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, then I believe that you're
comforted by these truths, and I think it's good to preach these
truths because they console the hearts of God's poor, afflicted,
and tested family. And so if you're here this morning,
you might be able to say, well, I think I can now determine reasonably
what the truth is when I hear it. I can hear it, and I can
rejoice in it, and I can be glad in it. Well, may the Lord be
pleased to own the message, and bless it to your heart. We'll
have a word of prayer, and then we'll have a closing. Father,
we thank you that you've allowed us this morning to gather here.
We thank you for your precious Word. We thank you, O Lord, for
the truth that is in your Son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you
that He is the personification Himself, of the truth. And Lord,
we know that as He comes into our hearts and lives, as we're
enabled by the Spirit of God, as we're regenerated and made
alive in the Lord, that we are able to overcome and rejoice
in Him and to be glad for the work that He's done in us. And
so may the people of God rejoice today in full salvation in the
Lord Jesus. Bless those who have come today
and meet their needs, Father, And as they go, may they have
a joyful heart and soul in Christ. We pray for his sake. Amen.