begin this evening in Psalm 130. Psalm 130. I trust all of you have gotten
the brief sketch of an outline. I want you to be able to follow
carefully this evening. Over the years I have talked
to and corresponded with a lot of people who have been perplexed
and troubled by confusing questions, at least questions that to them
were and are confusing. And I want to try to answer some
of those questions this evening. I can't answer them all, but
I've given you a list of seven that I'm going to answer from
the Word of God, the Lord helping me. These are questions that
are confusing both to believers and to unbelievers at various
times and in different degrees, perhaps questions that trouble
you as well. Let's begin with Psalm 130 and
verse 3. If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities. If God
should mark iniquity, any iniquity, our iniquity, yours, mine, anybody
else's, O Lord, who shall stand? And the answer is nobody. Nobody. We are all sinners. We are all
guilty of iniquity, transgression, and sin. by birth, by nature,
by choice, and by practice, we are sinners in need of forgiveness.
And therefore, this next word from the psalmist is most blessing. But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be pleased. Thank God. There is forgiveness
with him that he may be feared. And the word feared is not the
word for dread, it's not the word that would imply some kind
of a dreadful fear, but rather there is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be worshipped. And the only way sinners will
ever know and worship the living God is to know and worship him
as forgiven sinners upon the merit of Christ's sacrifice as
our substitute. Now this evening I want us to
look at these questions. They're questions that cause
some trouble to many. I hope that I can answer the
questions from you for you from the Word of God, and do so in
such a manner that will be edifying, comforting, and instructive to
all of our hearts. Let's begin with the first one.
You can turn with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. The question
is this. Are there varying degrees of
sin, of guilt, and of punishment? Now, as I'm going to show you
in just a few minutes, the Word of God clearly teaches us that
there are no varying degrees of innocence, righteousness,
or holiness. If you're not perfectly innocent,
you're not innocent at all. If you're not perfectly righteous,
you're not righteous at all. If you're not perfectly holy,
you're not holy at all. Therefore, we recognize that
the Scriptures certainly do not teach that there are varying
degrees of holiness or of righteousness, and therefore there are no varying
degrees of reward for the righteous in heaven's eternal glory. The
teaching of the degrees of reward is totally contrary to the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, and totally contrary
to the plainest statements of Scripture. Now, yet there is,
and we will look at these scriptures in just a moment, there is clearly
the teaching that in the Word of God we are taught that there
are varying degrees of sin, varying degrees of guilt and varying
degrees of punishment, depending on the person's guilt before
God. I am raising this question for
a couple of reasons. First, the Pathists teach that
certain sins are venial, that is, certain sins are pardonable
in themselves. Certain sins they teach do not
deserve the wrath of God and eternal damnation and hell, while
other sins they call moral sins. sins that do deserve the wrath
of God and eternal damnation. Certainly that distinction is
purely a matter of papal invention as are most doctrines of Rome.
All sin deserves God's everlasting wrath. Every sin deserves eternal
punishment. There are no exceptions. The
scripture says the wages of sin, any sin, every sin, all sin. The wages of sin is death. We have earned for ourselves,
by the sin and fall of our father Adam, spiritual death. When Adam
sinned, we died. We have earned for ourselves,
by our own sin as well as our sin in Adam, physical death. We are born into this world as
dying creatures. Soon we will leave this world.
Every ache, every pain, every trial, every sickness, every
weakness we have in this flesh physically is a testimony that
we are dying men and women and we have merited that by reason
of our sin in Adam as well as our sinful nature on this earth.
And we have also merited everlasting death because we live continually
as sinners before God violating his law, violating his word,
denying his right to be God, we are therefore courting everlasting
destruction by nature. And yet the Word of God does
tell us, and tells us in the plainest terms possible, that
there are greater and lesser sins. Just as the breaches of
the law, some were weightier than others, so sins today of
men and women are some greater and some lesser than others,
depending upon the circumstances. Those who perish without the
light of the gospel indeed perish forever. Look here in Romans
2 and verse 12. Sometimes the question comes
up, well what about those who've never heard the gospel? Those
heathen who are in the dark tribes of the world who've never heard
the gospel, are they saved without the gospel? Oh no, no no. They
perish without the light of the gospel. They perish without the
law of God or the word of God. Romans 2 verse 12, as many as
have sinned without the law, it does not say they shall live
without the law, it says they shall perish without the law.
And as many as have sinned in the law, those who have sinned
in the light of the word of God, those who have sinned against
the word of God, the light of divine revelation, they shall
be judged by the law. Do you see that? It does not
in any way suggest that the heathen, without the knowledge of Christ,
somehow God is going to just pass them by and ignore their
sin. Not at all. Those who perish
without the law shall be judged without the law, and those who
perish with the law shall be judged by the law. In other words,
Paul was telling us that those who perish without the light
of God's grace in Revelation, in Holy Scripture, shall be punished
far less than those who go to hell, as it were, pushing God
out of their way. Those who perish without the
law. shall at last be far less severely
punished than those who perish sitting on these pews right here.
If a man must go to hell, let him go to hell without hearing
the word, rather than go to hell despising the word. If I must
perish, let me perish with no light than with the light God
has given me. Let's look at another scripture,
Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11. This is not a matter
of speculation, this is not some fine point of theology, this
is exactly what our Lord taught. Matthew 11 verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, They would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Now you talk about
a declaration of God's sovereignty. The Lord God here declares, our
Savior, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, speaks plainly and says,
if God had done for Tyre, or if he had done for Sodom and
Gomorrah, those wicked cities where Lot decked his righteous
soul, if the Lord Jesus had come there, and done in their sight
what he did in the sight of Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. But the Lord withheld that light
from them. He gave it to Tyre and Sidon
and Tyre and Sidon and their rebellion pushed him out of the
way and will not believe him and therefore he says these religious
men and women who despise the gospel shall have the greater
condemnation than those perverts in Sodom and Gomorrah who never
heard the gospel and never saw the light of divine revelation.
Read on. And thou Capernaum, verse 23. I'm sorry, verse 22,
but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable," you see that?
"...more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven,
shalt be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee." and the parable concerning the faithful steward.
Our Lord speaks plainly concerning the faithful and unfaithful stewards
with regard to the responsibilities and privileges given in this
world. In Luke chapter 12, listen carefully, verse 47, that servant
which knew his Lord's will, that's you. There's not anybody sitting
here who doesn't. God plainly revealed to you the
light of the gospel. He's shown you the way of salvation
and faith through Jesus Christ the Lord. and prepared not himself,
neither did according to his will, that is, that servant who
knew what the master required, and refused to obey the requirement
of the master, willfully, deliberately rebels against him, shall be
beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did
commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.
and to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask them
more." Now look at one more text, John chapter 19. Our Lord is
standing before Pilate, and Pilate dares to upbraid the
Son of God. Then saith Pilate unto him, verse
10, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? This man,
whose throne was made and was upheld by the Son of God, abrades
him, says, don't you know what power I have over you? And the
Lord Jesus says, thou couldest have no power at all against
me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, now look
at it, Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee, Judas, hath the
greater sin." So yes, there are varying degrees of sin, varying
degrees of guilt, varying degrees of condemnation. And commenting
on this very question, whether there will be differing degrees
of guilt and sin and damnation, John Gill wrote, but God forgives
iniquity, transgression, and sin. which include all sorts
of sins, sins of the greatest magnitude and of the deepest
depth. They are all blotted out for Christ's sake, such as are
like crimson and scarlet become through him as white as wool,
as white as the snow. His blood cleanses from all sin. Every sin is forgiven but the
sin against the Holy Ghost. Now, that brings me to the second
question. Will there be any forgiveness
of sin? in the world to come. Some people reading Matthew chapter
12, I ask you to turn there if you will, verses 31 and 32, have
erroneously concluded that since our Lord says that this sin and
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven either
in this world or in the world to come, they have erroneously
and heretically concluded that our Lord is suggesting that there
is going to be a future time when sin will be forgiven. Somehow
he's referring to a time beyond this life, beyond this present
age, beyond this gospel day, when sin will yet be forgiven.
But certainly that is not the teaching of Matthew 12, verses
31 and 32. Let's go ahead and read the text.
I'll deal with it a little bit more in just a moment, but here
in verse 31, Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh
a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven
him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Now, our
Lord here tells us that this sin of blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven. The text teaches that, no more
and no less. This blessed book does not teach,
it does not teach the doctrines of purgatory or limbo, neither
the Catholic doctrine nor various Protestant forms of those doctrines. The second chance, this idea
that somehow there's going to be a future tribulation period
or sometime in the judgment when the Lord's going to give you
another chance to believe, he's going to give you another chance
to obtain forgiveness, is certainly contrary to Scripture. There
will be no forgiveness once this life is ended. Once the gospel
age is over, once the day of grace is finished, once you have
breathed your last breath, you will have no hope at all of forgiveness. There is no possibility of forgiveness
except here and now. The scripture says now is the
day of salvation. Now is the day of mercy and of
grace. The scriptures are explicit and
clear in that regard. But this passage of scripture
has a more important and more troubling question to be answered
than this matter of some future possibility of forgiveness, or
some possibility of forgiveness in the future. The third question
is regarding this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Why is this sin
of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost said to be unforgivable,
unpardonable? What is it? What is this sin? Now, we know that our Lord is
not saying that any sin against the Holy Spirit or every sin
against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable. Were that the case, there'd be
no hope for any of us. We know that's the case. That's not the
case. We know that we recognize that the sin spoken of here is
something more than a denial of the deity of the Holy Spirit
or of his personality, so that those who would to suggest that
this is talking about a man who says that there's no such thing
as the Trinity, or that the Holy Spirit is not God, or denies
the Trinity or the personality of the Holy Spirit within the
Trinity. That's certainly not the case, because there are many
who believe on the Son of God, who are true believers, who once
denied those very things. And this is more than a denial
of the necessity of the Holy Spirit's operations. I've heard
fellows suggest, well, this is talking and men who deny that
it's necessary for the Holy Spirit to come and give us life and
faith in Christ. That's not the case. Were that
the case, then all of us would be damned, for we are all Arminians
by nature, and we've all denied the necessity of God's irresistible
grace and the power of His Spirit. It is also something more than
just vexing and greeting His Spirit. Abraham vexed the Holy
Spirit. Lot certainly vexed the Holy
Spirit. You and I vex the Holy Spirit,
oftentimes as we go through this world. David, in the matter of
Uriah, vexed the Spirit. The Israelites vexed the Spirit,
and yet we are all evidences and examples of being forgiven.
But what is this sin against the Holy Spirit? It's not a sin
against the law, but rather it's a sin against the gospel. It
is a denial of the great fundamental truth, the truth of the gospel
that salvation is by Jesus Christ alone in all its branches, and
it is denial in the teeth of known revelation. You understand
what I'm saying? It's not just a matter of saying
that I do not believe that Christ alone is Savior. That's not it.
It's not a matter of saying I do not believe that salvation is
by grace alone. That's not it. It's denying it
while being fully convinced that it's true. Let me show you. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. It is sinning against divine
light, sinning against the revelation of the Holy Spirit in Holy Scripture. Here in Matthew chapter 11, these
men were convinced of the power of God in Jesus Christ, and yet
they blasphemed and denied him. And our Lord Jesus is talking
exactly about that. He says in verse 26 of Hebrews
10, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge
of the truth. Now then somebody said, well
that's talking about, you know, if we deliberately tell a lie. Did you ever not deliberately
tell a lie? If we deliberately do something
wrong, did you ever not deliberately do something wrong? Everything
we do, we do willfully, be it bad or evil. Everything we do,
we do willfully. He's not talking about some act
of sin as far as moral uprightness is concerned. When David took
Bathsheba, he did it willfully. When he had Uriah kill Rex, he
did it willfully. What this is talking about is
something else. It's talking about having received the knowledge
of truth and willfully sinning against that truth. Read on,
verse 27. He said in verse 26, if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful looking forward of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. of how much surer
punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood
of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Now, I can
see perplexed looks on your faces. What on earth are you talking
about, Pastor? Let me see if I can illustrate it for you. I am fully convinced, fully convinced
by this book, by the Spirit of God, of the gospel of God's free
grace as I preach it to you. I don't have the slightest, not
the slightest hesitation in declaring it to you. Should it happen that
tomorrow, or twenty years down the road, for whatever reason,
to please that woman for a better salary, to move up in the ranks
of religious society, for whatever reason, I should turn and deny
this that I'm preaching to you? There remains no more sacrifice
for sin. Because I've denied the only sacrifice there is.
I've denied the only gospel there is. I've denied the only Savior
there is. And thus, bless thee the Holy Spirit. Oh, pascha. That's serious stuff. That's serious stuff. That's
serious stuff. And that which is true of me
as a preacher is true of you who profess to believe the gospel.
Now then, fourthly, what happens when a believer sins? Oh, how that text or that question
perplexes many of God's saints. I had a call just last week. If I trust Christ now and am
forgiven of Christ for all my past sins, what will happen when
I sin again? Will the Lord turn against me
again? Will I lose my salvation? Will I forfeit my interest in
Christ and in his salvation? Now, listen carefully to the
Word of God. Listen to me as I prepare you to look at some
Scripture, and I want you to look at the Scripture with me,
but listen carefully to what Scripture says. When a believer
sins, much does happen. We lose fellowship with Christ.
We are chastened of the Lord. We, by our sins, make rods with
which we shall be chastened of God. We lose the joy of the blessed,
sweet communion of Christ in the Spirit of God. All of those
things happen. But when all is said and done,
our Heavenly Father never ceases to cherish his own. Our Savior
never ceases to hold us. Our standing before God, our
relationship with God, and our acceptance with him is not to
any degree at all affected by our sin. I want that to sink
in, to sink in good. You see, our acceptance with
God is a matter of grace, not merit. Our acceptance with God
is in Christ our substitute, not in ourselves. It does not
in any way depend upon us and cannot in any way be altered
by us. Let the self-righteous, arrogant
men in their wickedness say what they will about that and charge
us with whatever they want to charge us with. That's the teaching
of this blessed book, and I want you to see it. Romans chapter
4, Romans chapter 4 verse 8. If you don't want to turn to
all these scriptures, just listen as I read them to you. Romans 4
is a quotation taken directly from Psalm 32. Here in Romans
4 verse 8, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord, get it now,
will not impute sin. He won't do it. Rex Bartley,
if God has imputed your sin and mine to his dear son, he will
never impute sin to us again. Never. That gives men a license
to sin. Only men who know nothing about
this forgiveness. They're the only ones who see
this and say, now let us sin that grace may abound. Nobody
who knows the grace of God talks like that. David in that 32nd
Psalm described the forgiveness of sin like this, as he went
back after Nathan said, the Lord hath put away thy sin. He said,
blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no God. What's he talking about? Forgiven. Our sins have been lifted up
off of us, taken away from us and imputed to God's Son. Our
sins have been covered like the mercy seat covered the broken
law. So the Lord Jesus Christ covers
our sins from the eyes of God Almighty as our sins have not
been imputed to us and were imputed to him. So the Lord God will
not charge us with sin ever for any reason. Listen to Psalm 89.
Turn there and look at that one if you will. I'll give you a
minute to get there. Psalm 89. This is a psalm all about covenant
grace. If you want to understand the
psalm, wherever you find David's name, insert Christ. That's who
he's talking about. Now look at it. Psalm 89, verse
30. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgment, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments. Now Bob I loathe the fact of
it but that describes exactly what I've been doing today and
you too. Then will I visit their transgressions
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. I'm a father and I'll correct
my son I'm a father, I'll chastise my daughters, read on. Nevertheless,
oh, I love that word. Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take, look at this, from him. He doesn't
say, Paul, my loving kindness will I not take from them. He
said from him, the issues with him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
son of David, read on. nor suffer my faithfulness to
fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that's gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
in my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed, now
here's them again, his seed who break my law, walk not in my
statutes, and keep not my commandments, his seed shall endure forever
at his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever
as the moon and as a faithful witness of heaven. Our Savior
said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And then look at this text here
in 1 John 2. 1 John chapter 2. It's very familiar to you. My little children. Every faithful gospel preacher
looks upon God's children as his. They are the instruments
by which many women are born into this kingdom as they preach
the gospel and they are in a real sense his children. My little children. Bob and Sally Ponce are sitting
there holding a thing by mom and dad, but my children, my
children. These things write out unto you
that you sin Now the things I've been preaching to you tonight,
I preach to you because I want you to cease from sin. Ron, don't ever become comfortable
with sin. Don't ever look upon sin as something,
well, I'll tolerate it now. Don't sin. Don't sin. Make that your goal. Make that
your ambition. Make that your heart's desire.
Don't sin. And if any man sin, now you can
write that word if just as small as you want to, you do. Any man sin, we sin in everything we do. If
we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves that truth
is not in us. That's what it says. We say we haven't sinned,
When we read the Word, when we come to the house of God, at
just as much, just as much as in any area of life, we are constantly,
constantly sinning against God, even in our best needs of worship
and faith and obedience. We constantly sin against Him.
And if we sin, we've lost our advocate. Oh, blessed be God. If we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. As sinners, we have an
advocate with the Father. And I want to tell you something,
as soon as you think you haven't got any sin, you don't have an
advocate. This advocate is for sinners
only. And this advocate is an effectual advocate. His name
is Jesus. the Savior, Christ the appointed,
anointed one of God, the righteous one who is worthy of God's smile
and God's approval. And he is the propitiation, the
justice, satisfying atonement for our sins. And not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world, for the sins
of God's elect throughout all the world. Now then, fifthly,
should we pray for the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes I'm asked
that question, and I, you know, sometimes I'm asked it by imaginary
theologians who think they're smarter than God, and I just
kind of grit my teeth and grin and go on and leave it alone.
But sometimes I'm asked that question by some people. I think
to myself, well, what can it hurt? Go ahead. But I realize
it's a question that for some does cause difficulty, causes
some confusion. were forgiven before the world
began, if our sins were forgiven when Christ died, if our sins
are already forgiven us, should we now pray for the forgiveness
of sins? Now certainly, with regard to the unbeliever, the
unbeliever ought to seek forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus.
But let it not ever be a matter of confusion in our witnessing
to men. or in those who would seek to
know the Lord. The unbeliever's responsibility
is never set forth as being, you pray, you ask for the forgiveness
of sins, but rather you believe, look to Christ, and looking to
Christ you obtain the forgiveness of sins. But don't ever substitute
prayer or worship or Bible reading or any of the activities that
goes along with what men commonly look upon as religion and say
that that will substitute for faith. Oh no. It is believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But what about
believers? The question arises with believers. We're called saints rather than
sinners. So should we pray for forgiveness? We're already forgiven. Should
we yet continue praying for forgiveness? Turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke
11, verse 2. Rather than me speculating about
it, let's just see what God says in His Word. Luke 11, verse 2. The Lord Jesus is teaching His
disciples to pray, and He said unto them, When you pray, say,
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us
this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins." Forgive
us our sins, do you see that? Our Lord taught us then to pray
for the forgiveness of sins. Somehow we are such carnal beasts. We take the most holy sacred
things in this book. And in the first experience of
them, they're matters of great joy. Do you remember what it
was as pilgrim at the foot of Mount Calvary to look up on the
crucified substitute and know the blessedness of seeing your
sins fall off your back and roll into the abyss of God's forgiveness. Remember what that was? But as
we grow in grace and knowledge, and I say that real cautiously, we have a tendency rather to
sit down and debate whether or not we ought to ask for forgiveness
rather than rejoicing in forgiveness. God keep us. God keep us from
that. Cold, dry, unfelt, unexperienced
religion, most useless thing in this world. God keep us from
that. Our Lord said, when you pray,
say, forgive us our sins. And this is certainly what the
saints of God in the Scriptures experienced. Back in Exodus chapter
34, Moses, the man of God, came down from the mount and he said,
Oh Lord, I pray thee, pardon our iniquity and our sin and
take us for your inheritance. But he already said he would.
I know it, but let me hear it again. I've already said, you're
my people forever, the lot of mine heard is yes, but Lord,
make me to hear the glad sound again. David prayed like this
in Psalm 25 verse 11. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity. Here's the first reason, Lord,
for your name's sake. And then he reinforces it with
another reason. You remember what it was? For
it is great. What a strange place. Lord, for
your name's sake, pardon my iniquity, for my iniquity is great. And
your great forgiveness will bring great glory to your name. He
said in Psalm 32, that psalm we read a little bit ago, I acknowledge
my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest
the iniquity of my sin. Oh, stop and think about that. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee, for thou mayst be saved. What is
he saying? Everyone that is godly will turn
to you and pray for forgiveness, for pardon, for the lifting up
and taking away of their transgressions. Daniel, that great man, cried,
O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, how
can and do defer not for thine own sake? O my God, for thy city
and thy people are called by thy name. Now then, let me spend
just a minute or two talking to you about the sixth question. Will the sins of God's elect
be exposed in the day of judgment and in the world to come? I know a good many of you have
been exposed most of your lives to religion that has got you
to have the notion that in the day of judgment What the Lord's
going to do is he's going to take some kind of a movie camera
and he's going to show all your secret thoughts, all your secret
sins, all those things that everybody, you shut them all out now, but
in the day of judgment, he's going to show it all. Nothing like that in this world.
Nothing like that here. There are many who claim to believe
in salvation by grace, alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone, who keep people in bondage with the threat of some form
of future punishment, the loss of rewards or the promise of
rewards for doing good. And such doctrine, as I said
earlier, is totally contrary to this book. Look in Revelation
21, verse 4. Revelation 21, verse 4. If there were no other reason
for saying this, Revelation 21, verse 4 is enough for I recall one time at Lookout,
I told you a story before. There's a fellow preaching for
me, and he wouldn't have been preaching for me if I'd have
thought he'd make such a stupid statement. But he was a reputable,
well-known man for preaching grace. He's standing in our pulpit. I was sitting about where Shelby
is, and he said, you're going to spend eternity weeping for
every hour you didn't serve Christ faithfully. What kind of heaven
is that? What kind of grace is that? That's
silly. That's not only silly, it's totally
contrary to this book. Look here in Revelation 21. And
God shall wipe away how many? What does it say? All tears. Not yet, but soon. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow of any kind, nor crying of any kind, neither shall
there be any more pain of any kind. For the former things,
bless you, be my blessing, they're gone. As I said earlier, there is no
such thing as partial righteousness and partial holiness. So many
times folks quote Hebrews 12, 14, follow peace with all men
and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And they
tell you, now you, you do, you do good and pursue doing good
and do best you can until, until you finally can see the Lord
because you've attained unto this high degree of sanctification
that you stand before him holy. Oh no. Oh, that's not Dr. Lee's book. You follow peace
with all men. and you pursue holiness in Jesus
Christ and that alone is that by which you shall stand before
the Lord accepted. The basis of our acceptance with
God in the day of judgment as now is the person and work of
Christ our substitute, not ourselves. The notion that Christ will somehow
expose the sins of his beloved bride on her wedding day is preposterous
beyond imagination. You know, I remember that day
well. Nearly 29 years ago, that beautiful
blonde-headed lady was walking down the aisle, and let's suppose
she had some defect in her, some hideous thing in her that she
had managed to keep hidden from all the world. And when I lifted
her veil, I turned around and said, look at this. Boy, that's
stupidity. That's preposterous. Oh, no,
no, no, no. In that day of our espousals,
the Lord Jesus Christ shall present His Holy Bride before the throne
of His Father and before wandering worlds, holy, unblameable, and
on God's side. Holy, unblameable, That means
there ain't nothing with which he finds fault. Nothing. Because
he put away all our sins. The purpose of God in election,
the purpose of Christ in redemption, and the purpose of the Holy Spirit
in sanctification would all fall to the ground. If we are found with even one
spot of sin in that great and glorious day. Listen to this.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
anything like us, but that it should be holy. Now, here's one more question. How can I, a sinner, obtain this
forgiveness? Have you got your Bible open
there one more time? First John one nine. If you haven't yet obtained it,
this is how you get it. If we confess our sins, that's not talking, take that
thing off the hook, please. That's not talking. It's not
talking about if we will somehow sit down and list our sins and
categorize our sins and say, no, Lord, I did this, I did that,
I did the other thing. That's not it. If we open our
hearts before God, confess our sin. Here I am, the sinner. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Look into Christ, thy faith,
confessing our sin. Take side with God against yourself,
against thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this great
evil in thy sight. is faithful to his Word, to his
Son, to his name, to his honor, to his covenant, and just on
the grounds of Christ's atoning sacrifice and his perfect obedience
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen. Let's stand together for
prayer.