Form or Faith?

Q: What does the Bible say about hypocrisy in religion?

The Bible condemns hypocrisy, as seen in Matthew 23, where Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for their outward shows of righteousness while neglecting true faith. In Matthew 23, Jesus clearly warns against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the scribes. He states that they honor God with their words but their actions reveal their hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8). Jesus emphasizes that their focus is on external rituals and appearances rather than genuine spiritual substance. He notes that their religious practices are empty and serve only to draw attention to themselves rather than glorify God. This condemnation serves as a caution to all believers about the dangers of performing religious duties devoid of a heart aligned with God's truth.

Q: How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Grace is essential for salvation as it is through grace that we are saved, not by our works, as taught in Ephesians 2:8-9. The concept of grace is deeply rooted in the biblical understanding of salvation. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.' This emphasizes that our salvation is not based on our own efforts or merits but is solely a free gift from God. This principle is foundational in Reformed theology, highlighting the need for reliance on God's mercy rather than human performance. When we understand that it is God who initiates and completes our salvation, we grasp the crucial role grace plays in our relationship with Him.

Q: Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Understanding God's sovereignty is crucial as it assures believers that God is in control of all things and works everything for their good. God's sovereignty is a central tenet in Reformed theology that underscores His absolute authority over creation and the unfolding of history. This belief brings comfort to Christians, knowing that everything, from life's trials to triumphs, is under God’s providential oversight. Romans 8:28 assures us that 'all things work together for good to them that love God.' Recognizing God's sovereignty encourages believers to trust Him fully, even amid uncertainty, as we acknowledge His purpose is ultimately for His glory and our benefit. It fosters a profound sense of security in Christ, reinforcing the truth that He is not only our Savior but also the Lord orchestrating every detail of our lives.

Q: What does true religion look like according to the Bible?

True religion, as described in Scripture, involves a genuine knowledge of God and a heartfelt commitment to His will, grounded in grace. Scripture outlines true religion as arising out of a true and personal knowledge of God as He is revealed in the Bible. It encompasses recognizing our own sinful nature and understanding the great things God has done for us through Christ. This relationship fosters love, surrender, and commitment to Jesus as Lord. Moreover, true religion must produce love for God and others, not merely a legalistic adherence to religious norms. It is a life of faith exemplified by humility, mercy, and a sincere desire to glorify Him in all aspects of life. As James 1:27 states, pure religion is to care for orphans and widows and keep oneself unspotted from the world, indicating that true faith expresses itself in love and action.

Brother Jeff Thornberry used
to say that the believer, as he goes through the Bible, especially
the book of Hebrews, will find himself hedged about
on one side with the promises of God, lest he despair. and on the other side with the
warnings of God, lest he presume. And our Lord frequently said,
Beware of the false prophets. Peter said, There are many. As
there were many false prophets in Israel in the days of our
fathers, there will be false prophets among you. And we are
exhorted by the beloved John to try the spirits, whether they
be of God. And he's talking about preachers.
Try the preachers. That's what he's saying. Because
every man speaks by some spirit. Spirit of God or the spirit of
evil. And so try these preachers and
prophets and spirits that preach to you. I was talking to Pastor
on the telephone this week. a man whom you do not know, whom
I know, preacher of the gospel. He said, I'm weary, so weary
of all the religion about us. He said, I think sometimes I'd
like to just go to the mountains of West Virginia and get me a
little cabin and not see any religious person ever again and
worship God. Well, that's not the thing to
do. Arthur Pink did that. He finally just isolated himself
from everybody. He couldn't find anybody to worship,
with whom to worship. And praise God, he was so disappointed
in everyone, except himself I guess. But this message will have a
negative note, but I'm going to get to something positive
before I'm through. And it has to begin there because
our Lord in Matthew 23, now this chapter you have opened before
you, our Lord Jesus Christ condemns the religionists of that day. And these conditions still exist.
He spoke plainly, he spoke pointedly of their hypocrisy, of their
false religion and false worship. Over there in Matthew 15, I believe
it is, these people draw nigh to me with their mouths and with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And I want you
to see these seven or eight marks of hypocrisy, of false religion,
here in Matthew 23. And let's start with verse 1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to his disciples. saying the scribes and the Pharisees,
those were the preachers, those were the religious leaders, those
were all the men that had the titles, Sadducees, Pharisees,
scribes and lawyers and teachers in Scripture. They sit in Moses'
seat. They're leaders. They're teachers.
They rule in the synagogue. And all therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, that observe and do. They're teaching the
law. They're reading the law. But do not ye after their works,
don't do what they do, for they say and do not. And they bind heavy burdens and
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
They tell you what to do, how you to sacrifice, and how you
to live, but they don't do this. And that's evident in this day,
for they call upon people to support them in their luxurious
living. They don't sacrifice. They don't keep the very things
that they command the people to keep. In verse 5, the second
thing about them says that their works they do to be seen of men. They do their works to be seen
of men. They make broad their phylacteries. That's the blue
border on their garments that signifies their faith in the
law or their keeping the law. And they make them even wider,
make them broad to let every people know they really keep
the law. They enlarge the borders of their garments. They love
the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues.
They like greetings in the markets. They like to be called of men,
rabbi, rabbi, or doctor, or reverend. or bishop, or elder, or whatever. But be ye not called rabbi, one
is your master, even Christ. And you are all brethren. And
don't call any man your father upon the earth. It's Catholicism
with its many fathers, you know. Don't call a man father on this
earth, but one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, doctors, for one is your master, even Christ.
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and
whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. And he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted." You know, if you turn
for a moment over to Matthew 6, Matthew chapter 6, there's
much Exhibitionism in religion today, all the waving of the
hands and the raising of money, you know, the telethons and the things that, the prayers, you
hold hands and pray and all these things. And they talk about how
they help the children overseas. Listen to chapter 6 of Matthew. Our Lord says, take heed that
you do not your alms your righteousness, your good deeds before men to
be seen of them. Otherwise, you have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine
arms, don't sound a trumpet before thee. Don't tell people how many
souls you've won and how you've sacrificed and toiled for Jesus. That's what the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men. I say unto you, they have their
reward. In other words, when they praise themselves and tell
of their great doings and men praise them, that's their reward. That's why they did it, and that's
their reward. When you do alms or goodness
or righteousness or help somebody, do it secretly. Let not your
left hand know what your right hand doeth, that your alms may
be in secret and your father would see it in secret. He'll
reward you openly. And when you pray, don't be like
a hypocrite. They love to pray standing in
the synagogues, in the corners of the streets. They do very
little private praying. They do a lot of public praying,
that they may be seen of me. And very last thing, they have
their reward. But when thou prayest, enter
your closet. And when you shut the door, pray
to your Father which is in secret. And your Father which seeth in
secret shall reward you openly. They do their works to be seen
of men. All right, look at verse 13.
In Matthew 23. Matthew 23, 13. But woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees! You're hypocrites. In other words,
what he's saying, the scribes and lawyers and Pharisees, they're
hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. You neither go in yourselves,
nor suffer them that are entering to go in. In other words, these
preachers will not allow people to hear this message of Christ
and the message of grace. They're not going to follow Christ,
and they don't want anybody else to. They're not going to hear
the message of grace, and they don't want anybody else to hear
that message. I was preaching at a meeting in Indiana a few
years ago, and I preached two nights, and the pastor closed
the meeting. He said, our folks are not going to hear that anymore.
He meant he's not going to hear it, and therefore they're not
going to hear it. And that's what these preachers do, these
false prophets. They don't believe the message
of grace, and they don't want you to believe it. They don't
want anybody else to hear it. That's what he said to you. Shut
up the kingdom of God against men. You won't go in. You won't
hear the gospel. You won't follow Christ. You
won't preach grace, and you don't want anybody else to preach it.
Verse 14, listen to this. Warned you scribes and Pharisees,
you hypocrite, you devour widows' houses. How they devour widows'
houses. You know who's the chief supporter
of these telethons and television programs? That's exactly right. Poor women. That's exactly right. I read something recently about
that. The chief supporter of the swagger
And those other people, Thompsons and the rest of them, are women.
And many of them are widow women. And some of them have given everything
that their husbands left them to live on to these preachers.
I'm saying this, and I'm going to be very careful what I say
here, but any preacher on television who conducts a telethon to raise
money, is out of the will of God. Any preacher on television
or from the pulpit that stands before you and pressures you
and appeals to you to give, to support anything he's doing,
is not in the will of God. He's not God's man. The Lord supports his people
and his church and his gospel like Matthew 6, what I read a
while ago, by people giving because they were led of God in their
hearts to give, because they purposed between them and God
to give, and they did it secretly, as unto the Lord and not unto
men. Suppose one of you men here came
home from work one afternoon, and you saw your son and daughter,
or two sons and two daughters, and they were going house to
house. with these little buckets. And you got one of them over
to the side and said, what are you doing, son? He said, I'm
raising money to feed our house and feed our family and clothe
us. I'm going to help you out a little
bit, dad. It would be embarrassing, wouldn't it? It would be embarrassing. Or your wife was out there with
a whole bunch of old blankets in the yard selling, raising
money to support the family, you know, a yard sale to support
the church. Or maybe your children had a
car wash near you. It's all right if they want to
wash their neighbor's car, but don't do it to support the family.
That's your job. And I'm saying this, that any
time you conduct a telethon, or have an appeal, or put pressure
on people to raise money to support God's family, you're blaspheming
the Heavenly Father. Is that too strong? That's just
so. Especially, especially, When
you try to indicate to these dear, kind, sweet, lovable old
mothers that their relationship with God depends on how much
they give you, that is ungodly. That is ungodly. That's devouring
widows' houses. Isn't that what that is? We should be helping them, not
them helping us. To me, this is negative, isn't
it? But it's ungodly. And for a pretense you make these
long prayers, therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Paul said, I don't care if it's
an angel from heaven. Let him be a curse. It's ungodly. Listen to verse 15. Woe unto
you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You come from sea
and land to make one proselyte. What is this? A convert. A proselyte is one who comes
over to your side. He believes like you believe.
He does these things. So, what you do is you just come
from sea and land. You go to these parts, you go
to Haiti and all these other places and you preach your salvation
by free will and salvation by work. And then you raise, people
raise their hand, you bring them down the aisle and you say, repeat
after me. and do this and God will save
you or you will save yourself or something. And they make all
these proselytes and converts. Like this young man wrote me
this week. He said when he was in fundamentalism he had the
fastest growing church in Ohio. He had 600 members and 2 or 3
buses. And he learned grace and a few
weeks later he had 23 people left. 23 people. They're all gone. Proselytes. That's what it is. Converting
people to your way. He's saying you come from sea
and land. You send missionaries. You go
all over the world to make one proselyte. Make him a Baptist
or a Methodist or a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something. And
when you make him, now very careful. Watch our Lord's words there.
You come from sea and land to make a proselyte. We don't make
sheep. God makes sheep. You make proselytes. You make converts. God makes
sheep. God calls sheep. And after you've
made Him, you've made Him a convert, you've given Him a profession
of faith, you've given Him salvation. You said, now, say after me,
God be merciful to me. So now you're saved. You've made
Him a convert. He's twofold more the child of
hell than you are. What you've done to this man,
you've given him a false refuge. You've given him a hiding place.
If a person talks to you about his soul, point him to the Word
of God. Point him to Christ. Don't tell
him he's saved. Don't give him a hope, a false
refuge. He'll hide in it till he dies. It's the Lord who saves. It's
the Lord who quickens sinners. It's the Lord who convicts sinners.
It's the Lord who reveals Christ. It's the Lord through the power
of His Spirit that gives a man assurance and confidence and
hope. Leave people alone. Preach to them. Pray for them
and leave them alone. Ask God to save them. He's the
only one who can. Don't make him a convert. Don't say to one of your children,
honey, isn't it about time you decided for Jesus? Can God be trusted? He can be
trusted. He'll save His own. Don't make
Him a convert. Listen to the next one. Woe unto
you, blind guides, which say... Well, let's go down to verse
23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay
tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law. such as judgment, mercy, and
faith. Now these you ought to have done.
See, these people were strict ceremonialists. They lived under
the law. The tithe was in effect then.
The Sabbath day was in effect then. The keeping of the law
and these ceremonies and washings and baptisms were in effect then.
And these men preached to people that they did these things. They
were saved by doing them. And they neglected the thing
by which a man is really saved, judgment, mercy, and faith. There's where it is. Judgment,
mercy, and faith. Turn with me, if you will, to
John 16. John chapter 16. You know, we talk about reading
the Bible paying our tithes and attending
church on Sunday and being baptized and observing the Lord's table
and doing certain things. And that's all well and good.
These things you ought to have done. You understand? It's a good thing to give. It's
a good thing to follow the Lord in baptism. It's a good thing
to worship God and come to His house on Sunday and Wednesday
night. It's a good thing to help your neighbor. It's a good thing
to walk in holiness. It's a good thing to do those
things. These things you ought to have done. But here's the
question. How can God be just and justify
the ungodliness? How can He be clean that's born
of a woman? How can God show mercy to a sinner
like me? I've got to find out something
about judgment, mercy, righteousness and faith. And that's what He
said you're neglecting. Look at John 16. John 16, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it's expedient to you that I go away. If I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you, and if I depart, I'll send
him to you. And when he's come, when the Holy Spirit has come,
he's going to reprove or convict or convince the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment, of judgment, mercy, and faith.
These are the areas the Holy Spirit is going to convince men,
and convict them, and reprove them. Judgment, righteousness,
and sin. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Sin has to do with Christ. Our
sin is against Him, and He by His death put away our sin. Of
righteousness, because I go to my Father. We have no righteousness
of our own. The only righteousness that will
present us holy before God is His righteousness. And He came
down here and perfectly obeyed the law and ascended to the right
hand of God where He intercedes for us, where He represents us,
where He is our forerunner, entered in with His righteousness and
brings us to God in that righteousness. I go to my Father. I go representing
you. And then he says, of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged, he met Satan. Satan
found nothing in him. Satan with all his charges against
us, the law with his charges against us, justice and judgment
with his charges against us, Christ met, and there is no charge
now, there is no condemnation. And that's what he's saying to
these preachers, he's saying, You tell people to tithe, and
you tell them to go to church, and you tell them to do good,
and you tell them to love their neighbor, and you tell them to
give, and you tell them to do all these things, and that's
fine. They ought to do those things.
But you've neglected that which is most important. You've neglected
the weight of your minds. You've neglected what the whole
law is aimed at. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can we have a perfect righteousness
before God? How can He be clean as born of
a woman? How can God Almighty show mercy
to sinners like you and me, only in Christ? Oh, that's so important. That's so clear to me. And it's
so evident in this day that those are the very questions that are
not being answered. I know they get on television preach, and
they want to talk about Armageddon, and talk about the Millennium,
and talk about the Jews, and talk about all of these questions
that are really unanswerable at this stage, but they won't
talk about judgment, mercy, and faith. You see what I'm saying? All right, quick, let's move
on. He said the next thing charged against him, he said, you're
blind, warned you, verse 25, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, you make clean the outside of the cup and the platter,
but within you are full of extortion and excess. Now blind Pharisee, cleanse first
that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside
of them may be also clean. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, you are like whited tombstones, you appear beautiful
to men. What do they make you on? But
you can, here's what they made you on, you know this. They dried
up the town, don't drink. It's evil, it's a sin to have
a glass of wine or a glass of beer or any kind of spirits they
call it. They just, they're so strict
on that. And then smoking, they're so
strict on, if a person smokes he's going to hell. First time
he's bought a beer he's going to hell. The strict on your hair
has to be white sidewalls, you know, don't wear a beard, and
don't wear any hair over your ears, and you're supposed to
not have any, ladies, no makeup, and no jewelry, and you have
certain kind of clothes, and you don't dare go to a movie.
You can have a television, you used to couldn't have that, now
you can have television, you can't go to movies. You can't
to shoot pool, and you can't go to a ball game on Sunday.
And they got this thing all fixed up outwardly. Isn't this what
our Lord is saying? You clean the outside, and the
inside is the problem. He said over here, turn to Matthew
15, look at this. Listen to it. And this is negative,
I know, but it needs to be sounded. This note needs to be sounded.
In Matthew 15, he said in verse 11, verse 10,
and he called the multitude and said to them, now hear and understand.
It's not that which goes into the mouth that defiles a man. Would I shock you if I said if
a fellow has a bottle of beer while he watches the ball game
this evening that he'd be all right? I mean, seriously now,
I mean, I want to know how that beer or that Coca-Cola or that
coffee or tea is going to affect your soul. I want you to tell
me how it's going to affect your soul. Would you tell me how it
has any dealings with his relationship with God? I know you overdo things. The Bible teaches temperance.
I know smoking, you can overdo that. I know drinking coffee,
you can overdo it. I know that long hair, you can
overdo it. And we are bad about overdoing,
aren't we? We intemperate, immoderate people. We need to be moderate and temperate
in all things. But I'm simply saying what my
Lord is saying here. How is what I put in my mouth? I might drink some liquid plumber,
but it won't hurt my soul. It will kill me. Clean my pipes out maybe. But it won't hurt my soul. That's
what he's saying. And he's saying it to these men.
This was their religion. This was their religion. This
was their way to get to God. What they were doing. What they
weren't doing. What they would drink. Wash your
hands before you eat. You didn't wash your hands before
you ate. Makes you want to just dig your
hand in the dirt and eat the dirt, doesn't it? How's that going? It's what,
listen, but that which comes out of the mouth, that's what
defiles a man. Then his disciples came to him
and said, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when
they heard what you said? What's he going to do? Well,
go apologize, Father. No, sir. He said to them, ever
plant my fathers, not planted, these proselytes and converts
that you've made. that they've made are not plants
my father planted. My father plants trees by living
water. Let them alone. Just let them
alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. The blind lead the blind. They both fall in the ditch.
And Peter said, Well, tell us what you meant by that. He said,
Are you without understanding? Don't you know, verse 17, that
what enters in the mouth goes into the belly? And it's cast
into the draft. It goes out the draft in the
commode. But those things which come out
of your mouth, they come from your heart. Out of the mouth
proceeds evil thoughts, murders, hatred, adulteries, fornications,
theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are the things that defile
a man. To eat with unwashing hands never
defiled anybody. Now don't misquote me on that.
I believe in temperance and moderation in all things. I believe in godliness. I believe in a good example.
If it offends my brother to eat meat, I won't eat meat. And I
want to live so that others can see Christ's truth in me, the
gospel in me, and you do too. But I'll tell you, I know what
defiles a man for God, and that's what comes out of here, not what
goes in here. You can dress up a skunk in a
fine tuxedo, but he's still a skunk. That's his nature. That's his
nature. And you can get that old lion
or tiger and feed him on dog food, but you turn him loose
and he'll eat your little boy. Because that's his nature. And
I'm saying if God ever changes a man's heart and nature, He'll
change him on the outside. And a woman too. But you can't
start on the outside and change the inside. The inside is never
changed by what goes on outside, but the outside is changed if
something goes on inside. And then we'll notice this next
thing, verse, here's the last one, verse 29, "...warned you
scribes, Pharisees, you hypocrites, you build the tombs of the prophets,
you garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and you say, if
we had been in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have partaken,
been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." What's
he talking about here? He said, you fellows, brag on
dead prophets and kill living prophets. You know what he was saying to
them? Back in the days of their fathers, their fathers hated
Moses and bragged on Abraham. They hated Moses. When Moses
was their leader, they said, did you bring us out here to
die? Why didn't you leave us in Egypt? They hated him. But
they bragged on Abraham. Why? And then when Moses was dead,
they bragged on Moses and hated Elijah. They wouldn't listen
to Elijah. They said, we'll listen to Moses.
He's dead. And when Elijah was dead, they
bragged on Elijah and hated the apostles. And then when the apostles
were dead, they bragged on the apostles and hated the reformers.
When Martin Luther and John Calvin and Zwingli and Huss and all
these men lived, they hated them. They killed them, didn't they?
And now who's the hero? The Reformers. They have Reformers
days. They named their sons for Calvin
and for Luther and for all these Miss Virgins. Jonathan Edwards. These men are all famous. Did
you know Edwards Church fired him? Right up there in Northampton. Isn't that the truth? He was
pastor of a church in Northampton, Massachusetts and they fired
him. Why? He demanded that everybody
who was a member of the church be saved. And they fired him. You know
where he went from there? President of Princeton University. He was
a good man. Sharp man. So he became president
of Princeton University. His church fired him because
he demanded that people be saved in the house of God. In the family
of God. Spurgeon, you know what he said
one time? Not a preacher of any reputation in the whole city
of London will have anything to do with me." That's what he
said. Now, everybody loves Spurgeon. He did! And that's the mark of a hypocrite.
He brags on dead preachers and he kills living preachers who
preach what they preach. Oh, I tell you, is there any
positive side to this? Yeah, get your bulletin. Get
your bulletin out. Here's true religion. I'll just
give it to you and you can take it home with you and you ladies
can put it on your refrigerator and you men can paste it in the
back of your Bible. Here's true religion on page
three of your bulletin. Number one, true religion arises
out of a true knowledge of God as He's revealed in the Scriptures.
God's not who we think He is. God's who He says He is. God's
not who the preachers say He is. God is who He says He is.
He's sovereign. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
almighty. He's just. He's true. He's merciful. He's gracious. He's love. Study
the Scriptures and find out who God is. He's revealed in the
Scriptures. He's revealed in Christ Jesus.
That true religion arises out of a right knowledge of God.
All right, secondly, true religion arises out of a true knowledge
of man as he is described in the Scriptures. How does the
Scripture describe us? Well, God made us in His own
image, holy and upright. We sought out many inventions,
and we fell. We fell in sin, and because of
Adam's fault, death, and judgment, and condemnation passed upon
all men. And we're dead in trespasses
and sin. We know not God. We don't love
God. We don't desire God. In order
for a man to love God or know God or desire God, he's got to
be born again with the Spirit of God. You have to quicken who
were dead. Don't try to change God. God
is not impotent. God's not trying to do anything.
He's doing everything He set out to do. He's God. He said,
can I not do with my own what I will? Is anything too hard
for God? Leave God be in His sovereignty
and majesty and glory, and take our place where we are, in the
dust, and cry like all these people in the New Testament,
Lord have mercy! What's wrong with that? It's
not, now I'm going to go to church and God will look with favor
on me, or I'm going to give them a tithe, or I'm going to do this,
that, and the other, and God will receive. No! Look at the
next line. True religion arises out of a
sense and understanding of the great things God has done for
sinners in the Lord Jesus. That's the way to God in Christ. God in his greatness, man in
his helplessness. But here's the third thing out
of which true religion arises to realize what God has done
for sinners, great things in Christ. He's lifted the beggar
from the dunghill and washed him in the blood of Christ. and
clothed Him in the robe of His righteousness, and taken Him
to glory, and seated Him at His right hand, accepted Him in the
Beloved. That's where true religion arises.
Realizing what God has done for us in Christ. You see that? Not what God has done in return
for what we've done. Not what God has paid us because
of what we've given Him. Now if you do this, God will
do that. You buck on that right away.
Because God's goodness and mercy is never sold. He said, come
without money or price. It's a gift. Fourthly, true religion
produces a well-grounded hope in the soul based on the Word
of God. I'll tell you this. What did
Abraham find? Righteousness. Where did he find
it? By faith. He believed God. And to whom
was this written? Not to Abraham only, but to us
also, to whom that righteousness shall be imputed if we believe
on him whom God sent, the one whom Abraham believed. Believe
God. Oh, I have a good hope. I have
a good hope, and it's based on God's promise. I believe God
is able to do what He promised. He loved me and gave Himself
for me. My only hope, my only plea is when Christ died, He
died for me. That's my hope. Never changes. And when I go through these times
of doubt and fear and discouragement, you know where I go? I don't
go back to some profession I made. Or go back to some deed I did. That would make me... I'd get
in worse shape if I did that. Or go back to my baptism. You
know where I go? to the Word of God. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. I believe on the Son, I have
everlasting life. God said it, I believe it. Fifthly, true religion produces
a principle of love and surrender of oneself to Jesus Christ as
his Lord. Now, they're making a whole lot
today about Jesus your Savior. They're saying, accept Jesus
as your personal Savior. Christ is our Savior. He's a
just God and a Savior. But I'm telling you this, my
friends, everybody whom God saves recognizes and owns and bows
to Christ as his Lord. Now, that's so. We're not our own. We're bought
with a price. I belong to Christ. He's Lord of my life. His Word
is my command. His will is my will. I'm His. I'm His, and I bow to Him as
Lord. I'll tell you this. You see, this is the message
of Barnard when he came here 42 1â�„2 years ago. It's the Lordship of Christ.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, You know,
we got a song, and I won't forget we sang a song one Sunday when
Barnard was here one night, Jesus Saves. And he got up after we
finished singing Jesus Saves, and he said, that's not so. That's
not so. And the song leader got kind
of upset, you know, and he said, that's not so. Jesus does not
save. Because there are a whole lot
of people named Jesus that can't save. At that time, there was one playing
outfield for the San Francisco Giants, Jesus Alou. He said,
he can't save. All these other little boys named
Jesus down in Mexico can't save. But he said, you know who saved?
The Lord Jesus saved. Do you understand what he said?
I understand what he said. I didn't then. It took me a while,
but I understand. It's the Lord! He's the Lord! And He's not your Savior if He's
not your Lord. If you hadn't bowed now, you
will bow. But every knee's going to bow.
Every tongue confesses he's Lord. That's the key. True religion
arises out of the principle of love and surrender of oneself.
And then in the next place, six, true religion will make the goodness
and grace of God to me to be the principle model of my conduct
to others. Now listen to me. I'm not under
the law. as a rule, as a curse? Christ
has delivered me from the curse of the law. I'm not under the
law as a covenant, do this and live. I'm not under the law as
a rule of life. No, I'm not. I'm under the law
of Christ, the love of Christ. And that which motivates a believer
is not fear, it's love for Christ. That which motivates a believer
is not reading the Ten Commandments, it's seeing the love and mercy
of God for us in Christ dying for us. That's what motivates
us. We love Him. Laws are made for unrighteous
people. All the cars in the parking lot
here this morning are locked, aren't they? They're locked. Why'd you lock your car? Because
you thought one of these people was stealing? Oh no, preacher!
No! The reason I lock my cars is
for the folks that wander through the parking lot that don't worship
God. Right. Thou shalt not kill was not written
for you. It's written for that man who's
still killing. That's right. That's right. A man who doesn't
love Christ. Besides, I'm not under thou shalt not law. Really
and truly we're under the love of Christ which says thou shalt.
As you would that men should do unto you, do you even so unto
them. This is the law. Love God and love your neighbor.
That's the law. It's not enough to say thou shalt
not. It's not not doing something,
it's doing it. In the name of Christ, for the
glory of Christ. True religion, last of all, presses upon men
three goals. And I know they're not attainable
in this life, but the seed is there, the desire is there, the
goal is there. It's there and it begins to grow.
What do you want? What are you striving for? Three
things. Total commitment to Jesus Christ. Oh, how I long for the day when
not a thought in my mind will be contrary to His glory. Won't that be wonderful? Not
a thought, not an act, not a deed. Total commitment to Christ. Secondly,
total communion with Christ. Feeding upon Him, feasting upon
Him, walking with Him, loving Him. Total communion with Christ.
And total conformity to Christ, being just like Him. Now that's
true religion. That's the thing to pursue. Keep
that article. That's the thing to pursue. All
right, I pray God will bless that to your benefit, to his
glory. Let's turn to number 118 for
our closing hymn.

Form or Faith?

What does the Bible say about hypocrisy in religion?

How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does true religion look like according to the Bible?

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Form or Faith?

What does the Bible say about hypocrisy in religion?

How do we know that grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What does true religion look like according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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