Better open your Bibles again
to the book of 1 John. The statements that caught my
attention in preparation of this message were those recorded in verse
6, 8, and 10, if we say, that we have fellowship with God and
walk in darkness if we say that we have no sin, if we say that
we have not sinned. My observations were these. There is more shame and phoniness
and pretense and hypocrisy and showmanship in religion than
any other area. There's more in religion than
any other area. There's more put on and phoniness and sham
going on in these churches today in America than any other single
area. Now, that's true. And it's amazing. This is what's amazing. That
in the place where there ought to be total honesty, there's
very little. In a place where men and women,
young people ought to come clean, they don't. and the area where
there should be no pretense at all, there's more. That's what's amazing. If a fellow's
going to play games, this ought not be the place. If a man's
going to be a hypocrite, let him be one anywhere but before
God. That's what I'm saying. Why?
Why? I ask the question, why is it?
Why is it that in religion and in spiritual Why is it that men
and women like to give the impression that they are what they're not?
Now, why is that? In the pulpit, in the pew, in the classroom,
in prayer, in all these different areas, righteousness, godliness,
holiness, truth, why is it that in spiritual matters, in religion,
that men and women like to give the impression they are what
they're not, they know what they don't, that to have what they do not
have, we like to give the impression that we have what we don't have,
and all these religionists talk about feeling what I know they
don't feel, and experiencing what they flat
have not experienced. And I'm going to give you four
or five reasons. Now remember what I said, and you know it's
so. You know this is so, and I know it's so. There's more
shame and hypocrisy and You remember when we were kids, we used to
play like, y'all ever do that, play like you're the storekeeper,
play like I'm the teacher, play like we play like? Well, that's
what most religionists are doing. They play like it. Playing a
game. It's phony, it's sham, it's pretense,
and the area where they ought not be that is the most. Well,
why? Why do we pretend that we're
what we're not, or know what we don't know, or have what we
don't have, or feel what we don't feel? I'll tell you one reason.
The first one is this, is total ignorance of the character of
God. Total ignorance of the character
of God. Turn to Psalm 50. Listen to what he says here.
Psalm 50, beginning with verse 17. Psalm 50, 17. Seeing thou
hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee. When thou
sawest a thief, thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker
with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against
thy brother, thou slander'st thine own mother's son. These
things hast thou done, and I kept silent." Why did you do them?
You thought I was altogether such a one as yourself. That's
why men play the game of religion. They don't know how high and
holy God is. They think God is like themselves.
We think because we can deceive men that we can deceive God.
But God always sees things not as they appear to be, but as
they are. God sees things as they are. Men love fiction. God deals only
in fact. This is the way it is. It's not
what I tell you I am, it's God knows what I am. Not what I pretend
to be, God knows what I am. Men see things as they want to
see them. God sees them as they are. Men
look on the outward appearance and they're impressed with those
things. They're impressed with what men say, what they do, how
they smile, but God looks on the heart. Men dress up their
bodies and they disguise their feelings and they sugarcoat their
words, but everything he says is naked before him. Everything. Let me show you that in Hebrews
4.13. Hebrews 4.13. Now listen to this. This ought to encourage us to
walk before God with an honest heart, with an honest, open,
truthful heart. He says in Hebrews 4.13, Neither
is there any creature that's not manifest, clearly manifest
in God's sight. All things are naked, no covering,
no sham. All things, all people, all thoughts,
all imaginations, all motives, all objectives, you're plotting
and planning. But you think you fool this one
or fool that one. You don't fool God. Yeah, you
fool men, but not God. He's not like us. Everything's
naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. In the light of God's holiness
and in the light of God's light, everything is clearly manifested.
Every thought, word, deed, motive, attitude, If we come to God, we come to
the light. And someone called it the bright,
revealing light of truth that lays bare every attitude, nature,
motive, and object of every thought. I'll tell you another reason
why men play games in religion, why we put on and why we engage
in pretense and carry the look and the courage and the words
that really aren't what they are or what they seem to be.
Another reason is love of approval. We like approval. We like the
approval of our fellow creature. Turn to John chapter 5. Our Lord
says that here in John chapter 5. I want you to hear His words
in the fifth chapter of John. Verse 42 through 44, we like
approval. We like approval. We like well
done. We like folks to brag on us.
We don't like to be criticized. We like folks to brag on us. He says in John 5, 42, I know
you. I know you. I know you. You have not the love of God
in you. It's not the love of God that's motivating you. It's
not pure, wholesome love of God that's stimulating your deeds
and actions and words. It's not the love of God. I've
come in my Father's name and you don't receive me. If another
come in his own name, him you will receive. For how can you
believe? You receive honor one of another.
That's what you want. You want men's honor. You want
their praise. You want their approval. I've
got a good friend, he's been seeking his father's approval
for 40 years. His father, if he could just
have his father's approval. And he does all, about half the
things he does for his father's approval. He can't stand it because
he can't win that man's approval. And you seek not the honor that
comes from God. This is what the Lord's talking
about in Matthew 6. He said, when you pray, Don't
pray to be seen of men. Why would we pray to be seen
of men? We want their well-done. We want
their approval. We want them to think that we're
spiritual, that we've got the victory, that we're a step higher
than they are, you know. When you give your alms, your
gifts, don't do it to be seen of men. Don't do it for credit.
Well, why would I do it for credit? Because we like to say, that's
generous of you. That's kind of you. But when you fast, wash your
face, that you appear not to men to fast. Well, why would
I want to appear to men to fast? Think how it would circulate
through this church if everybody said, you know, Terry Elliott's
been fasting for a week. Oh, yeah, that's wonderful. I
wish I could do that. See what I'm talking about? We
want the approval. We want the honor and glory that
is connected with religion, with doing something for God. And that promotes shame, that
promotes hypocrisy. Here's the third reason why men
put on a, men and women and young people put on a religious front
or show, is fear of rejection. We don't like to be rejected. I've got to put up a phony religious
front because if I dare disclose my real self, my real thoughts,
I'll be disliked. they won't think I'm spiritual.
Instead of talking about the mornings I didn't get up and
pray, I talk about the ones when I did. Instead of talking about the
victories, the failures that I've had, I talk about the victories
that I've won. I do that for fear of rejection. I don't like anybody to think
that I'm not spiritual, I'm not dedicated, and devout, and devoted,
and consecrated, and all these sort of things. We just can't
stand to be cut off, to be ridiculed, to be disliked, to be... And
that's the reason preachers compromise the gospel of grace. You say,
why? If men see these things in Scripture,
why won't they preach them? Fear of rejection. It's hard on the flesh. It's
hard on the flesh. But God sees things as they are,
not as they appear to be. I was thinking about this message. We all get patterns. I use all
day Saturday to study. I study on Saturday and review
on Saturday night. We set our alarm for 7 o'clock
on Sunday morning. The alarm goes off and we had
an automatic coffee maker. And I like to use a couple of
hours to my Sunday school lesson and go over the bulletin and
the message. And I was interested in a couple
of ball games that took place yesterday. I try not to clutter
my mind with those things because it's detrimental to my thinking. I love these too much sports,
you know. And when I got the paper and
brought it in and threw it down, I thought, now I'm going to look
at that later. after dinner today, and I, boy, I'd love to know
who won those games, but I can't get my mind in that direction.
And I thought, well, God knows you want to know who won that
game. Go find out who won it. Quit playing games, you know.
Go find out who won it, read it, get it off your mind, get
back to your business. We just play games. That's right. I'll tell you another reason
for pretense is the average religionist really, deep down, now really
deep down, now you're different here, most of you, but I'll bet
you there's some folks right here in this congregation who
deep down, deep down, believe that our works have something
to do with eternal life. I bet you deep down. If you uncovered
all of the grace and Calvinism, Augustinianism, and all the other
predestinary and all this other, get down deep, you'd find out
that they bleed. It has something to do with acceptance
with God. The Bible talks about good works,
and I have to have them, so I'll just profess to have them. The
Bible talks about believing the Word of God, and I must believe
it, so I'll just profess to believe it. The Bible talks about, you
must not do these things, so I'll profess I don't do them.
I don't even think of them. I think good things. The Bible
says I must love everybody, so I'll profess to love everybody.
I love you. I don't, but I'm saying that
anyway. Supposed to, you know. Because if I don't, I'll be lost.
The Bible says I must keep the law, so I profess to keep it.
I'm hanging on the wall over there so everybody can see I
keep it. Never mind that God knows I'm a liar, I must not
let you know it. Must not. I must convince this
world and myself that I am truly spiritual. I must have a spiritual
deportment and conduct and conversation at all times. Do we think by
deceiving others that we deceive God? Yes, but these things are essential
to life. Christ is essential to life,
and that's the only essential to life is Christ. Christ's blood
is essential to pardon and cleansing and atonement and forgiveness,
and that's all that's essential. If I never preach another sermon,
pray another prayer, read another verse, walk another step, give
another dime, Christ is my Savior, my Lord, my Redeemer, my Intercessor,
my High Priest. That's so. Now, I'm going to
do these things, God willing. But I just must not think, I
must, if you be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. In other words, if I get the
idea that, oh yeah, Christ saved, but I must preach. Christ saved, but I must give.
Christ saved, but I must do. I must not. I must. I must not.
I must. I must. What I do, say, has nothing whatsoever
to do with my justification before God. Nothing. It's Christ and
Christ alone. And God's not going to get angry
with me and put me in hell if I look at the sports page on
Sunday morning. In fact, God may be angry with
me if I don't. if I want too bad enough. That's
what I'm saying. Does that make sense, what I'm
saying? Like Spurgeon said one time,
when I think I'm nearest to God, I may be furthest away, because
I think my nearness to God is because of my spirituality. And maybe when I think myself
furthest from God and weakest, I may be nearest to God. Because
then I'm not trusting anything I am or have or have done, but
I'm trusting Christ alone. Now that, I know some of you
know exactly what I'm saying. And it may be the higher I climb
in feelings and experiences, the further I am from God. And
the more naked and worthless and helpless and... I feel it
may be that I'm nearer to God than I've ever been before. Because
Christ is my righteousness. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
And here's the fifth thing. Another reason for pretense is
this. Here's another reason. Do you
know the average person believes that Jesus Christ saves good
people? Now, the average person believes
that. That I just, I must, I must be
good. I must be They know nothing of the person
and work of Christ. We seem to turn a deaf ear to these scriptures.
Our Lord said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
Sinners. We seem to turn a deaf ear to
that. Or this verse, the Son of Man has come to seek and to
save the lawless, the lawless. Or this verse, this is a faithful
saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,
sinners of whom I'm chief, chief, the chief of sinners. Or this
one, come now, let us reason together, though your sins be
as tireless, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Or this
one, Christ died for the ungodly. God committed His love for us,
and why were we yet sinners? Christ died for us. The last
thing I want to be accused of this morning is to be the worst
man in here. And yet that's the person Christ
came to save. The last thing that I want to
be accused of would be the best thing that could happen to me.
God help us. I want everybody to think I'm
the best man in here, and that's the worst thing that could happen
to me. He came to save His people from
their sins, but we don't want to own them. Whom did he call
in Samaria? The most notorious woman there.
Whom did he save in the Gadarenes? The fellow everybody else had
disowned and run out of town. Whom did he call in Jericho?
The crookedest fellow in town, Zacchaeus. How do you account
for Mayor Magdalena? How do you account for the harlot
at his feet? How do you account for the thief on the cross? What
do these people have in common? They were all great sinners.
And we do our best to deny our sinnerhood. And we don't know
that the very denial of our sinnerhood disqualifies us from an interest
in Christ. Did you know that? We don't want anybody to think
we're sinners. We don't want anybody to think
that we're sinners. And the very thing that we're
trying to do Our denial of our sin and guilt disqualifies us
completely from being an object of God's mercy. The very thing that religious
men seek by profession and pretense and hypocrisy, the very thing
they seek is approval with God, and that's the very thing they
don't find and can't acquire. What am I seeking? Approval with
God. Seeking it the wrong way. Let me show you that. Turn to
Romans 9. We deny the one qualification,
the one qualification which makes us eligible for grace.
We deny it. Sentence. That's a fact. Sure as I'm standing here. One
qualification that qualifies you, one characteristic that
qualifies you for the mercy of God. And that's your guilt, and
that's the very thing we deny. Not guilty. I'm not guilty. Romans 9. Now listen to this,
verse 30. What shall we say then? The Gentiles. What are Gentiles? Pagan, heathen,
idolaters, profane. The Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness. They didn't follow after any
kind of righteousness. They've attained it! They've attained it! Even the
righteousness which is of faith in Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness and the rules of righteousness and
the regulations, they have not attained it. That's what I'm saying. They
make it. The people that didn't give a
hoot for nothing got saved. And the people that gave their
time and efforts and talents All these things to finding acceptance
with God, he disowned them. Turn to Romans 11, 7. Listen
to this. Romans 11, verse 7. What then? What then? Israel has not attained that
which you seek it for. You mean people are seeking acceptance
with God and never got it? Right. They're seeking approval
of God and never made it? Right. They're seeking their
life in glory and never attained it. Right. That's all. They sought
it not by faith, but by works. They started denying their sins.
They said, we're not born of fornication, we're not sinners,
Abraham's our father, we keep the law, God's our father. No,
he's not. And these heathen, pagan, wretched,
worthless Gentiles, That's what made him so mad. What's he doing
eating with those people? Why doesn't he eat with us? We're
law keepers. We're ceremonialists. We're ritualists.
We're toddlers. We're not adulterers. We're not
injectors. Those people are the worst people in town. Why is
Jesus Christ interested in them? Because he's a physician. And
they're sick. And you're not. You deny you're
sick, that disqualifies you. You deny you're an adulterer,
That disqualifies you. You deny you're a thief? I'm
no thief!" Well, he died for thieves. Isn't it amazing? Romans 11,
7, "...what Israel hath not obtained, that which he seeketh by us,
but the election hath obtained it." And all the rest of them
were blinded. They go right on in their sham.
They go right on with this blind over their eyes, this self-righteousness
and And over here in 1 John, my text,
John's caught the message and passes it on to us. He sums up
what I'm trying to say. What John is demanding and encouraging
is what I'm demanding of myself and encouraging for myself, and
that is an honest heart before God. This is the only ground
on which the living God will deal in mercy with a sinner.
This is the only ground. There's no mercy on the ground
of pretense, only straight, forthright honesty before God. Honesty before God. And that's
what he says in verse 6. Look here. If we say, if we profess
or pretend, this is what we say. And we have fellowship with God.
We know God. We walk with God. I had my time
with God this morning. I know God. Give everybody the
impression that I know God, that I have communion with God, that
God and I are on a first-name basis. If I do that, if I say
that, and I walk, what is I walk? It's the direction. It's the
bend of the wheel. It's the tenor of the life. It's just the average, daily
life that I live. The average life. Now, this walk
is not what I claim to be on Sunday morning, while the rest
of the week I'm a crab. It's not what I act like when
I'm around religious people, and I'm different around secular
people. This is my walk. This is my general,
habitual, average, daily, this is me. If I claim I have fellowship
and communion with God, and I walk in the darkness of doctrinal
error, and I deny His sovereignty, deny His grace, deny His righteousness,
deny His covenant, deny His atonement, that's darkness, isn't it? Darkness
of doctrinal error. I'm a liar. If I claim to walk
with God, and I walk in the darkness of legalism and self-righteousness,
that's my habitual life, my average life, I'm a liar. If I claim
to have fellowship with God and I walk in the darkness of indifference,
indifference to His word, indifference to His gospel, indifference to
His worship, indifference to the things of God, I'm a liar,
wouldn't you say that? If I claim to fellowship with
God and I walk in the darkness of materialism and covetousness
and the world and greed and self-seeking, wouldn't you say I was a liar?
If I claim to know God and to walk with God and I walk in the
darkness of self-indulgence, I'm going to have my way if it
hurts everybody. When you say I was a liar? Self-indulgence. I believe the word of God teaches
temperance, moderation in all things. A moderated life. We don't indulge our own desires
and our own wishes at the expense of the gospel, at the expense
of the testimony, at the expense of the church, at the expense
of other people. You don't do that. If I do that,
I lie. That's what he's saying. It's
preaching. I know a man who left his wife
and children because he was interested in somebody else. And he insisted
on having the fellowship of the people of God. Won't go right
on being accepted in the congregation, except even to speak in the pulpit. It can't be. That's a lie, you
see. I claim to fellowship with God,
and I indulge in my average daily living, my own desires and wishes,
at the expense of everybody else's. I'm a liar. I'm not telling the
truth. I'm not fellowshiping with God.
I'm not communing with God. I'm fellowshiping with my flesh
and communing with only my flesh. That's so. And this is what John
is saying. If we say this, if we say this,
You say, why in the world would a man say such a thing? I gave
you the reasons. He doesn't know God. Fear of
rejection, love of approval. He doesn't know the person and
worth of Christ. Christ came to save his people
from their sin, not in their sin. Look at verse 8. If we say,
we have no sin. Now notice this is singular,
S-I-N, we have no sin. Sin, you see, this sin here is
not a technical term, it's not a theological term, not even
an act here. Sin here is a nature. This is
a nature here. If we say we have no nature of
sin, then we deceive ourselves. You know, I said this one time,
and I haven't repeated it, I don't think since then, but here is
one of our major problems. We're determined to present ourselves
as basically good. And we do. Basically good. And possessing a few faults.
Now that's what we, well I, you know, I've got some, I've got
my faults. You ever hear anybody say, well I've got my faults. We want to
come off as being basically, basically good with a few faults. We refuse to face this issue
right here. We're basically bad. And we do
a few good things. That's the way, that's society. That's the size of it, right
there. I have a friend who used to be on cocaine. Lives a good
ways from here. And he told me this. He told me how cocaine affected
him. It said, and it was a devastating
experience. But he said all of the barriers
were removed. He said all of the hedges and
barriers of decency and honesty and integrity and anything. He
said, I became, I became, this was his exact words, an animal,
a beast, under the influence of that drug. And I said, you
know what the cocaine did? It revealed the real man. That's what it did. And that's
what you are and I am, right here, except for God's grace. That's right. We got these barriers. We got the reputation, family,
decency, honesty, citizenship, all these different things, these
barriers. And thank God for them. Thank God for them. But let me
tell you this. By nature, by birth, by imputation from Adam,
we are so evil by nature that only the restraining hand of
God keeps any and all of us from the lowest animal or criminal
act. Now, you may not like that, but
that's subtle. And what he's saying here, if
you say you have not that nature, you deceive yourself. If you
say you have no S-I-N, and I know Don't you mistake, let me tell
you something, listen carefully, don't you mistake sovereign restraint
for personal merit. It's only by His grace that you're
not in jail. And me too. Now you say that's,
I wouldn't do, yes you would, except for God's grace. Give
you a snort of cocaine, we'd find out what you are. That's
right. Find out what you really are.
Something you don't want to face, something you don't want to admit,
but that's what you are. And there's only one who can
save you from that nature, and that's God, who gives a new nature.
That's exactly right. It's all of grace. That's right. If we say. And then he said last, if we
say we have not sinned, the Pharisee said that, I am not unjust, I
am not an extortioner, I am not an adulterer, I am not like that
publican. That's what you say. Then you
make God a liar. And that's worse. That's worse. Make God a liar. Because God says there's none
good, no, not one. There's none righteous, none. Seek it after God. Well, let's
look at verse 9 and get some good news. Okay, preacher, you've
ripped everybody's clothes off this morning. You've ripped everybody's
pretense off. You've laid bare yourself and
all of us for what we are by nature. Now what are you going
to do with us? I've got good news for you. I've got mighty good news for
you. If you're a sinner, if you're still clutching and hanging onto
your rags and I can't rip them out of your hands and you go
on clinging to them, but for you folks that It's been laid
bare, and you say, in my hands no cross I bring. I'm a nothing
from nowhere. I'm less than nothing. I'm a
criminal. Well, verse 9 says, if you confess
your sins, would you? Now, I don't want
anybody coming down here confessing them. That'd be bad for everybody.
It doesn't say if we confess our sins to men, but why not
confess them to one another? Ain't nothing they can do about
them. Somebody says, well, getting the burden off your chest will
help you. It won't get off the books of
God, getting it off your chest. If you get it off your chest,
you're laying on somebody else's. Yeah, you got free of it, but
you burden them down with it. That's no good. That's no good.
That's no good. It says, well, confess your faults
one to another, but not your sins. Faults is one thing, sin
is another. Faults is potential. Sin is what's going on. All right, we
confess our sins if we can, if we can be brought to that place,
our sins. Now, don't be confessing everybody
else's now. That's not right. That won't
do you any good. Well, Mike and I, no, no, leave Mike out of
it. Well, me and my husband, leave
him out of it, if we confess our sins, mine. And they are
mine. There's only one thing I really
own, it's all mine, that's my sins. Nothing else is mine. To God. What does that consist,
our preacher? Well, let me give you three or
four things. When we feel that everything about us is wrong, It is. But the Lord Jesus can
make it right. See what I'm saying? When we
feel that we're desperately bad, we are. But our Lord has a perfect
righteousness. When we feel that our sins are
more than we can bear, they are. But they're not more than he
can bear. When we confess that we're the
chief of sinners, we are. But he came to save the chief
of sinners. If we confess that we're lost, we are. But he came
to seek and save the lost. That's good news. If we confess
and can feel that we're ungodly, ungodly, ungodly in thought,
ungodly in imagination, ungodly, we are. But he died for the ungodly. That's what I'm saying. When
we feel we ought to be condemned, we ought to be sent to hell.
You're right. Oh, I didn't know you'd agree with me, Fletcher.
Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you. I agree I ought
to drive the cab. We are. We ought to be. But God
is plenteous in mercy. You see that? He's plenteous
in mercy. Now, this is what I'm coming
down to. I'm saying, wherever I'm preaching this message, whoever
hears it, you stand where you will, where
you will. Now, God will meet you where
you choose to stand. If you want to plead your righteousness,
He'll measure it for you. He's going to do right. The books
are going to be open. Every man will have his day in court. You'll
have your day. You say, well, I preached for years, and I served,
and I tithed, and I gave my income, and I witnessed it. That's all
right. That's fine. That's fine. You can stand right
there. You plead it. They did in Matthew 7. They said,
well, we preached, we cast out devils, and did many wonderful
works. Stand on it, friend! Welcome! Got no objection? Nobody going to stop you here?
When you get before a holy God in the light of His sovereign
presence, go on and tell Him what you did. But out there where
I'm going to stand, I'm going to stand in the dust. Guilty,
guilty, nothing I hadn't done, nothing I hadn't thought, nothing
before God I have done that's worthy of His notice. Nothing.
I'm a guilty, corrupt, depraved, worthless sinner who deserves
to be in hell right now. I'm not spiritual, except as
he made me so in Christ. I'm carnal. The things that I
would do, I do not. The things I would not do, I
do. I am no better than anybody here. I am the chief of sinners,
less than the least of all the sinners. I stake my claim and
lay my claim to heaven's glory in Christ, and nowhere else. And if God sends everybody to
hell who deserves to go there, He'll send me there. But I'm
expecting Him to take some folks to glory who ought not be there.
who've got no claim on it at all, no right to be there at
all, no pretense, no, I'll go to Jesus, go my sins, that's
like a mountain raised, and I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone.
I don't mind saying that. Our pastor's such a good man.
He's not in the sight of God he's not. Without his sovereign grace,
I can but perish if I go, but I'm resolved to try. But if I
stay away from Christ, I must forever die.