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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:36:44 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #1 by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 14, 1999
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Many of us are familiar with those words found in Acts 1:8 where the Lord Jesus says to His disciples, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Ten days later, that promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (in the language of Scripture: when that day had fully come). The Lord Jesus Christ sent from heaven the Holy Spirit in power upon the gathered disciples attesting His own role as the Messianic King (for Pentecost was nothing less than that to Jesus) and equiping His disciples to become His witnesses. And as the Gospel went out from Jerusalem and then in the surrounding area of Judea and then up to Samaria, eventualy in that first century it did reach what was then understood as the uttermost part of the earth. And as that Gospel penetrated what is commonly called Greco-Roman society in the first century, that is, a society that had been shaped previously by Greek thought and culture, and presently by Roman thought and culture in the light of the Roman conquest of the then known world, it came into a society steeped in the horrible moral degeneration, which is always the handmaiden of idolatry. Some of you, when reading the Old Testament, may wonder why in the world did God have to put the shocking prohibitions in the book of Leviticus and in other segments of Old Testament law warning His people against sins that are so base and so ugly, chapters that we have blushed almost to read in public. Well, it's for the simple reason that those Canaanitish nations in the land into which Israel was to go with the blessing of God, having been steeped for centuries in idolatry, had sunk into the most base and ugly forms of sin and rebellion against God.
When we turn to the New Testament, we find in Romans 1:18-32 a condensed R-rated litany of the kinds of sins that were prevalent in the social fabric of most of the Greco-Roman world. We got a little glimpse of it when we were studying 1 Peter when Peter reminds his readers in chapter 4, verses 3 and 4 of the kind of lifestyle that marked many of them prior to their conversion to Christ. Prominent among those sins that were the handmaiden of the idolatry in Canaan against which God warned His people; prominent among the sins listed in Romans 1:18-32; prominent among the sins in that distilled description of the degeneracy of pagan society in 1 Peter 4 are the sins of sexual impurity. And it is for this reason that the New Testament records specific and repeated instructions on the subject of how the people of God are to maintain sexual purity in the midst of societies that have become a veritable cesspool of sexual impurity and uncleaness. In fact, the social conscience of most of these places where the churches had been established was so battered and distorted and desensitized that when a circular letter was sent out from the apostles at Jerusalem, they had to explicitly forbid the practice of fornication among the churches. Now, if you doubt that, I've given a summary of the other passages, but turn to Acts 15 if you will for a moment. You'll remember that the apostles have gathered together to hear the concern that is voiced by Paul and Barnabas, who while they were ministering in Antioch became aware that some were teaching that you needed to be circumcised and become a kosher Jew to be a full-fledged Christian. And we read in verse 23 of Acts 15: "Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barnabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren." These men are going to take back to those churches and other churches the mind of the apostles there at Jerusalem. And this circular letter is going to be delivered to the churches. Read on with me:
"And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. [That's what we might call north of Palestine, moving upward and then over into that section we've come to known as Asia Minor (Turkey now). The Gospel had been spreading out to the uttermost parts of the earth. And now in these churches comprised primarily of Gentiles, this statement is authorized to be normative among the churches.] Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication [in the list of things that pertained to what we would call matters indifferent, they have to articulate a prohibition against fornication]: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well" (vv. 24-28).
Now, as I was mentioning to two of my fellow elders prior to the service, as a young Christian, I used to read this and be greatly troubled and say to myself, "Lord, it doesn't make sense. Everybody knows that Christian's aren't supposed to fornicate." I could not relate to this passage. I believed it; I believed it was the Word of God. I believed the apostles were guided by the Holy Spirit as they thrashed out this whole issue of whether or not Gentiles needed to be circumcised and become kosher Jews in order to be saved. But I simply could not relate to the fact that they felt constrained to add, "You must abstain from fornication." It no longer seems strange to me when I read it. It no longer seems strange, because in a tragic way, the climate of our so-called western civilization has sunk to depths only paralleled by some of those societies against which God was warning His ancient covenant people in many of those prohibitions with respect to some of the basest forms of sexual impurity and uncleaness, the things that Paul listed in Romans 1, and the things the apostles had to address explicitly in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, 1 Thessalonians 4, Hebrews 13, Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, passage after passage in which explicit directives are given that the people of God are to seek by the grace of God and by the power and dynamics of Gospel grace to maintain sexual purity. But since we have as part of this society that is steeped in neo-paganism and religious apostasy come to days in which the atmosphere around us drips with impurity and uncleanness, and since God says we are not to be conformed to this age (we are not to let the world squeeze us into its mold), but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds that we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, and--believe it or not--since it has been 14 and a half years since I addressed the subject of sexual purity in a two or three message series, I've been constrained for several Lord's Day evenings to take up the subject with you, the divine antidote to sexual impurity. And my purpose I trust has been made clear. And I trust none of you have any reservation that it is right and proper to do this. For when we open our Bibles and read the letters which would have been read in the mixed assembly of God's people with children present (1 Corinthians 5 and 6; 1 Thessalonians 4), and when we realize that God mandated under the old covenant that the statue laws be read every so often to the entire congregation of God's people, I trust none of us has a kind of carnal fastidiousness that makes us feel uncomfortable when these matters are addressed in a Biblical, chased and God-honoring manner.
Now, in the course of our study, we will be looking at 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Thessalonians 4 as two of the major passages. But before coming to those passages and the rich instruction they contain in what I'm calling the divine antidote to sexual impurity, I want us to back up and look at the larger context into which those specific words of instruction come to us. Those of you who were with us when I began preaching through 1 Peter 3 will remember, I trust, that before expounding specific roles of male and female, husbands and wives, we backed off and looked at the whole matter of marital roles in the light of the Biblical doctrines of creation, the fall, and redemption. And in a very real sense, that's what I want to do with the subject of the divine antidote to sexual impurity. For when the apostle writes, for example, in 1 Corinthians 6, and he addresses the subject of fornication head-on, and marshals for the people of God a whole spectrum of motives and perspectives to help them stay pure in an impure society, behind, beneath, and around all that Paul says in a way of specific directives is this larger, Biblical context of male and female relationships, our sexuality in the light of creation, fall, and redemption. And so in pursuit of that goal, tonight I want to set down with you on two basic, foundational propositions, propositions that I'm personally convinced are essential to right thinking regarding sexual purity. And remember, it's right thinking that gives birth to right actions.
Proposition number one: our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure, originates with God and not with the devil. This is the absolute baseline starting point, without which no thinking will end up where it ought to end. Some of you have had the experience of having your mind somewhere else when you went to button up your shirt or button up a dress with 10 or 15 buttons. And so you started and went all the way to the end, and you made a very disrupting discovery. You got the first button in the wrong button hole. And though all the other buttons went into holes, when you got to the end, you found you were one button short or one button too many. You started at the wrong place, and everything you built on that wrong start was out of line. It was skewed. Well, in the same way, when we come to think about the whole question of how can I as a Christian stand in the midst of this moral cesspool and be a pure man, a pure woman, a pure boy, a pure girl in this area of my sexuality, my sexual desires and capacities and appetites. Well, I submit to you that you will not be able to do it unless you start here. Your sexuality and mine, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure, originates with God and not the devil. This, of course, takes us right back to Genesis 1 and 2.
Genesis 1 gives us the broad overview of God's creative activity in six days. On that 6th day we read: "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (v. 27). Sexual distinctions are an outworking of the mind, will, and wisdom of Almighty God. He is making man in His own image, and He makes that image bearer male and female. And included within the maleness and femaleness were these realities of the capacity for and the desire for sexual pleasure. This is how God made them. Verse 28: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth...." And as the fruition of their commitment to each other and their engagement in sexual intimacy, they would bare children; they would be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and fulfill their God-given mandate. And when God looks down upon all that He has made--look what it says in verse 31: "And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." As we shall see as we look at the zoom lens of the creation of man and woman, we back off for a minute now with just Genesis 1 in front of us and see God, as it were, sitting back looking upon the work of His hands, including the creation of man, male and female with the capacity to be fruitful and to multiply, and with the desire for that relationship that will result in fruitfulness and multiplication, not as some kind of a horrible burden imposed upon them against their nature and against their desire, but with all of the latent sexual capacity and desire and the ability for sexual pleasure, and God looks upon it and says, "It is all very good." And He didn't say, "except this sex business." And you must not say that, and you must not think that.
Come now to Genesis 2, not a contradictory account, but the broad stroke account of Genesis 1 is supplemented with God's account of that crowning work of His creative wisdom and power, the creation of man. After He creates the man, we have more details of how He did that in chapter 2. We read in verse 15: "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." God took the man He had made and He put him in the circumstance in which he was to accomplish the task assigned to him. Work was not something that came in after the fall. Work was a noble enterprise flowing out of God's creative design and His expressed will for man His image bearer. God was a worker; He makes man in His image to be a worker. He puts him into the garden to dress and to keep it. But now we read in verses 18-20:
"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him [that is, a help answering to him]. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet [suitable] for him."
No doubt as the various animals were paraded before Adam, and with a mind untainted and uncrippled by sin, he is able to make an analysis of the size and shape and function of that animal. Giving the name was not just giving some kind of a convenient verbal tag. It was identifying the significance of that animal, its significance in contrast to other animals. And Adam names them, but in all of the naming, in all of the analysis of their unique characteristics and functions and their place in God's world, there was nothing in all that Adam surveyed and named that answered peculiarly to his need as a creature made in the image of God. He had eyes to see the animals; the animals could look back maybe with the dumb blank stare of a cow or the intimidating look of a lion. But in the eyes of neither cow nor lion nor any other creature was there that which spoke of a soul and a mind with which Adam could communicate, no helper answering to his need. And whatever the animal was in its muscularity or in its furriness or softness, there was not among all the animals that which Adam would instinctively hold to his bosom as one of his own kind. He's conscious that the animals have sight, and they have hearing, and they have mobility--many characteristics that he as image bearer of God has. But in all of that was no creature that answers to his need. One wonders what kind of language Adam spoke. I don't know. I don't know what kind of language God used when He spoke to Adam--"Adam where are you?" But we can imagine that Adam may have sought to communicate. And he talks to a dumb beast, and the beast may look at him with a blank stare. But there's no language coming back; there's no communication of mind and of soul. And Adam is brought to feel very keenly in the midst of all of the profuseness of God's creative genius, "There's nothing answering to my need." So what does God say? God takes the initiative and says, "It is not good that the man should be alone [alone amidst all the beauty I made; alone amidst all of the animals I made]; I will make him an help meet [or answering to] him." So how does God do it? Verses 21-25:
"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept [the first incident of anesthesiology in human history]: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. [Now think what this must have meant to Adam. I don't know how many hours he spent with the animals parading by. And he comes to that conviction, there's none of these that answer to my deepest needs, not knowing that God has pronounced it is not good for him to be alone. The next thing he knows is he awakens from a deep sleep and there in front of him--the moment his eyes are cast upon her, he says, 'Aha, there's the one answering to my need.'] This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh [and he doesn't hesitate giving her a name]: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. [She is my counterpart, like me but separate from me. In many ways she is a mirrow image of me, but she has her own image that is mirrowed back to me.] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. [Whether Adam said this, or this is Gods pronouncement later on, is irrelevant to our understanding here. And now we're back to straight forward history.] And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (v. 25).
If you and I were writing the creation account, we would not end that account with two creatures in buck nakedness unashamed. We'd end it by saying, "There they were shaded by leaves bowed in prayer." God has told us He left them with His awareness of their answering one to another in nakedness, in shameless nakedness. And the devil doesn't enter the scene until chapter 3 and verse 1: "Now the serpent was more subtle." The devil has nothing to do with anything up to the end of chapter 2. So my proposition: our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure originates with God and not with the devil. So when we read chapter 1 and verse 31, that God saw everything He had made and behold it was very good, read back into that this section of chapter 2. God looks down upon the man and the woman conscious that they have been made for each other with a mandate to be fruitful and to multiply and with every sacred yearning and capacity for the deepest intimacy of marital relations, and the devil doesn't have a whisper in the whole business--not a bit.
Now I ask you, do you feel comfortable with God's account of how He did it, or do you feel a little squeamish? I find it a good test. Ask yourself the question: "Do I feel comfortable with this, that Almighty God has established this, not the devil." You say, "Pastor, why is that so critical?" Well, for a number of reasons, but in my understanding, this is most basic: it is demonic to demean and deprecate what God has created and to consider unclean or suspicious what Almighty God has made noble and glorious. I want you to turn to 1 Timothy 4 so, again, you'll realize that this is not Pastor Martin taking off on a flourish of rhetorical excess when I say it is demonic to demean and deprecate what God has created and to consider it unclean. Paul is warning Timothy about certain influences that will crop out, and he ought to be aware of them in his ministry. Verse 1: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." Behind the doctrines that emerge to infiltrate the church are unseen but very real demonic powers. That's what Paul says to Timothy. Through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, demons are behind the doctrines. The instruments through which the demons work are hypocrites who speak lies; who have their consciences seared, branded in their own consciences with a hot iron. So you've got demonic powers; you've got hypocritical deceived people who are instruments of these demonic thoughts and doctrines. And what are the specific doctrines? Look at verses 3-5:
"Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."
Isn't that interesting that the thing Paul focuses upon is the demons who are working through these hypocritical men branded in their own consciences. And their major doctrine that he focuses upon is a form of asceticism. They forbid to marry. "You want to obtain a higher degree of spirituality, don't dabble in this sex business. To dabble is to be dirty." And he says that doctrine comes from demons. And when they say, "You want to become holy, then you will eat this restricted diet," he says, "No, that's to denigrate what God has given in creation. All that He made was good." And so I am bold to say that our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure, originates with God and not with the devil. And in any way to attribute it to the devil is to find ourselves aligned with doctrines spawned by demons.
Now, this has great implications for all of us here. I want to speak a word to you dear young people. Many of you know, and we have said it, I hope, not in a way that genders pride or smugness--many of us who have been around a lot longer are very thankful for what we see God is doing in many of your lives: your apparent hunger for the Word; your seriousness about spiritual realities. Many of you have come to that place--my wife and I have used our own little euphemism--we say they've sprouted. When the young girls begin to develop and the guys begin to get a little fuzz on their cheeks and on their chin, we say they've sprouted. And with that sprouting, you become conscious of desires and interests and temptations that you've never faced before. You've gone, as we have humorously said, from the stage where the opposite sex is yuck or hmm--you've come to the yummy stage. You go from yuck to hmm to yum. Many of you have come into the hmm stage, and your conscious of these desires and inclinations and insterests and a whole spectrum of things rooted in what you are as a male or as a female. You are merging into your mature masculinity and femininity. Adam and Eve were already made mature male and female with fully developed sexual capacity, appetite, and readiness for the sexual union within the sacred sanctuary of marriage. Man shall leave father and mother; cleave to his wife as a whole person. And they two and only such two shall be one flesh. But you're not there, but neither are you back in the yuck stage. Some of you are still there, but you're not going to stay there forever. Right now it seems utterly impossible that girls will ever be anything other than yuck. But I hope I live long enough to say, "Didn't I tell you?" You're going to move from the yuck to the hmm and from the hmm to the yum stage. Sooner or later unless something is short-circuited in the development of your mature manhood and womanhood, will be the emerging awareness of your sexuality with its desires and capacity for sexual pleasure. Don't think you're somehow degenerating into a demon when you're conscious of that. You're simply becoming the man or the woman God intended you to be. That's what I want to say to you kids. Nobody talked to me that way when I was where many of you are. And struggling through to think of myself Biblically was no easy thing. Yes, there will be peculiar temptations--we're not coming to that yet. We want to start with this fundamental principle that that capacity, the desire itself is not of the devil, but is an indication of God's creative wisdom and God's creative power and love.
I want to speak to some of you with a sordid sexual past. In pastoral counseling, I've found more than once how difficult it is when a man or woman who has had a sordid, sinful sexual past--how difficult to believe that that which was so much connected with the cesspool can be a spring and a pool of clear, God-reflecting beauty. It's hard for you to come to that, but you must. You must not allow the devil's triumphs in your past to cripple you in the present, and to think about your sexual being as something inherently and hopelessly stained. And you can't wait till you die and go to heaven and become a floating spirit. Well, you're not going to be a floating spirit forever. You're going to have a resurrected body. And I don't understand all the implications, but there's no indication that we become some kind of neutered, amorphous, non-sexual being. Though there is no marriage or giving in marriage, it will be males and females for all eternity. For as male and female in heaven with glorified bodies, we'll reflect the image of our great and glorious God. You see how basic this is.
Then I want to immunize you against the horrible brainwashing job. You hear about: "We've got to get rid of this puritanical morality." Nobody's read the Puritans whose said that. I'm going to quote a few lines from the poet laureate of the Puritans, John Milton. You want to hear how prudish Puritans were? Read Milton. In "Paradise Lost" he's describing God bringing Eve to Adam:
[And the two of them walking off into the sunset hand in hand] Handed they went; and, eased the putting off These troublesome disguises which we wear, [See what he was saying? They were both naked and not ashamed. They didn't have to put off what he calls troublesome disguises which we wear.] Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I ween, Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites Mysterious of connubial love refused: [There was delightful, willing commitment to the covenant of marriage and to the expression of that commitment in sexual intimacy.] Whatever hypocrites austerely talk Of purity, and place, and innocence, Defaming as impure what God declares Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all. Our Maker bids increase; who bids abstain But our Destroyer [the devil], foe to God and Man? Hail, wedded Love, mysterious law, true source Of human offspring, sole propriety In Paradise of all things common else. By thee adulterous Lust was driven from men Among the bestial herds to range; by thee Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, Relations dear, and all the charities Of father, son, and brother, first were known. Far be it, that I should write thee sin or blame, Or think thee unbefitting holiest place, Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets, Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced, Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used. Here Love [within marriage with sexual intimacy] his golden shafts employs, here lights His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings, Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared, Casual fruition; nor in court-amours, Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball, Or serenade, which the starved lover sings To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain [love em and leave em--no new thing under the sun]. These, [Adam and Eve] lulled by nightingales, embracing slept, And on their naked limbs the flowery roof Showered roses, which the morn repaired.
Now isn't that horribly restrictive puritanic views of our sexuality. Nonsense! It's beautiful. Maybe you can't appreciate that. I get the goose bumps reading it. There's nothing in there that's sinfully erotic. It simply paints in beautiful verse what the Word of God says: "God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good."
The second proposition is this: the God who designed and created us with our sexuality is the only One who has the right to determine and impose its legitimate functions. Now, most of you probably out in the glove compartment of your cars have what you call an owners manual. It's really not the owner's manual. It's the manufacturer's manual. They made the car; they put the various components together; they know best how every one of those components can operate, be serviced, be maintained so that you get optimum use of that thing which the manufacturer made with a specific end in view: that it would be a functional, safe means of transportation. Who knows better how to write the manual than the manufacturer? That's why the owner's manual comes from the manufacturer--it comes with the car. You say, "Okay, pastor, obvious. Do you think I'm stupid? Sure I understand that." Well, suppose--now we've got to use our imagination--just suppose you should go out in the parking lot tonight, and there you see a vehicle over on its back. Suddenly this vehicle has a mind and it can talk. And the wheels are spinning and the horn is blowing, and you say, "Car what in the world are you doing?" And the car says, "Woo-hoo, I just found out I can make noise. I just love making noise. Listen to me. Honk, honk, honk." And you say, "Crazy old car, you're not supposed to do that." The car says, "I can do something else. Watch me spin my wheels." It goes up to 100 mph. Kids, you say no car would be stupid enough to do that if it could think and speak. You see where I'm going with the illustration. The thing was never turned off the production line to function that way. Does it have the capacity to be on its back making noise? Yes, I've seen cars that have run into a telephone pole, and the horn got jammed. And all it was was a bent up noise maker. But it wasn't made for that, and how do we know it? Well, among other ways, we know it because the manufacturer, who made it with a specific end in view, has given us an owners manual telling us how to have the thing function to the optimum end for which is was created. Now, it's a silly illustration, but I find that people are most helped by the silly illustrations when all the more profound things get washed away with time. Do you see the application? Whose the manufacturer of you and me? "In the beginning God created.... And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." He's the manufacturer, and the product He made has sexual capacities, sexual functions, and sexual desires. But it was never made to have a mind of its own to toot its horn and spin its wheels.
The God who made us is the God who has the exclusive right to determine and to impose upon us the legitimate functions of that which He has made. Notice how He did that with the appetite for food. There in Genesis--we're back in creation again. In Genesis chapter 2, God has made the man not only with sexual appetite and capacity for enjoyment and sexual function, but He's made him with a stomach, with a digestive system, with salivary glands, with those nerves that go to that part in the brain that say you're hungry, and you satisfy hunger with food. And God has declared that He has given him all that is there in the garden, but He has put a restriction. Look at it in Genesis 2:16: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now, here God makes a creature with an appetite. And He makes him with eyes that can see food and appreciate what the food will taste like and what it will do to assuage hunger. But the creature made with hunger was not left free to gratify his hunger any old way he chose to. He had to gratify his appetite for food according to the directions of the God who made him with an appetite. God said, "That's out of bounds." He has the right to do it. And without going into the whole matter of the significance of this, the basic issue is clear from the text. God said "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. [You have an urge to pick that piece of fruit because somehow you think it will taste this way, experiment with it, Adam. That's your privilege. Of all the trees you may freely eat. But of that one, under no circumstances are you to eat.]" Do you remember in the temptation when the devil in the form of a serpent speaks to Eve? One of the snares was: she saw. Verse 6 of chapter 3: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes." You see, those things which can cause us to salivate and cause us to think we desire a certain food all kicked in, and they were directed to the tree. But over that tree stood the X of God--"Don't touch it; don't eat of it lest you die." Well, in the same way without the same explicitness in this passage, when God makes the man and the woman with the capacity and desire for sexual enjoyment and fulfillment, he mandates to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. [When you engage in sexual intimacy and there is conception and birth, you are pleasing Me. You have my mandate to be fruitful and to multiply and to replenish the earth.]" The God who has designed and created us with our sexuality is the only one who has the right to determine and impose its legitimate functions. So then, when our Lord centuries later in Matthew 19 is questioned about the issue of the permanence of marriage (this whole thorny question of divorce), what does He do? Matthew 19:3:
"The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him, and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife [very clearly that sexual fulfillment is to be heterosexual by the design of God--man and woman. 'Cleave to his wife'--and only within that cleaving, that total covenantal commitment of one man to one woman is there to be sexual intimacy]: and they twain shall be one flesh?"
What two? Those who decide they like each other and want to spend a night together or agree to live together for a period of time. No, the two who have made this leaving and cleaving and this irrevocable covenant of commitment. The Lord is saying right from the beginning that was the divine intention. You say, "Who is God to tell us what to do?" He's our Creator. The whole idea was His, and He had noble ends to secure glory to Himself. And He says within this framework, "My glory will be seen and revealed in those creatures that I have made with sexual capacities and functions and desires, and they are to be fulfilled according to the mandate of My own Word and nothing else." So when God is about to articulate from Sinai that summary of all moral duty, He gives the 7th commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
On into Matthew 5 when Jesus takes to task those religious externalists who thought that if they were never caught in bed with a woman other than their wife, they had kept the 7th commandment, He says, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust [with a view to desiring, and in his mind conceives of having sexual fulfillment with anyone other than his wife] hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Now, dear men, the Lord is not saying that whoever turns his head inadvertently and sees a woman who is attractive and may not be dressed modestly, and he is tempted to look where he shouldn't look and allow the look to give birth to thoughts; who at that moment turns away--he's not violating the words of our Lord. He said, "Whoso looks with an intent to lust." And I've seen poor overly sensitive men feeling, "I'm breaking the 7th commandment because I'm turning my head away all day." No, you're turning your head away because you're determined not to break it. Bless God for that. And if there's ever a marginal thing, then say, "Lord, I'm not sure if that second look involved lusting, but if it did, cleanse me in the blood of Your Son and help me next time not to look the second time."
The Lord has the right to tell us that, and it works the other way around. It used to be years ago in the ministry, I thought it unthinkable to talk about women lusting after men. But not in this day. One of the wretched realities of the feminist movement is to make women think, "You've got as much right to lust after men as men have to lust after you." And I could demonstrate that by describing some of the stuff that is seen in popular magazines--I'm not talking about pornography. You women, if you look with an intent to lust--"O, he's got a firm body; he's got this; he's got that"--you're breaking the 7th commandment, and God has a right to tell you that. And God has a right to say in Hebrews 13:4, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Why? Because whoremongers and adulterers say, "I've got sexual capacity and sexual desire, and those are my desires and my capacities. And nobody, including God is going to tell me what to do with them." My friend, that's the mark of an unregenerate man whose "carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). And that's why God says whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" (1 Corinthians 6:9). And at the head of the list, Paul lists these forms of sexual deviation, similarly in Revelation 21:8 and there again in Romans 1:18 and following.
So then, we come to this second proposition: that the God who designed and created us with our sexuality is the only one who has a right to determine and impose its legitimate functions. Now, I believe with all my heart there are many of you who welcome God's impositions of His will over your sexual capacity, functions, and capacity to enjoy the sexual relationship. I believe with all my heart there are many of you who say of every precept and principle in Scripture that touches that area of your life, "O how love I Thy commandments. O that my ways were directed to keep Thy statues." And I trust that as this study unfolds, you will welcome into your heart those directives; that in a sinful world with your own remaining corruption and with a thousand provocations that jump the boundaries of God's own directives, by the grace of God, you shall be a people marked by unblemished sexual purity and uprightness. It is possible in this cesspool of our present society, by the grace of God, to be like a Joseph there in Potiphar's court. He resists every overture to violate the law of his God. And he comes through as gold tried in the crucible of testing: maligned and slandered, but eventually wonderfully vindicated.
Why is this second principle so critical? Well, for a number of reasons, but let me state this: because of the prevailing climate of our western culture that now assumes that right or wrong in fulfilling sexual desires can be determined by consensus. Everyone refers to the 60s as the period of the sexual revolution. Revolution against what? Most people assume it was a revolution against puritanic prudishness (puritanic, infantile mentality about sex). "We've now through the sexual revolution come of age." And what did God give our nation as His thank you for that revolution? The plague of AIDS and illegitimacy at levels that have not been in the history of our nation. That pressure is upon us. Add to that the aggressive, frighteningly militant so-called gay rights movements that are determined that everyone of you sitting here and this man standing here will not merely say that I will give to an outspoken, committed homosexual, male or female, the right to conduct himself with the freedom secured by our constitution, but I must give to him the approbation that his lifestyle is as pleasing to God as mine. That is their agenda. Don't be deceived! Nothing less than that will satisfy them. It is not mere toleration; it is approbation at every level. That's why one of our dear members here had the heartbreaking experience of getting a letter from a young man who shamelessly says,
"Now that I've declared what I am as a homosexual, I've loved Jesus more than I've ever loved Him. He is more precious than He's ever been. If you want to be my friend, I welcome your friendship on one condition: you don't use your friendship to try to do anything to dissuade me that what I now believe and experience is well-pleasing to God."
I've seen the letter with my own eyes. He has simply absorbed the agenda of the so-called gay rights movement. That pressure is on us. More and more when you say in the sweetest terms possible as I can say tonight, if there's sitting among us someone committed to a lesbian lifestyle in the fulfillment of sexual appetite, or a man committed to a homosexual lifestyle, in the name of Christ and for the sake of Christ, I believe I'd be prepared to give my life to win you to Christ. But in telling you I want to win you to Christ, I want to win you to a Christ who will break the chains that bind you to your perversion and set you free to be Christ's man, Christ's woman with a body that will honor Him so that in any of its sexual expressions, they will be an expression of submission to the law and will of the God who made you as a sexual being. We live in a country that thinks if enough states approve of same-sex marriages, they will be legitimized. "Who in the world are you, you un-American, proud, bigoted prude? Get with it." Isaiah 8:20: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." The Scripture says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
If you sit here as one whose heart has been ripped open; that in this area you have been a rebel against God, nothing in the Bible says sexual sins are unpardonable sins. As we shall see when we come to 1 Corinthians 6, Paul describes every major category of sexual deviation and says those who continue in it shall not enter the kingdom of God. But, he says, "Such were some of you, but you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." No matter how deeply ingrained have been your patterns of sexual sin, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses from all sin. Jesus said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men" (Matthew 21:31). Sexual sins are not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, nor are regressions into any specific acts of sexual sin, nor are they to be the thing that cripples the child of God. 1 John 1:9 applies to the child of God who falls in the area of sexual sin: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So may God help us as we by His grace seek to wrestle together with this subject of the divine antidote to sexual impurity to start with the right foundation. Proposition number one: our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure, originates with God and not with the devil. And Proposition number two: the God who designed and created us with our sexuality is the only one who has the right to determine and impose its legitimate functions. And thank God He has revealed Himself in grace and mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit so that Paul can say, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." That is the way of having a just pardon and a righteousness imputed. By the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we can be accepted before God and in the community of His people. And by the grace of God, be those who show in this area of our lives the wonderful power of redeeming grace.
What a wonderful thing it will be if the Lord tarries to see you young people who now profess to some degree of attachment to Christ, and be able to sit with one of your pastors in premarital counseling and to hear you say with a glow upon your face in the presence of a servant of God, "John, Harry, Pete [whatever his name is], by the grace of God, I've kept myself for you. You'll not get damaged goods on our wedding night." And have a young man look a woman in the eyes and say, "By the grace of God, God has kept me from being sucked into the vortex of this cesspool that's become a whirlpool." And I tell you, the whirlpool gets more and more powerful. When you hear as I've heard recently of a well-known preacher in another country shamelessly declaring he's gone to live with his homosexual lover, I tell you, folks, this is not whistling Dixie or crying, fire! fire! when there is no fire. And if we aren't straight here, it's doubtful we'll be able to make much progress in any other area of our Christian life.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:38:55 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #2 by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 21, 1999
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Many of you will know that last Lord's Day evening I announced that I was beginning a brief series of studies on the subject, the divine antidote to sexual impurity. And I began that message by seeking to sketch in the cultural setting in which our New Testament documents were given to us. And I attempted to show how relevant those New Testament documents are in the light of the present state of our own culture. In Romans 12:2, the people of God are commanded not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. As we are called to the life of a non-conformist, the Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul tells us that that non-conforming lifestyle has its taproots in the ongoing transformation of our minds. We must think aright if we are to walk aright. And therefore, I am seeking to set this brief series of messages in a thoroughly Biblical and theological framework by enunciating several basic propositions before moving on to a more direct dealing with some of the texts in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Thessalonians 4, and possibly several texts out of Romans 6. But I'm convinced that it's only as we think in terms of the broad Biblical teaching about this matter of our sexuality that we will be enabled by the grace of God to have our minds transformed that our lives may be well-pleasing unto God. And so we considered two propositions last Lord's Day. Proposition number one: our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure originates with God and not the devil. And we went right back to the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 to establish this proposition. Proposition number two was this: the God who designed us and created us with our sexuality is the only One who has the right to determine and to impose upon us its legitimate functions. Just as God designed man and created him with an appetite for food and had every right to prescribe the sphere in which man would satisfy that appetite ("of all the trees you may freely eat, but of that tree you may not eat"), so God established in the garden the only legitimate framework for the physical sexual expression of the sexuality of a man and woman when God brought Eve to Adam. And God Himself pronounces this fundamental structural truth about human sexuality: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife [within the covenant of marriage], and they two [not three, not four, not outside of that covenant] shall be one flesh."
We come now tonight to consider the third and final proposition, and it is this: the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or in practice will bar a person from heaven and will certainly result in the damnation of hell. Now, I know the words sound hard, almost caustic, but more gentle words will not do justice to the teaching of Holy Scripture. For when we turn to our Bibles, as I hope to demonstrate in a few moments, we are indeed driven to this proposition. Now, what I propose to do in our time together is first of all explain what I mean by the keywords in this proposition. Secondly (and this will take the bulk of our time), to demonstrate the Biblical foundation for that proposition. And then thirdly, to make some necessary applications to the various categories of men and women, boys and girls gathered in this place tonight.
First of all then, an explanation of the keywords. The proposition begins with this statement: the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin. What do I mean by sexual sin? Well, I do not mean what society at any given point in its experience will designate as sexual sin. Nor do I mean what we as individuals might like to define as sexual sin. But what I mean by sexual sin is any indulgence of one's sexual desires contrary to the revealed will of God. And as we shall see in our study of the Scriptures, God has revealed His will in this matter of our sexuality in general revelation. There is that which God has revealed in what Paul calls in Romans 1 "nature," but more particularly in His book of special revelation, the Bible. So when I state in this proposition, the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or in practice, by sexual sin I mean any indulgence of one's sexual desires contrary to the revealed will of God. Now, what do I mean by the words willful, impenitent indulgence? I've chosen those words deliberately because there are few of God's children who did not struggle with the sin of sexual impurity: impurity in the mind, impurity in the memory banks of the mind, impurity of inordinate and ungodly desires, looks, and even deeds that are displeasing to God. The Bible records the wretched, tragic sins of incest among the Godly. It records the sin of adultery in the life of that man after God's own heart. And so it would be wrong to say that the indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or practice will bar a person from heaven. I'm not saying that. This is what I'm saying; this is what I mean: the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin. What is willful, impenitent indulgence? Well, it's Indulgence that grows out of a Romans 8:7 heart. In Romans 8:7 the Apostle Paul writes,
"Because the carnal mind [the prevailing disposition of heart and spirit in every one devoid of the Holy Spirit; everyone who is only what he was in virtue of his natural conception and his natural birth; has never been born of the Spirit of God; united to Christ by faith] is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
By the words "the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin," I mean to describe this disposition that says, "My body is my own. I don't care what God says. His 'thou shalts' and 'shalt nots' are of no account to me." I think it is most tragically expressed in one of the best sellers that came out of the intensification of the so-called feminist movement in the 70s, a book that was read by the millions, Our Bodies Our Own. And the whole philosophy of that book was to try to tell women, "Your body is your own. No man, nobody in society, and certainly nobody called God has a right to tell you what to do with your body, particularly as a sexual being." And I will not tell you what the substance of the book is about. It is shameful to speak about it. But that's the disposition. If you want a crass expression of it, turn with me to Revelation 2, for here we have a description of what I mean by the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin. As the Lord Jesus speaks to the angel or the messenger of the church in Thyatira, he writes,
"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not" (vv. 21-22).
God says, "I called her to forsake her sin, but she wills not to forsake her sin." That is willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin. We have another example of it in Revelation 9:20-21 (and I take the time to do this because we are treading on a razor's edge in the conscience of men and women, boys and girls, and we dare not be careless):
"And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
"We want to murder, we shall murder; we want to steal, we shall steal; we want to indulge in sorcery, we shall indulge it. Our bodies are our own; our sexual standards are those which we make. And even the God in heaven who sends plagues upon us can be ignored. We have nothing to say to Him."
That is what I mean by willful, impenitent indulgence. I am not speaking of the true child of God who may struggle with impurity of mind. He doesn't need to pick up a pornographic magazine. He has a file drawer of pornography in his own head from his own past or her own past. He may have to do as one man said in my presence on one occasion, "I have to go to the Lord Jesus 100 times a day and say, Lord Jesus, cleanse my mind." I am not saying that a person who struggles continually and struggles intensely with the temptation to willfully indulge sexual impurity in the mind or in practice is barred from heaven. God forbid that I should say any such thing. I'm not talking about the person who as he or she began to develop into puberty felt out of it. They were not normally and naturally drawn as others were with the same degree of desire to heterosexual interest. And they find themselves tempted to homosexual or lesbian attractions. But with all of their might, they fight against it, and they cry out to Christ for help and grace. I'm not speaking of such. Please, please--I beg you--listen to me! The proposition is the willful, the impenitent indulgence of sexual sin in the mind or in practice. I'm not talking about the teenage boy or girl who struggles with indulging autoeroticism, who struggles with making his or her own body to be the terminus of sexual pleasure, and struggles and wrestles and stands and falls. In God's name, struggling saint, don't let the devil lay a false guilt trip upon you. I begged God that I wouldn't be such an instrument. Please listen! Here's the proposition: it is the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or in the practice. What do I mean by in the mind or in the practice? I mean in your heart or in your life. It's not enough that's there's no man or woman who can point to you and say, "You have had illicit sexual contact with me in your body." You must be able to say, "By the grace of God, I am not indulging willful sexual contact in my mind with any living creature but my legitimate spouse." It's not a matter of mere external conduct. It has to do with the heart as well as with the hands. It has to do with the inner man as well as the outward man. And by the term "will bar a person from heaven and certainly result in the damnation of hell," those words need no explanation. They mean exactly what they say. Heaven will be barred and hell will be opened to anyone who willfully, impenitently indulges in sexual sin.
Having stated the proposition and explained the key words, now secondly, let me set before you the Biblical basis for this proposition. And now we're going to look at seven texts in the New Testament. We start with the words of our blessed Lord in Matthew 5:27-28. Here our Lord is not changing the meaning of the law He gave upon Sinai. What He's doing is stripping away all the veneer and all the encrusting that the Pharisees had put around God's law so that the true significance of the law will be known and understood by His hearers. So He says,
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery [and those who said this and taught it were externalists. They were formalists. The heart did not matter. All that mattered was the hands and the bodily parts]: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her [everyone who looks on a woman with an intent to lust, to desire her as a sexual partner] hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
If the heart goes out with the inordinate desire and the look feeds that desire, the only thing that keeps that man from actually physically committing adultery is circumstances and perhaps secondary motives. But if he indulges it in the heart, God reckons it as though it were the deed. He has committed adultery already in his heart. And as if someone was to say, "But Lord Jesus, if that's what that law requires (heart purity), then we'd have to gouge our eyes out not to look and lust." He says, "Very well, then gouge your eyes." Look at the next verse: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee [why? This is a matter of heaven or hell]: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Cast into hell for what? For going out and actually spending a weekend in a motel with a woman other than your wife? No, looking with an intent to lust. The hands may never touch; the mouth may never touch; other bodily parts may never touch, but hell will be your portion if the mind has consented to the sin. That's what Jesus said. Do you see it with your own eyes in your own Bible? What this generation says are "innocent fantasies." That's what they call them--"healthful fantasies," fantasies fed by the hours Monday to Friday with the soap operas. When frustrated young and middle-aged women vicariously enter into the heavy-breathing scenes on their favorite soaps, they sublimate all the frustrations of their real relationships into this fantasy world. When men ogle their Playboys and their Penthouses and all of the other slick, vile girlie magazines, they indulge willfully and deliberately adultery of the mind. Jesus said the punishment is hell. That's what Jesus said. And He doesn't mean we can deal with this sin by literally plucking out the eye, because blind men can lust as well as sighted men. If you will to lust in your heart, you don't need two eyes to do it. You can conjure up the images with this amazing faculty called the human mind and imagination. Jesus is using this as a figure of speech saying at any cost stop it, or you'll burn in hell. I said the language is going to be blunt. You young men, listen to me--I beg you in Christ name. You women, whose souls are being bartered by the glut of filthy magazines and filthy programs, filthy television, filthy, filthy everywhere you turn--here's the issue: heaven or hell. The willful, impenitent indulgence of sexual sin in the mind or in practice will bar a person from heaven and certainly result in the damnation of hell. Jesus goes on to use a second figure: "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (v. 30). The man who says, "My body is my playground, mind and members, to use as I please." You'll find that God doesn't conform to his judgment in the day of the great judgment. Jesus is dead in earnest. This proposition is born out by the words of the Son of God.
Now turn to Romans 1. Because this passage has been preached on in recent years by one or two visiting pastors, I will only remind you of the leading lines of thought and urge you to reflect upon it at your own leisure. As Paul is demonstrating the universal need for that Gospel which is the power of God to salvation, he begins in chapter 1 and verse 18 with these words: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [suppress] the truth in unrighteousness." And then he goes on to say that what is known of God in general revelation they will not embrace. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. And what they know of God and what they see of God's works would never lead them to represent Him in an image of man, of beasts, of creeping things and of birds. They would know this great God who made all that is about them and all that is within them. This God cannot be rightly represented by something that they make with their hands. And so they make themselves fools and become idolaters. What does God do? Verse 24: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves." From the heart to the body--do you see the connection? God gave them up to the lust of their hearts unto uncleanness that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves. Why?
"[For they] changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up [to coming of age where they are no longer in bondage to puritanic and Victorian morality--that's what we're being told, but that's not what the Holy Spirit says] unto vile affections [passions that are dishonorable--and what is brought into sharp focus?]: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet" (vv. 25-27).
And what is the sum statement of all this? Verse 32: "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." They gain full acceptance for their deviant sexual behavior, but it doesn't change the mind of God. His wrath is still being revealed. And when you hear of evangelical homosexuals and evangelical lesbians, you must rear back on your hind legs and say, "No! There is no such character or beast on God's earth." The evangel delivers homosexuals and delivers lesbians and delivers adulterers and fornicators. But it does not cause them to go on in their deviant sexual behavior saying, "God smiles because God understands. God made me the way I am." Yes, He did. He made you male or female. And the natural use of the man must never be exchanged for the natural use of the woman. God holds men culpable from what's obvious just from nature with no special revelation. A man need never hear the words, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" to know. And this is why in many pagan cultures that don't even frown upon fornication, yet frown upon adultery. The very essence of the two-one flesh relationship is such that when a covenant of marriage has been made, men regard it an unnatural and culpable intrusion into that sacred sanctuary when someone dabbles with another's husband or another's wife.
A third passage: 1 Corinthians 6. You remember as we've been reading through 1 Corinthians, Paul has had to take up a number of practical concerns with the church at Corinth. And here he's beginning to address the problem of believers going into heathen law courts against one another. Verse 1: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?" Now keep this in mind: he describes the unconverted, the non-Christians, as the unrighteous. Now come down to verse 9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" He says,
"You Corinthians, in the light of what I'm having to deal with, maybe you've forgotten something: that if your lifestyle, if the pattern of your life is like that of the Gentiles, the unconverted, if you professing Christians enter into a pattern of behavior that is decidedly non-Christian, do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"
"O, but wait a minute, Paul, we're Christians. We've made professions of faith; we've been baptized. You baptized us. You were the preacher that led us to Christ." Paul says, "Don't you know the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" Now look at the next three words: "Be not deceived. [Let no one tell you that a willful, impenitent pattern of unrighteousness that parallels the lifestyle of the worldling is consistent with ultimate entrance into the kingdom of God at the end of the age.]" Then he's going to be specific: "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Write it down. Let it be indelibly stamped upon the chambers of your mind and the walls of your heart: the willful, impenitent indulgence of sexual sin in the mind or in practice will bar a person from heaven and certainly result in the damnation of hell. Look at the ones that he names: "fornicators," the broadest term for the sexually impure. There's a family of words, and it's the generic term for all forms of sexual impurity, every expression of deviation from God's sacred law concerning sexual practice and thought and disposition. Don't be deceived. One whose lifestyle is that of a fornicator is not going to have any inheritance in the kingdom of God--period. No discussion. No talk about "Well, aren't there carnal Christians, and won't there be just some who lose a few rewards." No, he says that if you're a fornicator, you'll go to hell. That's what you need to know. "Neither fornicators nor adulterers." "Adulterers" is the narrower term. It means the violation of the marriage covenant, a violation of the sanctity of that sanctuary of marital intimacy, and that can be violated in a number of ways. And any pattern of willful violating of that sacred sanctuary--don't be deceived, such shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Then there are two more terms: "nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind." It's difficult to ascertain precisely the meaning of these two words, but the general field among lexicographers and linguists is agreed that it refers to male prostitutes, homosexual offenders. Some say, in one case, it's the broader term of someone who prostitutes himself as a homosexual prostitute, and the other being the more aggressive homosexual. But the words are unmistakably clear. Hence the American Standard renders it: "nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men." Write it down; be determined not to budge, that anyone who willfully, impenitently practices homosexuality, male or female, in the mind or in the body shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, Paul did not say, "Those who struggle with homosexual or lesbian tendencies; those who sign no peace treaty with those tendencies; those who with all of their heart long to be kept from the indulgences of those tendencies in mind and in spirit--God does not bar those from the kingdom any more than He bars the person who struggles daily with a quick temper, and someone else who struggles with a hypersensitive or hypercritical spirit, or someone else who struggles with covetousness, or someone else who struggles with pride. Don't for a moment--anyone sitting here who feels inwardly red in the face at the mention of homosexual and lesbian--my friend, God does not exclude you from the kingdom if you are trusting in Christ and wrestling with your temptations in the strength of Christ and with Gospel motives drawn from the cross and the power of the Spirit of Christ. It is those who willfully, impenitently indulge in these sins that have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
Now Ephesians 5. Let God be true and every man a liar. The Apostle in these last three chapters of Ephesians is giving practical application to these Christians as to how they are to live an alternate lifestyle in the fellowship of the church and in the face of a watching world, and says in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love [there's the central command. Do that in the context of being imitators of God], as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." We're to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. Now look at the next words:
"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know [if you know anything beyond your own name, Paul says know this], that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience" (vv. 3-6).
Could words be plainer? You can imagine how everything in me wanted to wretch and to vomit on the very paper upon which the print was found when someone has the audacity to say, "I've come to such a discovery of the love of God and the love of Christ that I can now embrace my homosexuality with thankfulness and pride and say that Christ has never been more precious to me since I moved in with my homosexual lover." I've seen the words with my own eyes. I wanted to puke on the paper. This letter was sent to a whole state of friends shamelessly. That preacher in England a few months ago said, "The two greatest mistakes I made were getting married and going into the ministry." He leaves a wife and three grown children to live with his homosexual lover. Shameless! Why? Somebody has deceived them. "This is love. God's love accepts me for who I am. And if you love, you'll accept me for who I am."
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love." What kind of God? The God whose wrath falls upon the sons of disobedience. That's the God we're to imitate, and a love that is not mushy and unprincipled and caves in to the latest pronouncements of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors. As I've told people, it wouldn't bother me one bit if it can be unmistakenly proven that most homosexuals have some genetic predisposition to homosexuality. It wouldn't bother me any more than if they discovered that some people have a predisposition to addiction to alcohol. Others may have a predisposition to punch everything that moves in the face, and others a predisposition to be unusually passionate. Some men have higher levels of testosterone than others. Shall we say that if your level is above this, fornication and adultery aren't sin? Nonsense! In God's name, dear people, pray in these passages; memorize them; load your conscience with them. Be prepared to do what the Apostle says we are to do: "...fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints." If you've been set apart from sin unto God, you've left these things as the pattern of your life. And you are, as in the language of verse 11, to "have no fellowship [no koinonia, no participation] with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret." And I've cried to God, and one of my fellow elders cried to God before this meeting, that I would be chaste and discreet in what I said. It's shameful to even speak of some of these things. But the world is not silent; it's speaking to you all the time. It's speaking to you in Ally Mcbeal plots where everybody is neighing after someone else's woman, and every woman is neighing after someone else's man. In the spate of teenage sitcoms that have hit the major networks in the past several years, they're always giving the impression that fornication is nothing to be concerned about. It's like scratching your ear when it itches or blowing your nose when it's running, a very natural, normal, acceptable physical reaction to certain urges. No, my friend, the proposition is true: the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sins in the mind or in practice will bar a person from heaven and will certainly result in the damnation of hell.
There's a parallel passage in Colossians 3. I pass over it, and I want you to turn with me now to Jude verse 7. There's some so-called evangelicals who say the crowning sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality, because through one of the prophets God speaks of Sodom's great sin being self-indulgence and inhospitableness, and totally ignoring the context in which God is addressing, not literal Sodom and Gomorrah but His own nation. They conveniently overlook passages like this that confirm Genesis means exactly what it says, that God sent hell out of heaven upon a society that had become so obsessed with what Jude calls "strange flesh" (other kinds of flesh). No longer satisfied with the flesh of a man and a woman in the sanctity of marriage--men with men; women with women; bestiality--vile, filthy sins. Listen to the Word of God: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh [fallen in and ranged themselves behind every path to strange flesh], are set forth for an example...." We're being told the example is what a society is like when it gets rid of it's puritanical morality. "We are to be proud Americans. We have shed the shackles of puritanic morality. Lift your head high as an American." No, as Pastor Smith said tonight, "We hang our heads and we blush." Why? We are a nation given over to strange flesh and to fornication. Sexual impurity is part of the American way of life. Talk to anyone who goes to a third world country where they export American television, and it's one huge river of moral pollution. I understand that 80 channels of that pollution funnel down into Trinidad. That's what my son-in-law told me--he just visited there. I've seen it in the Philippines, and I almost want to put on a foreign accent and change my passport. Dear precious young people, it is not a sign of maturity and advanced moral sensitivity and awareness to call it anything other than what God does: fornication and strange flesh. And what has God done in sending hell out of heaven upon the cities of the plain? "[They] are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Sodom and Gomorrah are a preview of hell that awaits people who go after strange flesh and who give themselves over to fornication. Jude is not speaking about those who fight against it; who mourn and grieve the tendencies toward it; who apply every Gospel principle to mortify it. No, he's not speaking of you, my dear brother, my dear sister, young man, young woman, older man or older woman. He's speaking of those who, in the language of our text, give themselves and go after. The willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or practice will bar a person from heaven and certainly result in the damnation of hell.
Then in the book of the Revelation, our final witness, a text again that I would urge you to memorize. Chapter 21 gives a beautiful description of the redeemed earth after the coming of our Lord Jesus and that mighty conflagration (described in 2 Peter 3:10) when the elements will melt with heat and the Lord will renovate this old earth and bring in the new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness. John is describing that in chapter 21. And after this glorious description, he then says in verse 7, as if someone asks, "But, John, who will be there?"--and he says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son." Will that mean that God who made all men will eventually be the loving Father of all men and confer upon all men the blessings of this new heaven and new earth? John says,
"[No!] But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers [fornicators, the sexually impure, the sexually licentious (those who will not have God's restraint placed upon their sexual passions and appetite in mind or in body)], and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
When the devil stokes the fires of your sexual appetite, young people, and you're tempted to indulge, remember this: no matter how difficult it may be to mortify the fires of passion stoked by a wicked devil, they are nothing compared to the fires of hell that will consume your body and soul if you give yourself to the life of a fornicator and do not repent. Ask yourself, "Will I bare the tension of unquenched, fiery passion now in the grace and strength of Christ, or will I give myself to those fires to be thrown into the eternal fire?" You need to ask yourself that. People mock at the day when young people used to think, "I must not indulge in personal sexual sin and fantasies and personal sexual gratification and adultery and fornication because I'll burn in hell." That's laughed at now as a silly old grandma's notion. God's no silly old grandma God, and He hasn't changed His Word. And God says that fornicators as well as murderers, the fearful (those who make an idol of their friends, an idol of their associations and will not be identified with Christ and bare His reproach), the unbelieving, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and the liars shall have their part in the lake of fire.
The final witness from the book of the Revelation is chapter 22 and verses 14 and 15:
"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. [There are those who will be washed and made clean who will have a God conferred right of entrance into that blessed city.] For without are dogs [what a wretched description. To someone in that culture, the dog was the essence of the unclean beast], and sorcerers, and whoremongers [ask yourself the next time your passions rage within you, 'Is it worth this momentary gratification to be put without with the dogs?' You need to ask yourself that, because that's what the Scriptures say], and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."
I could bring in other texts, but if these seven texts do not persuade you that this proposition is drenched in Biblical perspectives, I don't know what will. The willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or practice will bar a person from heaven and certainly result in the damnation of hell.
I've stated and sought to explain the key words in the proposition; I've given you this survey of these seven basic Biblical texts; now I come to my final applications. And the first application is this: knowing and believing this proposition that I've laid out before you, supported from the Scriptures, applied to your conscience will not change you if you are presently indulging in sexual sin. There isn't enough in the Bible about the terrors of hell to scare a man away from his sin unless the grace of God through the Gospel works in him. You see, what I've been basically doing is preaching the law, and the Scriptures say, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4). Knowing this cannot change you if you're indulging in sexual sin. The law has no such power. But I hope it has awakened you to realize what you're trying to believe from the den of society's message in your ear is but a loud echo from the pit of hell spawned by that one whom Jesus described as a murderer and a liar. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. And he's seeking to damn some of you with the lie that what Mom and Dad taught you and what your conscience instinctively tells you to this hour, that your personal sexual fantasies are sin; that your personal sexual gratification is sin, because it's outside the bounds that God has established. And that actual physical relationship you sustained with that woman or that man is sin. What I've simply been trying to do by opening up the Scriptures is to persuade you that the voice of God that's been thundering within your own breast, that you've been seeking to stifle--you ought to listen to it, because that voice has been answered by the voice of God speaking in His Word. And the voice within and the voice that's come without is the voice you'll hear in the day of judgment. It's not the voice that your own indwelling, vicious corruption is mouthing; it's not the devil's voice that will be the arbitrator of your destiny in the day of judgment. It's the voice of God that's been speaking in your conscience and has spoken in the Word of God to you tonight. And though that voice exposing you, letting you see yourself stand naked and exposed before God, doesn't save, you'll never be saved until you are exposed.
The second thing I want to say is: however, knowing this should drive you to Christ who can forgive; who can cleanse, and--blessed be God-- who can empower you so that you will no longer be a slave to those sins. He can cleanse. Matthew 1:21: "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save [deliver, rescue] His people from [out of, away from] their sins." Christ can deliver. He says in John 8:36, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." And when Paul wrote to the Corinthians after that description of the lifestyle that's inconsistent of being in a state of grace, he says in verse 11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." He said you were washed, which may be a reference to the external, symbolic washing of baptism. I won't go into the debate, but the next two things are clear: you were washed; you were sanctified; you were justified. You were set apart from that realm in which your sins were your master, in which you were bound by the cords of your own iniquity. You were taken and set apart from that realm unto God in Jesus Christ. You were sanctified; you were justified: declared righteous as though you had not broken any of the Ten Commandments, let alone the Seventh, and more than that, as though you had perfectly kept them all of your life. And how did this happen? He said this happened in the realm of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the realm of the Spirit of our God, the revelation of God's grace and mercy in the person and work of the Lord Jesus and the mighty operation of the Holy Spirit. He said this is what effected the change. And my dear friend, young or old, you may be held with cords of sexual sin that you've despaired would ever be broken--I have good news! If you're sitting here convinced they must be broken or you'll be damned, go to the Christ who can brake the chains, can wash and cleanse you, sanctify you by His almighty Spirit, justify you on the grounds of His own perfect obedience to the law and His death under the curse of the law.
I love the text in Matthew 12:31. My mind was drawn to it in my preparation for tonight. So often the text is used to debate what is the unpardonable sin. When in the midst of Jesus dealing with that subject, there is one of the most precious Gospel promises: "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men...." Am I speaking unto some tonight who have descended even unto bestiality. Perhaps you've indulged in homosexual fantasies and practices. You have defiled your body and the bodies of others, and you say, "How could God take a filthy wretch like me?" Listen to Jesus, "I say unto you, Every sin shall be forgiven unto men." You say, "O, but Pastor, you don't know what I've done." Yeah, I don't know, and I don't want to know. But are going to tell Jesus He didn't know those sins when He dared to make this promise and have Matthew put it in the Word of God? He knew all about your sins. Don't argue with Him. Every sin shall be forgiven. Go to the place where forgiveness is found. It's not in you; it's not in me; it's not in this church or any other church--no sacraments; no rituals. It's in a person. His name is Jesus, and He's the mighty deliverer. You go to Him and going to Him, He says, "He that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." Knowing what we've preached tonight will not change you if you're indulging sexual sin. Secondly, knowing this should drive you out of yourself to the Christ who can forgive, cleanse, and empower you.
And my final word of application is this: knowing this, that is, this truth we've considered embodied in this proposition, resting down upon these texts of Scripture, knowing this with God's blessing can be a means to keep you from the erosion of your conscience in this sex-soaked generation. I'm particularly burdened for you dear young men and woman. I look out into the world in which you've been reared, and it's not right for people to say, "Things are always the same. The older people always think things are worse." You face issues that I never faced. You face a glut of--think of the shameful mess of our president when words I never even heard used till I was a grown adult were on the news every night, and little children asking mommies and daddies, "What does this mean? What does that mean? Who's Mona Lewinsky?" There were no Playboy magazines and all the other stuff that makes Playboy considered soft, soft, soft pornography. That wasn't around. I've told God more than once I feared to think where I'd be if I faced the temptations some of you face. There's no hope for you if you don't get these texts into your soul and pray God that this stuff will become part of the very fabric of your being. Then let the tidal waves of ungodliness, impurity, and foul uncleanness beat upon you, and you'll stand firm in Jesus Christ, in the strength of His Spirit like a Daniel refusing to bend no matter what the pressure. There was a poem that I made available to the men, I think at a pastors conference. I can't remember where, but Pastor Smith reminded me of it, and I want to close with it.
Sin is a monster of such awful mien [appearance] That to be hated needs but to be seen, But seen too oft, familiar with face We first endure, then pity, and then embrace. Do you see what the poet understood? Sin is ugly. All you need do is see it for what it is, and you know it's ugly. It's the ugly hell-creating, Christ-crucifying, devil-making moral reality. That's what sin is--ugly, ugly, ugly from head to toe and from side to side. Sin is a monster of such awful mien that to be hated needs but to be seen, that is, to be seen for what it really is. But seen too oft, familiar with its face, we first endure, then pity, and then embrace. That's what you young people especially are facing. All of us face it, but you especially. The fact that people say, "Its face is tolerable; its face is half attractive; its face is beautiful"--that doesn't make it any more beautiful than if I look in the mirror and say, "You're as handsome as Clarke Gable." It will never come to pass. Saying it don't make it. Do you get the message?
When we come, God willing, in our subsequent messages to look at the principles by which Christians must furnish their minds and regulate their lives to be kept sexually pure, never forget it, there's no such thing as an innocent exposure to a rather good PG 13 movie with only four sex scenes and only a half a dozen curse words. What in the world are you talking about? You are tolerating the blatant violation of God's law and saying, "Well, it wasn't too bad." You see what's happening. When your defenses are weakened in your reaction to it out there, they are weakened to your indulgence to it in here. To react to it out there and not in here is the essence of hypocrisy. But to fail to react to it out there while you think you can react to it in here is the essence of self-deception. Do you follow me? You think about it. Some of you may be watching things on your television now that when you first saw them five years ago, you were shocked and revolted and clicked it off, and now you're watching it. And you call it Christian maturity. No, that's not maturity. That's backsliding in heart. And the Scriptures say, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways" (Proverbs 14:14).
My friend, pray God will help us all to see this monstrous sin in its native ugliness, and seeing it, turn from it; ever and continually run to Christ. I've been here in this assembly for 37 years, and while there have been some tragic personal lapses among various members--unless someone has covered it, and it will take the day of judgment to uncover it--I bless God that there's never been any fall into this kind of sin among the leadership while in leadership. As far as I know, we've never had to discipline any internal involvement in sexual sins. We've had individuals who have fallen into gross sexual sin with someone outside the assembly, and there's had to be discipline. God's been very gracious to us, but I tell the pressure on this congregation in years to come are going to make the bygone years seem like kids play. And if we do not furnish ourselves with the Word of God, we're done! May God help us!
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:39:40 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #3 by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 28, 1999
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We come this evening to the third message in a brief series of messages that I've entitled "The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity." And as I've reflected upon that title which has no divine inspiration, I assure you, I thought we might better entitle the series "The Divine Prescription for Sexual Purity," or what I hope and pray it will be for many of you, particularly you young men and women, "A Divine Immunization Against Sexual Impurity." But whether God uses His Word as an antidote to the poison of sexual impurity that is yet within us, a prescription for the path of sexual purity, or an divine immunization against it, I trust that God will own His Word to help us in an area that must be addressed from the Word of God. And as I indicated in the first message, in checking back through what I have preached, it's been fourteen and a half years since I addressed this subject in a brief series of messages from this very pulpit. No matter what title we choose, it is my desire that in an age marked by an obsession with sex, an age which has cut itself loose from Biblical moorings and is out to sea with no compass and no rudder--it is my goal to let the Scriptures be our navigational chart and compass that we might not be dashed upon the rock of lawlessness, relativism, and subjectivism that so often are present when this matter is discussed in our current society.
My approach has been to state some foundational Biblical issues in the form of propositions. I've stated the propositions, explained the meaning of my words, and then turned to the Scriptures to show that these propositions are constructed from the over-arching teaching of the Word of God. In other words, I have been engaging in systematic theology, whether you knew it or not with respect to this subject. Thus far, we've addressed three of these propositions. I'll only state them, and then we move tonight to the fourth. Proposition number one: our sexuality, including our desire and capacity for sexual pleasure, originates with God and not the devil. Genesis 1 and 2 clearly establish this. And 1 Timothy 4 clearly sets forth the fact that anything that denigrates and looks upon this faculty with which God has endowed us as essentially sinful is a demonic perspective and not of God. Proposition number two: the God who designed us and created us with our sexuality is the only One who has the right to determine and impose upon us its legitimate functions. The fact that mankind was made male and female with sexual identity with the capacity for sexual pleasure was God's notion, and being God's notion, He alone has the right to tell us His intentions with respect to that which He has designed and made. And there we looked again at Genesis 1 and 2 and several other key passages, not the least of which is that commandment imbedded in the moral law: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." God sets the boundaries for the fulfillment and expression of our human sexuality. Then last week, we took up proposition number three, and it was this: the willful, impenitent indulgence in sexual sin in the mind or practice will bar a person from heaven and will certainly result in the damnation of hell. To fool around with sex is to toy with damnation. To state it bluntly, our Lord Jesus says to indulge illicit sex in the mind is to make ourselves candidates for the lake of fire. Our Lord says at any cost to ourselves there must be a turning from illicit sexual thoughts as well as actions, or there hangs over us the threat of the pit of eternal burnings. And we looked at seven key texts which clearly establish this fact.
Now tonight, we come to the fourth and final foundational proposition, and God willing, in the next two messages, I want to look with you at two watershed passages in the New Testament. I would urge you to try to read them this coming week: 1 Corinthians 6 verses 12 to the end of the chapter and the first few verses of chapter 7, and then 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. Now tonight, we take up this fourth foundational proposition. Please don't be scared away by the language. I've labored to choose words carefully and deliberately. I will explain the meaning of them, so don't pull down the shade over your mind until we help shed some light upon this collection of words. Proposition number four is this: a real participation in the dynamics of saving grace will deliver us from the dominion of sin, including sexual sins, and equip us for progressive growth in sexual purity. Now I want you to look upon this proposition with me as though it were a pillar comprised of three large blocks. On the front of the block, there are parts of the proposition. And on the backside, there are the Biblical texts which warrant the language that I have chosen.
We take block number one--it's these words: a real participation in the dynamics of saving grace. What in the world do I mean by those words? The dynamics of a thing are the forces or powers that are operative in any given field. There are social dynamics as men and women, boys and girls interact with one another. There are powers and influences and forces operative in that social interaction, and we call those the dynamics of social interaction. We could speak of the dynamics of economic structures within the field of handling money and commerce. There are forces and influences at work. Those are the dynamics of economic interaction. So I'm speaking tonight of participation in the dynamics of saving grace.
There is a non-saving common grace of God by which men and women are restrained from being as bad as they could be, and are constrained to do good things as men count things good. That's God's common grace. Jesus refers to it when He says in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children...." How do evil men know how to give good to their children, and how are they disposed to give good? Because in God's common grace, they do things that men count good. There are marvelous examples in the Old Testament of how God's common grace restrained men from being as evil as they could be. You remember that man Abimelech? He took Sarah, not knowing she was Abraham's wife, because he said, "She is my sister." And God restrained him from having any sexual relations with her. That was His common grace.
But we're concerned tonight about the dynamics, the forces and powers that are operative within the sphere, not of God's common grace, but of His saving grace; that is, those forces and powers that are true only to those who are God's true people by His grace in Christ. And I've used the terms "a real participation" in those forces and powers and influences peculiar to the sphere of God's saving grace. Why have I used the terms "a real participation?" Because there is a pseudo participation. The Bible speaks of those who think they're in the realm of God's saving grace; who say that they are within the sphere of the dynamics of God's saving grace. But it is a pseudo profession. For example, in 1 John 1:6, John writes to such people and says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him...." Here are some who say, "We are within the orbit of the dynamics of God's saving grace. We have come into living, real fellowship with God." And yet they walk in the darkness. John says, "[They] lie, and do not the truth." That is a pseudo participation: a false, spurious, counterfeit participation in the dynamics of saving grace. Chapter 2 and verse 4 of the same letter: "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." His profession of being within the orbit and under the influence of the dynamics of saving faith is a lie. Titus 1:16: "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him." 2 Timothy 3:5: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." They go through the motions; they may maintain an orthodox creed, but they have no true, real participation in the power, in the dynamics of God's saving grace. And I've used the word "participation" deliberately. I did not say, "a real experience" of the dynamics because that would focus too much upon a crisis of conversion. And because we have a number of you who have been reared in the context of Godly instruction, who by God's common grace have had sensitive consciences--many of you will not know precisely when you passed from death unto life. The last thing I want to do in any preaching is to bind your consciences and become the devil's tool to discourage you or rob you of assurance that may be rightly yours. So what God is concerned about and what I'm concerned about is not an experience of saving grace, but the indications that we are truly participating here and now in saving grace. Precisely when we began to is a matter of no consequence, but that we are is a matter of life and death. So in this first block, I'm addressing this matter of a real participation in the dynamics of of saving grace.
What are those dynamics? Well, that would take a whole series of messages, but let me just run by a few of them right now. Within the orbit of God's true saving grace, there's such a thing as the new birth. This is what Jesus speaks about in John 3 when He says to this religious leader, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And He went on to say, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Within the realm of God's saving grace, there is the reality of the new birth. There is the dynamic, the operative force of a birth by the Spirit of God. There is the reality of being a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." A parallel passage is Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." And there are the twin realities of these dynamics of God's saving grace: in Christ and new creation. To be united to Christ is not a religious concept; it is not a philosophical notion. It is a vital spiritual reality that transforms everyone who is brought into union with Christ. If any is in Christ--new creation. A dynamic, operative force has been at work in the heart of that one united to Christ. In the language of the prophet Ezekiel and Jeremiah picked up and quoted in Hebrews 8 and 10, there is the dynamic of the new covenant blessing of a new heart. God says, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19). That's something real and vital God does in us when He brings us within the orbit of His saving grace. There is the new standing before God: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12). And when we are given the status of adopted sons and daughters, a legal transaction, God does not stop there. We read in Galatians 4:6: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." That's what it means to be within the dynamics of God's saving grace: to have been born again, to be in Christ, to be a new creation, to have a new heart, a new standing, the spirit of adoption. And we could go on and on. That's what I mean by the dynamics of saving grace: all of those things that are operative in the heart or life of anyone who is drawn by God's power into the orbit of His saving grace. So as we take up this fourth proposition, we're concerned with a real participation in the dynamics of saving grace.
Now that brings us to block number two on which are these words: this will deliver us from the dominion of sin, including sexual sin. Now let me seek to demonstrate from the Word of God the truth of these words. The Bible is very clear in asserting that in every true child of God, sin no longer reigns though it does certainly remain and will remain until the moment of our deaths when our spirits will be instantaneously made at home with "the spirits of just men made perfect." Or should we be alive at the coming of the Lord Jesus, the moment He comes, He intensifies and augments the work that has been going on progressively, and "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." In John 8, the Lord is found addressing some Jews of whom it is said they believed on Him. There is some expression of faith toward Christ:
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?" (vv. 31-33).
They had a short memory. What was Egypt if that wasn't bondage? What was Babylon if that wasn't bondage? What was their present state if that wasn't bondage? They couldn't even kill Jesus without drawing in the Roman authority. They had no power to execute by capital punishment. But in their spiritual blindness and pride, they said, "We've never been in bondage to any man." Notice how the Lord responds: "Verily, verily, [one of those majestically statements of Truth incarnate: truly, truly, amen, amen--listen to what I'm about to say] I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin [everyone who is practicing sin, everyone in whom sin is the pattern of life] is the servant [bondslave] of sin" (v. 34). Everyone to whom sin is master is a slave of that master. He's saying this to religious people with all of their religious knowledge and religious practice and religious profession. He says, "You need to be liberated." They say, "Liberated from what? We've never been in bondage to anyone." He says, "Yes, you are in bondage. You're in bondage to your sin."
Verse 36: "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." The force of the arrangement in the original is this: "If the Son shall make you free, really free, you shall be really free. You think you're free, but you're deluded. You're slaves of your sin. If I make you free, that freedom is not positional." I can't believe some of the nonsense I've heard in the name of expounding the Bible. Anything that touches upon the radical nature of what the theologians have come to call definitive sanctification (that if we've come within the orbit of the dynamics of saving grace, there is a radical breach with the dominion of sin), people say, "That's just positional sanctification." No, Jesus said this freedom is not a word; it's not a concept; it's a blessed reality. If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Free for what? Free to let all of life be regulated by the Word of Christ. "If ye continue [remain] in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (vv. 31-32). You will live as free men to do the will of your heavenly Father as that will is expressed in My Word. There is the clear teaching that any participation in the dynamics of saving grace will deliver us from the dominion of sin.
Now turn to another pivotal text: Romans 6. Here in the last half of the chapter under the imagery of slave and master, Paul is teaching that all who have come into union with Christ by faith, not only have an imputed righteousness, a righteousness external to them based solely upon the doing and dying of Jesus, but in virtue of their union with Christ, they have died to sin (vv. 1-14), and they have been released from their former master of sin and have become the willing bondslaves of God and of Christ and of righteousness. In summary of the teaching of the first half of the chapter, he says in verse 14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you." Literally, sin shall not exercise lordship over you. Now notice, that's not an exhortation; it is a statement of reality given what he has previously taught in this chapter. If we're united to Christ, the dominion of sin has been broken. In virtue of His death, burial, and resurrection, we in union with Him have died to sin and risen to newness of life. "Sin shall not"--it doesn't say, "sin ought not" or "sin eventually will not," but "sin shall not have dominion over you." Why? "For you are not under law." That is, you are not in the state by which you came in by nature. You've come within the orbit of the dynamics of grace. And because you have, there's been a change of masters. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Verse 15 and 16:
"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
Two masters: sin leading to death and obedience leading to righteousness, practical, personal, imparted righteousness. This is not imputed righteousness. That's dealt with in the previous section of Romans. "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin [he says all of you Roman Christians were at one time slaves of sin], but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." He likens the Gospel as a form of teaching into which they were cast. When the Gospel came to them, and by the power of the Holy Spirit effectually worked into them, they were cast into mold of the Gospel, a Gospel which holds out, not only free forgiveness and justifying righteousness, but liberation from the tyranny of sin. "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people [away] from their sins [its consequences, its deserved damnation, yes, but also its galling, enslaving power]" (Matthew 1:21). And what happened? "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (v. 17). If you're a Christian, you've been made free from sin. If you've not been made free from sin, you've never become a Christian. Look at what the text says. I didn't write it; it's a good translation. Now obviously, it's not saying that you've been made free from sin so that sin no longer remains. Paul will deal with that very adequately in chapter 7, and he will deal with it biographically: "The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." So he's not teaching sinless perfection, but neither is he teaching positional sanctification. He's saying you actually became free from sin. In what sense? The sense of verse 14. Sin no longer exercises its lordship over you. You became free from sin; you became the servants of righteousness. He says,
"I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members [that is, your physical faculties: your mind, your spirit, your hands, your feet, your sexual members] servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
Could words be any plainer? Anyone who has a real participation in the dynamics of saving grace has been delivered from the dominion of sin, including sexual sins, sins committed with our members that have sexual nerve endings, and our eyeballs that can receive sexual stimulation and signals. As surely as your slavery to sin was real in that it engaged your faculties, so now this new Master is real and His call to you is real. And you present your faculties unto Him as one who does indeed joyfully own his new Master (righteousness, God, Jesus Christ, and all that is found in Him). So you see that second block of the pillar on which are these words "Saving grace will deliver us from the dominion of sin, including sexual sins" is not some notion spun out of my own head.
Turn to Galatians 5 (third text), familiar words beginning in verse 16:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. [Paul's assuming that real Christians still have fleshly lusts, which they can fulfill to their grief and shame as well as to the dishonor of God.] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. [You are not in that realm where there are no dynamics of grace operative. All you have is God's standard pressing down upon your conscience. And you're either searing your conscience, or if you yield to the pressure of your conscience, you're in despair. The law has no power to deliver you. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these [and look at the ones at the top of the list]; adultery, fornication [sexual impurity of all stripes and denominations and all kinds], uncleanness, lasciviousness [wanton abandonment to passions and lusts], idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like [he said the list could go on and on--this is just a sampling]: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. [There's an underscoring of the principle from last week. A pattern of indulgence in sexual sin will land you in hell. You'll not inherit the kingdom of God. It's clear, if you give in to the burning of sinful passion, the price you'll pay, unless by thorough repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, will be the burning in outer darkness.] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [control over myself, including my sexual appetites and my sexual passions]: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's [those who have come into the dynamics of saving grace] have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
There has been a fundamental reckoning with the dominion of sin as it expresses itself through the passions and lusts if flesh. And it says they have crucified it. This is not an exact parallel to Romans 6. It is another dimension of this great truth, that where there is saving grace, we will be delivered from the dominion of sin, including sexual sin. Now we could multiply texts, but if these three witnesses don't persuade you, I doubt that three more will.
But you say, "Pastor, there's a little bit of reference to sexual sin there in Galatians (a couple of specific ones), and certainly by inference and by logical deduction in Romans 6 if the dominion of sin was manifested by presenting our members, including those members by which sexual appetites and desires are expressed. But isn't there something more specific that really clenches this fact that real participation in the dynamics of saving grace will deliver from the dominion of sin, including sexual sin? The clearest text I know is 1 Corinthians 6. (God willing, I'll give a more detailed exposition of this next Lord's Day in conjunction with the communion meditation.) Notice how clearly the Apostle addresses the issue. Verse 9:
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind , nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Settle it, Paul says, it's non-negotiable. Don't sit down and discuss it or debate about it. A lifestyle dominated by any one or more of these sins is inconsistent with being in a state of grace. What hope is there for these Corinthians then? Verse 11:
"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus [in conjunction with the revelation of God's saving mercy in the person and work of Him who is the Lord, even Jesus Messiah], and by the Spirit of our God."
Paul says when you came within the orbit of the influence of Christ's name, that is, the revelation of God's saving mercy in Him and within the orbit of the effectual work of the Holy Spirit, you now are in the category of "the weres." ("Such were some of you.") You are no longer adulterers. You are no longer fornicators. You are no longer effeminate. You are no longer indulging in sexual license as a way of life. Why? Because any real participation in the dynamics of saving grace will deliver us from the dominion of sin, including sexual sin. Now if that hasn't established it from my Bible, I don't know how to try to do it. Perhaps I'm speaking of someone who sits here and says,
"If that's what the Bible teaches, then I've never come within the orbit of God's saving grace. If the dynamics, the forces, the powers that are operative in that realm will deliver from sin, including the dominion and tyranny of sexual sin, then I have no reason to believe that I've come within that orbit. What can I do?"
My answer is relatively simple. You run to the One upon whom God sent His Spirit. In Isaiah 61, quoted by the Lord Jesus Himself in His hometown of Nazareth in the synagogue--that passage that says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives..." (Luke 4:18). You go to Jesus with your chains clanking all around you and say, "Lord Jesus, here's a helpless slave of sin. You said, 'If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.' Lord Jesus, make me living proof of your Word." Go to Him with your chains clanking. Don't try to get a blow torch or a hacksaw of your own doing and get rid of all your chains so you can feel yourself fit to go to Jesus. Go to Him with your clanking chains and say, "Lord Jesus, snap them. Lord Jesus, set the captive free. Lord Jesus, cleanse the captive; Lord Jesus, purge the captive." You have the promise, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:27). Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save [rescue, deliver] His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). He delivers not only from their guilt, their hell-deservingness, their wrath-deservingness but their galling, domineering power.
We come now to block number three: a real participation in the dynamics of saving grace will equip us for progressive growth in sexual purity. Coming within the orbit of God's saving grace and the dynamics that are operative within that realm not only delivers us from the dominion of sin, but equips us for progressive growth in sexual purity. God equips us for the battle that begins when no longer is there only one master in charge (sin). Paul says when you were the slaves of sin, you were free in regards to righteousness. Righteousness says, "Thou shalt; thou shalt not." And you say, "Who is righteousness? I've got my lusts. I've got my passions. I've got my nerve endings. I've got my appetites. They are the only master I recognize." That's what Paul is saying. When you were the slaves of sin, you were free; you were acting like free men when this master called righteousness would speak. You would say, "He's not my boss. My boss is sin, and I'll yield myself to my boss." But now Paul says, "You have a change of masters." And what does that result in? Back to Romans 6. There we have not only a description of the fact that when we are really and truly within the dynamics of saving grace, sins' dominion is broken, but this text also makes it clear that we are equipped for progressive growth in sexual purity. Verse 22: "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have [present tense: you are having] your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." A change of masters, a change of practice, and a change of destiny. No one has a change of destiny who doesn't have a change of practice. And no one has a change of practice who doesn't have a change of masters. It's all one ball of wax. That's God's way of saving sinners. Even the thief on the cross brought forth fruit unto righteousness. He identified himself with Jesus; he sought to vindicate Jesus before his cussing buddy with whom he joined in chorus of reviling for some time while he was on that cross, for we read in the Gospels that both malefactors cast the same into His face. And in those few remaining minutes, he was bringing forth fruit unto sanctification or holiness. And Jesus said to this man, "Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise." When we come into the orbit of the dynamics of saving grace, not only is the dominion of sin broken, but we are equipped for progressive growth in sexual purity. That is a dimension of bringing forth fruit unto sanctification.
And as we shall see--and let us just look at it for a moment so you'll realize this is not pressing the issue. When Paul addresses the Thessalonians, he obviously felt it necessary in his relatively brief stay among them to emphasize this, because he reminds them that this is something he had already talked about, but now he puts a half a chapter in the same area of concern. So I'm not at all disturbed if anyone who's heard these three messages goes out and says, "All you talk about is sex there." Frankly, your false witness of us won't stick. That isn't all we talk about, and I fear we're not giving as much emphasis to this as the Bible does. And that's why I've been constrained to address the subject in these few messages. This is what Paul says:
"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification [and is he talking about sanctification generically? No], that ye should abstain from fornication" (vv. 1-3).
He equates his focused instruction of sanctification in this area of sexual purity. And then he goes on to open up the matter more fully and says that this is intricately bound up in our effectual calling. We are called in our effectual call unto holiness or sanctification. And in the context, it is the sanctification of sexual purity. Now how do we get equipped to grow progressively in this grace of sexual purity? We get equipped when we are brought into the orbit of the dynamics of God's saving grace.
Viewed from another standpoint, John 15 addresses this. Here, growing out of the Biblical doctrine of union with Christ, that we are joined to Him not only federally and legally--blessed God we are, or we would have no imputed righteousness--it is our federal union with Christ that is at the base of justifying righteousness. But we have more than a federal union. We have a vital life union with Christ as expressed in John 15:1-5:
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman [caretaker, gardener]. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it [prunes it], that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide [remain] in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him [the life that flows through Me flows into him], the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me [severed from Me] ye can do nothing."
O, yes, we can do a lot of things, but over of all of them is the word "sin." But we can do nothing that is reflective of the likeness and the will of Christ apart from being united to Him and abiding in Him. Well, how do we get into Christ? We are brought into Him vitally when we come within the orbit of God's saving grace in our own experience. Whether that is at the dawning of the day--and we don't know when we are actually joined to Christ--or whether, like Paul, it is like a thunder clap and a lightening bolt out of the clear blue sky, when we are united to Him (i.e. brought within the dynamics of saving grace), we are so united to Him that we are equipped for progressive growth in sexual purity. The Scripture says he who says he abides in Him ought to walk as He walked. He walked amongst man as a man. He had close relationships with men that never bordered on the impure. He had deep and close and even intimate relationships with women, but never once stained with a lustful thought or a lustful touch. As we abide in Him, the grace that was operative in our blessed Lord, our Head, the true Vine, is operative in us. We are equipped by virtue of our union with Christ.
Now go to Philippians 2:12 and 13 (again trying to bring in three clear witnesses to these principles): "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." He is saying,
"I'm going to exhort you, that as when I was among you, you manifested the grace principle of obedience to your Lord. Now that I'm absent, lest any should say your attachment to Christ was somehow dependant upon my presence, much more in my absence now, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Go on in the growth and development of the grace imparted to you when God effectually called you by the Word and the Gospel. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, with the engagement of all your faculties, remembering the seriousness of this task, for it is God who is continually working in you both to will and work for His good pleasure."
He can say of all of these Philippians, "The dynamics of saving grace are constantly working in you, both inclining your will to do what you should and then giving you the power to do it." Some would say, "If that's so, then I sit back and catch the wave." He says, "No, work it out with all of your faculties and with all the intensity of all your powers in the confidence that every time you make a righteous choice and you're given grace to perform a righteous deed, it was God who worked in you both to will and to work." You say, "I can't figure it out." Well, that's too bad, I'm sorry, that's the way it is. That's what God has said. And how could Paul be so confident? Because He knew that these people had come within the orbit of saving grace, and the dynamics of that grace were constantly at work equipping them for progressive growth and sanctification generically. That's the emphasis here. But a major subhead of generic sanctification, according to 1 Thessalonians 4, is the matter of growing progressively in the grace of sexual purity.
One other text. It's a good one on which to close because it comes as a kind of benediction. After giving some serious warnings against apostasy saying, "We are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation," the author of Hebrews brings his letter almost to a conclusion in chapter 13 verses 20 and 21:
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Now think back through this epistle: some of the very stringent exhortations and directions given to these people. And it's as though some might say, "How in the world are we to fulfill all of those injunctions: holding fast our hope firm unto the end, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, exhorting one another while it's called today, fearing lest we enter not into God's rest?" He says,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you [within the orbit of saving grace and there the dynamics of God's working in you] that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ [as it comes to Him made fragrant through the mediation of His beloved Son]; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
You see, dear Christian, God's not like Pharaoh: "Make bricks, but no straw." God says, "Make bricks, and here's the straw and more than straw. I'll infuse the strength to your arm. I'll infuse the wisdom into your mind. And all that you need to do what is well pleasing to Me through Jesus Christ, I'm prepared to work in you to do My will." I believe it was Augustine who said, "Give what You command and then command what You will." God's salvation is all of grace, but it is a grace that works in us that which is well pleasing in His sight.
Would you be sexually pure, you who perhaps this night are conscious that you do have chains? The answer is, you must get within the orbit of the dynamics of God's saving grace and take the shortest route by repentance and faith. Or if you're a child of God and you've been crippled in this area, begin to cry to God that you will see what you now have in Christ that you're not appropriating and what you must do in obedience to the Word of Christ that you're not doing. For some of you, your assurance is even up for grabs as long as this monkey is on your back. You need to cry to God as we move into these other passages where the Apostle assumes that these people who have even been overcome by some gross manifestations of sexual impurity, yet have the root of the matter in them. And he appeals to these dynamics of saving grace: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). He never once quotes the Seventh commandment there in 1 Corinthians 6. He could have, but instead he loads up Gospel motives and Gospel dynamics and brings them to bare like laser beams upon the hearts and minds of these Corinthians, confident that by God's grace this can put them back into the way of progressive growth in sexual purity.
Sexual sins are not unpardonable sins. I said it last week; I want to say it again. One of the most wonderful Gospel promises is found in a verse that the devil has used to terrify many. In dealing with the unpardonable sin, Jesus said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men" (Matthew 12:31). Yours run by you like a high-speed film upon the screen of the walls of your mind. All sin shall be forgiven. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). "Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Whatever other means God may use--and there are many--in the actual working out of the dynamics of progressive sanctification, at the end of the day, we've got to keep going back to where we began: looking away unto Jesus, the author and perfector of faith. May God help us by His grace.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:40:18 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #4 by Albert N. Martin Edited transcript of message preached December 5, 1999 PDF Format | More Transcripts May I encourage you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6. Follow, please, as I read beginning at verse 12 to the end of the chapter. "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Now, it is evident, as we've already announced and as we see from the spread table before us, the culmination of this service will be an act of obedience on the part of God's people to remember the Lord Jesus in the way of His appointment by the eating of bread and the drinking together of the fruit of the vine. And here I am tonight about to bring the fourth message in a brief series entitled "The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity" or more positively stated, "The Divine Prescription for Sexual Purity," and I trust it will be both. Surely some may say few subjects could be less fitting and more inappropriate for a communion service than the subject the divine antidote to sexual impurity. Now I can understand why some might think that way. However, if you will listen and carefully attend to the Word of God that I trust you have open before you, as together we look at this portion of God's Word, I trust you will be persuaded that few subjects could be more evidently appropriate than this subject as it is handled by the Apostle Paul in the passage read in your hearing. In the first three messages on this subject on the divine antidote to sexual impurity or the divine prescription for sexual purity, I set before you four propositions, which I used to embody some of the most basic teaching of the Word of God on the issue of sexual purity. Given the time constraints, I cannot go back and repeat those propositions much less open up the many Scriptures we studied together. The messages are on tape. The series is in a very real sense is a fabric of truth. And I trust that none would detach what we hear tonight from the previous three or stop with the previous three and detach it from our meditation tonight and, God willing, the completion of this series next Lord's Day evening. Tonight I want all of our attention to be given to this passage in 1 Corinthians 6. And if I were to give a title to our subject tonight or to our study in the Word of God, it would be this: as a Christian, a Biblical understanding of my body is essential to sexual purity. As a Christian, what Paul is writing in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 is directed to Christians, to people who have heard the Gospel, and by the power of the Spirit have come to see their desperate need of Christ, and by the same Spirit have been brought to repentance and faith. They are not strangers to the new birth and what it is to be constrained now by the love of Christ and other Gospel motives. And in this passage, what we have is Paul's directive to these saints at Corinth, that they must as Christians have a Biblical understanding of their bodies if they are to maintain sexual purity, especially in a pagan society where sexual uncleanness hung in the air like fog. Now, why do I state the essence of the teaching in the passage in these words? Well, for the simple reason that we have two imperatives in the passage. If you were listening carefully, you would have picked up, that in verse 18, there is a simple, straightforward, terse imperative: flee fornication, run from sexual impurity. That's the negative. Then in verse 20, you have the second and only other imperative in this paragraph: glorify God in your body. Now surely those two imperatives should be enough for any Christian to avoid sexual impurity. God says run from it. And in place of sexual purity from which you run, bring glory to God in your body. Use your bodily functions in such a way that it reflects the honor and glory of the God who in Christ has redeemed you and would give no thoughtful person reason to conclude that you were using your body as a sensual playground or a tool of the devil to bring dishonor to God. But the Apostle Paul is not convinced that those two imperatives stripped of Gospel motives would be sufficient for the Lord's people. If God thought that the mere commands to flee sexual impurity and glorify Him in your body were enough, that's all He would give us. But He's done more than that. He has surrounded those imperatives with a Biblical theology of the body of a Christian, for the most frequently used noun in this paragraph is the Greek word "soma." It's the word that refers to the body. Eight times Paul uses the word "body." And the message that comes through to these Corinthians and to us if we follow the track of the Holy Spirit as He speaks through the mind and pen of the Apostle is, as a Christian, a Biblical understanding of my body is essential to sexual purity. Now what I propose to do within the added time constraints of a communion meditation is to look with you from the passage at five principles which the Apostle Paul sets before us in enabling us as Christians to have a Biblical understanding of our bodies with a view to obeying the imperatives "flee sexual impurity" and "glorify God in your body." Principle number one is this: my body has been given to me to serve Jesus Christ the Lord in this world and in the age to come. That's the essential teaching of verses 13 and 14 of this paragraph. Passing over the significance of verse 12 (and it does have significance for the Corinthians but is not essential to our understanding of these principles), notice what the Apostle says in verse 13: "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. [God will render inoperative both the stomach and food that is suitable for the stomach.] Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." Now what in the world is Paul saying? Well, basically this: Apparently there was a saying going around among the Corinthians at Corinth that it is obvious that foods are made for the stomach, the digestive system, and the digestive system is perfectly suited to receive food. And apparently, though this can't be established with dogmatism, some were also saying that in the same way as there is this congruity and suitability between food and the digestive system (foods, meats, and the stomach), likewise, you have the body that is suited for fornication. It has sexual appetites and powers and drives and capacities, and you have fornication that is suitable for the body and its appetites and passions. So it's logical, is it not, that if a loving God made foods, He made them to be consumed by men's bellies. So He makes a belly suitable for food and food for the belly. In the same way He makes a body that has sexual appetites and passions. And fornication relieves the passions, gratifies the appetites. The appetites are suitable for the body, the body for the appetites. Paul says, "No, you've totally misunderstood what your body is for." So he answers by saying, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but [that is not to go on forever] God shall destroy both it and them." In the resurrection, we shall not have the precise same physical constitution that we now have. There will be no necessity to consume food. Apparently our glorified bodies will not have the same digestive system that we now have. So Paul can say, "God shall destroy both it and them." And then he takes up their second premise: "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." Your body is given to you to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. Your body is not given to you with all of its capacities and appetites (physical appetites for food; sexual appetites for sexual gratification) to be your personal playground. That body was given for the service of the Lord. And for you who are believers, Paul says that body in a unique way is not for sexual uncleanness, but it is for the Lord. And the Lord is committed to the good and the well-being of that body. And it's as though someone says, "How do we know that?" Paul says that God will even go to the trouble of raising it from the dead. Look at the next verse: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." The acme of the glory of the Christian is not the disembodied state. When the spirit leaves this body, it is in an instance of time made perfect in holiness and joins the spirits of just men made perfect. But the hope of the Christian goes beyond the intermediate state. Yes, to depart and be with Christ is far better. But the hope of the Christian in the Bible is not defined as the intermediate state. It is the glorified state at the coming of the Lord Jesus when our bodies shall be made incorruptible. And we shall have bodies fashioned, Paul says, like unto the body of His glory. So for these Corinthians struggling with a society in which sexual uncleanness was not only accepted by the rank and file of people, it was augmented to the place of a sacred act of worship. And there were men in the Corinthian church who had been brought up in a society in which a part of the religious ritual into which you were introduced as a young man was having intercourse with temple prostitutes as an expression of worship to the gods. That's how much they had sunk in the wretched moral degeneration that accompanies idolatry. And now Paul comes along as says, "Now look, if you're to flee sexual uncleanness, if you're to glorify God in your body, get this principle firmly embedded in your soul: your body has been given to you to serve Jesus Christ the Lord in this world and in the next." Principle number two: my body and my spirit are inseparably united to Jesus Christ in a real spiritual union. Verses 15-16: "Know ye not that your bodies [your physical constitution] are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot [prostitute]? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." What is Paul doing? He is planting the lofty doctrine of the believers union with Christ smack down in the midst of the moral mess at Corinth. And he's saying to these believers, that if you want to flee sexual uncleanness, if you're to glorify God in your body, get hold of this truth, that as a Christian, your body and spirit are inseparably united to Jesus Christ in a real spiritual union. I did not say a carnal union, but a spiritual union. But because it's spiritual, that doesn't mean it's not real. Paul says it's so real that when you Corinthians who are united to Christ join yourself in an immoral sexual relationship, you implicate Jesus Christ Himself. Look at the passage: "What? know ye not...." This is one of Paul's favorite teaching devices. It's the sixth time he's used it in this epistle alone. He uses it several times in the epistle to the Romans. And whenever he uses it, he's not introducing something that is not true of those to whom he writes. He's introducing it as a fact that is true, which they ought to know and ought to be living in the light of it. But if they have forgotten it, they need to get hold of it afresh. If they are living in the light of what he's about to remind them of, they would never live the way they are living. That's how he uses this terminology. He uses it twice in this passage. "Know ye not that your bodies...." If you're a Christian, look down at you fingers and hands, your arms, your legs, your feet. Think of your primary and secondary sexual organs. That's part of your body. And every bit of you is united to Christ. That's what the text says. Look at it; let the truth of it sink down in: "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" And he doesn't put a parenthesis: "except your little toes, except your fingers, except your primary and secondary sexual organs, for God has nothing to do with that dirty stuff." No, he says your bodies from the tippy toe to the top of the head: all that constitutes your body your body. Paul now sets before them the unthinkable: "Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?" How deep and real is the union with Christ that makes our bodies members of Him. And shall we take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? And it's though a Corinthian says, "O, but wait a minute, Paul, what we do with a harlot, what we do when we play around with the young ladies and with the young men, when we indulge in our necking and our petting and heavy breathing short of intercourse, that has nothing to do with being intimately joined. That's just casual sex." Paul says, "No, casual sex doesn't exist." He uses the same word when he says your bodies are members of Christ. The union with Christ is deep and real and spiritual. He says you take them away from Christ and make them members of a harlot. The relationship is deep and real. There's no such thing as casual sex. Look what he goes on to say to prove it: "What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body?" He says, "Don't you know that the very nature of that relationship is that it constitutes you in a relationship of the deepest intimacy?" He says, "How do we know that?" He goes right back to Genesis 2:24 where God says, "The two shall become one flesh." And then to add as it were insult to injury, Paul says, "But he that is joined to the Lord is not only in his body joined to Christ, but becomes one spirit with Christ." That doesn't mean we become Christ, that we are elevated to deity. But it means this union is not just this physical frame. It is spiritual. Hence, the principle, my body and my spirit are inseparably united to Jesus in a real spiritual union. Wherever I go, whatever I do, whatever I touch, whatever I look upon, I do so as one united to Christ. You see how profound the impact of this would be in an immoral society?
Some young man begins to hit on a young woman who belongs to Christ; he thinks that she's in the same orbit of sexual laxity. She looks the young man in the eye and says, "Do you know who you're fooling around with? You're fooling around with the Son of God." The young man says, "Well, where is He?" She says,
"I'm joined to Him. He's in heaven at the right hand of the Father. But by the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit, I have been called (1 Corinthians 1:9) into the fellowship, into the communion of Jesus Christ. I'm united to Christ. My body, my soul, my spirit, all that I am is united to the Son of God. Be careful how you treat the property that is united to Him."
You see how profound the impact this would be, that when they hear the words, "flee fornication, glorify God in your body," it is a body along with the spirit that is inseparably united to Jesus Christ in a real spiritual union. And in a way that I cannot fathom, the Bible makes plain that the bodily union of the believer with Christ is not even dissolved in death. The Scriptures say that the Lord will come and pay special attention to those who die in the Lord, those who sleep in Jesus. And the sleep never refers to the soul but to the body. Our union to Christ is not dissolved even in death--precious truth!
As though this were not enough, Paul says, "Let's load up all the Gospel guns against this horrible sin of sexual promiscuity at Corinth." Principle number three: my body which belongs to Christ and is united to Christ and exists for the service of Christ is in a unique way compromised by sexual impurity. Look at verse 18 after the imperative to which we've been referring to again and again ("flee fornication"). He brings in another motivation: "Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication [sexual uncleanness] sinneth against his own body." He not only sins against the Lord, sins against the one with whom he indulges sexual uncleanness, but in a unique way, he sins against his own body (not just his own soul). In a very helpful commentary on this first epistle to the Corinthians, Leon Morris writes, "The Christian must not temporize with sexual impurity but flee the very thought.
Paul goes on to develop the idea that this sin strikes at the very roots of a man's being. He does not say this is the most serious of all sins, but its relation to the body is unique." This is the paraphrase that one commentator gives: "Other sins will occur to us, which have their effects upon the body, but this sin, and this sin only, means that a man takes that body, which is a member of Christ, and puts it into a union that blast his own body." Other sins against the body, such as drunkenness and gluttony, involve the use of that which comes from without the body (excessive drink: drunkenness, excessive food: gluttony). The sexual appetite rises from within. These sins serve other purposes. This has no other purpose than the gratification of the lusts. They, that is, drunkenness and gluttony are sinful in the excess; this is sinful in itself. Fornication involving a man is what Goday calls "a degrading physical solidarity incompatible with the believer's spiritual solidarity with Christ." Paul wants them to understand that their body, which belongs to Christ and is united to Christ and exists for the service of Christ, in a unique way is compromised by sexual impurity.
Do you remember what Paul says in Ephesians 5:28-29 when giving directions to Christian husbands on how to love their wives? He says, "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." It is unnatural to hate your own flesh. Paul is saying that if you love your own flesh, flee fornication. And I need not tell you--you know--they have a word for it: STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) in which God seems determined in the patterns of the horrible diseases to make it plain to man, he that sins in this area sins against his own body. A man may murder another and live with a screaming, horribly torturing conscience for his murder that he may cover up, but he doesn't self-destruct the body with which the murder was committed. It will eventually, if he doesn't repent, be destroyed when he's cast into hell. But in terms of its present effects, someone may blaspheme and have very little effect if any upon his body. He may steal; he may be a professional thief, but in a unique way the violations of the 7th Commandment terminate upon the very body that indulges the sin. That's reality, and Paul says Christians need to remember that.
You say, "Surely that's enough." No, it isn't. Paul's going to load up the Gospel gun and shoot some more at this sin so that when God's people think of the words "flee sexual impurity; glorify God in your body," their minds will be loaded with all of this Gospel ammunition. Principle number four: my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit made such by God; thus making my body the soul possession of God. Look at verse 19:
"What? know ye not that your body [see the crassness of it again. He doesn't say 'you' generically or 'your soul,' but 'your body,' that comprised of the stuff that makes your fingers, your hair, your face, and your armpits--the whole shebang] is the temple [not the general court of the temple but the inner sanctuary] of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God [it's God who made your body the temple of His Spirit, underscoring the preciousness of the divine initiative in grace. It's God who takes the initiative. Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. And Paul says to the Corinthians, 'You need to think of this reality, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.' How did it become that? Because God in grace and in power took the initiative to call you out of darkness into light and to place His Spirit within you. But having done that, that gives God unique claims over the temple which He has made for Himself. The gods own the temple in which they are worshipped. The one true and living God who in grace has made your body and mine His temple has absolute claims over His temple], and ye are not your own?"
You see, the language "do my own thing" should never be found on the lips of a child of God. You're not your own. How do I know I'm not my own? Because the God of heaven and earth in grace and mercy has arrested me, brought me to His Son, cleansed me, purged me, made me His child, placed His Spirit within me. And He has absolute rights over that which He has made His own dwelling. Now, will that make a difference when your hormones are raging, or when you as a married woman get a crush on a man other than your husband (and it does happen), or at work you see a woman more attractive than your wife (and that will happen)? And when all of the glossy photos and all of the images constantly paraded over the TV and over the Internet with its vile glut of pornography--when all of that is pressing in upon you, what do you need, child of God, man or woman? My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit made such by God; thus making my body the soul possession of God. I have no right to use these eyes to serve that wicked, devilish god of lust. And leering looks, inordinate and illicit desires and fantasies--no such foul filth should be allowed in the temple of the Holy God. This body is His temple.
You say, "Pastor, you still haven't convinced me it's an appropriate communion meditation. Well, we come now to the fifth and final principle, and I think you'll see the relationship. This is most likely brought forward as a further explanation and buttressing of what was just said ("Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own"), but I've chosen to isolate it as a fifth principle and state it this way: my body along with my spirit was bought by God. Paul says you were bought, not just your body. Here he finally refers to man as Christian, woman as Christian in the total integrity of the body-soul existence. He doesn't do that till now. It's always body, body, body. Now he says, "For you in the entirety of what you are were bought with a price."
And does he need to tell us what the price is? We know what the price is. This word "agarotso" is a market-place word. When you went into the market place with some money in your bag and threw some shekels on a counter to purchase something, this is the term you would use. You went to market today, and you purchased something. It's market place language and most likely has reference to what was common in that day when slaves would be held up for auction. And someone would buy the slave, and from then on, that slave was his purchased possession. God has come into the slave market where we were found with our chains and our manacles and our old master, the devil, gloating that we belong to him. Christ went to the cross, and there under the anathema of God, in the language which Pastor Jeff read from Mark 15, our blessed Savior was plunged into the abyss of outer darkness. And all the billows of the waves of the wrath of God broke upon His head. And He cried, "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?" That's the price that was paid that we might be released, that we might be the bought possessions of the living God and His Son, the Lord Jesus. "For you were bought with a price," you and all that you are, not you minus your sexual urges, minus your primary and secondary sexual organs. No, everything that makes you you has been purchased.
If I may say something that I trust will help to make it stick, there's not a member of your body that is not branded with the sign of the cross. Think of your eyes branded with the sign of the cross. Can you look through the cross upon images on a screen in the theater, in your home, at your computer, in a magazine, at an airport, in a local bookshop? Can eyeballs stamped with the cross look upon uncleanness? Can hands marked by the cross illicitly touch erogenous zones of anyone other than one's wife or husband? You work out the rest of the details, but you must. Paul says, "You were bought with a price." Everything that makes you you is purchased property; it's marked with the sign of the cross.
You who have yet to enter into boy-girl relationships, ask God to imbed this principle in your mind. And in those moments you may be tempted; the young man may be tempted, graciously say,
"You cannot touch me there. You cannot place your lips on mine. They're marked with the sign of the cross, and the one who purchased them has said these are to be kept for my husband. These parts of my body that God gave that they might be the expression of the intimacy of marital love, they are marked with the sign of the cross. Don't put your dirty hands on them. If you claim to have yours marked by the sign of the cross, keep them to yourself, bucko."
May God help you young women to take that stance. You may be called a prude; you may be called a number things. But to be able to come home any night from any relationship in any circumstance and get on your knees and say, "Lord Jesus, thank You, that by Your grace, I conducted myself as one bought with a price."
Now, will it make a difference if you bring to those two imperatives "flee fornication [run from sexual impurity of all kinds]; glorify God in your body" these five principles? My body has been given me to serve Christ the Lord in this age and in the age to come. My body and spirit are inseparably united to Jesus Christ in a real spiritual union. My body which belongs to Christ and is united to Christ and exists for the service of Christ in a unique way is going to be compromised by any sexual impurity. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit made such by God, and thus my body is the sole possession of God. And my body along with my spirit is the blood-bought property of Jesus Christ the Lord. Will it make a difference? My friend, let me state it bluntly, if that doesn't make a difference, you're a stranger to grace. There's nothing that will touch you and awaken you but God's sovereign mercy or the flames of hell, one or the other, if those things do not, as it were, have divine talons that grab you and will continue to grab you, even when passions and lusts and drives and urges are raging.
God's grace is sufficient to keep Corinthians pure in the midst of a society that was proverbial for its sexual uncleanness. When you wanted to speak of someone being really debauched, there was a word you could use: they've been Corinthianized. That's all you needed to say, and everyone would know exactly what you were saying. It has just about come to the place where you can say in our day if someone is debauched, he's been thoroughly Americanized. Talk to some of our friends from Third World countries and ask them what our exported television is doing in Third World countries to Americanize them, that is, to suck them into the vortex of this whirlpool of ever increasing filth and moral degeneration. Children of God, if they needed those principles, who are we to think we don't need them. May God help us here at the table to say,
"Lord Jesus, as I take in my hand the symbol of the body that You gave up to death for me, this was the purchased price, the price which You paid to purchase me to make me a temple of the living God, a temple in which God dwells by the Holy Spirit to enable me to live a holy life in all of the ramifications of that for our human sexuality in the midst of the reality of remaining sin, a seducing devil, and an evil world."
God's grace is sufficient for us. May God help us then as we come to the table, that here we will afresh say, "Lord, brand every faculty of my mind and body with the sign of the cross." If I thought wearing a cross around my neck and one around my wrist and going and getting tattooed crosses on my hands would help, I would be willing to bear the social stigma from most of you and get tattooed. But that won't do it, friends. It's got to be a truth that embeds itself in the mind and is kept fresh in the mind by reflection, by meditation; constantly praying through this passage. Nine tenths of what you heard will go out by the time you go out the door. But if you go back and by reflection and meditation and re-assimilation, these things will by degree take root in your heart under the blessing of the Spirit. And I trust that as a result, in that day when we're gathered home to our Lord Jesus, if we reflect upon things that are down here, what a blessed thing it will be to have someone say, "Pastor (whatever you call me there. I don't know what you'll call me, but I know it will be kind and loving. And whatever I call you will be the same), I'm so thankful that at the communion service, you didn't break off the series on sexual purity. That passage was used of God at a critical time in my life. And God, by the Holy Spirit, helped me and enabled me. And I bless God for the truth that was brought that night."
If you're sitting here as someone who says, "Phooey on that. My body is my own; I'll do with it what I want. Christ, God, the Word of God will have no influence over me." My friend, I just remind you of one of those propositions we looked at and the seven texts used to support it. Willful, impenitent continuance in sexual sin will land you in hell. So the next time you think it's worth it to indulge the feelings at your fingertips and at the tips of anything else that's part of your body, remember, willfully to continue is to welcome hell. May God help you to flee the wrath to come. I pray that God will make you His child and that, by His grace, you will begin to live a life that reflects joyfully that you're not your own. You're bought with a price; you're committed to glorify God in your body.
Now to just tease you a little bit with a little teasing, I urge all married couples to go right on, remembering that there were no chapter breaks, and read the first four verses of chapter 7. In our message next week, we're going to see that the very God who says, "Your body's Mine--I bought it" assigns a lesser authority to that body to your husband/wife. God says to every wife, "Your body is not your own [same word: soma]. It's your husband's." And He says to every husband, "Your body's not your own It's your wife's." You reflect on that and ask yourself, "What does this involve in my relationship to my husband/wife if the God who purchased my body says my husband/wife, in a sense, owns it in the marital relationship?" You think through that, and I hope it will prepare your own mind as we move on into that section and several other portions of the Word of God in bringing this series to a conclusion.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:40:56 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #5 >by Albert N. Martin Edited transcript of message preached December 12, 1999 PDF Format | More Transcripts Now let us turn together in our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 7. I shall read the first seven verses of this chapter of God's Word. "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." The moral face of American society looks more and more like the face of the first century Greco-Roman world, the world into which the Gospel came with life-transforming power in the early days of the Christian church. There was a time in my own brief lifetime when such passages as Romans 1:18-32 seemed like a description of a society long ago and far away. But now it is as current as tomorrow's newspaper and as current and relevant as the next TV sitcom that becomes the rage of the TV-watching set. As a result of this parallelism in moral degeneracy, there are many portions of the New Testament that take on an entirely new relevance, especially portions in those letters (portions we call epistles) written by the apostles or the apostolic-approved penmen helping to guide new believers in the midst of a climate of extensive moral degeneracy, epistles written to ground them in their faith and teach them how to live out the life-transforming power of the Gospel in the midst of such decadent societies. And so we come tonight to the fifth message in a series in which I've been attempting to open up some of these relevant Biblical passages and perspectives dealing with the subject the divine antidote to sexual impurity or, to state it positively, a divine prescription for sexual purity. In the first three messages, I set before you four propositions that form the foundation for a Biblical perspective on this issue. In the next message, last Lord's Day evening, we looked at 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, a passage in which the central contribution is this: as a Christian, a Biblical understanding of my body is essential to sexual purity. Now, those four foundational propositions and the exposition of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 are all on tape available in the lending library of the Trinity Church, or you may purchase from the Trinity Pulpit. I'm not saying a thing by way of review. I simply will not have time to do that and open up the passage that I wish to address in your hearing tonight, that passage being 1 Corinthians 7:1-7. If I were asked to give in one sentence what the distilled essence of this passage is, I would answer in this way: ordinarily, a Godly marriage in which a husband and wife are fulfilling their Biblically defined sexual responsibilities and privileges is a primary means for the avoidance of sexual impurity. Now, my method in opening up the passage for tonight will be similar to the method I used last week. We're going to work down through the verses consecutively. And I've chosen this method because the more I've studied the passage, the more I became convinced that, as the Apostle Paul took up this subject in response to a concern raised by the Corinthians, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was led to address it in such a way that each statement seems to flower into the next and into the next, and that the best way to grasp the mind of the Spirit of God in the passage is to work one's way through it as it stands before us in the text itself. So then, we come to consider this ordinary and ofttimes a primary means in the avoidance of sexual impurity: a Godly marriage conducted within the framework of Biblical directives for mutual sexual privileges and responsibilities. Verse 1: "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me [whether this was the first concern in their communication with Paul, or whether he picked it out of a list and inverted the order, we do not know. But it obviously was a question or questions concerning the whole matter we are addressing]: It is good for a man not to touch a woman." If we take this statement in the light of the entire context, here's the heart of what Paul is saying: under certain circumstances (yet to be mentioned), celibacy is a good thing, and in some cases, a desired option. Now the key word in the passage is the word "touch" or the phrase "touch a woman." This is a euphemism for sexual relations. In Genesis 20:4 and 6, if we were reading this passage in the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, we would find this very word used in both of these verses: "But Abimelech had not come near her [he had not touched Sarah, that is, he had not had sexual relations with her]: and he said, LORD, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation? ...And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against Me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her" You find a similar usage in Proverbs 6:29. It is a euphemism; this is a term which is obvious to all who hear it. And it is used not because Paul was a prude. As he further unfolds the teaching, it is clear he is not prudish. He is very earthy; he is very frank and straightforward. But you see, Paul understood that there's no virtue in being prude. And euphemisms are the dress of a civil society. If you want to know how much we have lost common civility, just see how there are so few euphemisms left in our language. The "in thing" is to be crude under the guise of being up front and telling it like it is. No one can read this passage and misunderstand what Paul means. He's not saying anything about men shaking hands with women. If he is, we ought to have absolutely no physical contact. But that's not what he's saying. It is a euphemism for sexual relations. And what he is saying is this: it is good for a man (all other things being equal under circumstances that he will yet mention in this chapter) to be celibate, and in some cases, it is a desired option. Now notice, the text does not say it is better or best. There are Greek words for "better"--the word of comparison. There are Greek words for "best"--the superlatives. Paul uses none of them. He simply says if someone is in a celibate state and remains in that state, it is a good, not an evil state. It is not morally superior; it is not spiritually advanced. That is the nonsense of Roman aestheticism and of any other kind of aestheticism. Paul may have been quoting a phrase that had become common at Corinth in reaction against all of the moral degeneracy. I can't prove this, but there are a number of commentators who feel there is sufficient evidence to suggest that Paul may be taking one of their own phrases the same way he did in chapter 6. ("All things are lawful.") He may have picked up something that had a familiar ring: "It's good for a man not to touch a woman." All he is saying is that under certain circumstances yet to be mentioned, celibacy is a good thing and in some cases a desired option. Now what are the circumstances yet to be mentioned? The first is mentioned in verse 7: "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." A man is to remain celibate, and it will be a good thing if he is given the special gift of celibacy. Without such a gift, he will have sexual burning, not merely feel (as Calvin said, "sexual heat). And in which case, he says in verse 9, "But if they cannot contain [have not been given a special gift of celibacy], let them marry: for it is better [now the word of comparison: from good to better] to marry than to burn." So that's the first condition: a special gift. Secondly, if one is living in unusually stressful times. Verses 25-26: "Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be." Here he expounds that it is good for one to remain celibate if he's given the special gift, if living in unusually distressful times. Thirdly, if one may serve God more single mindedly. Verses 32-36. It's not my purpose to expound them. You can read them for yourself as well as I. But verse 1, now, look at the teaching: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." That statement read in its context sets before us this fact: that under certain circumstances yet to be mentioned, celibacy is a good thing and in some cases a desired option. Verse 2: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." What is the teaching of this verse? It is this: Paul says that in the light of the real danger of various forms of sexual impurity, everyone who does not have the gift of continence should enter into a monogamous, heterosexual marital commitment. Note the transition: celibacy is good under circumstances that are yet to be mentioned. "Nevertheless [here Paul has a word of transition--there's another side to the coin. Notice now how realistic he is], to avoid fornication [not fornication singular, but fornications plural--on account of the various forms of sexual deviation and impurity to which you Corinthians are continually exposed], let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Now what were those various forms of fornication? Well, just look back at chapter 6 and verse 9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators [used in its more limited sense: the sexually impure, that is, those who traffic in extramarital or non-marital sexual relations], nor idolaters, nor adulterers [those who break the marriage covenant: extramarital intimacies], nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [various forms of homosexual deviations]...shall inherit the kingdom of God." These are some of the forms of fornication, which in a very heightened way were part of the very air of Corinth, even as they are a part of the air of our own present national moral climate. To read as I did in The New York Times two weeks ago Monday and shared with the singles a week ago Friday, half a page with an elected representative in Washington daring to speak so shamelessly of being a homosexual pervert, and how for six years he's been committed to converting the Republican Party to make it the party of the perverts. Of course, they used their euphemism: those of differing sexual preference (gays etc.). But that's the climate in which all forms of sexual perversion are constantly paraded before us seeking to erode the conscience, stir up the passions, and lead us into paths contrary to the will of God. Paul, the realist, new what it was like at Corinth. He labored there for eighteen months. He had to receive the report that he had to deal with in chapter 5. He said, "There is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles." He was a gutsy realist. And he says now the celibate state is good, given certain factors. But the reality is this: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man [singular] have his own wife [singular], and let every woman [singular] have her own husband [singular]." What is mandated as the only divinely ordained framework for the avoidance of sexual uncleanness by legitimate sexual activity? It is not same-sex perversion. It is not self-sex indulgence. It is not other-creature abomination. It is monogamous, heterosexual marital commitment. Do you see that in the text? It is monogamous, that is, one (mono)--no bigamy, no polygamy. The man is to have a woman for a wife, and the woman to have a man. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have had to underline that in the text. It would have been there; I would have preached over it and said everybody knows heterosexual monogamy is the will of God. No, everyone does not know it. When you can read the stuff and hear the stuff from so-called Christian gays and lesbians, you know that Corinth is dictating the morality of large segments of the professing Christian church. No, Paul says that under certain circumstances (yet to be mentioned), celibacy is a good thing and in some cases the desired option. However, in light of the real danger of the various forms of sexual impurity, everyone who does not have the gift of continence should enter into a heterosexual, monogamous marital commitment. Now note, in this passage (v. 2), Paul is not giving the reason for which marriage was instituted. You go back to Genesis 1 and 2 to find out the reason. You go to Ephesians 5, and you learn that before the foundation of the world, God envisioned a situation in which His highest and most marvelous work would be mirrored in the marriage relationship (Christ and the church). And marriage was designed way back in the garden, that it would be the great picture of that greatest work of God in which Christ would have the preeminence, even the work of redemption. There were no dangers of various kinds of sexual impurity in the original creation. But in this realistic setting after the fall in the midst of a society dripping with pressures to impurity, Paul is identifying the persons for whom marriage is a necessity. And what he says is that because of these various forms of sexual uncleanness, "let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." "Let" sounds like a word of permission, but it isn't. It is a present imperative--it is a mandate, not a suggestion, not mere permission. It is an imperative--two present imperatives. Because of sexual uncleanness in all of its forms, "let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Now we say we believe in plenary verbal inspiration, that when the Biblical writers sat down to write or dictate to others who wrote for them, the very words, the very tenses are dictated of God. These are two imperatives. I didn't make them imperatives, the Holy Spirit did. Now we come to verse 3: "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." Now what's the basic teaching of this verse? It's this: marital commitment is a means to maintain sexual purity only when each partner freely responds to the legitimate sexual needs of the other. The key words in this verse are "render" and "due." And if you were to take up a concordance and look up the use of these words as they are found in their various families in the original, you would find that the word for "render" is "apodidoto." It's a commercial word; it's commercial language that refers to the paying back of a debt. Remember the parable our Lord gives in Matthew 18 when Peter said, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?" And the Lord gives a parable to show that forgiveness doesn't keep any check list of numbers and times. It is a disposition of the heart. In that parable where He talks about the servant who had much forgiven and the other servant who had less forgiven, seven times this verb is used and always translated "pay." It's a commercial term. And the word "due" is also a commercial term, and it speaks of an obligation as with a debt. In Matthew 18:32, this word is used: "Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst Me." Now put the two words together and what do we have? We have the Spirit of God saying to a gathered assembly of saints at Corinth with men and women, married and single, boys and girls--that's why I have no embarrassment preaching the mind of the Spirit of God in this passage. That's how it came originally, and we're just going back and taking that letter in our English versions and seeking to understand it in the light of the use of these words. Here's what God's Word says to all of the husbands and all of the wives--remember now, this is in the context of avoiding various forms of sexual impurity. Paul has not lost his track. "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." Here is absolute equality in rendering of due to one another. And Paul starts with the husband's due to his wife and then the wife's due to her husband. In any areas of the marital relationship, there is a divine structure of hierarchy. The husband is head as Christ is head of the church. But in treating this aspect of marital privilege and responsibility, there is a level playing field--absolute equality. And once again, we are met with an imperative: "Let the husband render ." The husband must render to the wife her due, and likewise, also the wife unto the husband.
Now that raises the question that I'm sure is in the minds of some already. What is due? What is owed as a debt? Once one enters the marriage covenant and incurs a perpetual indebtedness to one's marriage partner (the wife to the husband, the husband to the wife), what is involved in what is due? Well, Paul doesn't tell us in this passage. He doesn't have a little footnote saying this is what is due and give us a mini marriage manual. He assumes that there would be an understanding of what I have called the legitimate sexual needs of the other. And we must turn to other passages in the Word of God to understand the Biblical framework of what constitutes legitimate sexual needs. For example, in Romans 1:26, twice Paul speaks of sexual perversion, which is culpable even among those who have never seen the pages of a Bible. He uses this term: "[They do] that which is against nature [women with women, men with men]." Twice he says, "against nature." And in 1 Corinthians 11:14, he says, "Doth not even nature itself teach you...." There is a natural use of the woman and a natural use of the man; there is a perverted use of the woman and a perverted use of the man. This notion that a marriage covenant and a marriage license gives license to any form of sexual activity is pagan; it is not Biblical. If that which is against nature is a moral culpability in pagans, how much more among believers. Well, what is against nature? I'm not prepared to tell you because the Bible doesn't. You must wrestle that through before God. There are passages such as Leviticus 18:19-30 which speak of certain sexual practices for which God says, "The land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." God had to specify practices that were considered acceptable sexual behavior among the pagans, and He says to His covenant people, "Don't do it." Yet the Scriptures says that eventually they did worse than the nations.
The pressure of a decadent society is exceedingly powerful. That's why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5: "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." Paul makes a marked distinction between believers in all the facets of marital intimacy being marked by sanctification and honor. Set-apartness unto God, under the eye of God, within the framework of the law of God--and it is marked by honor. And that's said in direct contrast to the passion of lust. Ungovernable lust drives the passions, and unbridled passions frame the lust. And Paul says that should not mark intimate life of believers. He is telling us that if marriage is to be a means of sexual purity, that marital commitment will be such a means only when each partner freely responds to the legitimate sexual needs of the other. When any man or any woman has sexual desires framed by pornography, romance novels, and popular sex manuals, that does not fit what Paul is talking about in this passage. And I warn any of you men that would seek to impose upon your wife notions that you glean from pornography--God have mercy upon you! And any of you women that want to impose upon your husband what you may be more tempted to glean from romance novels--these things are to have no part in touching the sacred sanctuary of your intimate life together.
So we come, then, to verse four: "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife." What is flowering out of the previous statement? Here's what it is: the basis for this duty of mutual responsiveness (which was mentioned in verse 3) is the fact that God has conferred mutual authority over each other's bodies. You see the element of equality. Now the key word, of course, is "power over," and this verb means to have and to exercise a right or power of rule. Look at the only other two uses in the New Testament, one in chapter 6 and verse 12: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power [rule or dominion] of any." The same Greek word is used in Luke 22. The Lord is going to give His disciples a lesson in the spirit of humility that is to mark them. Verses 24-25: "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors." There's our verb.
So you see, when Paul writes that the basis for this duty of mutual responsiveness is the fact that God has conferred mutual authority over each other's bodies, he chooses a very vigorous word. He says that there is a God-conferred authority over the body of the husband, and that authority is in the hands of the wife and vice versa. And notice how evenhanded Paul is. He says in verse 3, "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." Now obviously, Paul is not saying that a husband has absolute authority over his wife's body or that the wife has absolute authority over her husband's body. There's only One who has absolute authority over the body, the One who bought it and created it. Remember 1 Corinthians 6:19-20? "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price...." As in Ephesians 5, the headship of the husband is not absolute. Christ is the Head of the church; the wife is united to Christ as a member of His church. The husband's authority over her does not rival, let alone supersede, Christ's headship; it is subsumed under Christ's headship. And if the husband ever seeks to exercise his headship in a way that makes the wife disobey Christ, she has to say, "I must obey Christ rather than you." Now likewise, with this authority over the body--and notice how crass and earthly it is. You who are platonic romanticists are going to find this passage very unsuitable to your taste. There is a crass earthiness that just doesn't sit well with abstract romantics. But that's not where you and I live. We live in the kind of world that these Corinthians live in. And here is what Paul says: the wife is not possessing power over her own body, but the husband--not absolute authority, but a delegated power, and in the context, it is a power to rightly expect his due and vice versa. It is a delegated power that she has a right to expect her due from her husband. And though it is not absolute authority, it is a real bona fide authority, and it is constant. (A present indicative is used.)
Last week in trying to underscore by way of illustration what it meant for us to think in terms of our bodies being Christ's blood-bought possession, I used the imagery of having the sign of the cross branded upon all of our physical members. I'd like to build on that to underscore what this passage is saying. For everyone who is married, when you enter the marriage covenant under the sign of the cross on every member of your body, there is in smaller letters the initials of your husband or wife. And as surely as being branded with the cross as the mark of Christ's ownership of you, so those smaller-case letters of husband or wife is the brand of divinely conferred authority over your body. If this passage isn't teaching that, I've got to fold up my Bible and say, "I'm going to find another way to serve Christ than try and expound the Scriptures. "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife."
Now that brings us to verse 5 (and in many ways this is the cruncher for some):
"Defraud ye not [that's a nice old word. When's the last time you ever used that word in an ordinary conversation? You would say somebody robbed or cheated you. But you wouldn't say somebody defrauded you] one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer [more accurately rendered 'the prayer']; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency."
What is verse 5 saying? This is what it's saying: in light of this mutually conveyed authority over each other's bodies, the unnecessary or unilateral withholding of sexual relations is a form of thievery. Obviously, the key word is "defraud." And it means to take away or withhold property that belongs to another, and to do so by deception--to cheat another. Again, it was used in chapter 6 two times. Christians were going into law before pagan judges about rights and possessions, and Paul says in verse 7, "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? " In other words, if your brother has cheated you out of some bucks, rather than bring the name of Christ into a pagan law court, leave the case with God and walk away. Then Paul says in verse 8, "Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud [you keep back that which belongs to another; you do it by duplicity and deception], and that your brethren." That's the very word Paul uses here. The other place it's used is James 5 where James is castigating wealthy landowners and employers, and he says in verse 4, "Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud." Again, this is a commercial concept. That's why I've said that in the light of this mutually conferred authority over each other's bodies, unnecessary or unilateral withholding of sexual relations is a form of thievery. That's not overstating the intention of the Spirit of God using this word "defraud." Now you notice my qualifying words: "unnecessary or unilateral withholding." Under "unnecessary," I'm assuming there are times when one does not need to discuss that there is a necessity for the withholding of sexual relations. I need not go into those details. You know them well as married couples. But I've used the word "unilateral." Paul says not to withhold yourselves one from another except it be by consent. That word "consent" is the word from which we get our English word "symphony." There's got to be a symphony of mind. That assumes the husband and wife talk about these things. She doesn't pull the headache routine; he doesn't pull the "I'm too tired and distracted from work" routine. There is open-faced, honest discussion seeking to come to mutual, harmonious consent. That's the exception; hence, I've asserted verse 5 teaches that in the light of mutually conferred authority over each other's bodies, the unnecessary or unilateral withholding of sexual relations is a form of thievery if there is any withholding for other than obvious reasons of health, such as advanced pregnancy, time of the month, and postpartum physical condition.
What are the conditions according to the Word of God? Look at the text. There are five of them. God's so good to give us this practical instruction. The first one we've already indicated: mutual agreement ("except it be with consent"), no unilateral withholding. Secondly, for a relatively brief period of time (for a season). Thirdly, for purposes of concentrated engagement in higher spiritual priorities. Paul defines what ought to be the situation that precipitates this season, this brief period in which there is this symphony of agreement to withhold sexual favors from one another: "that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer." Some render it, "that you may find leisure for prayer." The sense of the word is that the pressures of life are such that it's necessary to have enough time to give oneself to a concentrated season of the "the prayer." It doesn't seem to be referring to generic prayers, our ordinary devotions. But there is something in the life and experience that demands "the prayer," a time of prayer, giving oneself to prayer. A husband or wife talks this through with his or her partner. And there is an agreement that in the light of this pressing issue which demands intense concentrated spiritual priorities, there is an agreement that for a season they will withhold sexual intimacy. Fourthly, it is to be done looking forward to the resumption of normal relations. Look at the text: "that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again." And in the context, that doesn't mean just sitting down holding hands and looking at the moon. It's very down-to-earth, crass, yes, earthy, yes, but not unclean, not unholy. It is realism. And you and I need to it take seriously. To step outside the boundaries of these guidelines is to be disobedient to Christ who is speaking through His inspired apostle. Fifthly, "...that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency." Why are you married? One of the reasons is to avoid sexual uncleanness. It is better to marry than to burn with uncontrollable passion that will lead you into the wasteland of pornea, sexual uncleanness. Now Paul says if you mark out an inordinate length of time--what are you doing? You're cooperating with the devil to tempt you to sexual sin. That's what Paul says. ("...that Satan tempt you not.") When will he come to tempt? When there has not been the normal, natural fulfillment of God-given sexual desires that are constantly on the verge with many of stepping over the boundaries because of the devil and because of remaining sin and an ungodly world--Paul says the devil is just waiting for this hyper-spiritual couple who says we'll forgo relations for x-number of months because we're going to prove that we're spiritual. He says the devil's just waiting, and he's laughing up his sleeve, and he's going to come and nail them. And every woman and every man needs to have this Biblical realism woven into the fabric of their thinking about this aspect of their lives. So what does verse 5 teach us? In the light of this mutually conferred authority over each other's bodies, the unnecessary or unilateral withholding of sexual relations is a form of thievery.
Now verse 6: "But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment." My understanding is this: Paul is saying that in light of all the clear imperatives, the exception of verse 5 is a matter of sanctified accommodation and not a divine directive. A key to any understanding of this verse is the word "this." And the commentators differ. What is Paul referring to? Is it what he just said in verse 5 or what he said up in verses 3 and 4? My judgment is that he is referring to the exception, because the other things are commandments. But when he says, "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time," he's giving accommodating apostolic counsel: here is the exception to the general rule, but even that's a command. So if you're not coming upon mutually agreed times to withhold from one another, you're not sinning against the divine commandment.
Verse 7: "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." Very simply, while Paul wishes for all the freedom to serve God without distractions as a single man or woman, he recognizes the sovereignty of God in giving or withholding the gift of celibacy. It was right for Paul to say, "I would that all men were even as I myself," the same way I could say I wish all men had the privilege of preaching the Word of God and being involved in the care and the oversight of God's people. Is it wrong for me to say that? Of course not. If you thoroughly enjoy and are satisfied with your calling in life, there's a sense in which you'd like all to share in it. Paul knew the benefits of being a single man. Whether he was ever married is debated, but he certainly was a single man. He says in 1 Corinthians 9:5, "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?", proving that Paul was not a eunuch. He had normal, wholesome heterosexual desires. But he had a special gift of singleness so that, though he may have felt some heat from his normal sexual passions, they did not become a burning. John Calvin makes that distinction between feeling heat and burning. And Paul would not have had a right to lead about a wife had he been a eunuch. It is not right for any man who is sexually impotent to enter marriage under the guise that he's going to meet the sexual needs of a wife. So when Paul says he has a right to have a wife, he's acknowledging that he was a normal heterosexual man with normal, wholesome sexual capacities and desires. But he had a gift from God and wishes all men were as himself: free from the encumbrances of a wife and family to serve Christ. But his wish was not the measure of what God wants. "Every man has his own gift from God, one after this manner and one after another."
Well then, I've tried to walk through those seven verses with you. What do we say by way of concluding observation and application? Someone said, "Pastor Martin, this will always get you in trouble--the application. The exposition normally doesn't get you in trouble; it's the application." Well, if it gets me in trouble, so be it, because the Bible has been given to us to be applied. It is profitable not only for teaching but for reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. I lay before you these three observations and applications.
First of all, this passage exposes the sin of presumption and tempting God in some single men and women. As we read in verse 9: "But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." And there are some of you who are burning. And the reason you are not married is not because there have been definable, clear providential hindrances that have shut you up to singleness. For some of you, it's because you have not been aggressive in obeying the Biblical injunctions--you're too passive. You're part of a generation of men that have in great measure been partially castrated in terms of normal, wholesome male aggressiveness. I know that's a blunt term, but if the shoe fits--to change the imagery--please put it on. The text is clear. "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." In your state of singleness, no one, I trust, in this place looks down their nose at any single man or woman of marriageable age. That's a good state, but because of various forms of sexual uncleanness, each man is to have (imperative) his own wife; each woman is to have her own husband. But you say, "Pastor, in our culture and my understanding of the basic structure of things Biblically, it's not my liberty as a woman to go chasing a man." I know, but you don't have to be aggressive to be aggressive. There are ways to be subtly aggressive and still maintain your reputation as a modest, Godly Christian woman. I'm speaking primarily to the men, for some of you (and this may be more for some of you women), you're just plain too picky. You're to marry only in the Lord; that's why my initial statement was "a Godly marriage." And in this very passage Paul says, "...she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." But then the rest of the list some of you have, the Lord has very little to do with it. In the Lord, but six feet tall. O yeah, where do you find that in the Bible? In the Lord, but at least a ten inch drop between his chest and his waist. Where do you find that in the Bible? In the Lord, but interested in this and that. Where do you find that in the Bible? Some of you are just plain too picky, and I have no individual in mind. I speak before God's face, but I fear that some of you are just plain too picky--men and women. Some of you are just plain too slow. And apparently they were slow back in the 1600s, because when they drew up the Westminster Standard, the Confession of Faith for the Larger and Shorter Catechism, under "What are the ways that we break the Seventh Commandment?" One of them is undo delay in marriage. People were just moping around and weren't getting with it. Surely this passage ought to be a spur to some of you. It ought to be like spurs in your side to say, "Lord, I've not really been honest with the plain sense of the passage. Help me to be more honest with it."
Secondly, this passage exposes the sin of being an occasion of sin to your husband or to your wife. Turn with me to Luke 17:1-2. This is the passage I have in mind in making this application:
"Then said He [Jesus] unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come [the human heart being what it is, the world being what it is, the devil being what he is, Jesus said it's impossible but that people are going to find occasions to fall, to stumble into sin. That's the realism of our Lord. But look at the next part of the verse]: but woe unto him, through whom they come! [that is, through whom the occasions of sin come] It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
The little ones are those who believe in Him: His little ones; His precious ones. Now do you see the relevance of this passage in Corinthians? "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." And what introduced all of this? It's good for a man not to touch a woman, but because of the various pressures towards and temptations in the direction of sexual impurity, let each man have his own wife; each woman have her own husband. And within the commitment of that marital covenant, let there be this perspective regulating their sexual desires and their sexual relationship. To withhold yourself from your partner in an unnecessary or unilateral way is to expose him or her to adultery--if not to open adultery, mental adultery or forms of perversion. Don't go to the extreme of prudery or to the extreme of perversion, but read through the Song of Solomon together where sight and sound and smell and taste and atmosphere all enter into the holy sexual union of a man and his wife. Read Proverbs 5:8-14 where the writer speaks of her love causing you to go astray; causing you to be intoxicated. Some of you, I know, there was abuse. There was a background of uncleanness and perversion, and it's so hard for you to think that this can now be something that is clean and holy and pure before God. But I beg you, pray in the Song of Solomon; pray in Genesis 1 and 2. Think of Adam and Eve in their innocence before God; the creation account ending (as we saw several weeks ago) with a description of Adam and Even, not on their knees praying, but in nakedness in the marital embrace. And God saw everything that He made, and it was very good. And when your heart can resonate with God's, then God has flushed away all of that negativism borne of the scars that were imposed upon you, perhaps some of you, no choice of your own, others because of your own willfulness. But one sin never makes right another sin. Don't be guilty of being an occasion of sin to your husband or wife because you're not fulfilling the clear directives of 1 Corinthians 7. You say, "But I'm not made that way." No, you may not be made that way when you read, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." But you ask God the Holy Spirit to work in you the spirit of forgiveness. You can't exempt yourself because you're just not naturally forgiving. It has nothing to do with what you are naturally; it has to do with what you can become graciously. And you can become the instrument in God's hands to keep your husband or wife from unnecessary temptation to sexual impurity. God's given you that privilege, no one else.
Third and final application is this: this passage must never form the soul basis for marital commitment. Over the years of pastoral work, I've counseled with men who've said, "I want a wife because I'm tired of burning with sexual desire." They're self-centered. They're sloppy. They're narrow in their interest. There isn't a woman on the face of the earth that I have enough ill-will to wish upon such people. But they go around saying, "If you're burning, get a wife." Ah, but the same apostle had some more things to say. You're thinking about being a husband, then make sure you're ready to take on a role that mirrors Christ and His self-giving love for His church. When you're ready to take 1 Corinthians 7 and bring it into the full blazing light of Ephesians 5 and say, "I'm prepared to lay down my life for this woman in self-giving, sacrificial, tender Christ-like love," then you're ready to talk about a marriage covenant, not just because you're burning. Take the whole thing. It's no good if detached from application number three. And there are a lot of witnesses who will rise up and point the finger at you and say, "You should have known better than that." Don't ever take this passage to form the soul basis for marital commitment. When you're ready for Ephesians 5, then you talk about marriage. Look at the latter part of this chapter. Paul is not condemning this fact. He says this is the way it is if a husband takes his role seriously. He says in verse 33, "But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife." Is he condemning that? No, he's saying that if he's worth his name as a Christian husband, he's going to be careful how to please his wife. And you women better have some good indication that he knows a little about that before he puts a ring on your finger and says "I do" in front of the church building. Then it's too late. If he's a self-centered, insensitive, self-serving man, saying "I do" is not going to change him. So I say to you men who may experience a good measure of burning, and you say, "This passage does speak to me," remember, it's no good if detached from Ephesians 5; detached from the latter part of this chapter when it comes to seriously reflecting upon seeking the consent of a woman to give herself to you in marriage and vice versa. You women, don't detach Ephesians 5 from 1 Corinthians 7. Men are tempted to detach 1 Corinthians 7 from Ephesians 5, but the temptation with most women is to detach Ephesians 5 from 1 Corinthians 7. "O, the idea that I would be loved as Christ loved the church. That's romanticism of the highest form." Are you ready to have his initials branded upon your hands and on your primary and secondary sexual organs and regard yourself as this man having authority over you? If not, then don't talk about marriage, my dear sister. That's part of the whole package.
Now we did not have the privilege of premarital counseling with all of you, and this is my closing challenge to every married couple. It's been a while since you've read through this passage and talked together honestly before God, honestly as you would if the Lord Himself summoned you into His presence. "Now, we're going to discuss this passage." And He looks the man in the eye and says, "Are you rendering your wife her due?" And He looks at the woman and says, "Are you rendering your husband his due? Are you living within this framework?" Some of you have never done that. You don't even discuss these things. Some of you have a pattern of "turn out the lights and get it over with." That mentality is entirely anti-biblical as much as the wretched perversion and hedonism that has glutted our society, and in great measure, has even inundated the Christian world so that Christian bookshops have stuff that would be regarded as pornography 25 years ago. Only God can keep us from prudery and perversion, but He can. As we're determined to walk in the light of His Word, God will give us grace to do that.
My final word is to you who are not Christians. You may have sat here tonight and said, "Man O man, if being a Christian means that I'm going to let God come in and dictate the parameters and the dynamics of my most intimate relationships and tell me what is and what is not in bounds and what is out of bounds in the bedroom, forget it." I wouldn't be surprised if that's your attitude. That just proves Romans 8:7: "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be." My friend, preaching on a passage like this--the entrance of God's Word exposes you for what you are. You're a rebel against God, and your need is to have a heart-change that only God can effect, and to have the consequences of all your acts of rebellion cleansed and washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ, and He stands ready to save even you. Well, may God be pleased to take His Word, write it upon all of our hearts and enable us, by His grace, in the midst of a society so much like the Greco-Roman world, that we may in the language of Philippians 2 shine as lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:41:45 GMT -5
The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity #6 by Albert N. Martin Edited transcript of message preached January 23, 2000 PDF Format | More Transcripts It is true that every time a servant of God stands to open the Word of God, there is a direct frontal attack upon the kingdom that is built upon error and ignorance and lies, the very kingdom of darkness. But I believe in a very specific and heightened way, the prince of darkness hates when his kingdom is attacked in areas where he has set up some of his most thick embattlements and some of his most powerful strongholds in which he holds his captives. And so I ask you to join with me in praying that as we seek to wage war with the Word of Truth, God will by His mighty power dismantle aspects of that kingdom through the Word of His Truth coming in the power of His Spirit. Our Father, we are mindful of Your Word which says that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood but with principalities, with powers, with the rulers of darkness. And we would, therefore, consciously by faith take to us afresh the whole armor that You have provided. And we pray that in these coming moments together as we seek, by Your grace, to wage warfare against the kingdom of darkness and error and lies by the Word of Your Truth, that those weapons will be mighty through Your power to the pulling down of strongholds, and that our Lord Jesus may take to Himself the spoils of His conquest over the powers of darkness. Come then, O Lord, we pray and take the field in every one of our hearts for our good and for Your glory. Amen. We come tonight to the sixth and what will be the final message in this series that I have entitled "The Divine Antidote to Sexual Impurity" or positively stated, "The Divine Prescription for Sexual Purity." Given the climate of the age, and given the fact that it has been fourteen and a half years since I addressed this subject in any focused way, I judged that it was time to consider it afresh and come to the Word of God concerned to see in it the divine antidote to sexual impurity. What I propose to do in this final message is to set before you what I'm calling some final Biblical directives in relationship to the divine antidote to sexual impurity. And the counsel or directive I give to you is this: no matter what our age and stage in life, once we have been sexually awakened, we must continually engage in the Spirit-empowered, Gospel-orientated mortification of sexual sins. Now in opening up this directive or word of counsel, we will first of all establish this duty, explain the duty, and make some final applications. First of all, then, let me seek to establish this duty, the duty of continually engaging in mortification that is marked by the empowerment of the Spirit and suffused with Gospel motives and dynamics. And I want us to look at two basic text: one is the generic text, and the other is the specific. The generic text is Romans 8:13. Why do I counsel you if you would deal with the sins of sexual impurity, that you and I must continually engage in the mortification of these sins, a mortification enabled by the Spirit and driven by Gospel motives and Gospel realities? I rest the case first on this generic text, and secondly on the specific text that we will consider in the book of Colossians. In Romans 8:1-13, the Apostle is establishing that the believer's union with Christ delivers him from the state of condemnation and also the realm in which the flesh governs his life. Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...." Union with Christ brings us out of wrath and condemnation into a state of grace and justification. But that union with Christ not only alters our legal status before God, in this passage, the Apostle says it radically and fundamentally alters our ethical relationship to the law of God. And so he goes on to say, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh [now here is his end as it focuses on the ethical and moral conduct of the believer]: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And then Paul goes on to demonstrate that you live in one or two realms as the fundamental sphere of your ethical and moral relationship to God and to His law. You are either after the flesh or after the Spirit. Verse 5: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." And Paul goes on to demonstrate that there is no middle ground, and that all who are united to Christ are in a state of no condemnation and have also been delivered from the realm of the flesh as the realm of their ethical and moral conduct. He says very clearly in verse 9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." So if you've not experienced this union with Christ bringing you to no condemnation and bringing you into the realm of the Spirit, you are none of His. Now based upon that (those are Gospel realities), we have a conclusion drawn in verses 12-14: "Therefore, brethren [in the light of this teaching], we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [present tense verb: continually putting to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." So you see the basic teaching of this text. If you continue to live after the flesh, the wages of sin is death. To live after the flesh is to live in that realm where the flesh dominates, and the end of it is death. But those who are united to Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, do not live after the flesh. They live after the Spirit, and one of the concrete activities of that life after the Spirit (or in the Spirit) is by the power of the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body. And as John Owen so powerfully demonstrates in his masterful exposition of this text in his treatise On the Mortification of Sin, it is we who put the sin to death. Look again at the text: "...if ye through the Spirit do mortify...." As believers united to Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, we are active in this ongoing work of mortification. But it is by the Spirit. It is Spirit-empowered mortification. The Spirit's work does not negate ours; our work does not negate His. His work comes to life in our work. We put sin to death by the Spirit. And what is true of sin generically is true of sexual sins specifically and concretely. Now then, turn to this passage in which mortification is specifically applied to sexual sins: Colossians 3. I'm simply establishing that this counsel I'm giving you is rooted in and grows out of the words of Scripture, particularly these two texts. In the preceding context, Paul is underscoring the implications of being united to Christ. Chapter 2 and verse 20: "...if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world...." Here he says that in union with Christ you have died with Christ. Chapter 3 and verse one: "If ye then be risen with Christ...." You were raised together with Christ. And in your union with Him, you not only died with Him, you've been raised together with Him. And in Him, you are seated at the right hand of God. Verse 3: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Paul is underscoring some of the implications that grow out of what it means to be united to Christ in His death, in His resurrection, and in His session at the right hand of God. Now on the basis of those Gospel realities, he says in verse 5, "Mortify therefore [in the light of who and what you are as a result of being united to Christ] your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." The first two sins are unmistakable references to sins of sexual impurity. "Fornication" refers to every form of illicit sexual union with another. "Uncleanness" refers in a broader sense to every kind of sexual impurity. And Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, suggests that what we really have are two couplets moving from the outward manifestations of sexual sins in the first two, and the next two pointing to the inward. He renders it "the inward fire" and "the base desire" is what is rendered in the American Standard Bible "passion" and "evil desire." And Paul adds to that "covetousness," for often these are joined in Scripture because covetousness is also a form of the moral uncleanness of the human heart. It is the capstone commandment of the Ten Commandments touching the deepest springs of the desire of the heart. And here in this passage, mortification focuses predominately upon sexual sins. So in addressing the subject in this way, this is not the result of a perverse mind in the preacher. It is the result of the sensitivity to the emphasis given by God the Holy Spirit. And so my counsel to every one of you who is serious about God's antidote to sexual impurity, serious about God's prescription for sexual purity in a crassly immoral age is this: you must engage in this Spirit-empowered, Gospel-oriented mortification of these sexual sins whether in their outward manifestations or in their inward mental inward burning and desire. We must, by the grace of God, be putting these sins to death. Well, I hope those two key texts are sufficient to persuade you that it is indeed your duty and mine as Christians to engage in this mortification. Now we come, secondly, to the duty or directive explained. And here I heartedly recommend for those of you that don't feel you could bite off the full treatise of Volume 6 of John Owen. There are three separate treatises, one on temptation, another one on mortification, and the third one I have forgotten. But it's three treatises. And here in this condensed version that is done by Andrew Swanson, What Every Christian Needs to Know, Owen's treatment on temptation and mortification are very helpfully condensed and put into modern language. And I cannot recommend too strongly the help that God has given to His church since Owen penned these things many years ago. And interestingly, they were originally preached to teenage students at Oxford. He preached them in chapel to help young men be pure in what was, according to today's standards, a very prudish age. How much more do we need the wise counsel of God's servant. We carry this in the bookstore; I heartedly recommend it. Now then, what does the Scripture mean and how do we go about, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body? How do we go about killing, putting to death our members upon the earth (fornication, uncleanness, passion, and evil desire)? Well, obviously I cannot be exhaustive in the remaining time of the message, but I set before you four specific things involved in this Spirit-empowered, Gospel-oriented killing of sexual sins. First and foremost, foundational to all aspects of mortification is this: we must seek to mortify our sexual sins from the posture of justified sinners. Now what do I mean by that? Well, I'm simply trying to put in common parlance what Paul emphasizes in Romans 8. He says in verses 12 and 13, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Who is the "ye"? It is the "brethren." And these brethren Paul describes in chapter 8 verse 1: "There is [present tense] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." If we are united to Christ by faith, in a very real sense, the Day of Judgment has come and is past for us. The sentence of the Last Day has already be uttered over us. Do you believe that, Christian? That's what he is saying. There is right now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So when Paul goes on to say that those who know that reality of no condemnation in Christ still have, though delivered from the dominion of the flesh (they are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit), sins yet remain that have to be killed, mercilessly taken by the throat and choked with Gospel power and Gospel grace. Paul does not want those engaged in mortification ever to forget their status of no condemnation. You see, the devil trips up people by one or two things. He either gets them to take their sin too lightly or to take it seriously in the wrong category. If he can get you to be indifferent to sin, Christ crucified will mean nothing. If he can get you to rationalize that your remaining sins are little things, you will never deal with them ruthlessly. But once you get serious about your sin as an unconverted person, what does the devil say? "You mean to think you can be forgiven just by believing on Christ? That's ridiculous." And he tempts people to be unbelieving before the free, gracious provisions of God's mercy in Jesus Christ. And then when such people lay hold of Christ and are serious about killing sin, the devil says, "How can you be a Christian, and you still have this to kill and that to kill?" And they relinquish their state of no condemnation, and it bleeds them of all vigor and strength to go after the sin for mortification. And we must learn, by the grace of God, whenever we are engaged in Romans 8:13, to take our stand on Romans 8:1. Do you follow me? If you don't, you're going to be crippled. You're going to be dispirited and overwhelmed. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...." And it is those who in the joyful embrace by faith of those Gospel provisions that are called upon to mortify their remaining sin. So then, if you're serious about mortifying sins of a sexual nature that in a peculiar way clog the conscience with crippling guilt and a sense of defilement, hear me carefully. You must seek to mortify your sin from the posture of a justified sinner.
Secondly, we must seek to mortify sexual sins by a well-informed faith in the implications of our union with Christ. What am I trying to say here? Again, I'm trying to say what Paul teaches in Romans 6 and Galatians 2, and what our Lord teaches in John 15. Look at Romans 6:1: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Paul has just said that where sin raises a mountain ten thousand feet high, grace comes along and raises a mountain twenty thousand. So someone says, "The mountains of grace are higher where the mountains of sin are higher? Then let's go out and raise a whole mountain range of sin that grace may abound." That's the devil's logic added to the doctrine of free justification based on the doing and dying of another. And Paul says that's impossible. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. [May it never be.] How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? " And it's as though someone said, "Died to sin? When did I die to sin?" He's going to tell them:
"Know ye not [are you ignorant?], that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ [all of us who have been united to Christ vitally and truly by the Spirit of God symbolically in our water baptism] were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this [you see why I used the term 'We must have a well-informed faith in the implications of our union with Christ'], that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves [have an active faith that intelligently lays hold of this reality in being united to Christ. What happened to Him once for all in space-time history objectively outside the city wall of Jerusalem (He was crucified, buried in a borrowed tomb and rose from the dead the third day) happens in the experience of everyone who is united to Him by faith. And the virtue of His death to sin and for sin becomes our death to sin, and His resurrection to newness of life is our resurrection to life. Paul says, 'Know this. Don't be ignorant of it. And having grasp it with intelligent spiritual understanding, count it true'] to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. [Why? It's a usurper whose power has been stripped by death. Don't let it come and say, 'I'm your master.' You point him to Christ's tomb and say, 'In union with Christ, I died to sin's dominion, and in union with Christ as alive from the dead.'] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (vv. 3-14).
You see what Paul is doing? He's saying, "You Roman Christians have a well-instructed faith about the implications of being united to Christ. In union with Christ, you not only receive the virtue of His perfect life in His substitutionary death resulting in your free justification, but His death to sin is your death to sin; His resurrection to life is your resurrection to life. Count on that reality. Even when sin through every sense of your own soul is saying, "I'm master, and I'm lord," You say, "No." You reckon yourself to be dead unto sin. And as alive from the dead, you present your instruments (your eyes, hands, and sexual members) as instruments of righteousness unto God.
John 15 is another whole approach to the doctrine of union with Christ. The Lord says,
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman [the gardener who takes care of the vine]. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without [apart from, severed from] Me ye can do nothing."
Here the Lord Jesus gives us the doctrine of union with Himself, not under the figure of being crucified with Him, buried with Him, raised with Him, but a living vine. And we've been grafted in that vine. The life of that vine flows into the branches. And severed from that vine, the branch is just a brittle stick. But in union with it, it bears fruit. And as it bears fruit, the Father lovingly prunes it that it may bear more fruit. And what is that fruit but an expression of the life that ultimately is in the vine itself. So you have the doctrine of union with Christ here under the imagery of a vine. In Romans 6, it is under the imagery and the reality of sharing in the virtue of His death, burial, and resurrection.
Now, Galatians 2:20 seems to bring both of these concepts into a beautiful and intimate conjunction. The Apostle says,
"I am crucified with Christ [well, are you dead, Paul? He says, 'no.' You mean you're a crucified man but not dead. 'Yes.' How come?]: neverthless I live; yet not I ['my unblessed Adamic 'I' was put to death in my representative head, the Lord Jesus.' The sentence of death was passed upon proud, Pharisaic murderer Saul of Tarsus. He was put to death in the death of Jesus. The 'I' that was put to death is out of the way], but Christ liveth in me [Christ is so united to me and I to Him that I can say He lives in me. Well, does that mean I just sit back and say, 'O Lord, live in me; live through me. I'll just get lined up right and let the Head do the rest?' No]: and the life which I now live in the flesh [well, does Christ live in him or does Paul live? I'll never forget A. W. Tozer speaking to a large group of evangelical leaders and saying, 'If any of you editors here ever got a statement like this from some aspiring writer, you'd have shot it back return mail the same day saying the poor guy is hopelessly confused.' It's a bunch of mumbo jumbo double talk. No, it isn't. It's a beautiful synthesis of so much rich Biblical theology. Christ lives in me, but not in such a way that He blots out the conscience exercise of my will, my judgment, my understanding] I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."
This was a well-instructed faith focusing upon the doctrine and the implications of his union with Christ. So I say to you, my dear people, if you and I would make progress in dealing with our sins generically and with our sexual sins in particular, we must not only seek to mortify sin from the posture of justified sinners, but we must mortify these sexual sins by a well-informed faith and the implications of our union with Christ.
Now we move from the broad theology to where the rubber meets the road in the practical. Thirdly, we must mortify sexual sins by a purposeful and righteous avoidance of anything or anyone that tempts us to indulge such sins. Now let me explain why I used the qualifying words "purposeful" and "righteous." We must mortify sexual sins by a purposeful avoidance, a conscious deliberate, calculated thing, whether anticipating a given set of circumstances or reacting to unexpected circumstances in a kind of predetermined, preprogrammed reflexive response.
Some of you who've been active in sports know that the reason you get drilled by a good coach again and again in the basics is that they know in the heat of athletic contests, it's what you have programmed yourself to do by rigorous repetition that comes out spontaneously in the field of conflict. That's why I've continually mortified my desire to get a pilot's license. Everything in me still wants to fly a plane. I have for thirty-five years. But I know enough to know occasional pilots are dead pilots. And one of the reasons is: if you're not flying continually, what you do in a crisis by reflex leaves you short end.
What I'm saying is: this principle of mortifying sexual sins by a purposeful avoidance is that purposeful avoidance may be preprogrammed in certain situations--and we'll turn to the Bible to see it illustrated--or become such an internal spiritual discipline that if we are surprised with temptation, we reflexively turn from the situation or the person who is the occasion of that temptation. Now I qualified with the word "righteous." Why did I do that? Because in the path of doing the will of God, sometimes temptation is unavoidable. Our blessed Lord Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. His temptations were ordered by the Spirit. There are some situations where if you're going to be a righteous man or woman, you cannot avoid the circumstances or the people that will tempt you to sexual sins. You have a responsibility to provide for your family. You may work in a school. You may work in the city in a high-class office situation with women that buy $100 and $200 blouses, and they know how to be sexy in a very sophisticated way. And they're walking by you day after day. Righteously, you can't quit your job and put your family on welfare. You cannot righteously avoid the temptations that come with that, so you've got to learn how to deal with it. That's why I've qualified the words "We must mortify sexual sins by a purposeful and righteous avoidance of anything or anyone that tempts us to indulge such sins."
Let's look at the Biblical basis for this counsel. Romans 13:11-14:
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day [now notice the three couplets]; not in rioting and drunkenness [this is partying and wanton abandonment to booze], not in chambering and wantonness [bedding around and fulfilling animal passions], not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ [it's a beautiful imagery. The verb for 'put on' means 'to dress yourself with.' You mortify by Spirit-empowered, Gospel-oriented dealing with your sins. Clothe yourself with all of the Gospel realities and motives, but you must not stop there], and make not provision [forethought] for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
Don't set yourself up for temptation. You can try to put on Christ until your arms are weary, but if you take forethought to place yourself in positions of lusts, you'll never mortify sexual sins. How wise is the Spirit of God in giving this directive. John Owen said, "He who takes no care to avoid the occasions of sin is not serious about dealing with sin itself."
Now let's look at a couple of Biblical examples of people engaging in Gospel mortification. In Genesis 39:5, we read concerning Joseph now down in Egypt in Potiphar's house:
"And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured. And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? [Here's a Gospel motive: 'God has pardoned and forgiven me and wonderfully superintended the dark chapters in my life. Thrown in a pit to die. And here I am in Potiphar's house, and all he's withheld from me is you. How can I sin against a God who has conferred such grace.' Gospel motives are percolating through his heart.] And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day [why was he still around her? Because the will of God demanded it. He could not righteously get away from her. See how the principle is there. He had a dispensation of stewardship from Potiphar, and he seeks to fulfill it. And in the way of righteousness, he's still confronted with this temptation dad by day] that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. [When he could righteously do it, he turned away and split when she came into his room. What was he doing? He was mortifying sexual sin. By doing what? By a purposeful and righteous avoidance of anything or anyone that would tempt him to such sins. He's a marvelous example of this. And though in doing it, all the circumstances point to the fact that he must have caved in.] And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business [as a righteous man, whatsoever his hands find to do, doing with all his might as unto his Lord. He went into his house not to cast his eyes upon her, not to flirt with her, not to talk with her, not to be near her, but to do his work. That was the path of righteousness]; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. [He didn't stay there and reason with her. She had him alone, and he said, 'I'm out of here.' What is he doing? Purposely and righteously avoiding that person that would seduce him.] And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out."
Now she comes up with her plausible story: "He tried to rape me." "No, No, not Joseph!" "I've got his coat in the hand. I've got the smoking gun." It's amazing what people do with their so-called evidence, isn't it? She had the evidence. It was his coat. Nobody could deny it. She had it in her hands, and she put her spin on the facts. And God allowed this man in a way of righteous mortification to end up in prison. But you see this beautiful example of the principle. There it is. God puts it there that we might see what it is.
Another key passage. Remember, we're trying to see that the third element of mortifying sexual sins is by a purposeful and righteous avoidance of anything or anyone that tempts us to indulge such sins. In Proverbs 5, Solomon is teaching his son things that apparently he forgot himself through a critical period of his life. He's speaks to his son and says in warning against the immoral woman, giving descriptions of her in the opening verses from verse 3 onward. Verses 7 and 8:
"Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. ['If you're going to heed my counsel and take my warnings about the sexual sins that will be your portion with the immoral woman, this is what you're to do.'] Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house."
He doesn't say, "Don't go to her bed. Don't fall into her arms. Don't embrace her." He says, "Don't even go by her door." If you don't go by her door, you'll never be in her arms. And if you're not in her arms, you won't be in her bed. Don't say the Bible is prudish. The Bible is very frank and very realistic. And here is Solomon's warning. And then in chapter 7, he opens up this subject again and says he was looking and viewing a young man who did not take this kind of counsel:
"For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night" (vv. 6-9).
He is setting himself up for this married woman whose husband is away on business. And she is on the prowl to seduce an innocent and simple young man. And what was his folly? It was the time of the day he goes for his walk to have the security of darkness. He takes his walk by her street and by her house. He's setting himself up by making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. And she sweet talks him and sweet smells him and sweet embraces him into her bed. And then we read the end of the chapter what the result is. Isn't it interesting that, to my knowledge, the only sin we are told to flee is sexual impurity. 1 Corinthians 6:18: "flee fornication." I don't know of a verse--I racked my brain to find one in my preparation that said, "flee pride," "flee envy," "flee jealousy," "flee murder," "flee blasphemy." I don't know of any such command in the Bible. But when God says, "flee fornication," He is underscoring this truth that among all the sins in which we can fall, these more than any others require, if we're to mortify them, a purposeful and righteous avoidance of anything or anyone that tempts us to indulge such sins.
Fourth and finally, if we would with Gospel motives and with Spirit-empowered grace mortify sins, we must jealously guard all the inlets to the soul that would provoke us to mental or actual sexual sins. And what are the main inlets to the soul? They are the eyes and the ears, hands, and eyes. (I'm not sure I should put hands in that category, but since Jesus addresses hands in Matthew 5, I stuck them in.) Eyes are the inlet to the soul particularly with reference to sexual sins. Remember Job's words, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" When Job is protesting his moral integrity, he said he made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. He doesn't say he made a covenant never to look at a woman or to appreciate the beauty of a woman other than his wife. But his covenant was that his eyes would never be the inlet to lustful desires toward a woman other than his wife. What was Samson's downfall? One of the old writers perceptively said that in God's chastening of Samson, it was right that God should allow his eyes to be gouged out, for it was his eyes that led him to dishonor His God and be shorn of his power. In Judges 14, notice how clearly the eyes are emphasized as the inlet to the soul of Samson:
"And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife" (vv. 1-2).
She was a stunner. He didn't know a thing about her character. She's from the hoards of the uncircumcised Philistines whom Samson is raised to defeat on behalf of Jehovah and the people of God. But he sees her, and looking the second time and the third time, his heart burns with passion--"I've got to have her!" What he meant is that he had to have her body. He didn't know diddly about her soul. His eyes became the inlet to a burning lust, which eventually led to them being gouged out. He grinds like an animal at the mills taunted by the enemies of God. I wonder how many times Samson may have mourned in his blindness-- "O God, why did I not guard my eyes while I had them?" You want to be shorn of your power and bring disgrace to God, then let your eyes be the inlet to soul's lust and a burning sinful passion. David's trouble began with is eyes. In 2 Samuel 11:2, the Spirit of God is careful to focus upon the eyes: "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." The moment his eyes glanced upon the naked flesh of this woman other than his wife, he should have turned and run to his place of prayer. But he looked a second time until he began to notice the beauty of her form. Then lust was conceived and burned until he sends for her and commits adultery with her. And he seeks to cover his sin with murder and deception all because of what he let into his eyes. What did Jesus say in Matthew 5:28-29?
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
The Lord is not talking about literal mutilation. You can pluck out one eye, and you've got another one to lust. What He's saying is deal with the eye that it not be the inlet to the soul, committing mental sin. Dear people, without being legalistic and legislate what you should and shouldn't look at, I want to raise my protest that people in this church watch movies that have scenes of lust and adultery and fornication and illicit physical contact between the unmarried and illicit scenes of married couples. No one has a right to look into a married couple's bedroom. It's voyeurism! It's uncleanness! You don't pay whatever you have to pay to go to the theater; you just check it out at the video store. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." David looked. Samson looked. How are the mighty fallen! Who are you, and who am I to think we can look and not fall? Even secular writers with no Biblical norms and sensitivities say in the arts and entertainment section of The New York Times that the hottest shows are nothing but a form of soft core pornography. (Whoever makes the distinctions, I don't know.) What is a Christian doing watching it? The sitcoms from 7 to 9--banal, raw, crass, bathroom talk--everyone neighing after someone else's wife in the language of the prophet. These things ought to have no place in your home, in your life, or in mine. And if we've gained a measure of victory over the movies we'll watch and rent and the TV shows we will or will not watch, there are always the billboards. When I occasionally go to the average market to pick up something for my wife, which is rare, I have to plot ahead of time when I go to the checkout line to have tunnel vision. Bared breasts on every side when you just want to check out a gallon of milk. Everywhere make a covenant with your eyes. Guard the inlets to the soul that would provoke to mental or actual sexual sins. Catalogs that come to your house--parents don't be naive as to what can provoke lust in your teenage girls and boys who are just beginning to have sexual awakening. What is in a JC Penny catalog now was pornography thirty years ago. "O Pastor, you're a prude." I'm determined to get to heaven pure. If you're eye offends you; if a JC Penny catalog is a stumbling block to you or your kids, cancel it. You'll get to heaven without buying anything out of JC Penny's catalog. What about the romance novels some of you allow your daughters to read? "O, they're Christian romance novels." Rubbish! Your daughters can't read tender accounts of Mr. Right embracing Miss Right under the soft moonlight filtering through the trees and not have awakened desires that ought never to be awakened in that setting. Trash your romance novels. Give them good solid biographies. Give them good rich history. Don't be naive. Am I going to come into your home and check your books? No, you deal with God in these matters, but I'm appalled at some of the stuff that I hope is naively permitted. If you dads have not talked to your sons about the temptations they face with catalogs and flyers that come into the home, sit down with them tonight and say, "Son, be honest with me." If you ever have the pain of a son or daughter who goes astray sexually, you want to have a good conscience that before God you did nothing to provoke it. It's serious business, folks. The eyes--in 2 Peter 2:14, Peter speaks of eyes full of adultery.
Watch the ears. In Ephesians 5:4-6, Paul explicitly addresses dirty jokes, double entendre, off color, innuendo. He says, "...let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints...." Read Revelation 18 and the destruction of Babylon. And you know what is destroyed with Babylon? Babylon is the world and all that it has, and God says down with Babylon will go it's violins, it's clarinets, and its instruments of music that have been a vehicle of causing the world to come in and possess the souls of men. Watch your eyes. Watch your ears. Watch your hands. I couldn't help but remember the little diddy that many of us learned as kids:
Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see. There's a Father up above Looking down on you in love. Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear. Be careful little ears what you hear. There's a Father up above Looking down on you in love. Be careful little ears what you hear.
We can go right down all of our inlets to the soul, and, dear brothers and sister, if we get serious--and we don't legislate for one another, but we legislate "as for me and my house, we will be labeled a bunch of fundies, a bunch of weirdoes," but if by the grace of God, we can get through this moral cesspool clean to heaven, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus.
Summary: would you take God's antidote to sexual impurity? Then you and I must continually engage in the Spirit-empowered, Gospel-orientated mortification of sexual sins. That means you're not going to make any progress until you're in Christ. Romans 8:8: "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Some of you may be utterly crippled by these sins, and your never going to make any headway until you get united to Christ. The fundamental problem with some of you may be that you're not in Christ. I urge you to go to Him. Go to Him as you are: filthy, vile, spattered, discouraged. Go to Christ who said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." "Such were some of you," Paul could say. Then dear child of God, lay to heart, memorize Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5. Periodically ask yourself,
"Am I seeking to mortify these sins from the posture of a justified sinner? Am I seeking to mortify by a well-informed faith in the implications of my union with Christ? Am I purposely and righteously avoiding anything or anyone that tempts to these sins? And am I jealously guarding all inlets to the soul?"
If you are, then I believe you'll be able to say, "By the grace of God, I'm making progress in dealing with sexual sins." O yes, there may be falls, but when you connect the dots, you'll see, by the grace of God, there is a progress in the application of grace to your heart and life. May God help us.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:42:56 GMT -5
Seven Things Secured by Christ for His People by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message
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For all of you gathered here tonight who have any acquaintance with the Biblical teaching concerning the Lord's supper, you know that the duty and the activity described as remembrance is central to this institution. In 1 Corinthians 11, a passage which almost every time we come to the table is read, and occasionally comments are made upon it. The truth of the centrality of remembrance is very clearly underscored by the words which the Apostle sets before us. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, he writes, "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, This is My body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of Me." The doing of that which the Lord commands is to have a specific accompaniment called remembrance of Him. Verse 25: "In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." So the doing and the remembering are inseparable duties and privileges for the people of God when they gather to the table instituted by our Lord Jesus.
But now that raises the question, "What are we to remember about His person, and what are we specifically to remember that comes out of His body given for us and His blood shed on our behalf? And recognizing that we have some who will come to the Lord's table for the first time tonight, and should the Lord spare them and us, they with us will come many times in days to come. Should the Lord delay His coming, it is essential that we come again and again to these very fundamental issues pertaining to the kind of remembrance that we are to engage in when we do what the Lord has commanded in the breaking and eating of bread and in the drinking of the cup. And because the Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53:11, that great Old Testament chapter that tells of the sufferings of Servant of Jehovah, that He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, it is good for us in coming to the table of remembrance to remember that which the Lord Jesus has infallibly secured for all of His people by His once for all death upon the cross. And when we come to the table, and when we prepare to come to the table, it is these basic Biblical truths that we are to call to remembrance again and again, to pull them up from the file drawer of our minds and to place them there before the eyes of the soul and to think with fresh actings of faith and fresh wonder and thanksgiving and praise for those things the Lord Jesus has secured for us by His death. And I want us to take a very quick and an almost insulting, cursory overview of these seven things that our Lord has infallibly secured for all who by faith are united to Him. And I am not insisting or even suggesting that we must bring to remembrance all seven of these every time we come to the Lord's table. For these are only some of the things that He's secured for us. But surely it will be helpful to bring one or more of them even to our remembrance as we come to the Lord's table and to be familiar with these pivotal texts, the one or two texts that I will read and upon which I will briefly comment as we seek to survey this marvelous procurement of redemptive grace by the Lord Jesus on behalf of His people.
And fundamental to all the blessings secured, we are warranted to say, number one: He died to turn away the wrath of God from us. And Galatians 3:13 is a text that every Christian ought to memorize and often to reflect upon, for here we read: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Christ has redeemed us His people. He has redeemed us form the curse of the law, not by persuading God to lesson the demands of His law, not by somehow persuading God to be less stringent in His dealing with human sin, but by becoming, in the language of the text, a curse on our behalf, taking into Himself the full, unreserved weight of all of God's fury against the sins of His people by becoming a curse on their behalf. Or in the language of 1 John 4:10. Here we read: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now propitiation is a Biblical word, and it means the turning away of wrath by a sacrifice. And what our Lord has done for us, He has become propitiation for us. The wrath of God was spent upon Him. It is exhausted with respect to its demands against us. And when the Lord Jesus says, "Come to this table, break the bread, drink the cup in remembrance of Me," surely, we ought to reflect afresh upon this basic truth that He died to turn away the wrath of God from us, the wrath that we would otherwise bear and bear for all eternity. "This do in remembrance of Me." Remember the Lord Jesus said, "I died to turn away the wrath of My Father from you."
Secondly, He died to procure a perfect righteousness for us. We sang of this in our last hymn. But in 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Apostle states this in very straightforward language: "Him [referring to our Lord Jesus] who knew no sin [that is, who in His person was never guilty of sin, was not defiled by sin] He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." And in what sense is the Apostle thinking of Christ being made sin for us? Well, He's already told us in the previous verse: "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Our sins were reckoned upon Him that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him . The righteousness of God is that right standing before God without which we cannot appear before Him. We have none in ourselves. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." But Christ the sinless becomes sin for us in order that we might have a perfect righteousness in Him.
But then thirdly, as we think of coming to the table and remembering Him and the benefits of His death for us, the Scripture teaches us that He died to open the way back to God for us. Not only did He die to turn away the wrath of God from us, not only did He die to procure a perfect righteousness for us, but He died to open the way back to God for us. In Adam, as we sang, we were all banished, we were all disinherited sons cast out from the presence of a holy God. But 1 Peter 3:18 tells us what Christ has done to reverse that tragic state in which we are by nature: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that [another clause of purpose] He might bring us to God...." Not only that He might turn away the wrath of God from us and procure a perfect righteousness for us, but that He might bring us unto God that fellowship might be restored between the offended God and the offending sinner. And it is on the basis of the death of Christ that we are bidden to draw near, in the language of the book of Hebrews, drawing near through Him who opened the way back to God for us.
But then in the fourth place, the Scripture is clear in teaching us that He died to secure the gift of the Spirit for us. Turn back to the Galatians 3 passage for a moment. Verses 13 and 14: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: [now notice another statement of purpose] that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Christ's vicarious curse bearing secures for the people of God the gift of the Spirit. Chapter 4 in verse 4 and following: "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [notice now a purpose clause] that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." God could not adopt us as His sons and daughters as long as the controversy between God and us was unresolved. Christ resolves it by His vicarious curse bearing, not only enabling God to declare us righteous in Christ, but the controversy being settled, the way back to God is opened. And as that way is opened, God gives us the status of sons. And having given us that status of sons (a legal transaction), it is right that He should send the Spirit of His Son into our hearts enabling us to cry, "Abba, Father." And if Christ had not died and borne the curse of the law, God could not have adopted us as His sons. And if He did not adopt us and give us the status of sons, He could not send the Spirit of His Son into our hearts enabling us to enjoy and to enter into the blessedness of sonship. Think of all the Spirit of God is to us: the Spirit of adoption enabling us to cry, "Abba, Father," the Spirit who enables us to mortify sin (Romans 8:13), the Spirit who helps us in our felt weakness of not knowing how to pray as we ought (Romans 8:26), the Spirit who conforms us to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). All of the manifold operations of the Spirit rest down upon the fact that Christ died to secure that gracious gift for. "This do in remembrance of Me. Remember Me. It is because I died that you have received the Spirit of adoption."
In the fifth place, He died to effect in us a radical break with self-centered existence in all of His people. Where are we taught that? 2 Corinthians 5:15. Paul has stated that as an apostle, he is motivated by the constraining power of the love of Christ. Verses 14 and 15:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us [holds us in its vice-like grip]; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that [here's a purpose clause again] they that live [that is, those that receive life from His death] should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again."
Christ died not to have a people who would rejoice in sins forgiven, who would rejoice in the imputation of a perfect righteousness, who would rejoice that the way of access to God is open to them again, who would know all the benefits of the indwelling Spirit in terms of the fruit of His presence (joy and peace) while they still live in their lives centered in themselves. For Christ to have a people who do not experience a radical shift from self-centered existence to Christ-centered existence would be a mockery. That would be to encourage men to go on sinning with impunity. But this text says Christ died with this end in view: that everyone who receives life by His death has received and experienced a radical break with self-centered existence. Not a perfect break, but a radical and a real break. That's what Christ died for, that seeing what our sins have done in provoking a holy God, in causing this God to send His Son to die in our place, we would look upon sin and all that leads to sin (our turning to our own way) with such abhorrence that we would deny self, take up the cross, and follow Him who loved us and died for us. "This do in remembrance of Me. Remember, I died not only to give you all of these gifts, but to turn you from the tyranny of a self-centered existence into the liberty of a Christ-obsessed existence." And it is liberty, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
In the sixth place, He died to set us apart unto a life of real holiness now and perfected holiness in the age to come. And where do we learn that? Ephesians and the book of Titus. Let's turn to Titus first. Here again, just these many verses that have purpose clauses or statements in conjunction with the death of Christ. Titus 2:14, speaking of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Paul writes, "Who gave Himself for us, that [you see, all of the verses are 'that' verses] He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works." Christ died to have a people who are His own purchased possession, who delight in the reality that they are not their own. They've been bought with a price. And in the outworking of that reality, they become zealous to do good works, not because they think their works will earn them salvation, but because God has graciously conferred His saving mercy upon them. And as surely as Christ will not be frustrated in that purpose of His death to turn away the curse of God from His people, He will not be frustrated in that purpose to have a people who are set apart unto a life of real holiness now and perfected holiness at His return. Here the Ephesians 5 passage, again, another purpose passage in conjunction with the death of our Lord Jesus. Verses 25-27:
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it; that [there we are, another 'that' verse] He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Christ died for no less a purpose than that He should have a people in whom His eye can find no spot and no blemish. And the prophet says, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and He shall be satisfied." Christ is going to have what He died for. And that's the ground of our hope, that in this present pursuit of real holiness, with all of our remaining corruption and a subtle and seductive world and a wily devil, we seem to make so little progress. And in the midst of the struggle, we rejoice that a moment is coming when the eye of the Savior will find no spot and no wrinkle, no imperfection in His bride when she is presented holy and without blemish.
Then in the seventh place, He died to ensure that we will be given everything we need to enjoy a complete salvation. And here the text from which I've preached several times over the years: Romans 8:32. Against the backdrop of that marvelous statement of verses 28 and 29, that all things are working together for the good of those who are called according to purpose. And back of that is His foreordination and foreknowledge that we would be conformed to the image of His Son, that when God's redemptive purposes are accomplished, Christ will be the Firstborn, the One of supreme preeminence. And we will all be His family. He will be the Firstborn (notice the words) "among many brethren." Think of it, Christ will not think it beneath His dignity to say,
"Father, here's my family. Father, I present them to You perfectly reflecting My life. I have given to them perfected spirits from which every last taint and spot of sin has been removed. I have given them perfected bodies like unto the body of My own resurrection power and glory. Father, here are My brethren."
And how do we know that that purpose will not be frustrated for the weakest, the meanest, the most insignificant? (I don't mean nasty. I mean mean in the old sense of small and insignificant.) How do we know that that purpose will be realized and accomplished? Look at verse 32: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things [not Cadillacs and 15-room houses with 17 baths, but everything necessary to accomplish every facet of God's redemptive purpose]?" If He spared not His Son--what's the greatest obstacle in securing the redemption of fallen, lost, hell-deserving, sin-bound creatures? The greatest obstacle is, how can God be holy and just and do anything other than damn such? And God must send His own Son, His own dear Son, deliver Him up for us all, deliver Him up to the hands of wicked men, to the powers of darkness and to His own righteous fury. If God has overcome the greatest obstacle, how shall He not with Him overcome every other obstacle and bring us all safely home at last? "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." and therefore, He died to ensure that we shall be given everything essential to complete our salvation.
Well, brethren, just that brief survey, doesn't that make remembrance of our Lord Jesus a delight to us? To come to His table and remember we're taking into our hands the symbol of that body, that body which is for us. He assumed it in Mary's womb for us. In that body, He was brought forth to live among us, to suffer among us, to manifest His glory and power among us, and in that body to bear our sins to the tree. "This do in remembrance of Me." Lord Jesus, why did You take a body, why in that body did You live and pray and heal and suffer and die and be raised from the dead? He says,
"I did all of this that I might confer all of these blessings, that I might turn away the wrath of My Father, that I might procure for you a perfect righteousness, that I might open the way to God for you, that I might secure the gift of the Spirit for you, that I might provide the basis by which you can be delivered from the tyranny of a self-centered life. I did all of this to set you apart from a life of sin unto real holiness now and perfect holiness in the age to come. I died that I might give to you everything essential to bring you safely home at last to heaven. This do in remembrance of Me. Remember Me in all that My death has procured for you."
And as we will come to the table in a few moments, you who are not in Christ, think for a moment. What is your state? All of the things which are ours in Christ and because of Christ, as we remember Christ, not a one of them is yours out of Christ. It's a sobering thing to say to my fellow human beings, "You are still under the wrath of God." That's where we once were. You're still there. The Scripture says in John 3:36, "He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Think of it, the wrath of God, that which fell upon Christ and caused Him to cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!"--that hangs over your head. You have no acceptable righteousness before God. "There is none righteous, no not one." You are at distance from God. You are without God and without Christ as Ephesians 2 says. You do not possess the Spirit. And Romans 8:9 says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." You're still living for yourself and for this world. You have no real holiness now and no prospect of any perfected holiness in the age to come, nothing but your miserable sins to be your companion for all eternity in the presence of fellow miserable sinners and a miserable devil and his angels. And you have no assurance of anything good from the hand of God, though He continues to give you life and breath. And His goodness is shown in a thousand ways. You have no assurance of anything good from the hand of God.
But all that we remember as we remember Christ, and all that we have is available in Christ crucified for sinners, we have obtained it in Christ. And we've obtained it in Christ when by grace we came--nothing in our hands did we bring; simply to His cross we found ourselves clinging. And the Scripture says, "This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to save." My unconverted friend, everything we have in Christ right now can be yours right there--repenting, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say that's too simple. Ah, my friend, don't let the simplicity be a stumbling block. It was nothing complicated that God called upon the children of Israel to do when bitten by the fiery serpents and Moses raises up a serpent of brass and cries out, "Look and live." And the Scripture says the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Looking is no act of a hero, I know, but looking to Christ, laying hold of Christ, fleeing to Christ, coming to Christ--go to Christ, and all that is ours in Him, all of the blessings we remember with fondness and gratitude and with renewed outpourings of love and faith directed to Christ, they are yours if you will have Him.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:44:11 GMT -5
Preparing Yourself for Worship by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message
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What I will attempt to do is simply to give a very brief exposition of several lines of our Lord's thought in this passage and then apply it in some very practical ways relative to the whole subject of preparation for the worship of God. You'll remember the setting of John 4. Our Lord is talking with this immoral woman who is one of those sheep that He has determined to gather to Himself. He went out of His way geographically. He went out of His way in terms of His own personal inclinations. He was weary. The last thing in the world, humanly speaking, that He would want to do at that time was to engage in ministry to another needy soul. But here He is ministering to this woman. And in the course of His conversation with her, He makes this very profound statement in verses 21 to 24 of John 4:
"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not [speaking to her as a Samaritan]: we [that is, identifying Himself with the Jewish nation] worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Now this whole play on words ("spirit," "truth," "you worship on this mountain; our fathers worship in Jerusalem") forms the framework of the entire thrust of our Lord's message to this woman concerning the whole subject of worship. The Samaritans worshipped in their own temple. They worshipped a God whose mind and character they felt was significantly and sufficiently revealed in the Pentateuch. They did not accept the entire Old Testament. So there was great ignorance in their worship. On the other hand, the Jews embraced the entire revelation of the Old Testament. They worshipped at the right place (Jerusalem), in the right surroundings (in the temple) with the right framework of worship (the sacrificial system, etc.). But according to our Lord Himself, their worship had been stripped of its spiritual element. You remember in Mark 7, He said, "You draw to Me with your lips, but your hearts are far from Me." So what our Lord is emphasizing is this: where Samaritan worship was characterized by ignorance, the worshippers whom the Father seeks must worship Him in the realm of truth. They must worship Him in terms of the totality of the revelation He's made of Himself. And on the other hand, where the Jew felt as long as he was at Jerusalem, at the right place, at the right time, doing the right things, God was pleased, He says, "No, the Father seeks people to worship Him not only in the realm of truth, but to worship Him in spirit," which can either be a reference to the energizing power of the Spirit, or spirit as synonymous with internal heart worship opposed to mere external, carnal worship.
So true worshippers, those worshippers that the Father is in a quest to have, must present to Him a worship that is characterized by the realm of truth and by the reality of its spiritual nature. And anything else is an abomination unto God. And if you want one of the most searching statements concerning abominable worship that can be carried on in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing externally, just read Isaiah 1. For in Isaiah 1, God says--and I'm paraphrasing--"I'm sick and tired of your Sunday morning worship services. I'm sick and tired of your doxologies, your offerings, your benedictions, your calls to worship. I could vomit out the whole business." That's what He says to His people in Isaiah 1. They were in the right place (the temple in Jerusalem), at the right time, doing the right things, but the heart and the soul had gone out of their worship. And again, I remind you that this is exactly what our Lord says to the Jews of His day in Mark 7: "In vain do you worship Me because you draw near with your lips and not with your hearts." So there should be a tremendous concern in the heart of every Christian to know whether or not he is rendering the kind of worship that the Father seeks.
To make it even more contemporary, in about 45 minutes, we will enter in what is called the Sunday morning worship service. Now what should be your greatest concern as you anticipate entering that service of worship? What should be your greatest concern as you sit in the building that we call the sanctuary? You see, your greatest concern should be to render the kind of worship that the Father Himself is seeking. What kind is He seeking? Well, our Lord tells us in verse 23. He is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that positive declaration infers the negative. He does not want worship that is characterized by ignorance or by heartlessness. He wants worship in the realm of truth, worship in the reality of the spirit. Now if we're to bring that kind of worship to God, what is necessary on our part? And I would like to divide the thoughts that I'll share in the remaining 20 minutes into a time sequence. There are things necessary to render this kind of worship before we actually engage in worship during the acts of worship and then subsequent to the experience of worship. So we have before, during, and after.
First of all, then, what is necessary if we are to worship God in spirit and in truth before we ever enter the place of worship, before we ever enter that situation, whether it's a formal church building, or whether it's a fellowship hall, whatever it may be? Let me suggest something that's very, very mundane but very, very necessary. Before you worship, there must be the preparation of your body for the acts of worship by adequate rest. You see, you don't worship God as the angels do. They worship as disembodied spirits. The Scripture says the angels are sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Angels can go all Saturday night on the bidding of their God and still worship Him fresh on Sunday morning. But you're not an angel. You say, "Nobody knows that more than I do." Well, I'm not speaking in those terms. But I'm talking in terms of our humanity. You must worship God in that body He has given you. And that body is so tied in with the activities of the spirit and of the mind that a body inadequately rested cannot give itself to true worship. So the battle for worship many times is won or lost Saturday night. This is one reason why in our congregation we have no Saturday night church activities. Now we don't go around like some kind of spiritual Gestapo checking up on everybody to see if they're all in bed by 9:30 Saturday night, because there are times when we as elders wouldn't be a good example. That's the one night we can get together weekly as elders to pray for the congregation. Sometimes the needs keep us up late, but we feel that's not presumptuous because those later hours are matters of engagement in the work of Christ. But apart from that, you must learn to discipline your Saturday nights if you're to win the victory of worship Sunday morning. That's where the battle's won or lost. And perhaps some of you have unwittingly fallen into this subtle trap of getting yourself all disturbed that your heart seems so cold and your mind so unresponsive, and you are looking for deep and profound spiritual reasons as to the sluggishness of your worship on the Lord's Day, when your basic problem was that you simply did not cut things off Saturday night, get home, get your full 8 or 9 hours, whatever you need, come fresh to the Lord's Day, allowing enough time to prepare your heart, and come with a rested body and a fresh mind to engage yourself in the worship of God. So before worship, if we're to render worship in spirit as well as in truth, you must prepare your body by adequate rest.
Secondly, you must prepare your mind and heart by serious, lofty thoughts of the God whom you're going to worship. Not only prepare you body by adequate rest, but prepare your mind and heart by serious, lofty thoughts of the greatness of that God to whom you're going to come in your acts of worship. If you get to bed at adequate time Saturday night, then there will be time to allot at least a half an hour each Lord's Day morning to sit quietly and ask yourself the question, "When I gather with God's people to lift up my voice and my heart with their voices and their hearts in worship of God, who is this God to whom we come?" Meditate on such passages as Isaiah 40. Fill your mind with those lofty thoughts of God that Isaiah so eloquently pens in the 40th chapter of his prophecy: the God who before nations are like grasshoppers, the God before whom all the nations of the earth as like the drop of a bucket, the God who takes up the entire earth as a little dust in the palm of His hand. Think serious, lofty thoughts of the greatness of God. Read some of the Psalms that speak of His greatness. Fill your mind with them, such as Psalms 94, 95, 97 ("The Lord reigneth. Let the earth tremble"), thoughts of God that will expand and stretch the mind.
But not only must you fill your mind and heart with serious, lofty thoughts of the greatness of God, but prepare your mind and heart by warm thoughts of the goodness and mercy of God. Read the 103rd psalm: "Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me. Bless the LORD, O my soul, forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquites; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindess and tender mercies; who satisfiet they desire with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle."
Read the first chapter of Ephesians: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Fill your mind and heart not only with the lofty thoughts of the greatness of God so that there is something of awe in your worship, but fill your mind with thoughts of His goodness and Hs mercy, that your heart may run out to Him in hymns of praise and psalms of adoration that flow from your present awareness of this God and His goodness to you. If you don't, as it were, prime the pump, if you don't build the fires of devotion before coming to worship, it's awfully hard to set the wood and the kindling in the fireplace and strike the match to it all at once simply when you're singing the first hymn. That first hymn should be, as it were, the opening up of the backlog of previous pressure. You fill your mind and heart with great thoughts of God with thoughts of His goodness so when that first hymn is sung, there is the pouring out of the built up pressure of the heart and mind concerning the greatness and the majesty and the goodness of God.
Then there are certain things that we must engage in during our acts of worship if our worship is to be characterized by spirit and by truth. Adequate rest helps us to worship God, in terms of spirit, to give our entire inner being to worship. Thinking about God's greatness and goodness prepares us to worship Him in truth. We're worshipping Him in terms of who He is and what He's done. Now during worship, what must be done to worship Him in spirit and in truth?
Number one--and everything else flows out from this: give yourself wholeheartedly to the various aspects of worship. "Yourself" means your body, your mind, the entirety of your being. Let's take them. Singing psalms and hymns of praise to God. That this is an integral part of worship is clearly taught both by the Old and the New Testaments. Take the 100th psalm: "Come before His presence with singing...Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise." Now how are we to praise Him? Well, David gives us the example. He said, "With my whole heart will I praise Thee." Now if something has your heart, it has everything else. I love to watch a few football games when I get a chance, particularly during the fall. Once you get involved in body contact sports, I guess it never gets out of your system. And the wholeheartedness of the enthusiasm, particularly when you watch some of these games that come over WABC, such as Mississippi playing Tennessee or something else where there are these tremendous rivalries. And you see the camera zeroing in on the cheerleaders. They don't care what kind of donkeys they make of themselves. Grown people who ought know better, carrying on like a bunch of kids. And when their team loses, they're not ashamed to weep, I don't care how reserved they are. And the camera will zoom in on the pretty young cheerleaders sitting there crying away. It will zero in on some defensive tackle, 6'6" and 270 pounds, sitting on the bench crying. Why? No shame of tears, no shame of enthusiasm because that in which they are engaged has their heart. And if it's got the heart, it's got everything else. Should God be thought worthy of anything less than this?
One of the curses of our Western culture as it touches the religious life is that it's somehow given us the idea that we can get enthusiastically abandoned to anything, but when we touch spiritual things, somehow we must be very proper. Well, that's not the mentality of the Bible. When David got so blessed at the return of the ark, he danced for joy before the ark. And his wife saw him and was embarrassed about the whole thing. And he said, "If you think this is bad, I'll dance yet more vehemently in joy before by God." The Scripture lays upon us the duty of wholehearted engagement in praise of God: "With my whole heart will I praise Thee." The commands again and again in the Psalms to praise Him with a loud voice, to lift up our voices--what is that saying? It's not that God is deaf and He can't hear us unless, as it were, we scream in His ear at 50 decibels. No, no, it's simply underscoring the fact that the Father seeks worship in spirit. If you saw a bunch of people who claimed that they were wholly committed to Alabama beating Notre Dame in the postseason bowl game, and they sat there on the Alabama side unenthusiastically saying, "Go get 'em Tide. Go get 'em," you'd say, "That's ridiculous." The fact that the heart is in it is reflected in the face, in the body, in the hands, in the volume, every part of it. Alright, is that all negated and canceled simply because the object of our hearty concern is the Living God? No, it sanctifies it; it elevates it. There's a sense in which He is the only One worthy of that kind of involvement--the Living and the True God. And therefore, we must give ourselves wholeheartedly to this aspect of worship, the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
What about our giving? Is the taking up of a collection just sort of a necessary evil to keep the operation in business. Well, if that's the way you view it, that's a sub-biblical view of giving. The Apostle Paul gives us the Biblical philosophy of giving in 2 Corinthians 8, and he says this concerning those poor saints in Macedonia: "For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord...and this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God" (v. 3, 5). In other words, it's not merely an activity of the hand involving dollars and cents. It's an activity of the whole redeemed man or woman presenting himself afresh to God. As he gives of his substance, he's saying, "Lord, I am your purchased possession. This money is but a tangible expression that everything I am is Yours. You've redeemed me, and Lord, afresh I give the entirety of my redeemed personality unto You with my hand as I present the gift. O Lord, my heart goes with it, and I present myself." That's what worship is.
What about listening to sermons? This is perhaps one of the most elevated acts of worship, when the creature sits before his God, the Creator, and submits his mind, his life, his will, his affections, everything he is to the authority of the Word of God. That's the aspect of worship in listening to sermons. I'm taking the place of a creature because God says in His Word, "Let all the earth keep silence before Him." God is speaking. And if God is speaking, I must listen to His voice. And that demands a wholehearted giving of my mind to what is being preached. As it says of the Bereans in Acts 17, "They received the Word with readiness of mind." We read in 2 Timothy 2:7, "Consider what I say [literally it means think upon these things]; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things." We're to love God not only with the whole heart, but with all the mind, the soul, and strength, that is, the entirety of my energies as a human being.
Proper listening to sermons is a very draining thing. I remember one time preaching at a conference and the Lord was unusually present, and I was conscious of His help. And I think anyone with any discernment was conscious that God was there. And I'll never forget the remark of a very discerning young woman who came up afterward. She said, "Mr. Martin, I feel absolutely exhausted and exhilarated both at the same time." Well, you see, the measure of her spiritual exhilaration was in direct proportion to her exhaustion in that she had given herself to the ministry of the Word of God. Her mind was active. She was reflecting upon what the truth said to her. Her heart was active. Where the arrows of conviction were coming, there were direct dealings with God, confession of sin, the pouring out of aspirations to God right while the Word is preached. If we could somehow visually conceptualize all that goes on in the minds of a congregation of people when there's true Biblical preaching, we'd be amazed at all the interplay of the hearts of God's people and their God. That ought to be the experience. That's what makes preaching and true listening to preaching a blessed and spiritual experience.
What about praying? When we are led in prayer, the invocation, the pastoral prayer, again, is this just some kind of a thing where we bow our head, shift into neutral, and wait until we hear the phrase "In Jesus name, amen" and then pull our minds together?" No, no, the Scripture says of the early church when they faced that crisis of opposition in Acts 4, they lifted up their voice with one accord to God. Does that mean they all prayed at the same time in the same words? No, someone was the spokesman, but every other heart was engaged, every other mind was focused upon the words of the one who was the spokesman so the Scripture says with one heart and with one voice they lifted up themselves unto God. This is what worshipful prayer is. Now that demands something of you. You do not sit passively. You must during the acts of worship give yourself wholeheartedly to all those various aspects. That is to worship God in spirit.
Then finally, after worship, subsequent to the formal acts of worship, if that worship is not to be, as it were, dubbed as a mere sham, what must be true of us? And let me suggest just two things. Seek to fuse the truth to your mind by discussion and reflection. Have you heard the Word of God? Seek to fuse what you heard to your mind by discussion and reflection. Was there some aspect of God's character that seemed to be particularly in focus during the prayers that day? Seek to fuse that concept or those concepts to your mind by discussion with your friends and your family. One of the things we do at our home is, on way the home from church in the morning (we have about a five mile ride from the parsonage to the church), we try to discuss the Sunday morning sermon. When we sit for our Sunday dinner, we discuss what the children learned in Sunday school and seek to fuse it to their minds by mutual discussion. But then secondly, you must seek to fuse the truth to your heart by fervent prayer. Having heard, now you must have that truth fused to your heart and to your experience by fervent prayer. Turn what you hear into fuel for prayer and plead with God to make it applicable to your own life. If the burden of the sermon has been with reference to the need for laborers in the harvest field, pray the Lord of the harvest to send them forth. If the thrust has been some aspect of Christian duty, pray it in. This is how the truth become part and parcel of our entire being.
Now this has been a very cursory, a very quick, a very surface treatment of this whole great subject of true worship and what it demands of us. But I hope it has sufficed to do a couple of things. I hope it has shocked some of you into realizing that perhaps you never really worshipped, and that that discovery will be such as to cause you this morning perhaps for the first time really to experience what worship is. So in the time between now and the invocation, the opening prayer, the opening hymn some 50 yards away or whatever it is in the main sanctuary, rather than having chit chat with one another about a number of things, let's take care of anything we need to take care of, go into that building and sit and reflect upon the greatness of our God. Sit in that building and prepare your mind and heart by reading some of these portions so that when that opening hymn is announced, your heart may run out to God in fervent praise and in genuine adoration of His being. During the singing of the psalms and the hymns and the giving of your substance, the attention to the Word of God, you feel yourself beginning to, as it were, relax, say "Lord, give me grace to worship You in spirit. I would not dishonor You by rendering halfhearted worship. You're too glorious a God to be worshipped in that way." You will find both the exhaustion and the exhilaration, then, of the acts of true and Biblical worship.
The Father's on a quest this morning, and that quest is not to have buildings called churches filled with people all singing the same words at the same time. Jesus said the Father is seeking those to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Will He find that in you? Will He find it in me? God grant that He shall to His praise and to our profit.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:45:34 GMT -5
Some Common Pitfalls Regarding Divine Providence by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached May 19, 1985
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As I reflected upon the experience of the recent weeks in pastoral counseling, it seemed that again and again, I was turning to the Scriptures and opening up a basic theme in the Word of God with those who came and sought my counsel. And as I reflected upon this and prayerfully considered how best to use our time tonight, I came to the conviction that these who came to me seeking help and pastoral counsel were not exceptional people, that is, their needs and concerns were not so peculiar that to use them as an index for what I ought to preach would be irresponsible and unwise. But I believe just the opposite was true: that they represented a cross section of our people here and of Christians in general. And so with their concerns as a backdrop to selecting the subject, the subject I have chosen for tonight is, "Some Common Pitfalls in Connection with the Doctrine Divine Providence." And as we take up this subject, we will begin first of all by taking a few minutes to define what we mean by the term "divine providence." I'm going to speak to you on pitfalls in connection with divine providence.
What is the thing concerning which we will examine with reference to some pitfalls? Well, I can do no better than turn to the old Shorter Catechism, section number 11, "What Is God's Providence?" And the answer is, "The works of God's providence are His most wise, holy, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions." And this definition of the confession is simply an attempt to bring together a truth taught from Genesis to Revelation, that God is in control of the world which He has made and everything and everybody in it. It is the truth expressed in such text as Daniel 4:35: "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." Psalm 113:19: "Jehovah hath established His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all." We read in Nehemiah 6: after celebrating in that prayer, the doctrine of creation, the man of God goes on to say in verse 6, "Thou preserveth them all." All that God has created, He powerfully, wisely preserves. It's the truth that's brought into very tender expression in the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 10:29-30 in which He says that not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. The very hairs of our head are numbered. So the Biblical doctrine of the divine providence in a real sense is simply the truth that what comes to pass in time in every detail in every circumstance is but an exegesis of what God purposed in eternity. God's decrees are what God has planned in eternity. Providence is the unfolding, the exegesis, the opening up and the explanation in time of that which God has purposed in eternity, so that in Ephesians 1:11 the doctrine of divine decree and providence are brought into the closet conjunction where we read: "[He] worketh [providence] all things after the counsel of His will [decree]." What is decreed is worked out in providence.
Now for many of you, this is an old truth. And it is this truth which you find to be such a tremendous instrument of stability in the midst of a troubled world. Romans 8:28 can only be a source of comfort if this doctrine of divine providence is true. We can take comfort that all things are working together for good only because we believe God by His most holy, wise and powerful will is preserving and governing all men and all creatures and all their actions. It's because of the doctrine of providence that we can derive comfort from such a text as Romans 8:28.
However, this glorious, comforting doctrine becomes a dangerous doctrine when wrongly applied and used for things it was never intended to be used for. And now what I propose to do is simply to give you a public pastoral counseling session as I in the second place, having defined divine providence, describe and expose three common pitfalls in connection with this doctrine. Now I'm not saying these are the only pitfalls. Nor am I saying that I'm giving a comprehensive statement of the proper use of the doctrine of divine providence. My scope of concern is very limited. I am giving to you what I have proven in my own pastoral experience in dealing with the sheep of Christ three common pitfalls in connection with this doctrine.
Pitfall number one is the attempt to read the heart of God in terms of the providence of God. Many of God's people often err in their Christian pilgrimage when they attempt to read the heart of God by the providence of God. Now let me explain the error and then expose the error. In explaining the error, this is what I mean: if the providences which befall me are bright and sunny and favorable, making life joyful and relatively easy, then God must be showing His love to me. God's heart must be towards me with favor. And I read His unseen heart in His seen and tangible providences. So when the providences are bright and sunny resulting in a relatively easy and joyful existence, I seek to read in those "favorable providences" the heart of God. And I say from His providences His heart must be towards me in love and goodwill. However, if the providences before me are dark and cloudy and foreboding and mysterious making life miserable and difficult and uncertain, then God must be showing me that He hates me. Or if He doesn't hate me, He's upset with me, and He's irritated with me. And He's taking it out on me in His providence. Now it's only the person who believes in providence who can every be guilty of this sin. The person who thinks that all of life is just up for grabs, pure chance. Time + space + chance operates everything. He doesn't have this problem. There's no meaning to favorable providences or to unfavorable providences because it's all up for grabs, and pure chance operates throughout the whole. But when you believe this doctrine that God by His wise and holy will is preserving and governing all of His creatures and all of their actions, then what happens to me personally in my little world of people and things does have significance. God has brought these things to me and upon me. And believing that, then many times Christians are tempted, and not only are tempted, but they fall prey to this pitfall of seeking to read from God's providences the disposition of God's heart. Now that's the error, a very common error.
Now let me expose it. And I will expose by beginning with a simple statement and then proving it from Scripture. The heart of God is revealed in the Word of God in terms of our Spiritual, moral, and ethical relationship to God. The Scripture says in Psalm 146:8, "God loves the righteous." God's heart is towards a people of a certain moral and ethical and spiritual character. He loves the righteous. Yes, by grace He has made them righteous through the righteousness of His Son. By grace He has made them righteous through the regenerating work of the Spirit and the implantation of a principle of obedience. By grace He is making them righteous through the power of the Spirit, enabling them to be conformed increasingly to Christ. But His love is in terms of the spiritual, moral, and ethical relationship that He sustains to them and they to Him. Conversely, Psalm 5:5 says that God is angry with or God hates all workers of iniquity. God's heart is against those who live in the practice and willful pathway of sin. John 3:36 says, "He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." The heart of God towards men is to be understood not in terms of His providences, but in terms of what He has revealed in His Word on the basis of our spiritual, moral, and ethical relationship to Him.
Now, God often brings dark and difficult, what we would call negative providences upon the righteous and ripens the wicked for judgment with continual favorable providences. Now that's clearly taught in the Word of God. It was the great problem of the psalmist in Psalm 73. As he looked out in terms of divine providence, this is what he saw. The providence of God was bringing to a righteous man what things? Verse 14: "All the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." He saw himself in a constant string of difficult providences. One the other hand, when he looked at the wicked, he says in verse 3, "I was envious at the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Providence was smiling upon them. They didn't have horrible, lingering deaths. "They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men...Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish." When he looked at God's providence, this is what he saw: God is favorable and therefore loves the wicked; God is unfavorable and therefore has a controversy with the righteous. And it was not until he went into the sanctuary of God, considered their latter end and came to grips with the fact that their true state was to be understood in terms of their spiritual, moral, and ethical relationship to God that he got everything sorted out and saw things as he ought to see them.
But then, of course, we saw the book of Job. And this was precisely the problem with Job's so-called comforters. Job, according to God's estimation, not man's, was the holiest man upon the face of the earth in his generation. And this relationship to God in ethical, moral, and spiritual uprightness was the very basis that became the occasion of his trials. But looking upon him, you would say, "If ever God's heart is against a man it's against Job. Look at the providences that have come upon him." In a day he loses all of his possessions, his children, etc. And in a few more days he becomes one mass of putrefying sores, and it was difficult for sensitive people even to stand in his presence. The providences were dark and foreboding, and those dark providences lay upon him day after day, night after night, week after week. And all the while, others were basking under a clear blue sky of favorable providences.
Furthermore, the Scripture teaches us that these very dark providences, rather than being the indication that God doesn't love us, are the very validation of His love. Revelation 3:19: "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten." Hebrews 12:5-6: "My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art reproved of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." And yet because we have subtly imbibed this false notion that favorable providences reveal the heart of God, the temptation in so many of God's children (and I've counseled not a few of them in this place) is when God brings a concentration of dark providences, you immediately begin to reason from your dark providences to something in the heart of God that is other than His love. You're not the only one who's done it. Old Jacob did it. You remember when God was through His providences, dark and bitter providences, working out His own redemptive purposes, raising Joseph to that place of great influence in Egypt in order to preserve the Godly seed that would come and settle in Egypt in a period of famine, God is in inexorably and marvelously carrying out His ancient promise that He would bruise the head of the serpent. And yet when one dark providence after another comes upon the old patriarch, he cries out in Genesis 42:36, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." No they weren't. All those things were for him. All of those dark providences were the revelation of God's love and His commitment to His covenant promises. And old Jacob fell prey to this pitfall of trying to read the heart of God in the providence of God, and it's losing business.
Now I'm fully aware that there are times when dark providences may be the revelation of God's anger toward His children. 1 Corinthians 11:30: "For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep." I am not ruling out the fact that a dark providence can be God's spanking for evil done in one of His children. But what I am addressing is the notion that a dark providence or a combination of dark providences necessarily reveal that God's heart is against me. And child of God, you must resist that temptation. God's heart is not to be read in His providences; it's to be read in His Word in terms of your relationship to Him. If you're a man or woman of faith, then you are in the orbit of God's covenant love. If you are walking uprightly in the light of His Word with a blameless conscience, a conscience void of offense, then God may in His own inscrutable wisdom plunge you into a series of the darkest of providences. But His heart towards you has not changed. And you are to hold on to your way, and you are to hold on to the integrity of your conscience. You're to be able to look up into a sky that is so thick with dark clouds of dark and dismal and foreboding promises and say, "God, I believe your heart is toward me in love and pity and compassion as much as if I were looking into a cloudless sky.
God is committed to something more than to keeping your comfortable. He's committed to making you holy. And He's going to beat up on you a little bit in the process. He's more concerned about your conformity to Christ than your physical, material, psychological, and social comfort. Furthermore, He's more concerned the issues of eternity than time (2 Corinthians 4:18). He's more concerned about the inner man than the outward. The outward man is decaying; the inner is being renewed. He's not indifferent to the outward, but He's more concerned about the inner than the outward. So when Paul has an outward affliction, he says, " I simply cannot go on in the work of God with this impediment to my physical strength." And He cries to God to remove it. God says, "No." There's an inward malady that's worse. The outer won't cripple you, but the inner will. "And lest you be exalted above measure because of all of your privileges, Paul, I'm allowing this outward pressure to be the instrument of keeping you consciously weak and therefore consciously humble because I can use a physically weak and man, but I will not use a strong and proud man."
Dear child of God, this can be revolutionary for some of you because God is not going to take us to heaven, in the language of A. W. Tozor, all wrapped up in a Christmas package with a nice little neat bow on it. If we get there, we're going to get there beat up a bit, scarred and bruised, some of the edges knocked off and splintered. So there are going to be dark providences. Now don't go around and say, "Well, God must not love me because everything's not going well." There are Christians like that. They hear a message like this and they'll flip it right around and say, "Well, if dark providences are in the indication of God's love, then God must not love me." And they're going around looking for trouble. No, no, don't go looking for trouble. Don't try to help God chasten you with dark providences. What I'm saying is, whether the sky is blue or dark and foreboding, read the heart of God in the Word of God and in terms of your ethical, moral, and spiritual relationship to God. And stop trying to read the transcript of His heart in His providences. That's the great pitfall.
Pitfall number two with regard to the doctrine of providence is the attempt to understand the specific and the full purpose of God in any given set of providential circumstances. Now we'll approach it the same way. We'll explain the pitfalls and then expose them. If a set of providences has come which for me and respect for my routine is large or small, then immediately I'm tempted to say, "I've go to find out what God is saying to me in this providence." For example, you're going to work tomorrow morning and on your way to work you get a flat tire. A sensitive Christian will almost immediately say, "Well, Lord, what's your purpose in this?" And his wheels will begin to move to try to find and discover some specific purpose for this specific providential circumstance that is out of the ordinary. It becomes more intense if a man loses a job where he felt he had real security. Suddenly he's called in and given the spiel and the pink slip, and his whole life, as it were, is numb with the shock of this unexpected hiatus in his career. The loss of a loved one, ongoing discipline of singleness, widowhood--these ongoing trials, the combination of dark providences, or the combination of favorable providences. Often as God's people, we attempt to understand the specific and the full purpose of God in any set of providential circumstances. What is God saying to me in this providence or in these providences?
Let me expose the error of this pitfall. The truth is, dear brothers and sisters, that only an omnipotent God who sees the whole fabric of His plan knows the full significance of any part of that plan as it comes to light in your life and mine. And I'm going to try to illustrate it. This block represents your present set of circumstances. And you see some threads (that's my red line) going this way and some threads this way (the warp and woof of the fabric). And you've got a question mark: what is God saying in this and this and this? And altogether combine these present strands of God's providence: what is He saying to me now in the light of what I see of His providences? Well, the problem with that is this: that in your present set of providences (there are these little strands), all you and I can see is one little part of the threads going this way and the threads going this way. But you know what God sees? He looks, if I may use the facial imagery, down upon us, and He sees the present in terms of every single thread (the warp and woof of the whole fabric) that constitutes the now. But He sees more than that. He sees how each thread goes all the way back into His eternal counsel and where each thread is going in the confirmation in His purposes. Furthermore, He sees how each thread is being used in my life to prepare me for heaven, how it's impinging on the lives of others for eternity with Him and being woven into the fabric of His purposes with regard to manifesting His justice upon the ungodly. Now do you see how stupid it is for us to try to figure out what any given factor means when an omniscient eye alone sees the whole thread at any given point, and sees the roots of the thread and the ultimate destination of the thread. So child of God, stop trying to play God. And when you're in a given set of providences that trouble you and upset your normal routine, don't go before God asking God to be like Him and to give you the ability to see all that He has purposed in this particular set of providences. It is losing business.
Now, there are two qualifications: it is perfectly proper to pray, "Lord, if you're seeking to expose some sin in my life, if you're seeking to nudge me in the direction of a new dimension of Your purpose for me by these providences, help me to understand as I study Your Word what principles apply to the providence." I am not saying that the providence cannot be God's means to get our attention to some principles of His Word. I'm not saying that at all. Nor am I saying that providence cannot be the instrument by which God reveals sin to us. But for us to demand that we be able to understand why we got the flat tire is sheer impudence. Just take care to safely repair the tire, change the tire in a way that is responsible and doesn't tempt God. And don't while you're getting out the lug nuts try to figure out: "O, what's God saying to me?" That seems very spiritual, but you may get your head knocked off with an oncoming car when you're preoccupied with trying to interpret the providence when you ought to be occupied with finding a safe place to change your tire. Now that doesn't sound very spiritual, but that's your duty because the Scripture says, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." And all you need to know is that all things including your flat tire work together for your good. But God doesn't say you'll know precisely the good at any given point.
Now sometimes God mercifully lets us live long enough to see our providences interpreted partly. For example, Genesis 50. When Joseph was thrown down into the pit, sold as a slave, and ended up in the house of Potiphar, I would imagine that that strange and dark and horrible providences meant very little to him. But later on, some years had passed, and he's able to see that there was both rhyme and reason for all of these dark providences. At the end of that moving scene when he disclosed himself to his brethren, he could say, "As for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). He says,
"Now I can see the purpose of that strange combination of dark providences. Out of a motive of jealousy and ill-will, you sold me to be a slave. There was no love loss between us. You meant evil, but God who governs all men and all their actions in all realms, He was providentially guiding even the channels cut by your malicious attitude in order that this day the whole clan might be spared down here in Egypt."
But that was only part of God's providence. And Joseph only saw part of it, and he was content to rest until God unfolded even that part. But there was another part: a preacher in 1985 was going to need a vivid illustration of this pastoral problem. That's right. And when God let Joseph be sold and speak these words, part of His purpose was to give me the fuel to give you pastoral counseling. God knew all of that. I didn't; Joseph didn't, but God did. And only the omniscient eye of God can see all the threads in the whole tapestry. And to be men and women of faith is to say, "God, all I see is a little piece of the thread, and it doesn't even look like belongs in the fabric. But you put it there, and you know why you put it there. And someday when I sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom, and down sit down with my Lord, I'll have Him exegete every strand. And then He'll show me how it all was wisely woven together. So child of God, remember the hymn we often sing:
Blind unbelief is sure to err and stand his work in vain. God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
The second pitfall is attempting to understand the specific and the full purpose of God in any given set of providential circumstances. That is none of your business. Yours is to bow in faith and confess God's ways to be right and just and good, even if you never live long enough to make any sense out of what He's done.
Then there's pitfall number three. And this one is a very difficult one to speak upon in a balanced way, but I'm going to make an attempt to do it because it needs to be said. Pitfall number three is the attempt to make the providence of God the indicator (the finger pointing in the direction) of the will of God. Now let me explain the error. Someone is not sure whether he ought to take this job or that job or the other. And he says, "Now Lord, I trust Your providence. If You want me to take that job in such and such a place, You open the door. If You don't You close it." And if the door opens, he comes to his pastor and says, "I've been praying about a job opportunity in three places; a door has opened in such and such a place. I believe God has opened that door. Providence is pointing the way." And so he moves forth dead certain it's the will of God because there was an open door. Three years later, you see the man; he's lost all his joy, all his vibrancy, all his spiritual vigor. And when you begin to talk with him, you find out what is problem is. He's found no decent ministry. The job has consumed so much of his time and energy his marriage is coming apart at the seams; he's lost all contact with his children. Everything is coming down around him in a shamble. And he says, "I realize now that open door was not an indication of the will of God. I should have considered other factors rooted in the Word of God. Someone's praying about whether they ought to marry a certain man or woman, and so they say, "Lord, I commit it to Your providence. If You create in them an affinity to me, and they like me and are attracted to me and I to them, then I'll take this as from You." Ten years later, in the bitterness and the horrible, horrible locked in misery of a mystic marriage, the person looks with bitterness upon the day they used providence as an indicator of the will of God. That's what I mean about this pitfall. Using an open door, someone's favorable disposition, something in providence to indicate the will of God.
Now let me expose that error. The will of God with which we have to do is the will of His precepts and not His providence. Providence exegetes God's decrees. My business is to walk in the light of His precepts, walk in the confidence that in His providence He is guiding me. But my mind and my rational faculties are not to be taken up with looking at what seem to me to be the indicators of providence. But I'm to be taken up with the precepts and principles of the Word of God and responsibly applying them to my circumstances in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 1 describes the blessed person in what language? "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: [but his delight is in contemplating the providence of God, and upon His providence He meditates day and night]." No. "But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and on His law doth he meditate day and night." He fills his mind with God's precepts. Psalm 119:105. David does not say, " Thy providence is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path." He says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path." Jesus said in John 14:21, "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him."
Now, I'll qualify in a moment. Hang in with me while we establish this. Let's look at some examples in Scripture where people erred by thinking providence was an index of God's will.
Look at Jonah. God had spoken His Word: "Go to that wicked city Nineveh and cry out against it for its sin." But he went in the opposite direction to flee from the presence of God, Scripture says. And when he came down to the seashore, what did he find? He found a set of unusually favorable providences. A ship going to the place he wanted to go to was there; the winds were favorable. They had a seat for him; they had a birth for him. He had the amount of money needed. Everything in providence seemed to smile upon Jonah. An old Scottish preacher who has a powerful sermon on this matter of taking the will of God from providence and not from Scripture draws this out beautifully. Had I the time, I probably would have brought excerpts of it and read it to you. It's a most moving thing. He begins to enter into dialog with Jonah who thought he could determine the will of God from providence. And he begins to ask him when the waves begin to crash upon the ship and everything is turned into a frenzy because of Jonah: "Where is His favorable providence now?"
Look at Judas. It says that he was continually seeking a convenient set of circumstances to betray the Lord Jesus. And John 18 tells us that when he came out that night with a band of soldiers and the chief priests and their cohorts, he was able to know where He was in the garden because he said, "Jesus oft-times resorted thither with his disciples." The providence of God was favorable to Judas' most dastardly deeds. Are we going to say, then, that was the will of God's precepts. No, God had said, "Thou shalt do no murder." God had said to Jonah that he was to go to Nineveh.
No let's look at the flip side in the life of a man of God, such as Paul. He said in Romans 1 that many times he had purposed and apparently even made plans to go to Rome. Romans 1:13: "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto)." Every time he made plans to go, the door got slammed in his face. So what did Paul say? "Well, God must be showing me in His providence I've have no business going to Rome; I'll give up the idea." Not on your life. Going to Rome was a matter of obedience to the revealed will of God. So he was prepared to keep knocking and knocking and knocking until the door was opened. Many Christians, the first time they meet a closed door in any area say, "O, God is closing the door in providence." And they run away. How do you know that God closed it to tell you to go away? How do you know He didn't close the door to develop some calluses on your banger, to develop some spiritual muscles to pray and bang the doors down in the name of the Lord? If that door stands before you in the path of duty, it's not there to say go another direction. It's there to make a man or woman of courage out of you, a man or woman of faith, a man or woman of holy persistence. Dabny, the great Southern theologian and preacher and writer, in his masterful treatise on the call to the ministry, he goes after men who have all of the indications that God's hand may be upon them for the ministry, but there's some negative and dark providence standing in the way. And he says, "Who are you to pontificate as to what the purpose of that hindrance is?" You say, "Well, I can't. I have this hindrance or that hindrance." He says,
"Who are you to say why God put the hindrance there? The hindrance is there in divine providence, but the purpose of that hindrance--who are you to exegete it as though you were God? Could it be that God put that hindrance there for the very purpose of making you more a man of God to press clean through that hindrance by holy diligence an by the use of spiritual weapons"
Demosthenes the great Greek orator could have concluded even as a pagan that he was never to be an orator. He had an impediment in his speech. And you know the famous proverbial story of how he would go down by the seashore and fill his mouth with stones and learn how to speak above the roar of the ocean until he could be heard distinctly. What did he do? He didn't take the providential factor of a speech impediment and lay over and play dead. That element is too much for us. We need to be done with that and keep our noses to the Book of God and determine our duty from Scripture.
Let's go back to the two illustrations and show how it works in practical experience. Take this fellow with the job. Instead of saying, "Lord, there are three places, three opportunities; whatever one opens up, that's You're will." No, no, he should have sat down with His Bible and said, "Now God, as a man on the threshold of my career as a workman, a husband, a provider, a Christian man, what are my priorities as dictated by the Book of God?" If he did that, he would have found that he should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things would be added. So he writes down, "Priority number one: wherever I pursue my career, I must be in a setting where I can seek first the kingdom of God." He goes to his Bible and learns that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. So he says, "I most go where there is a church that is committed to the Word of God." Furthermore, he reads in his Bible, "Fathers, nurture your children." "Whatever career I pursue in whatever circumstances, I must not sell my children to the corporation. I won't do it. I'd sooner dig ditches than be a vice president or a general at the expense of the souls of my children." He gets his priorities out of the Book. That's where he gets them--all of them. Then he goes to the company and sits down: "What's your job description?" "Here it is; here are my qualifications." "What are your terms of work?" "Here they are." Then he investigates: "Is there a church within reasonable distance?" He asks some probing questions about what will be expected of him. He does not allow a lovely open door to settle all the issues. He thinks the issues through with hammered out Biblical priorities. And the widest door with the most promise, if he's got to stumble over a precept, he says, "Uh-uh, I'm not going to take it." Now it may mean that one of our brethren highly qualified in a specific professional field in this congregation may have to drive a cab in New York for a year--that's right--with a graduate degree, drive a cab in New York. Why? Because you've got principles from the Word. O dear men, will God give us men like that in this generation? I pray He will. Men of that stuff who will be the life and blessing for another generation.
As for the guy who says, "She likes me and I like her, then God must be in it." No, no, my friend, the devil can very easily stir up the hormones and the chemistry of mutual interest. What he goes is he goes to his Bible and says, "Lord, if I'm thinking as a man of God, what am I to look for in a woman?" Above all else, she must be a woman who is in the state who manifests the grace of God in life and character. She must be a woman who as a Biblical concept of marriage and of the home, or who at least is willing to be taught those concepts. And he hammers out of Scripture what he's to look for. He may have very little positive chemistry the first time he dates a woman who seems to have those qualities. That doesn't turn him aside. He's willing to stay with her long enough until her true virtue that may not hang out in her measurements is seen. Some of you men are to worldly in what you're looking for in a wife. Maybe if God blinded you for five years, it would be the best thing that happened to you. You'd get a Godly wife in the meantime. And when He gave your sight back, she'd be awfully beautiful because you would have lived with the glory and beauty of Godliness. And it even affects what your eyeballs see. But some of you are altogether too worldly. Some of you girls, that's you're problem too. You're too worldly in what you're looking for in a man. I know one of our women here confessed this. God had to knock her on the head hard. She had it all figured out. Ah yes, she wanted a man of God for her husband, but she figured out the height and weight and everything else. And God had to work her over pretty good to humble her. I'm not going to say publicly who it is. But I know she would be willing to tell you how she thanks God that He opened her eyes to her folly.
You see what we're talking about now? This pitfall of trying to interpret the will of God by the providence of God in major decisions of work, career, husband, wife, all of these things. No, we're to go to Scripture and be regulated by Scripture. And then as we prayerfully commit ourselves to implement the path marked out by Scripture, this is where the doctrine of providence is our comfort. I can proceed in the path of Biblical obedience in dependence upon God and in the strength of His Spirit, confident that because He by His most wise, holy and powerful will is governing and preserving all His creatures and all their actions. This God can bring any force to bear, any influence to bear upon my path that is for my good and His glory. And I go forth not looking for providence to mark the way; I look to the Word to mark the way. But I'm confident that divine providence will guide me in that way. And then when I stop and look back (this is where Flavel's book The Mystery of Providence is so helpful), and even here with my limited sight seeing through a glass darkly, I can see some of the marvelous ways that God providentially hedged me up, overruling my stubbornness and my folly and my short-sightedness and my wrong motives, to deal so graciously with me. So look back at providence and admire; look up at providence and trust. But don't look into providence and try to come up with a full interpretation of what God is doing. Don't look at providence and read from providence into the heart of God. And don't try to see the path of God's will marked out by providence. Child of God, don't abuse the precious doctrine of divine providence by falling into any one of those three pitfalls. And I would be very surprised if there are not many of us who would acknowledge tonight, if we would grasp what I've tried to convey, that we've been guilty on all three counts many times. I have many times.
Let me say in closing, this is one of the reasons I abominate all of the mystical, subjective elements of the Deeper Life teaching and much of the Charismatic teaching because it lends itself to this very thing. And it becomes tyranny because with your puny little mind, you're constantly on that vicious treadmill of trying to figure out what God is saying in this and saying in that and saying in the other. And you can so easily, if you're of a sensitive temperament, misinterpret what God is doing, bring false guilt upon yourself, and talk about having God's 2nd best, 3rd best, 4th best, and 17th best. If I had to live by that rule, I probably got His 178th best somewhere down the line on the bottom of the heap. But it's a wonderful thing to be able to stand where we stand today and say, "I am here by the kind and gracious providence of a wise and a loving God."
Now if you're not a Christian, much of this you've sat here and said, "What in the world is the big deal?" My friend, if that's been your disposition of your mind, it's because you don't know the God of the Bible and you've never come to love Him. Because once you come to know and love Him, then pleasing Him is the thing that matters more than anything else. And that's why it's only these funny folk called Christians that have these problems. But it's only these funny folks called Christians that are going to be with Him forever in joy and peace and the glory of His presence. And we're going to be there not for anything we've done. But we're going to be there because of what His beloved Son did, who in God's time was sent to be the Savior of sinners who don't know how to live, who can't face death with confidence, dark and blind, rebel sinners. And my dear non-Christian friend, that Christ and His salvation is offered freely to you in the Gospel that through that Savior, you might come to know this God and know the joy of walking with Him and being with Him forever when He returns in the person of His Son.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:49:11 GMT -5
Heaven: A Place Perfection of Soul and Body by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached October 23, 1983
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Having spent some weeks on the questions, "What is hell?" and "Who is going there?", we now move to address those questions to the subject of heaven. And tonight we begin to take up the first of those questions, "What is heaven?†And then after spending several Lord's Day evenings on that subject, God willing, we will take up the question, "Who is going there?"
What is heaven? As we attempt to answer the question tonight just looking at two parts of the answer, I would remind you of a point made in the introductory study on this subject that we are concerned primarily, not with the intermediate state, that is, not that dimension of heaven that is the portion of every believer the moment his soul leaves his body. There are three text in the New Testament which speak very clearly of the intermediate state of the believer. Philippians 1:23: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." 2 Corinthians 5:8: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." And Hebrews 12:23 which speaks of the spirits of just men made perfect. But we are concentrating on heaven in the terms of the eternal state, the heaven that will exist after the return of the Lord Jesus, after the resurrection of the bodies of all men, saints, and sinners, and the reuniting of their souls with those bodies and their being fixed in their eternal state with body and soul joined forever.
So we take up the question, "What is heaven?" with our concentration upon heaven in terms of the eternal state. The first assertion I will make (and then we will look at a number of Scriptures which force this assertion upon us) is this: heaven is a place as well as a state or condition of existence. When the Bible speaks of heaven, some passages clearly point to a place outside of this present world order, particularly the place where our Lord now in His glorified body resides. It is called the right hand of the Father. Let us look at several passages which would seem to point to the fact that heaven is a place as well as a condition outside of this present world order as we now know it and exist within it. John 14:1-3. Our Lord has told His disciples that He is about to leave them, and this, of course, has caused great grief to their hearts, and so He is seeking to comfort them. And He says,
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe [or it may be the imperative in the original. The actual spelling for the imperative or the indicative is exactly the same] in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions [dwelling places]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Here our Lord says,
"I'm about to leave you, and in leaving you, I'm going to prepare a place for you in My Father's house. (And the contrast is their present place of dwelling and the Father's house.) I'm leaving you, but I'm leaving you to do a work of construction. I'm leaving to prepare a place for you in My Father's house. And in My Father's house, there are many dwelling places. And if I go to do that work of preparing the dwelling places, I give you My pledge that I will come back again to take you to Myself that where I am there you may be also."
If this were the only passage in the Bible with some explicit teaching on heaven, we would be rightly led to think that heaven, whatever it is, is a place up there, out there, beyond this present state of affairs, this present place of dwelling as we now know it. The same pressure is on such a text as Philippians 3:20: "For our [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Our citizenship is in the heavens. From the heavens we wait. We wait for our Lord Jesus to come and fashion anew our bodies like unto the body of His own glory. And the pressure again seems to be pointing to heaven as a place and a condition out there, up there, beyond here. Likewise with Colossians 3:1-4:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above [outside of you, above you, beyond you], where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above [that is, the place where Christ is seated on the right hand of God], not on things on the earth. [You see the contrast. Where Christ is seated on the right hand of God is the place above in contrast to the earth.] For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."
Now I say the pressure of these texts, not the clear, undeniable, explicitly etched out teaching, but certainly, the pressure of these texts is that heaven is a place out there, up there, beyond this present earth. However, there are other passages which clearly point in the direction of this present earth renewed and renovated at the coming of Christ as the place called heaven, that heaven will indeed be found here on this earth. And there are two such clear texts. The first is Romans 8:18-22:
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature [the created world order] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature [this world and all that pertains to it] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
Here is the picture of this world having come under the curse and longing to be released and delivered from that curse in conjunction with the final installment of redemptive privilege with respect to the children of God. That comes, of course, at the return of Christ when He summons dead believers out of their graves. Living believers are transformed in a moment, and they come into the full possession of redemptive privilege in their glorified bodies. And according to this passage, the whole creation in that same complex of events will be delivered from the bondage of corruption under which it has labored from the fall of man. For you remember, when man sinned, God said, "Cursed be the ground for thy sake." And so this passage clearly points in the direction of a heaven that is here--this very earth on which this building rests, this very earth which supports the walls and the trusses and the concrete floor on which you sit. This very creation is given the picture here of groaning and travailing, longing for its true birth into the liberty of the sons of God.
The second key text is 2 Peter 3. Now remember, our question is, "What is heaven?" And I have said that heaven is a place as well as a state or condition. Well, what is that place? Where is it to be found? Some text point out there, up there, outside of this present order. Now we've looked at a text that says down here in this situation within this present order. Now 2 Peter 3:10-13:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
Well, you see the Bible's all full of contradictions. Anyone can see it. Jesus said, "I'm going out there to prepare a place. I'm going to come and take you to Myself." Heaven is up there and out there. Now Peter says we're supposed to look for a new heaven and new earth. Heaven's down here. Well, is it out there or down here? Is it up, or is it down? Is it out, or is it here? Well, there is no contradiction, but there is a beautiful synthesis of these various strands of Biblical teaching. And it is wonderfully brought together in a passage such as Revelation 21:1-3. In vision, John writes,
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."
Then further on in the chapter, the identity of this holy city, the new Jerusalem, is none other than the glorified church. Verse 9:
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. [That's the church.] And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God."
Do you see it? He says, "Come, I'm going to show you a beautiful bride." And then He takes John and carries him away, and what does he see? A gorgeous woman in a bridal garment? No, he sees a city coming down out of heaven. And that city is the perfected church coming down out of heaven to earth. So what is the answer to the question, "Where is heaven?" The answer is, according to these Scriptures, that heaven is the place and condition that will involve this present world that now groans and travails under all the many effects of sin purified by the fire of the returning Lord who renews it in judgment. And new heavens, the heavens above us, and who knows how far out beyond us to the farthest galaxies, the entire universe of God with its focal point being this little speck on the outer edge of this galaxy will constitute heaven as to its locality. So we are warranted in asserting that heaven is a place as well as a state and a condition, a place involving this present earth, but this earth as paradise restored and renewed and made fit for the new condition of the people of God along with a renovated universe. And beyond that all is speculation. Scripture casts a vale of silence over those particulars.
Did not our Lord say, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:6)? And think of the many billions of times the prayer has gone up, not as an empty form and ritual as it is with many, but as an earnest cry to God from the heart as obedient disciples, "Thy will be done upon earth, as it is in heaven." And that longing and holy passion in the hearts of the people of God will be answered when our Lord Jesus at His return ushers in the full glory of heaven. Think of it, this very earth--and I love to think of it in these terms--that has soaked up the blood of multitudes on battlefields, this very earth where the sod is stained with innocent blood, this very earth that supports the footstep of the tyrant and the lecher and the murderer and the thief, this very earth that supports the rebel activity of the multitudes of the unconverted, this very earth in which Almighty God is denied, this very air that surrounds us and men breathe into their lungs that they might force some of that air up over the larynx and speak words of blasphemy and denial of God; that this very earth and its total life support system will be renovated by the fire of judgment at the return of Christ. And when He's through, every particle, every atom of this earth and its support system will be permeated with nothing but righteousness. It will be the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness and righteousness alone has its home.
You want to get shouting happy driving down a busy freeway, thinking of all the cussing that's going on, because people are banging into one another and cutting one another off. And you go into that office, and your eyes burn with people blowing smoke into them, and your ears are defiled with the cursing. Child of God, do you want something that will make you shouting happy in the midst of it? Look at every square inch of the Garden State Parkway, every square inch of that office room, every square inch of that classroom and say, "One day nothing but righteousness will occupy you. Nothing but righteous feet will walk over that square inch of ground. Nothing but righteous words will send out vibrations to be picked up by human ears. Nothing but righteous sights will enter these eyes." Child of God, you want to get shouting happy? You just fix your mind upon that great reality.
What is heaven? Heaven is a place as well as a condition. And that place will be this present world renovated and renewed: paradise restored and all of heavens above us. And I say that beyond that, we must speculate. And I don't think God is at all disturbed with holy speculation just as long as you don't preach it. And I'll not preach my speculations, though I have great joy in turning them over in my mind.
The second thing we are warranted to say about heaven is this: heaven is a state of the personal perfection of soul and body. Let us consider, first of all, the perfection of the soul. When God begins His work of grace, He begins that work by breaking the dominion of sin over the soul of an elect sinner. Romans 6 is the watershed of Biblical teaching on this point. Paul says in that chapter, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (vv. 17-18). And in verse 22, "servants of righteousness" is changed to "servants of God," and I love the fact that both are used. You see, if we became servants of righteousness in the abstract, that would be mere legalism and moralism. But if it simply said "servants of God," it might leave the door open to the mystical flight of an unethical pietism. And someone says, "O, I'm a servant of God," but he lives like the devil. But being made servants to God, we are made servants of righteousness. One is never true without the other. The dominion of sin is broken, and in the deepest recesses of the soul, we are delivered from the clutches of the devil and the principle of living for self and sin. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. And in these souls of ours, God implants what the Bible calls a down payment of a completed redemption. And within our hearts, we have a longing to be here and now what we one day shall be by the grace of God.
We shall have souls with all of the faculties of the soul: the intellectual, the thinking faculties (the affectional), the feeling faculties (the volitional), the willing faculties, and all the mysterious faculties of the soul. To think that as surely as sin has entered and twisted and marred and scarred and warped every faculty, the God who has broken its dominion will one day scour every last remnant of sin from every atom of the soul--if I may materialize the soul into a collection of atoms--until the very eye of God with a God-made microscope cannot find one single remnant of sin left in the human soul--completely and holy sanctified by His grace. Now for those who die before the return of Christ, that's what the Lord does at the moment the soul leaves the body and enters His presence. That's why Hebrews 12:22-23 says, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels...and to the spirits of just men made perfect." So the soul is perfected at the moment of death. "To be absent from the body [is] to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). That's why John can say in Revelation 14:13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." They have the perfection of the soul at the moment of death.
But God did not make us to be disembodied souls, even perfect disembodied souls. And when the Bibles says that in the resurrection they shall be as the angels, it's only speaking in reference to the institution of marriage. It doesn't mean we shall be disembodied spirits. May I say it reverently, do you know you could never be happy as a human being existing for eternity with a perfect soul without your body? The reason is that God didn't make you to be a disembodied soul. He made you a human being. He made you a body-soul entity. And you can never be totally happy in God unless you are totally what God made you to be: a holy man, body/soul; a holy woman, body/soul. And so heaven will realize for us, not merely--bless God!--the perfection of the soul but the perfection of the body as well. And according to 1 Thessalonians 4:14, this will be brought about at the return of the Lord Jesus.
Look at the passage familiar to many of you that we as elders are constantly reminding ourselves that we have those who are very new to the Christian faith. And some of the texts that some of us received almost, as it we were, at our mother's breasts are as new as tomorrow morning's sunrise to some of you. 1 Thessalonians 4:14. Some silly notions had been floating around the church at Thessalonica, that there was some kind of special privilege that awaited those who would be alive when the Lord came, and that those who died before His coming would be sort of second class citizens in the kingdom. So Paul addresses himself to that notion:
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. [That is, He will bring their souls with Him at His return.] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. [You see his masterful stroke. He says, 'We won't be found the first class citizens.' He says, 'I've got news for you. You know whose going to get preferential treatment? Not living saints, dead saints. Look, we who are alive will in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.'] For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (vv. 14-17).
The Lord Jesus at His return is going to show preferential treatment to the dust of His departed saints whose bodies have long since been eaten by the worms. Returned to dust, they will have preferential treatment. And when He raises them to life, with what kind of body will He raise them? Philippians 3:21: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." Think of it. Try to meditate for a moment tonight. Gird up the loins of your mind and think. What is that body like that our Lord now has subsequent to His resurrection, that body in which He moved freely in and out amongst His disciples for forty days subsequent to the resurrection, that body that could pass through walls and yet had substance and could prepare a lovely fish breakfast by a seashore, the body that they could see and discern, and yet it could appear, the doors being shut, that body they saw ascending up before their very eyes (while they were gazing upon Him, He was taken up from them into heaven with His hands outstretched in a posture of priestly blessing), the body of His glory, the body of the outshining of the perfection of His own glorious person as the exalted majestic Son of God who came obediently through the course of humiliation and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, that body of tireless energy (He day and night intercedes for His own), that body with which He carries on His high priestly heavenly ministry? This passage says He shall fashion this body of our humiliation, this body of our present lowly state with its aches and pains and its constant tendency to press, as it were, its own state and indisposition in upon the soul and hindering and constantly keeping us from carrying out the longings of our renewed heart--it shall be fashioned like unto the body of His own glory.
What is heaven? Heaven is a state, not only of the personal perfection of the soul but the personal perfection of the body. And for a more extended treatment, I commend to you 1 Corinthians 15. Let's look at just a couple of verses that capture the essence of the glory of the body that awaits us. Verses 42-44: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It [the body] is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." It is raised a body. Spiritual does not mean it is raised as a phantom. Whatever the spiritual body is, it is a body. There is a resurrection of the body. Now at this point when the Lord returns and brings with Him those perfected spirits and souls that have been in His presence (to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is far better), the souls of all the redeemed that have beheld His face with joy, that have in the disembodied state known blissful communion with Him (all stain of sin removed from the soul), those souls brought with Him joined to these bodies sown in weakness will be raised in power, sown in dishonor, raised in honor, sown in corruption, raised in incorruption.
At that point, God's eternal electing purpose for every one of His people will be realized. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." And at that point in time, the humblest believer (someone like that thief on the cross who got sanctification begun and continued in a matter of a few moments) to the one who has served Christ for decades--in the language of John: "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Then the purpose for which Jesus died will be realized. He died that He might perfect the church, taking out all of its wrinkles and its spots and present the church to Himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Heaven is not only a place and a condition. Heaven is a state of the personal perfection of the body and the soul.
Now as I close, let me try to bring this home by way of application. Can you begin to think of what this will mean? Now, in this present state there are times when the dynamics of grace so work in our soul that we feel we could pray for hours on end, we could go out and witness to everything with legs upon it and ears to listen. There are times when the soul is so infused with the influences of grace that we can really feel that if we had a thousand tongues, they would be too few to sing the praises of our God. Do you know what it is, dear Christian, to have the dynamics of grace so pulsing in your breast at times that you do feel that if you had a thousand legs, you couldn't travel enough places to speak of your Savior; if you had a thousand voices, you couldn't say enough of His praise? Yet when you begin to attempt to carry out the impulses of that renewed soul throbbing under the impulses of grace, it isn't long before you're conscience that you don't serve Christ as the angels do or disembodied spirits.
You try to pray for an hour and what happens? Weariness comes over your body. And when you would do good, and when that heart and soul throbbing with longing for communion with Christ sets itself to engage Christ in earnest fervent prayer, it isn't long before you're utterly exhausted in the very effort to pray. And before long, the soul that was ebullient and bubbling and bursting with the pressure of the dynamics of grace now is a soul that groans being burdened. That's exactly what Paul meant when he said, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, [longing to be clothed upon with our habitation from heaven. When, O God, will I have a body that can serve the soul that has known the touch of Your grace.]"
You come sometimes to a gathering like this, and God, by the gracious operation of the Spirit, gives you such a felt taste of the reality of Christ that you say as you sit there, "Lord Jesus, sin will never be attractive to me again. With such a sight of Your glory, sin will be seen in all of its sordid and ugly reality, and I will be nerved in every fiber of my being to resist it." Ten minutes later, some appetite ultimately rooted in the soul but finding a powerful channel through a physical passion begins to appeal, and within an hour you've succumbed and bloodied your conscience. And all of that blissful communion with Christ is but a memory.
How I was reminded of it this past week when in the very act of preaching, there were times when I felt my soul would burst under the pressure of truth. And I felt that this mortal frame (the lungs and the larynx and the diaphragm and the hands and feet) were not enough to even give a tithe of the expression of which God's truth was worthy. That's why a man whose heart is impregnated with truth is not fooling around with the tricks and the arts of the stage and the histrionics. When he preaches with his hands and his feet and all of his being, he's trying to find some outlet for what he knows and feels in his soul, as his soul is quickened by grace in the operations of God's Spirit.
I tell you, to think of a heaven where the soul in its perfected state will have a vehicle that's up to all of its demands--that makes the thought of heaven glorious to me. Does it make it glorious to you? No more weariness in communion, no more weariness in service, no more distractedness!
And then let's reverse it. There are times when the body is healthy and strong, and there are no or few aches and pains, no headaches. You've had plenty of good sleep and food, and the body is healthy and vigorous. And you ought to be the epitome of someone rendering active joyful service. But what's the problem? You've got a dull soul; it is a stranger to communion with Christ, a soul that has entertained sin that's been unconfesssed and unrepented of, a soul that is shriveled and sick, a soul that is poisoned. And though you have a body which should be able to render so much more service, the problem is not your body and its limitations; it's the imperfections that still cling to the soul.
What is heaven? Heaven is the perfection of both departments of our humanity so that joined to that perfected soul will be, not a body that can perform only what God can do (it will still be a human body), but a body capable of all the wonderful and glorious tasks that will be assigned by God Himself in a state and a condition that defies present description. What will it be to have a mind full of clear light no longer to be chasing the shadows of indistinct views of God and His truth and who I am and what my duty is, a mind that will be full of the pure light of God's truth, a heart that is pure undiluted love to God, zeal that will be constant and always wise, a conscience never stained but ever full of light, emotions all in constant full-blown engagement with God in truth but never out of balance? The thought of a perfected soul, and then joined to it a body that will be its perfect vehicle to serve and glorify God. No wonder the Bible closes with the prayer: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." A man would be a fool to know that's what he's destined for and not be sick unto death longing for it.
My unconverted friend, do you pity us poor Christians who spoiled all our fun in life because we've turned our backs on the trinkets and toys you cling to and that will take you to hell? My unconverted young man, young woman, boy or girl, adult, don't pity us. You're to be pitied. All you're doing now is through those sensory abilities of your body, your nerve endings, your capacity to enjoy things with your taste buds, and the nerve endings of your sexual capacities, and your auditory nerves that can enjoy pleasant sounds, and your nose that can enjoy pleasant smells--all you're doing is sucking a little sweetness here and there only to have that body sent into hell where all of its capacities of sight and sound and feeling will be tracks upon which the wrath of Almighty God will run into the very citadel of your soul forever! You will weep and wail and gnash your teeth! O my unconverted friend, pity yourself that you would trifle away your never-dying soul and make that body fodder for the anger of God in hell forever.
O, I appeal to you by the loveliness of heaven to turn from your sin. Turn from your pride, turn from your self-righteousness. I appeal to you on the basis of all that is noble and glorious in the capacity of that soul that God has made in His own image marred by sin, but a soul that can be renewed in Christ. I appeal to you in Christ's name, turn from your sin. Run to the Lord Jesus who by His work on behalf of sinners received by faith is able to bring you amongst the number of those who are marked for heaven.
People say derisively of us, "Ha, you Christians, with your pie in the sky bye and bye religion." My friend, that's some wonderful pie that's waiting out there. You can call it pie in the sky bye and bye, but if having a perfected soul joined to a perfected body in a perfected heavens and earth--if that's pie, give it to me, Lord, and give it soon. It cost the Son of God His blood to provide such rich fare for needy sinners. Don't despise that blood, but flee to Christ.
And child of God, remember Bunyan's perceptive comment. In the dialog that's going on between the two pilgrims on their way to the celestial city when the question is asked, "When do you find yourself in your most wholesome and vigorous state?", do you remember what the answer was? "When I think of the place to which I'm going, that will do it." Think of the place to which you're going if you're in Christ. That will give vigor and renewed energy in the pursuit of holiness and obedience and consistency in living to the praise of Jesus.
Heaven's a wonderful place, children. When the world comes and tells you what it has is wonderful, you ask the world, "What can you give me to compare to heaven?" And when the devil comes and beckons to you, "Be my servant a little more; give yourself to me a little more." You ask the devil, "What can you give me compared to what Jesus gives to those who trust Him?"
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:50:30 GMT -5
Heaven: Service / Rest Communion with the Redeemed by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached October 30, 1983
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Now we do continue tonight our series of studies on the Biblical themes of heaven and hell. And having spent some seven seasons of expositions on various Lord's Days in the past month seeking to answer from the Bible the questions, "What is hell?" and "Who is going there?", we began last Lord's Day evening to consider this question: "What is heaven?" And as we began to answer that question from the Word of God, I made two affirmations in your hearing. And then we saw that the Scriptures warrant, even necessitate these affirmations. And the affirmations are these: 1) Heaven is a place as well as a state or condition of blessedness, and 2) Heaven is a state of the perfection of the soul and body of all the redeemed of God. Now tonight we will answer two more parts of the Biblical question, "What is heaven?" At this stage, I anticipate six parts to that answer altogether, completing the remaining two next week, God willing, unless I get some fresh light in my study throughout the week. Tonight we move on from the assertions that heaven is a place as well as a condition, that heaven is a state of the perfection of the soul and body of the redeemed to assert in the third place that heaven is a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment.
Now let's look at two texts which underscore the rest dimension of heaven. In Revelation 14:13, we read: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." This word that was to be written is one in which the blessedness, the happiness of those who die in the Lord is to be proclaimed, and that happiness is to be proclaimed in this context with a specific reference to this great reality of what the intermediate state will hold for these departed spirits, namely in order that they may rest from their labors. And the word for labor used in this context is the word which means "labor unto pain" or "toil unto weariness." It's the kind of labor that causes a man to come home through his front door, plunk on his favorite easy chair and sigh and say, "I am bone-weary." God says, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord [that they may rest from their bone-weariness, that they may rest from their labor unto pain and their toil unto weariness]."
Now the same emphasis is found in a passage that points not to the intermediate state, but the final state of heaven ushered in at the return of our Lord. 2 Thessalonians 1. Here the Thessalonian believers, as you will remember, were undergoing tremendous opposition from ungodly and unbelieving men from a hostile society, and the Apostle was seeking to comfort them in that present state of distress. And so he writes to them and says in verses 7 and 8, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here the Apostle Paul points to this tremendous blessing that will be ushered in at the return of the Lord Jesus. Not only will there be this destruction of the ungodly--and it's that part of the passage that we concentrated upon when we were dealing with the question, "What is hell?" But now our concentration is upon verse 7:
"And to you who are troubled [you that feel the pressure of a hostile world, you that feel the squeeze of a society that is no friend of grace to help you on to God, you that are afflicted, fix the gaze of your soul upon this tremendous blessing that awaits you at the return of the Lord. Not only will your enemies and the enemies of Christ be destroyed (that's negative), but you will be ushered into this state of blessed and perfect rest], you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels."
And so these two texts point undeniably to the fact that heaven is indeed a place, a state, a condition of perennial rest and refreshment. And yet the same Scriptures that teach us that truth teach us that heaven will be a place of unwearied service. Revelation 7:13:
"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them."
Now, here the saints who have entered into their rest are described as those who serve their God before His throne day and night. And the word for service here is the word that is the standard word to describe the sacred service of a priest in the temple, the sacred service of one who labors in the official worship of God. And one of the most beautiful things about the teaching of the New Testament in which the child of God is set apart unto God (a sanctified man or woman) is that in a very real sense all of his activity becomes sacred service. It becomes an activity of worshipful service to God. And here we are told that the redeemed are those who will serve Him day and night. It will be unwearied service, for we go on to read in this very passage:
"They shall hunger no more [they'll never need to take a coffee break or a lunch break or a supper break], neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (v. 16).
So here is this beautiful picture of this constant service day and night, but unwearied service. In Revelation 22:3, the same emphasis is set before us: "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him." The bondservants shall render service that in every facet of its outworking is an act of pure worship to the living God. So I say that heaven will indeed be a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest, and I added the word "refreshment." Why did I add that? Well, for the simple reason that there's another strand of truth that comes through particularly in the Gospels, and granted, it comes to us couched in the form of Eastern feasting and eating circumstances. But these pictures are meant to convey a substantial reality.
In Matthew 8:11, our Lord says, "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down [recline at table] with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." And here heaven in its consummate glory is likened to a vast banquet house in which are found Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the faithful. And then the redeemed of God coming in from the east, the west sitting down and reclining at table feasting and banqueting in the kingdom of God.
The parallel passage to this is Luke 13:29. I'll only look at it briefly and then turn back to an amazing statement in the previous chapter of Luke. "And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down [recline] in the kingdom of God." Then if we turn back to Luke 12, some of the circumstances of that refreshment under the figure and imagery of a banquet house is opened up in a most amazing way. We read in verse 35:
"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."
To me, that's one of the most amazing statements in all of the Bible. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator expresses that amazement:
"The wonder of this parable begins right here when Jesus exclaims, 'Blessed are those slaves.' Why? It was the ordinary duty of these slaves to be watching and ready, to be awake, no matter how long their Lord delayed His return. We are right. There's no merit or worthiness on the part of these slaves. And the Lord's verdict 'blessed' is in no way based on what these slaves had done but altogether on what their returned Lord now does for them. No wonder Jesus exclaims once more, 'Truly I say to you.' Verity and authority seal His statement. Jesus then takes the human imagery of a great lord's returning to his palace and his slaves receiving him back in state at night and gives it a turn that is unheard of among earthly lords and the grand ones of this world. He does the same thing in other parables. The Lord does not seek His ease and retire for the night. He changes His slaves into His lords. He makes as grand a feast for them as was the one from which He came. He has them recline to dine and, wonder of wonders, He does not order other slaves to serve them, His angels who wait about His throne on tip toes eagerly anticipating the slightest glance of His eye, an intimation of His will. No, wonder of wonders, He does not order other slaves to serve them. But He girds Himself, makes Himself their slave and ministers to them. Many waiters and helpers are needed at a great feast, but this Lord needs none. This lets the reality peek through, that this Lord is the almighty, heavenly Lord Himself."
Now how can God picture it to us in plainer language? What is heaven? Here we are given in this graphic imagery this picture of heaven as the place, not only of perennial rest, but of refreshment in which our Lord Himself serves us in the meeting of all of our needs. And so we are warranted to think of heaven, if we are thinking Biblically as much as our minds will allow us, as a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment.
Now someone asks the question, "What will the nature of that service be?" Well, surely from the Scriptures we learn that no little part of that service will be the abandoned worship and adoration of our great God. For the pictures we receive of the redeemed, particularly in the book of the Revelation, again and again we find them engaged in whole-soul abandonment of worship and adoration. They have become so transfixed with the face to face presence of their God that it's as though they cannot pare themselves away from the glory of looking upon His face--more of that, God willing, in our message next week.
But is that all the service we will render? I can remember a time when I didn't even dare to express to anyone for fear they would think me a blasphemer, that there was something in me that didn't get too excited at the thought of doing nothing but worshipping and adoring. The sense of the creative, the desire to accomplish the aesthetic sensitivities, all of those things that mark us out as image bearers of God. And I said, "Lord, forgive me for even thinking it (and didn't dare breathe this to a soul for fear I would be thought a heretic or half an apostate or some other tragic and terrible thing), but if I find my moments of greatest joy here and now when I'm actively serving You--and that's the fruit of grace--then surely something of that will be carried on into the world to come." Then in my reading of the Scriptures, I began, I believe, to understand the implication of such passages as those in which--again it's under human imagery--there is analogy: God is teaching by likeness.
Remember when the returning Lord comes to reckon with His servants in the 19th chapter of Luke, their reward is spoken of as an appointment of stewardship of administration: "You have been faithful...I will place you over ten cities. You have been faithful...I will place you over five cities." And the whole concept, you see, of the responsibility of the stewardship of administration of the affairs of the world to come. And again, the Scriptures say, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels." And again, we are told that we shall sit down with our Lord Jesus upon His throne in the world to come. These are at least pointers. And I would not go into speculative theology tonight, but at least these substantial Biblical statements point in the direction of at least part of the answer to the question, what will the nature of this unwearied service be, this service joined to perennial rest and refreshment? Well, at the heart of it indeed will be this preoccupation with the abandoned adoration and worship of our glorious God. But with it, will there not be the true fulfillment of what is called the cultural mandate?
Adam's task was to subdue the earth. And because he sinned, this earth became a cursed earth and an unyielding earth. "In the sweat of thy face," God said, "shalt thou eat bread." What will it be when this present world is delivered from the bondage of corruption at the revealing of the sons of God? Surely it must be in this direction: the engagement of all our faculties with all of the capacities for aesthetics and mathematics and logic and all the other glorious faculties of the mind and the soul and the body brought into the unwearied service of this glorious God to explore and bring glory to God throughout the entire universe however far it extends. And if I think more than that, then my poor little pea brain begins to feel the weight of it, and I feel that something will rupture between my ears. Surely, if the first commandment is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength," a glorified body and a glorified soul in a context of this unwearied service will find the people of God forever living out that commandment for the glory of their redeemer God.
Well, by way of application, let me say, dear child of God, it is this hope that should burn in your breast in the midst of your toil that is always now marked by weariness. "In the sweat of thy face" is the terminology of God that marks labor in this present order of things, and even in the service of Christ because, as Paul says, "We that are in this tabernacle do groan...." Our service, though at times because we have the first fruits of the Spirit, partakes, as it were, of a little glancing glow and impulse of the powers of the world to come, and we feel at moments in devotion and service that we could go on forever under that particular impulse. But we sense, alas, alas, how quickly it fades, and we are made very conscious that we have the treasure in earthen vessels. The Apostle Paul understood well how this perspective on heaven strengthened him in the present pressure of toil unto weariness. In 2 Corinthians 4, there's a practical application to us, dear people of God. This is not something to give us a momentary lift while we sit in this building. It's something to be carried with us as an overarching perspective. Verses 17-18:
"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment [and it is for the moment. And the moment is this present order of things prior to the coming of Christ], worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Here are two contrasting sets of things. There are things that are seen. The pulpit is seen; the microphone is seen; the preacher is seen; the book is seen; the walls are seen; our cars are seen; our friends are seen. That's the set of the things that are seen. But there is another set of realities just as real, not shadows, not notions, not ideas. They are things. They have substance. They are things, but they are not beheld with these physical eyes yet. And he says we fix the gaze of our souls not upon the things that are seen. Now that doesn't mean that when Paul was walking down a Roman street, he closed his eyes and said, "I don't look on the things that are seen" and trust God to guide him by an angel. That would be tempting the Lord. Yes, he looked where he was going, but he's speaking of the focus of the soul, the concentration of the faculties of the inner life. He says we do not fix them on the things that are seen. When he did, what did he see? Everywhere he turned he saw the constant reminders of this decaying outward shell, this vessel of clay. He saw the lector's lash; he saw the jailor's key; he saw the scowl; he saw the stones that would be hurled upon him; he saw the howling seas in which he experienced shipwreck. All of his labor for Christ was marked by toil and suffering and agony, but he says it's all a light affliction. Why? Because he did not fix his gaze on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal. They are passing; they are fleeting, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Child of God--I'll put it in as blunt language as I know how--if you don't pause periodically amidst your life in the circle of the things that are seen to force your gaze upon the things that are not seen, you will not live as you ought to live as a child of God in this world. I've heard the phrase many times, "That guy's so heavenly minded he's no earthly good." I've never yet met such a person. But I've met thousands of professing Christians who were so earthly minded they were no heavenly good. The church is never more mighty to deliver men from the clutches of a damning attachment to earth than when it has its affections most firmly embedded in heaven and in the world to come.
And my unconverted friend, you better start facing reality. What's that little bubble you're chasing right now? Marriage, a home, position, security, prestige, a slap on the back from your peers? What is it that's really important to you, the thing that keeps you from becoming a Christian? What is it? Compare it to what awaits the people of God. Can that thing promise you this? Can it promise you what I have couched in these words: unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment in the enjoyment of God? If not, my friend, it isn't worth bartering your soul for it. O, I hope to make some of you jealous enough to seek the way of life and salvation in the Lord Jesus. Don't pity us poor wooly-headed, air-headed Christians. My friend, the moment is coming when the entire universe of intelligent human beings will stand back bug-eyed and aghast when they see us in all the glory that Christ has purchased for us.
But I must hurry on to touch on one more aspect of what heaven is. According to the Scriptures, heaven is not only a place and a condition. Not only is heaven a state of perfection of the soul and the body; not only is heaven a place of unwearied service joined to perennial rest and refreshment, but fourthly, heaven is a place of the perfected communion of all the redeemed of all ages.
Now from the patriarchs onward, heaven is set before us under the dominant imagery of a city. Now has that ever puzzled you? When we think of rest and refreshment, most of us think of what? The city or the country? "O, if I could only move out into the country and get away from everybody at my elbow and the Garden State Parkway and Route 80 and all the rest." The closer to the city we feel, the farther we are away from anything to remind us of heaven. And yet from the patriarchs onward, the dominant imagery of heaven is not that of a placid countryside with a beautiful lake jumping with trout, but it's the picture of a city.
Look at Hebrews 11. Speaking of Abraham, the father of the faithful, verse 8: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." Some people probably really thought poor old Abraham had a few screws loose. One day he took down his tent, pulled up all the tent stakes, wrapped up his tent and put his few pots and pans in a gunny sack. And people come around and say, "Abraham, where are you going?" He says, "I don't know." "Abraham, you didn't hear me. Abraham, look me straight in the eye; let me smell your breath. Abraham, where are you going?" "I don't know." "Abraham, you seem to be a reasonable man. Perhaps I've not made my question plain. Abraham, where are you going?" "I don't know. God just said get up and go. And He said He'll show me where I'm going to go." What in the world makes a sane man like Abraham do that? Well, read on: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (vv. 9-10). He looked for a city. Now where did he ever get the notion of a city out in the wilderness where God called him? God gave by revelation that wonderful understanding that his ultimate destination was a city which has foundations, not a tent that merely has stakes but a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Now you cannot think of a city without thinking of the social dimensions of the relationship of the dwellers. A bunch of nomads with a lot of land between them, each dwelling in his own tent, can have very little to do with one another. But the whole concept of a city is that men are pressed into intimate social contact. Now they may, because of the tragic effects of sin, live as little islands--and that's the heartbreaking tragedy of the modern American city where no one says hello, where each one is fearful of his neighbor--but nonetheless, intimate social contact there must be whether that stewardship is responded to righteously or unrighteously. Hebrews 12--and in a moment you'll see where I'm going, so hang in there. The writer to Hebrews is contrasting the things to which we come in the new covenant and those to which the people of God came in the old covenant--verse 18: "For ye are not come...." And then he describes some of the external factors of the giving of the old covenant. But he says in contrast in verses 22-24,
"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
So whenever a sinner, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, out of the matrix of that agony of acrid self-discovery, comes to see himself a sinner in whom there is no hope for this problem of sin to be found in himself or anyone else, and when such a person turns to Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, he invariably, immediately comes into communion with the spirits of just men made perfect. He immediately becomes one who is identified with the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Enrolled in heaven, he becomes a citizen of the city of God. So when we turn to the book of the Revelation and read the record of what John was given to see of the perfected church, this imagery comes to its full-blown expression in that city of God that comes down out of heaven. Revelation 21:2: "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And that city is none other than the church as we saw in our study last week. And then again in chapter 22, verse 14: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." And verse 19: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city...."
Now think for a minute, surely here in this metropolitan area, we should be able to relate to this in a way some of our country friends could never relate to it. There are many passage country folk understand better than we do. But here's one we ought to be able to understand. Can you begin to conceive of what it will be like? The multitudes of the redeemed gathered together in a manner that is in some way analogous to the life of a bustling city with all of the constant interaction and interpenetration of one life with another and one segment with another. But here is a city in which all of the pressures and intimate integrated life of that city--nothing but love, harmony, and mutuality of desire pervades every single level of the dynamics of the life of the inhabitants of that city.
According to Scripture, there will be degrees of responsibility as part of divine reward. "I will make you ruler over ten cities. I will make you ruler over five." Imagine, the man with five is never envious of the man with ten, and the man with ten never looks down his snout at the man over five. Degrees of responsibilities fully acknowledged and accepted, but with no disdain from the greater to the lesser, and no sinful envy from the lesser to the greater. Again, there is every indication that in that state, there will be the total absence of everything that would jangle and jar the sense of perfect love and oneness and self-givingness. What is one perfected man or woman, boy or girl and now a great multitude whom no man can number congregated in something analogous to a city? I say, this strand of Biblical truth forces upon us the statement that heaven is a place of the perfected communion of the redeemed of all ages. A man by the name of Cheever wrote a book titled, The Power of the World to Come, and in his chapter on heaven, he's one of the few authors I've read who has captured this element of truth and expanded upon it. And I'll give you just a little taste of Cheever's perspective on this:
"In the second place [speaking of heaven], it is a social life in which all the communicative and companionable tendencies of our nature and powers of our being will be exercised in an enjoyment ten thousand-fold intensified by being reflected from and shared with the beatific experience of others. It's remarkable as an indication of the glory of the social life of heaven and the activity and blissfulness of mutual thought and affection interchanged and ardent there, that this same epistle to Hebrews introduces us to the innumerable company of angels and the general assemble and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. We are come to such vast and glorious assemblages as to scenes and objects transporting, even to be only looked at and admired. But how much more enrapturing to go in and out among them, holding communion with them. The very sight of others in glory will be infinite joy, a study of salvation, a rapture of delight. There will be so much to admire and love in every creature. Every creature will be so full of glory, so ravishing a refection of the glory of the Savior, that eternity might be occupied in silently gazing and adoring. And even so, the Lord Jesus, at His coming with His saints, will be admired in all who believe."
Tremendous thought, the kind of thought that will not find lodgment by a mere glance upon your mind. It takes sober, concentrated meditation for it to find any settled lodgment, because it is so utterly contrary to all that we know here and now. Think of it, we who are indwelt by the Spirit, graciously saved by the one Redeemer, and with all of our hearts we long that we should experience nothing but pure love flowing between us and all who name the name of Christ. But alas, because of remaining sin, often some who we most dearly love in Christ cause us our deepest grief. And alas, some who most dearly love us in Christ, we cause them their deepest grief. We cause them the pain of our own unChrist-like words. We cause them the grief of our unChrist-like insensitivity. We cause them the sorrow and pain of our lapses in grace. When they, longing to see Christ formed in us, instead see the outcroppings of carnality. And so looking at one another and feeling the longings of love, there is the pain; there is the vulnerability that comes from seeking to dwell in love where sin yet remains.
O, what will heaven be in that perfected communion of the saints when every saint will love perfectly, not only God, but all of his fellow saints. And while maintaining all of our own God-given individuality--and don't have any silly notions that we'll all be flattened out to something that's been produced by the computer in which every nose is the same shape and every voice the same tone--the God of infinite variety will not blot all of that out. You'll be you in heaven, and I'll be me. God will so work on us by the dynamics of redemptive grace, that all that is now sinful and irritates and causes the drawing back of reserve and lack of trust and hurt and pain, and all of the rest will be forever done away with. John said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14).
For a true child of God, this dimension of heaven is exciting to him. Do you find it exciting that you will dwell in the city of God in a state of perfected communion with all of His people? Does that excite you? If you really love the brethren, it does. It grieves me to have to speak against my brethren. But speak I must when they err and say the Bible says something it doesn't say. But it's painful nonetheless. It's never a delight to speak against one's brethren, but it's Biblical to do so. When people err from the truth, that must be exposed. It must be done with grief and pain and reluctance, but it must be done. And O how we long for the day when all the darkness is so taken from our minds and all the carnal dispositions from our hearts, that we shall dwell in perfect love with all the people of God and that forever.
God is so committed to that aspect of redemption. That's why not one saint will get his last installment of redemption until we all get it at the same time. Have you ever wondered, if God can do anything, why doesn't He give to every saint a glorified body when the soul departs? But you see, until that last elect soul is brought in and the Lord Jesus returns, not one saint will get the last installment of redemption until we all get it at the same time. And then we shall be constituted that city of God coming down out of heaven with our returning Lord resplendent with the glory that will cause us to "be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
My dear unconverted friend, I don't know what you're selling your soul for, but it's pretty cheap. It's pretty cheap when these four great realities could be yours if you will but have Christ. Richard Baxter said these words--and they really got hold of me this week, and I found it hard at times to think of anything else--he said, "God always takes a man's heart to heaven before He ever takes his person there." Now you're sitting here in your person. Do you hope that that person, you, will one day be taken by God to heaven? God will never take your person there until He first of all takes your heart there. And you know how He takes hearts there? Through the Gospel. When that Gospel is brought home with power and your heart vomits out its sin, divorces itself from the world, and throws itself into loving, trustful attachment to Jesus Christ, that's how your heart is taken to heaven. And if your heart's taken there, one day God will take your person there. But if your heart's on this earth, your person with this earth will be burned at the return of the Lord Jesus when He comes in flaming fire. Where's your heart? My friend, where's your heart? If your heart's there through the Gospel, it's certain God will get your person there. If your heart's not there, you'll never be there. May God grant that you will not hear such things and sell your soul for trinkets.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:51:42 GMT -5
Heaven: Communion with God and the Lamb by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 6, 1983
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Now we do come this evening to the tenth message in a series of studies under the general heading of "The Biblical Doctrines of Heaven and of Hell." And we're presently addressing ourselves to the question, "What is heaven?" Now tonight we shall examine but one more facet of the Bible's answer to this question. And that facet I'm stating this way: heaven is the realization of the direct sight of and immediate communion with God and of the Lamb. And if there is one jewel amidst the vast array of those jewels that constitute the inheritance of the saints, a jewel that we might properly identify as the crown jewel of our inheritance, then surely it is this jewel that we shall see Him and that we shall be with Him. And what I purpose to do first of all from the Scriptures is to underscore the prominence of this twofold aspect of our crown jewel of the inheritance of heaven, this direct sight of and this immediate communion with God and of the Lamb.
Look with me at several texts that concentrate particularly upon this first aspect of this great blessing of heaven, namely the direct sight of God. In Matthew 5, our Lord gives a composite character description of the true sons and daughters of the kingdom of His grace, for that's what the Beatitudes are. They are a divinely drawn picture of the character of a true son or daughter of the kingdom. They do not tell us the way into the kingdom; they describe those who have entered in the major liniments of their character. And here the Lord Jesus tells us in verse 8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." And whatever else this verse teaches us, it teaches us that the apex of blessing to those who are purified and sanctified by grace is nothing less than this direct sight of God Himself. They shall not merely behold Him as all men will behold Him upon the throne of His judgment in the last day, but they shall see Him with that sight of ravishing delight, that sight of Him that will in a very real sense be the culmination and realization of all of their highest longings implanted in their hearts by grace. And so for our Lord Jesus, this direct sight of God is the great reward of grace to the subjects of His grace.
Then in what we might call a parallel passage, this same emphasis comes through. Hebrews 12:14. Here the writer to the Hebrews is urging his readers to pursue a life of peace with all men and of ongoing sanctification and holiness. And as he would buttress the great incentive that ought continually to press the pursuers of holiness in that pursuit, it is this: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." In other words, he's writing to a people who have heard enough of Gospel truth to know that the crowning blessing of heaven is the sight of God. And now to prod them on in the pursuit of a life of holiness against all the opposition of their own hearts, the world, and the devil, he says if you do not pursue holiness, this great crown jewel will be withheld from you.
Then in 1 John 3:1-2, John the Apostle writing to the people of God says,
"Behold, [stand back in amazement and consider] what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God [we are presently the adopted sons and daughters of God. That is our legal status], and it doth not yet appear what we shall be [it is not yet manifest what we shall be in the full enjoyment of that status of sons. Though we are now the sons and daughters of God and we have been given the spirit of adoption and free access to the presence and heart of God in prayer, enabled to say, 'abba Father,' it is not yet manifest what we shall be in the full inheritance and enjoyment of our sonship]: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
It is the sight of God in the context of total conformity to God. And I believe with many responsible exegetes, God in Jesus Christ is held forth as the apex of the full realization of sonship. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." And the seeing Him as He is is brought into that focal point of the realization of the great privileges of sonship. And then in Revelation 22, this emphasis again comes through with great clarity:
"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads" (vv. 1-4).
This throne described in this passage, occupied by God and the Lamb, is the center and the source of the life of heaven. And the One who sits upon it will give us access to behold His face. Our relationship to Him will be that of direct sight. And in these four pivotal texts, that great reality is set before us in language that is plain, simple, and straightforward. And though as we begin to meditate upon these verses and try to imagine what it will be like, in what sense shall we behold the sight of the God who is invisible and of Christ who has a visible glorified body? We can ask a thousand questions, but may I urge you to push those questions down and simply allow this glorious reality couched in these words to take hold of your mind and spirit: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Now as the focus in these texts is upon the direct sight of God, there is another set of texts which emphasize that this crown jewel of the blessings of heaven is to be found in this immediate communion with God and His beloved Son. John 14. We looked at the passage in conjunction with demonstrating that heaven was a place. Now let's go back and look at it in another light, for that's not really the dominate emphasis of the passage. The Lord Jesus has predicted that He would depart from His disciples. This has filled their hearts with sorrow; with disturbance. And our Lord says,
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (vv. 1-3).
Do you see the emphasis? The emphasis falls not so much upon the mind being preoccupied with what are the dwelling places prepared, but the One who will take us to Himself to be in those dwelling places. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am...." And now all the dwelling places, as it were, fade in the background, and the central issue is this: "...where I am, there ye may be also."
Again, we see this emphasis in the great resurrection passage in 1 Thessalonians 4. The Apostle is writing to comfort the grieving Thessalonians who have lost loved ones. Somehow the teaching has been floating about that the saints who are alive at the return of Christ will be first class saints and go to heaven in the first class compartment, and dead saints will be second class or third class. And he's writing to correct that unbiblical notion, so he gives this instruction beginning with verse 13: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Then he gives this specific instruction about the priority of Christ's concern with respect to His dead saints: it's the dead in Christ that shall rise first. They'll get first attention, not the living saints. And after giving some of that instruction, he then brings us to what is the culminating blessing for dead and living saints at the return of the Lord. What is it? Verse 17: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." You see, this passage finds its culmination, its apex, its pinnacle--it finds its point of highest glory in this assertion: "so shall we" (our dead loved ones and living saints together), not so much with one another--now the great preoccupation is together with the Lord Himself.
Then over to Revelation 21:1-3:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."
God shall dwell with them. God Himself will be with them. That's the point of emphasis in these verses, and then you'll notice the repetition of it is verses 22 and 23 of the same chapter. In this vision of the perfected church coming down as a city, he says, "I looked for a temple." And what was a temple? A temple was that building in which God manifested in a special way His presence with His people. If you wanted to have dealings with God and meet God in a peculiar way in the place of His appointment where sacrifices were made and where the priests carried on their God-ordained ritual, you went into a temple. But he looked and said, "I saw no temple." And why did he not see a temple? Well, the passage tells us:
"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. [In other words, the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb constitute the temple.] And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
In other words, heaven is one glorious temple because the immediate presence of God fills it. And in that immediacy, we shall commune with Him, and we shall see Him.
Then a text, at least in light of my present understanding, beautifully draws these two strands together. It's found in the high priestly prayer of our Lord in John 17. This is why I've treated the two things together: this direct vision of God and this immediate communion with God as the crown jewel of heaven's blessings. Notice the prayer of our Lord in John 17:24. Richard Baxter said of this text, "I would not for all the world have this one text left out of the Bible." In other words, if someone said to Richard Baxter, "I'll give you the world if you let me cut out this one text." He'd say, "Take your world, but give me this text." And this is the text: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am [communion]; that they may behold My glory [sight], which Thou hast given Me...." That's what our Lord is committed to in His priestly intercession for His people. He is not only praying that we shall be kept from the evil one, He is not only praying all of the other things that are given to us in this passage and which we learn by inference from other passages, but He's praying that as the culminating blessing of our redemption that we shall be brought to the place where He is and that we might behold His glory, that we might see Him as He is.
Now having established from the Scriptures the prominence of this hope of the direct sight and immediate communion with God and of the Lamb as the crown jewel, the great blessing of heaven, let me just point out several characteristics of this sight and of this communion. The first thing we learn about this sight is that it will be accurate sight. There is very little that we dare say about it, but this much we can say in the light of 1 Corinthians 13:12 ("For now we see...."): Every true believer sees. He's no longer a blind sinner. Once he saw no glory in Christ. The only thing that captured his eye was the world and its glitter, the flesh and what it had to offer. Sin and a sordid world were the things that ensnared his heart. But his eyes have been opened to behold sufficient glory in Christ to bring about a divorce from sin and the world and an attachment to Jesus Christ in faith. But all of that sight at its most intensive point of spiritual insight is, according to this passage--and remember, this is a man who was even caught up into the third heaven and heard things unlawful to utter--he says, "We see through a glass, darkly [in an enigma]...." One of the commentators writing on the imagery here has written as follows: "Our present understanding is like peering into a primitive metal mirror with its imperfect reflection. But then in the next life we shall see face to face. Since such mirrors were made in Corinth, Paul's readers would be quick to grasp the point." You see, we look at a mirror now, and once you blow on it or put a little Windex and towel on it, it gives a fairly accurate reflection of reality. If you've got a pimple on your nose, it will show up in the mirror. If you've got a nose that's bent to the left, it will look bent the other way in the mirror, but at least it will show it's bent. But remember, Paul was writing in a day when they didn't have glass as we now have it backed with the material that gives it an accurate reflection. And the best mirrors gave an imperfect reflection of reality. So when you looked in the mirror, you saw some reflection of reality, but it was not clear and distinct. You saw the basic outline and the basic form and some of the basic particulars, but you were seeing it enigmatically. You were seeing through a glass darkly. That's the imagery. But he says, "...but then [when the perfect is come, what will be the mark of our sight?] face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." Now this does not mean we will be given the knowledge of an omniscient God. But what he's saying is that as fully as the mind of God comprehends all the reality that an omniscient mind of deity can comprehend, so all that a human mind cleared of all darkness and dullness can comprehend in beholding reality, we shall know even as we also are known. As God knows us accurately, so we shall know Him. We shall have a knowledge, a sight of Him that will be an accurate sight.
Again, I refer to Baxter who took a very strange but powerful imagery of a man looking down on a group of ants. And he said, "As a human being, I can look down on a group of ants and comprehend in one sight all of the ants in that group of ants scurrying around [perhaps a little piece of cake that was left somewhere where it shouldn't be]." But he said, "Those ants, they are fellow creatures. They have no knowledge of me. They cannot comprehend me as a human being, though we have this is common: we are both creatures." My eye can look down and fully comprehend all of them and all their actions and watch them scurrying about and dragging off a little piece of the cake. He said, "Now if fellow creatures can have such a distance between them so that the little ants cannot even comprehend a fellow creature, we should not be surprised that we creatures have problems comprehending an infinite God." God is infinite. And even when we see accurately, we shall see as creatures. But we shall no longer see as creatures with blurred vision with indistinct lines. We shall see face to face. It will be accurate sight.
Then as to the communion, it will be uninterrupted communion with our blessed Lord. No sin to grieve the Spirit and to put us at a distance from Him, no evil world to distract and seduce us and, as it were, put specks of dust and cinders in our eyes that when we would behold His beauty, we cannot see Him clearly; no devil and evil spirits to oppress and assail us, and no faith to be perfected by the trial of the sense of a withdrawn God. There are very few trials of faith more severe in this life than the trial of faith that comes to a saint when God withdraws the sensible awareness of His presence. And that saint is called upon to walk in naked trust in the Word of God with not an ounce of felt comfort. But you see, when faith is made sight, no longer will faith have to be purified by the withdrawing of God's sensible presence and felt communion with Him. There will be nothing but the unending noontide beems of His glory and His fellowship poured into our souls in that eternal noonday of that place where there is no night, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Then, though I can't support this from a text, it's a conviction that I believe is born of a general sensitivity to the Scriptures--not only will it be an accurate sight as contrasted with our now limited inaccurate sight, it will be an uninterrupted communion as opposed to the communion we now experience. And it will be an expanding sight and communion. There will be nothing static in the sight of God and our communion with Him. For being infinite, and we continually throughout the ages of eternity being finite, we shall be able to grow in the knowledge of this glorious God. And though He continues to expand the capacities of our finite minds, He will never exhaust the riches of His own glory, for He is the infinite God. No wonder the hymn writers who contemplated this penned such words:
As all earth's flowing pleasures were a wintry seed, Heaven itself without Thee, dark as night would be. And the hymn we so often sing in this place:
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace; Not at the crown He gifteth, but on His pierced hand, For the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land What will it be like to hold the hands pierced for us, to look into the very eyes that wept bitter tears over an impenitent Jerusalem, the eyes that were closed in death when He bore the wrath of God? What will it be to clasp those pierced hands, to gaze into those eyes and say, "My Jesus, I love Thee."
Face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me. Now there are many questions, as I said earlier. All kinds of questions swirl through our heads. But surely, if we have tasted anything of grace and have known the first dimensions of eternal life, which is to know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, then surely this is all we need to know: that we shall see Him; we shall be with Him; we shall behold Him, and we shall have communion with Him. Now may I say that few things are a greater index of the true state of your soul than whether or not such thoughts really excite you.
I want you to turn in conclusion of our meditation to Psalm 17. This is a prayer for protection against wicked men and their oppression. In verses 13 and 14 the Psalmist cries,
"Arise, O LORD, disappoint him [that is, the evil man and the oppressor of the righteous], cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is Thy sword: from men which are Thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes."
He describes the men of this world as those whose portion is bounded by this life, by birth and death. God graciously in His common kindness to His creatures gives them all they could want to make them happy in this life, and alas, they're satisfied with this, with their children and their grandchildren and their earthly substance. And if they can look back and see these things in hand, they are satisfied, but not the Psalmist. Verse 15: "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness."
Now let me ask you a very personal question. What satisfies you? If right now I had the power to pay all of your bills for the next twenty years, and I paid them in advance--you'd not get one more PS&G bill; you'd not get one more notification from your bank with all of your mortgage envelopes--everything's paid up; an inheritance for your children secured so they could go to college, buy a new car and all the rest--if you could have all of this, would you be satisfied, sit back and say, "I've got it made"? If so, my friend, you're not going to heaven when you die unless that frame of reference is radically changed, because you're a man or woman of this world. And when Jesus Christ returns to consume this world and the works thereof, in that state you'll be consumed with it.
The most immature, the most recent convert to the Christian faith has tasted enough of communion and fellowship with God in Jesus Christ that he can never be satisfied until he awakes with beholding the glory of His Redeemer. And dear child of God, that holy restlessness you now experience that causes you to go home from a day like today in which we can look back and say, "O God, You answered the prayers of yesterday morning when we prayed, 'Lord, come upon us in our stated seasons of worship. Lord, visit us in the ministry of the Word." We can look back and say, "O God, You met our hearts." And we anticipate that He will meet us when we come to His table. And yet not a one of us says, "Lord, I thank you that there's nothing more to be experienced." We sense in our most blessed moments of communion here on earth alone or in the company of His people that we can never be satisfied till we awake beholding His glory.
It will be our joy in a few moments to take the bread, the emblem of His broken body. And many of us will sit with that portion of bread in our hands, and our hearts will run out in expressions of love and appreciation and gratitude to the Lord Jesus. And we will take the cup, and that same gratitude will swell up within our hearts. It will be expressed in what we sing, but in the very midst of that expression of devotion, there is that haunting, that relentless pressure--"O that I could love Him more than I now love Him! O that I could see more clearly than I now see the glory and the wonder of His redemption for a sinner such as this sinner!"
My friend, you will not be satisfied if you're a true child of God till you see Him as He is. But as surely as God by grace has worked that very disposition in you, Jesus Christ is praying that you will be kept, and that one day you will be with Him, and you will behold His glory. Does it seem like a dream? It's not. And when we do, we will cry out with the queen of Sheba, "The half was not told me." What will it be? I cannot begin to try to articulate it. I have felt as though my tongue was three inches thick just trying to speak of these things simply from the plain text of the Word of God. But one sight, and then we shall know. "We see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face...[we] shall know even as also [we are] known."
My final word of application is this: do you see why a Christianity that is man-centered fails to make people heavenly minded? Because once you've gotten your goodies from God, He's not an essential element of the whole religious picture anymore. Come to God and get your goodies. Alright, now go and do your own thing. One of the tragedies of present evangelicalism is that it is so little marked by heavenly mindedness. Whereas when we read the Word of God, we find again and again, it is the perspective of the people of God, conscious that they are sojourners passing through to another land, to another place. It is the picture that God gives of His people.
May God fill our hearts with holy longings even as we again tonight take the best things He's given us until we can hold His hands and look into His eyes. We can take the bread because He said, "Take, eat in remembrance of Me." We cannot look upon the hands that were pierced, but we can look upon the cup that He said, "Drink in remembrance of Me." And as we now feed upon Him by faith, we do so until He comes. And surely the cry that will swell from our hearts as we catch a fresh glimpse of Him here even through a glass darkly is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:52:46 GMT -5
Heaven: Unmixed and Unending Joy by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 13, 1983
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One of the verses that several of you have quoted to me in the course of these studies on the subject of heaven is the well-known verse which the Apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament in which we read: "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). And often you've quoted the more familiar language from which this is taken in Isaiah 64:4: "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." But the Apostle goes on to say, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." And then he goes on in the passage to say that what was veiled in the past and now is unveiled is revealed in words, not which man's wisdom teaches but which the Spirit teaches. And those words are the words which we now have in this book we hold before us, the Bible. And all we can know for certain about the inheritance that awaits us is that which God has been pleased to reveal in the very words which the Spirit has chosen. And how much we feel our need of the same Spirit to open our minds that we might understand those precious words. Let us, then, seek His face again for the blessing of the Spirit as we seek to understand the words of God.
Our Father, we confess again that we have felt so keenly in these past days our own weekness and limitations as creatures and sinners as we have sought to concentrate our minds upon the glories that await the children of God. Yet we thank You that You have revealed these things to us for our edification. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will be given to us tonight in copious measures that we may understand more acurately and may have a firmer grasp upon the inheritance so dearly purchased for us in the blood of Your own dear Son. Hear us and draw near us in the ministry of the Word. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Now, although God has stamped upon the consciousness of each one of us and all of His creatures made in His image, that is, all mankind, that haunting awareness that we are not just animals, and that when we die, that's not the end of it all. In spite of that haunting consciousness common to all mankind, we are utterly dependent upon the Word of God written for any certain and clear knowledge of what lies beyond the grave. Men cannot escape the haunting consciousness that the grave is not the end of it all. But when they begin to pursue that haunting consciousness to some clear understanding of precisely what lies beyond the grave, they cannot find the answer in themselves; they cannot find it in scientific investigation. They can find it in no other way than in the Scriptures of God. And therefore, with the Scriptures open before us, we have been seeking for some weeks now to answer, first of all, these two basic questions: "What is hell?" and "Who is going there?" And now we've been wrestling with the question, "What is heaven? and, God willing, next week, "Who is going there?"
Now tonight, we come to examine the final element in the Biblical answer to the question, "What is heaven?" And the sixth thing that heaven is according to the Scriptures is this: heaven is a place of unmixed and unending joy for all of its inhabitants (God, angels, and all of the redeemed). Joy, bliss, happiness--these commodities universally sought, but O how allusive they are. And with our Bibles in our hands and an eye to perceive reality as we see it about us, it is no understatement to say that there is no true joy, bliss, or happiness apart from the salvation of God in Jesus Christ. It is for this very reason that one of the distinguishing marks of the Gospel is that it and it alone brings true joy to sinful man.
You remember when the angel announced the birth of the Lord Jesus, he announced it in this language: "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). And there is no great joy apart from the knowledge of the Savior who is Christ the Lord. Furthermore, in a text such as Romans 14:17, we read: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." One of the distinguishing marks of the privileges of those in Christ's kingdom is that they have joy rooted in the Holy Spirit, a joy found in companionship with righteousness and with peace. Or we could take Galatians 5:22: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...." Or 1 Peter 1:8: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Or Paul's word in Romans 15:13: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." And these text and others that could be brought to underscore the same point clearly assert that it is an exclusive privilege of the Gospel to bring true joy. And wherever the Gospel comes with power, it always brings with it some of that measure of true spiritual joy.
It is impossible for the Holy Spirit to indwell a man or woman, boy or girl and for that person not to experience something of the fruit of His indwelling, namely joy along with love and peace and all the other dimensions of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit. It's impossible to be introduced into the kingdom of God by the new birth and not to have some measure of joy in the Holy Spirit along with an imputed righteousness and peace with God and something of the peace of God. However, the Bible that makes it clear that the highest, richest, most abounding joy experienced by any child of God in this life is at every point to some degree a joy that is mixed with sorrow. Whatever joy that comes in the dynamics of grace here and now, it is never unmixed joy. It is always joy mingled to some degree with sorrow and grief. And whatever point a Christian may experience in his Christian life where it seems as though his consciousness is one of unmixed joy, it will not be long before he realizes it was not unending joy. And so I have chosen these two words carefully and purposely in asserting that heaven is a place of unmixed and unending joy for all of its inhabitants.
While we are here, whatever joy we know, we do indeed mourn and grieve over our remaining sin and the sin that is about us. And any professed joy that is supposed to be the joy of the Gospel that is not mingled with grief and pain for sin is a Satanic delusion. Beware of a Gospel that promises and professes to bring its adherence to unmixed joy in this life. It will be a Gospel that takes lightly the reality of sin. For Jesus described the subjects of the kingdom in present tense verbs when He said, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." As long as the reality of remaining sin is our earthly companion, we will with the Apostle be forced to cry sometimes with greater intensity than others, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." And no man says those words with felt spiritual experience with a thirty-two tooth grin on his face. If he doesn't say them with tears coming out of his eyes, he says them with a tear-drenched heart.
Furthermore, we mourn and grieve with our brothers and sisters who pass through seasons of grief. And when we hear our Lord saying to us through the pen of the Apostle, "Weep with them that weep" as well as "Rejoice with them that do rejoice," we take that seriously. We're not content to simply to come with some pious dribble and pat them on the back and tell them, "The joy of the Lord is your strength, brother. Rejoice in the Lord." There is a time when they sob and we draw near until the felt realities that produce their tears are ours by way of spiritual empathy. That's Christianity. This chuck a man under the chin with a shallow word of Biblical promise is cruelty, not Christianity. We are to weep with those who weep.
Furthermore, according to the Scriptures, whatever heights of joys we may know, as long as we're in this tabernacle, we groan. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:4, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened [longing to put on our habitation from heaven]." And furthermore, whatever joys we may know in the Christian life, alas, so often that joy is clouded by spiritual declension, spiritual dullness, and backslidings of heart. And O what a grievous thing it is to discover in yourself a backslidden heart. So you see, though joy is an indispensable commodity of saving experience and one of the unique commodities of the Gospel, in this present state, it is never unmixed, nor is it unending joy. But blessed be God, one of the cardinal blessings of heaven is that it is a state, a place, a condition, an eternal experience, if I may use the terminology, of unmixed and unending joy. And for the true child of God, no little part of the glory of heaven consists in that great reality.
Now let's turn to those Scriptures which teach us that heaven is a place of unmixed joy. We have the clear statement of our Lord in the parable given to us in Matthew 25. We have the parable of the man who goes into another country, calls his servants, delivers his goods to them: one five talents, another two, another one. And then the parable tells us in verse 19, "After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them." Obviously a reference to the second coming of the Lord Jesus, at which time there will be a reckoning with all men before His judgment throne. Verses 20 and 21:
"And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things [and we looked at that phrase in conjunction with the idea that heaven will be a place of active responsible service. But now we concentrate on the last phrase. And here the entire inheritance is described in this one simple phrase]: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
We find exactly the same terminology with regard to the man who took the two talents and brought a return to his Lord. In verse 23: "His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Now this is a fascinating phrase: "The joy of thy Lord." Is it the joy which your Lord has prepared for you? Or is it the joy that is your Lord's which He deigns to share with you and all His faithful servants? Linguistically and grammatically, it could be either. And frankly, I don't have a clue to say which one it is with dogmatism. But this much is certain, whether it is the joy which is the Lord's in His own eternal dwelling now shared with all His faithful servants, or whether it is the peculiar joy prepared by the Lord for His servants, this much is clear: the dominant characteristic of the inheritance into which the faithful are ushered is joy.
"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Now was there no joy in the heart of the servant who out of love to his Master served Him? Why of course there was. The very flavor in which the servant seems anxious to appear before his Lord and say, "You gave me five and I've traded for you." He had no narrow conceptions of His Lord as the unprofitable servant who called Him a hard man (narrow-hearted and tight-fisted). There was no joy in his service whatsoever. Obviously, the faithful servants had joy in their service. And whatever joy they knew while they were administering the stewardship of their Lord, it was but an earnest, a down payment, a preview of the consummate joy that was theirs upon the return of their Master. And isn't it interesting that when the Lord Jesus would underscore the great reality of the kingdom to come and our place in it, He describes it in this pregnant terminology: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." And that's what it will be--unmixed joy. It was an entrance upon joy undiluted by grief and groaning and sorrow and pain. It was the joy of the Lord--joy unmixed.
But now we add to this clear statement of our Lord in Matthew 25 the graphic descriptions found in the book of the Revelation. First of all, Revelation 7. Remember now what we're seeking to see from the Scriptures, that heaven is a place of unmixed joy. Verses 13-17:
"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
Here is a situation, a state, a condition in which everything that would provoke a tear is forever banished. God wipes away every tear from their eyes. Then in Revelation 21, there's an exposition of how it is that God wipes away those tears. Here in the vision of the new heaven and the new earth coming down out of heaven, we read:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem [the church], coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (vv. 1-4).
As I was mentioning to my wife this afternoon, though I trust I preach with as much confident dependence upon God tonight as I did last week, I preach with a little less frustration. Because when we're determined to stick by what Scripture says, Scripture gives us very few materials with which to expound what it will mean to have face to face vision of God. And all you can do is state it and stand back amazed and overwhelmed with wonder. But you see, here God describes what a state of unmixed joy will mean in terms of negatives to which we can now relate. You see the difference? God doesn't give us many positives to describe what it will be to have immediate communion with Him and face to face vision of Him. He simply states it. Here He says, "unmixed joy." Well, what will that mean? God says, "I'll help you," and He describes it in terms of negatives to which we can readily relate.
The first great negative is that there shall be no more death. Now think of all the grief and sorrow that surrounds the awful intrusion of death upon the human race. "In the day that thou eatest [of that fruit] thou shalt surely die." And the seeds of death were sown in that moment of disobedience. Spiritual death became an immediate reality. And then, that which leads dust to dust began to work in Adam and Eve upon the moment of their sinning. There was the agonizing work of causing an unyielding earth to yield its produce. Adam and Eve began to feel aches, pains, and the seeds of death in terms of their mortal bodies, and the seeds of death in terms of the torture of soul that they would feel when they see their own firstborn become a murderer and slay his own brother. And all that surrounds death: the pain and the grief of the graveside, the disappointment of the life cut short, the horrible frightening specter that this body, the only reality I have ever known of my own existence--to think that it shall be eaten of worms in a few years. But death shall be no more. And then God goes on, as it were, to expound and expand on some of the things that grow out of this situation in which the curse and death are still with us.
Death shall be no more. And since death is no longer with us, neither shall there be mourning. There will be no black shrouds to show respect and heaviness of heart for a departed loved one, no mourning, no outcry, none of that sob that comes from the depths of the soul of one who has seen a loved one, a child, a husband, a wife, a beloved father, grandfather, friend, or neighbor, noble leader cut down and taken from us. No longer will there be the outcry, the mourning.
And I love these two words--"nor pain," that mysterious thing that the doctors continually try to analyze. What is pain? Everyone knows what it is, but no one knows what it is. You kids know what pain is, don't you, when papa puts his hand or his belt on your behind when you've been disobedient? With your bad heart, you do things that are naughty, and mommy and daddy have to spank you. You know what pain is, don't you? But when people try to analyze precisely what is pain, it alludes them. But we all know the reality of it. And many of us, the older we grow, pain is a constant companion to us whether it's an arthritic joint, or whether it's something that becomes more severe. And what a blessed thing to know no pain. Your joy in communion with God so often is interrupted because of physical pain, physical limitations.
Here the text tells us no death, no mourning, no crying, nor pain. Why? "For the former things [all of the things pertaining to the present heavens and the present earth under the curse of God] are passed away [gone, forever put behind us]." All of the things that have intruded themselves upon us in this present state as a result of the fall--they shall all be passed away. That's unmixed joy, joy that will not know one millisecond of interruption. Just as it will be unbroken face to face communion, it will be unmixed joy. With perfect bodies, glorified bodies, perfected souls in a perfect environment with nothing but sinless associations (God, angels, redeemed sinners), an environment that has been utterly transformed by the power of a returning Lord and all the curse purged from it, an environment no longer unyielding and hostile but perfectly consistent with and adapted to all of the realities of the glorified humanity. And everything we look upon will cause our joy to expand. And everything we hear will cause it to increase. And everything we see will cause it to spring up like a well within us. Blessed be God for the prospect of a heaven of unmixed joy.
The same Bible that teaches us that heaven is a place of unmixed joy teaches us that it is a place of unending joy. The conditions which make it unmixed will never change. There will be no death, not the intrusion of death once in a millennium to remind us of what death once was--no death, no sin, no pain, no curse. And added to those negatives, those blessed positives of looking upon the face of an unchanging God and upon the Lamb in the midst of the throne, the infinite source of blessedness. You remember that beautiful picture of the river of the water of life. Where does it come from? It comes out of the midst of the throne of God and of the Lamb. That river that is the source of the life of heaven flows out from God and the Lamb. And therefore, because that God is eternal and infinite and unchanging, the Word of God teaches us that our joy will not only be unmixed, it too, like God, will be unending.
And how is it expressed in the language of Scripture? Well, look at Revelation 22:5. Here, after this vision of the river clear as crystal that proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, we read: "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." It's a Greek idiom literally translated as you see in the marginal rendering of many of your Bibles "unto the ages of the ages." And it's the classic terminology used to express eternity. There are times when these words obviously do not mean eternity, but there are other contexts in which if they do not mean eternity (unendingness), then the Bible has left us without language to describe the concept of unendingness. Where we read in this passage "they shall reign for ever and ever," it is an explicit assertion of the unendingness of the state secured for the redeemed by grace so that the unmixed joy has added to it the glory that it shall be unending joy. It's like the text in Matthew 25:46: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." And the language there is parallel language. The same kind of usage is found in Revelation 14:11: "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." God cannot accommodate Himself more clearly to speak of unendingness than to use that word, to use that phrase, to use that combination of words. And that is the glory of the heaven that awaits us, and particularly the joy that is ours. It will be unending joy. We shall reign in that state of no curse, no pain, no sorrow, no death forever and forever.
Now I'm very conscious, dear people, that we enter a kind of mental paralysis in the very effort to think of unendingness. And I've read many illustrations that try to illustrate eternity, but all they do is cloud the issue. You've just got to be willing to feel that measure of mental paralysis. Everything we do is in terms of the pressure of time. We think in terms of yesterday and tomorrow. We think in terms of 8:00 this morning and 10:00 tonight. Our whole life is geared to that recurring cycle of darkness and light and 24 hours constituting a day and 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year and 10 years a decade. Why? God has made it that way. Again and again, He tells us in those beautiful pictures in the book of the Revelation, "no night there"--no sequence of night and day. So to talk about a billion years and use illustrations about birds picking up drops of water and depositing them somewhere until they empty the oceans--my friends, it's futile. I've heard all the illustrations; alas, in the past, I even used them. But I find they haven't really helped me, because, you see, the flaw in all of them is thinking in terms of our present state of affairs in which everything is calculated in units of time. But all we can do is assert what the Word of God says. It will be joy unending in all the glory of that blessed revelation.
And lest you think that that's just some kind of a wishful hope, it struck me in my preparation that in both of these points in Revelation 21 and 22, after setting forth some of these most exotic glories that await us, notice what God says in Revelation 21:5: "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." They are worthy of your consideration and trust, for they are truth. They present concepts which our minds cannot fully grasp. We stagger and feel the paralysis when we attempt to focus upon them, but they are trustworthy and they are true. Likewise, in chapter 22, after speaking of that glory of the unendingness of our state ("They shall reign forever and ever"), what does verse 5 tell us? "And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." And my friend, all you can know about heaven is what you have in the words of God, and they are faithful, trustworthy words. They are worthy of pinning all of my hopes and expectations upon their validity. They are true words, trustworthy words. And an hour is coming in which I shall know unmixed joy and unending joy; so will every true child of God.
Well, you may ask me tonight, "Pastor Martin, I can see getting excited about these concepts and perhaps occasionally indulging the luxury of thinking of what my prospects are, but really, is there any practical relevance to all of this?" My friend, if you even ask that question or think it, you show abysmal ignorance of the Bible because, according to the Word of God, it is this hope intelligently and believingly grasped which is one of the major motivational factors in true Biblical Christianity. Let me just give you a couple of suggested lines of thought, and that's all they are. They're not exhaustive.
It's relevant in relating to opposition, which comes to every Christian. "All who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." That's what the Word of God says. Well, in the midst of persecution, what is it that nerves us to unyielding allegiance to Christ and His ways? Well, listen to Christ: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." In the midst of feeling the pain of opposition--and it is pain when that opposition sometimes comes from the members of your own household, your neighbors (you feel their cold shoulder), work associates and friends at school or one time friends. You think God wants us to go around clapping our hands and clicking our heels when we feel that pain of rejection? Of course not, it causes grief to us. But in the midst of that grief, we rejoice in what? Great is our reward in the place of unmixed joy. It will be unmixed joy because no one there will reject me for loving Christ. No one will cut me off and isolate me because I want to do His will and follow Him. Everything about that will spur me on to serve Him more devotedly, to want to do more for Him in a growing cycle of loving obedience and the return of praise and adoration to the Lord who has redeemed us. You see how relevant it is.
Or again, it's as relevant as your purse strings when it comes time to say, "What will I do with what's been entrusted to me in terms of my being able to earn a living. Jesus said in Matthew 6, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." It's as relevant as what you do with your purse strings: how you apportion the balance in your checkbook, how much goes into savings, how much goes into stocks and bonds and lands and houses and cars and possessions. It's just that relevant. If you're seeking to find your joy in things, it will be reflected, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be. And where your heart is, that's where your pen goes with your checks and your hand goes with your money. That's how relevant it is.
It's relevant if the time should come when some of us will be called upon either to deny Christ to spare our lives or to seal our testimony with our own life's blood. You better have this hope burning brightly and intelligently in your breast. Look at the moving account in Hebrews 11. Speaking of the heroes of faith, we read in verses 32-35:
"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance [redemption]; that they might obtain a better resurrection."
In other words, someone came to them and said, "Look, you continue your course of confessing Christ and obeying Christ, and the price is death. Now here's the price to avert death." Here was a price offered to redeem them from death, a kind of resurrection, a kind of coming back from the dead. The sentence of death was put upon them by their opposers. Now they come and say, "Here's the price of your release. Do you want, as it were, a resurrection from the dead?" The text says, "No." They wanted a better resurrection, and they refused the redemption price for this pseudo resurrection. They said,
"If my neck must undergo the guillotine, the guillotine it must be. If my body must be sown in an animal skin and thrown to the lions, sow it and throw it. But I'm convinced that my Lord has purchased for me a heaven of unending, unmixed joy. He will give me grace for this interim of pain, of sorrow, and of grief."
I'm convinced if a bloodbath was let loose on the church in America tomorrow, probably the vast majority of professing Christians would accept any redemption from martyrdom. Because if we're faithful in little, we're faithful in much. And a soft anemic Christianity that won't deny itself the comfort of the easy chair Wednesday nights to pray, won't deny itself food and other things occasionally even to fast and cry to God--a fat, flabby, self-indulgent evangelicalism is a sitting duck for mass apostasy if God allows the unsheathing of the sword of open opposition to the Gospel.
I tell you, my friend, you better feed your soul upon this hope until you become what those blessed people in Hebrews were. They were identified as sojourners. Their eye, their heart, their affections were fixed on a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God, not a Christian retirement center in Florida. It's sickening to see the ads pandering to this anemic, self-centered, earthbound evangelicalism at every level. Full page ads in Christianity Today and Moody Monthy: "I never thought I could be a successful business man while a Christian." And it shows him standing by his new car with his golf bag over his back. And he tells you how you like him can really make it big in a Christian organization. What an abomination in the sight of God. How contrary to Biblical Christianity. Take your bucks. They'll be burned up when Jesus comes. Take your prestige; take your titles; take your names--what are they when we have such a prospect as this: unending, unmixed joy in the presence of God and of the Lamb.
Well, those are just a few lines of thought as to the relevance of it all. As I seek to bring this word to a conclusion, let me press this simple question upon your conscience tonight. We've been contemplating heaven. What is it? And we've sought to concentrate upon one element of what the Bible reveals about heaven, namely that it is a place of unmixed and unending joy. Do you remember when we asked the question, "What is hell?" One of our points was that hell is a place of unmixed and unending torment and woe. Everything that heaven is, hell is not. Do you like pain? God appeals to that innate fear of pain in man. And my dear friend, man, woman, boy, or girl, if you choose a coarse in opposition to God and His Son, indifference to His cross, indifference to His claims, what you're saying is, "I'm prepared to meet Almighty God and let Him pour out upon me the vials of His wrath that will bring me to a state of intense, unending, unmixed pain and woe. And that's not the language of a preacher trying to scare you to Christ. It's the language of Christ Himself who used this terminology again and again: "Outer darkness. There is the weeping, the wailing, and the gnashing of teeth." Nothing but weeping, nothing but wailing, nothing but gnashing of teeth. Why? Because hell is a place of unmixed and unending torment and woe. And those are the issues set before you.
As clearly as Pastor Nichols laid before us two Lord's Days ago in the morning with regard to propitiation, either Christ bears the wrath of God for you, or you bear it in your person. So likewise, I set before you the way of life and of death. And I am not at all ashamed to present what some would call mercenary selfish motives. My friend, will you go the direction which leads to unmixed and unending pain? Or would you join those who are on their way to a place of unmixed and unending joy? That way stands before you in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. He opened up that way by His own perfect life and by His death upon the cross for sinners. And He says to us in the Gospel, "Enter in at the narrow gate." O yes, it is a narrow gate and a compressed way, but thank God, it leads to life. I would not be true to the Gospel if I told you it was a wide gate. It's a narrow gate. You've got to leave your love of self, your pride, your self-righteousness, your self-sufficiency, your self-will. You've got to sell out to Jesus Christ lock, stock, and barrel with no hidden print, no mental reservations. "Lord Jesus, I'm yours." That's it. And then you don't breathe easy as though it's over, because you get through that gate and look around and say, "Wonderful! This is the gate that leads to life." Yes, but it's a way. Do you know what the way is? It's a narrow compressed way. It's a way beset with all kinds of dangers, beset by many enemies, but it's a way that leads to life. And my friend, if you want that life of unmixed and unending joy, there's only one way to get there: through the gate and along the way. There is no other option before you. God's boxed us up and hedged us in. And O, I plead with you, choose life tonight. And you choose life as you choose Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.
And dear child of God, don't be battered into thinking this pie in the sky by and by religion is somehow not respectable in the sophisticated, social consciousness of the twentieth century. Take all of that business and burn it. We will serve this generation best and most fervently and zealously in direct proportion to which heaven burns in our vision and in our hearts. This is where we're going. We can afford to be a little reckless, not irresponsible. We can afford not to hedge all our bets and take risks for Christ and His kingdom. We can afford the luxury of saying,
"Lord Jesus, I'm yours. I have but a few short years to serve you at best. Nothing else matters. Lord, I'm expendable. Use me that I might take a few others with me who in that day will stand resplendent with the glory of Your redemptive grace and power. And together, we will know as never the preacher could have told us what it is to be in a place of unmixed and unending joy."
O, may God grant that you be there with me. That's the thing for which we labor; that's the thing for which we pray. It is to that end we plead with you. Don't slight the claims of Christ and the overtures of grace in the Gospel. Professing Christian, don't sell your soul for a pittance. Reject anything and everything that makes you the least bit indisposed to press on in that narrow way. It and it alone leads to life. Anything that indisposes you to love that way, to walk that way, to stumble in that way is a mortal enemy. Treat it as such. That's reality.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:53:56 GMT -5
Heaven: Who Is Going There? by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached November 20, 1983
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In our study of the Word of God this evening, we come to the final message in this recent series of studies on the Biblical doctrines of heaven and hell. With our Bibles opened before us, we sought first of all to answer two very simple but vital questions. Question number one: "What is hell?" And question number two: "Who is going there?" And then for several Lord's Day evenings we've been concentrating on another question: "What is heaven?" And after having answered this question, we come to the equally important question, "Who, according to the Bible, is going there?" And I want to underscore that we are concerned to address the question, "Who, according to the Bible, is going there?"
I believe it was an old negro spiritual that had the words, "Ain't everybody talkin' about heaven goin' there." And it isn't everyone who talks about heaven who's going there. Nor is it everyone who is convinced he's going to heaven who will be in heaven. For Jesus said, "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord...and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." And so our great and burning concern tonight is to take up the question, "Who, according to the Bible, is going to heaven?" And it is only the Bible that has any right to answer that question, for it is the Bible alone which answers the question, "What is heaven?" For God alone knows what He has prepared for His own. And it is that same God speaking in Holy Scripture who answers the question, "Who is going there?" And as I have sought to wrestle with that question with my Bible open, looking particularly at passages that explicitly describe the inhabitants of heaven, I have come in my present understanding to believe there are at least four categories of description concerning those who will be in heaven. Now that does not mean there will be four different classes of people who will be in heaven. They are the one redeemed people of God. But they are described in some of these graphic descriptions of heaven from these four basic perspectives. And we'll take them up as time permits one by one.
First of all, the Scriptures tell us that only those whose names are in the book of life will enter heaven at last. Turn with me, please, to the book of the Revelation. And if you're familiar at all with that book, you will know that the phrase "the book of life" or "the Lamb's book of life" occurs several times. There are four indisputable references, and then a fifth reference which has a problem of translation. And so we'll stick with the four that are indisputable.
In Revelation 3:5, the exalted Lord Himself speaking to the churches says, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." Now, according to this passage, it is only those whose names are found in the book of life who will be confessed before the Father in the day of judgment. Here our Lord clearly asserts that there is a people whose names will be confessed before His Father. And He describes them as those whose names are inscribed in the book of life. Now the circumstances of that confession of our Lord are given to us in greater detail in Revelation 20. Verses 11 and following is a description of the day of judgment. It includes a description of the general resurrection which goes before and precedes and ushers in the day of judgment. And as John is describing this vision he received of the setting of the great white throne and all of the dead standing in their resurrected bodies in the presence of the Judge, we read in verse 12: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life." And if you have the 1901 translation, you'll notice that the words 'the book' are in italics. They are not there in the original. And now in verse 15 we are not left to conjecture or to the pressure of assumed wording, but we read in verse 15: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." The only ones who will escape the awful, frightening reality of the lake of fire are those whose names in that day are found written in the book of life.
Then in chapter 21, we have another reference to the book of life. Here we have a description of the new heavens and the new earth. We have a description of the glorified church as the city of God coming down from God out of heaven. And in this beautiful description just oozing with vivid imagery, we read in verse 27: "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Words cannot be more simple or clear. Only those written in the book of life shall enter.
Well, what precisely is that book? The final clue comes to us in Revelation 17. Here we have a description of those who sell their souls to the powers of darkness; who are prepared to barter their souls for the trinkets of this life and the fleeting pleasures that are afforded by this life. In verse 8, we read: "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world...." Here is a picture of all of the living humanity giving itself over to the beast; selling their souls to the beast except those whose names are written in the book of life. And according to this passage, they were written there, not at the time they made a profession of faith, nor even at the time they were vitally, truly united to Jesus Christ but from the foundation of the world. This is beautiful language that finds its parallel in such a passage as Ephesians 1:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace...."
What then is the book of life? It is nothing less than the full roll of God's elect. It is the full roll of all of that multitude out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation from Adam's fallen race upon whom God from eternity set His distinguishing, particular love. And there will be no soul in heaven who is not an elect sinner. And we are not at all embarrassed to use Biblical language with respect to the book of life. God Himself has described it as a book. The inscription of the names found in it are there from the foundation of the world. And so in answer to the question, "Who is going to heaven according to the Bible?", the answer to the book of life passages is only sinners graciously, sovereignly chosen by God in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, those upon whom God has set His distinguishing electing love--they and they alone will be found in heaven.
Now what does that say to us in very practical terms? It says this: it matters not if your name is upon a church roll, even Trinity Baptist Church roll. If it is not inscribed in the Lamb's book of life; if you are not an heir of grace; if God has not been pleased to set His sovereign electing love upon you, you will not be found in heaven. And if you are found in heaven, you will bring forth the top stone on the great arch displaying God's mercy with shoutings of grace, grace, grace unto it. You'll find no one in heaven reaching around and patting himself on the back saying, "You know, I'm so glad I made good use of my free will to get here. I'm so glad I had sense enough to use the prevenient grace given equally to all men. I'm so glad that I made myself to differ. How wonderful it is that I ultimately made the right decision." No such language will be found in heaven. Heaven will be permeated with the language of grace. "Why was I made to hear Thy voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come. 'Twas the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew me in, else I had still refused to taste and perished in my sin." But someone says, "Yes, the same love that invited me drew me, but why did it draw me and not others." And we're pressed back to the ultimacy of the glory of sovereign electing grace: chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
But then in the second place, according to the Bible, those are going to heaven are only those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb. In Revelation 7:9-10, we read:
"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Here's the vision John had of the vast multitude of the redeemed standing there in their purified state. And notice, they are ascribing the totality of their salvation unto God and the Lamb. They don't say, "Salvation unto Him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb and a little bit reserved because we made good use for free will." They acknowledge that they stand as they stand because they've become the recipients of salvation. And they acknowledge that that salvation in its totality came from Him who sits upon the throne and from the lamb. Then the question is asked further on in the passage beginning with verse 13:
"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, now knowest. And he said to me [here's their descriptive identity], these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God...."
How did they get to that blessed place where they look upon the face of God with joy in this state of perfected sanctification symbolized in their white robes? They have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, they have come to heaven by the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God having been applied to them in the saving mercy of God. If words mean anything, then surely the passage teaches us that only those who are thus washed in the blood of the Lamb will be found before God and the Lamb in that day. Look at Revelation 22:14-15 for another text which gives us a similar picture: "Blessed [perfectly happy] are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie." (ASV). Who is it that has a right to come to the tree of life? Who is it that gains entrance to the gates of the city? Only those who washed their robes.
O, how can I state it so none can miss the point? Heaven is not a place for self-made people. Heaven is not the ultimate reward for people who had strength enough in their spiritual arms to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make it. Heaven is not God's reward for your good bloodlines. Heaven is not God's reward for your determination to get your act together and live a decent, upright, moral, religious life. No, those who go to heaven were at one time vile, polluted, undone, laden with guilt and hell-deservedness. And by the grace of God, they were brought to see that they were indeed laden with guilt and vile and polluted and full of hell-deservedness. They were brought to see that God in mercy so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. And they were through the preaching of the Gospel and the operation of the Holy Spirit brought to see that Jesus Christ in the uniqueness of His person and in the perfection of His work; all that He did in His life and death and resurrection in the gift of the Spirit was perfectly suited to their need as sinners. And somewhere along the line, though they may not be able to point to the day and the hour--that's totally irrelevant--they were brought to a fundamental spiritual posture so beautifully described by our Lord in Luke 18. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and one a publican. The publican stood off at a distance and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven. But he beat upon his breast and said, "God be merciful to me the Sinner." Jesus said, "This man went down to his house justified."
Those who are in heaven are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They have come before God painfully aware of their native defilement in Adam, their native guiltiness and hell deservedness. And they have come as God through the Gospel applied to their hearts by the Spirit to see Christ's perfect suitability for sinners. They have come to throw the whole weight of their guilty, sin-sick, sin-stained souls upon Christ and Christ alone. And they have, in the language of our passage, had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. And none will be in heaven, none will have a right to the tree of life, none will have a right to enter in by the gates of that city but those who have washed their robes. Though ultimately the salvation is all of God, God doesn't believe for us. Faith is our activity; repentance is our activity. And the divine method for being washed is for you to come in all your vileness, uncleanness, and hell-deservedness and lay hold of Christ and rest the weight of your soul upon Him. They have washed their robes. It doesn't say God washed them for them. The same group that says, "Salvation to our God; Jesus paid it all; God has done it all"--they are nonetheless conscious that they have fled for refuge in Jesus Christ.
My friend, sitting here tonight, let me ask you, do you know anything of what it is to feel the shock and the pain of felt uncleanness and guilt in the presence of a holy God? What lies at the heart of your professed experience of Christianity? Is it that you were captured by some of its noble ideals and good examples, and fascinated and intrigued by the magnificent life of Christ, and emotionally touched and moved by His self-giving love for which He received nothing but spittle and a crown of thorns? Somehow all of that has sort of hooked you and drawn you in. And you feel sort of comfortable amongst people who are acquainted with those perspectives. Is that your Christianity? If it is, my friend, it will never take you to heaven until you have been brought to see that you're a vile, polluted, undone, hell-deserving sinner whose only hope is in that fountain open for sin and uncleanness; until you have fled to Jesus Christ and pleaded for the cleansing of His own precious blood.
My friend, mark it, not because this preacher said it, or even because he said it with what appears to you to be a degree of personal conviction. Believe it because God says it. The only ones who are before the throne are those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus said He doesn't do that for those who don't think they need it. He said, "I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." If you can say, by the grace of God, the foundation of my professed Christianity, I confess without reservation is the acceptance of my position as lost, undone, guilty, defiled, hell-deserving, and my only hope for acceptance with God is the blood and righteousness of Christ--my friend, don't ever move from that posture. No matter how much you are enabled to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, no matter how much God in mercy may take you on in conformity to Christ, never, never forsake the posture of a guilty, vile, helpless, undone sinner whose only hope is the blood and righteousness of Christ. I'm personally convinced, in light of the language in the book of the Revelation, that that's one of the points God is seeking to underscore for us, that even in heaven it will be the throne of God and of the Lamb. And we will be conscious through all the unending ages of eternity that everything we enjoy in the beatific vision in the face to face communion with God, we enjoy as redeemed sinners--redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. He shall forever be the Lamb in the midst of the throne. We sing about it, don't we?
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Not at the crown He gifteth, but on His pierced hand, For the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land. My friend, would you be at home with that group John saw described in Revelation 7? They are before the throne of God; they've washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and they cry, "Salvation to God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." Would you be at home with that kind of song? God makes people compatible with the song of heaven here on earth when He gives them to know and feel and own their wretchedness and to see the loveliness and suitability of Jesus as the only Savior of sinners.
But I must hasten, for there is a third category of description. Who will be in heaven, according to the Bible? Only those whose names are written in the book of life, only those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and thirdly, only those who have been morally and ethically renovated and made the holy, obedient subjects of Jesus Christ. Some of you will remember in a previous exposition when we were wrestling with the question, "What is heaven?" I had occasion to direct your attention to Matthew 5:8 and Hebrews 12:14. We were considering that heaven will be the face to face vision of God. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "Follow after holiness, without which, no man shall see the Lord." Now let's bring the spotlight upon the first part of those verses.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they [and they only] shall see God." If heaven is the face to face sight of God, Jesus said only the pure in heart shall see God. In other words, only those who have undergone a moral, ethical renovation that touches the deepest springs of the human personality will go to heaven. The heart is the seat of life. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." What you are in your heart is what you are. And Jesus said only those who have undergone this radical, moral, ethical purification will ever see God. It is not enough that you have felt some emotions in the presence of the Biblical doctrines of sin and salvation. Nor is it enough that you have gone through some volitional activity in the presence of the pressures of your own sin and the Gospel. Nor is it enough that you have taken up certain duties and certain patterns of life that appear very "Christian." Here's the issue: has the fountain of your impurity been radically touched by the power of God?
"Blessed are the pure in heart." In other words, in the seat of your being where once you loved yourself and your own ways and your own thoughts and your own ambitions, where once you had an idol shelf on which sat lust and the world and money and things and pride and everything else in that deep sanctuary of the soul, Almighty God has come and done in you what Jesus did in the temple at Jerusalem. He's overturned the tables and driven out the foul beasts: your lusts and your pride and your selfishness and your carnal ambition. And there He has implanted a hunger and a thirst--may I use the word "passion"?--to be a holy man or a holy woman. If that hasn't happened to you, my friend, you're no more going to go to heaven than the devil. According to Jesus, you won't go to heaven. And that ought to disturb some of you, because any transformation you've known in conjunction with the Gospel has been altogether too surface. You've simply redirected the streams of your selfishness, redirected the streams of your ambition, redirected the streams of your carnal preoccupation with this life. But of a new heart, you know nothing. You better take it from the lips of Jesus, you're never going to make it to heaven till you get a new heart, not a perfect heart.
"Blessed are the pure in heart." And one of the marks of a pure heart is that it mourns the impurities only God knows. It's not content that everyone looks at me and says, "Hey, that guy's got his act together. He's a mature Christian. I mean he's really filled with the Spirit." It doesn't matter to me what men know and think. Only one thing matters: what God knows and sees. That's reality. And when I know that God knows that there's coldness and dryness and the lurking activity of the ghost of my past in terms of lust and pride and ambition--and I'm no stranger to the mourning in secret over those sins. We can't be content to say,
"O well, I haven't brought any big blotches on my reputation. Everyone accepts me as a good Christian with a good standing and all the rest. So what matters? Sure I dabble a little bit with fantasies that are impure, but I'm not laying with another man's wife--so what? O yes, I fantasize with a nice looking guy on the television soap thing, but God knows I'm not unfaithful to my husband--so what? O sure, I dream about the things I'd like to have, but I'm not going out and cheating people and running rough shod over others to get them. What's a little covetousness in my spirit, a little lust in my mind."
I tell you what it is: sin that will take you to hell. That's what it is, and it's time some of you faced it. And if you go to hell simply a respectable professing reformed Baptist, my hands are clean of your blood. You've been told you need a pure heart; you need to follow after the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And if that holiness is anything, it's a commitment to universal, internal as well as external conformity to the will of the Lord God. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). He doesn't purify himself just enough to get by so he doesn't come under church discipline. That's what I fear with too many of you. You'll live just respectably enough that you won't run the risk of church discipline. So what? Your elders don't have the keys to that city--God does! And nobody's getting in who has not been morally and ethically transformed and committed to a course of universal holiness and loving submission to Jesus Christ. That's why there's that beautiful description back in Revelation 7 of the redeemed. We put the spotlight, as it were, upon the fact that they were washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Now let's look at the ethical and moral transformation. Notice what it says about them in verse 15: "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." They are very much at home in the presence of the throne on which sits an unrivaled Sovereign. And when He makes known His will, they do it. You see it? They are before the throne and they serve Him. I personally feel it's language taken from the description of angels who wait before the throne of God to do service to the heirs of salvation. It's that posture of eagerness to know the slightest intimation of the will of their creator God that they might, as it were, fly to the ends of the earth to do it. Now the very spirit that unfallen angels have, by grace, has become mine as a child of God. They are before the throne and they serve Him day and night. And that disposition is either implanted here on earth by grace, or it will never happen in the world to come.
Every time a sinner gets a Savior, the Savior gets a servant. It's that simple. And if the Savior doesn't have a willing servant in you, you don't have a Savior in Him. "O, but I trust in His blood." You'll go to hell with that kind of trust. That's the faith of demons. The faith that does not purify the heart is not saving faith. It says in the Word of God, "They purify their hearts by faith." The faith that lays hold of Christ as Savior is the faith in which the heart is purified, purified from the predominant prevailing disposition of self-will and made the loving bondslave of Jesus Christ. And if that servitude is not practical, it's nothing.
Now it's rare that I want to put a P.S. on any one sermon, but you don't know the grace it took to sit in that chair where George is sitting tonight this morning. When Pastor Nichols was pouring out his heart in opening up those passages in Proverbs, you know what I wanted to get up and say? I wanted to get up and say, "Put your hand where your mouth is if you claim to be Christ's servant. And you fathers and mothers go home with the book of Proverbs and get down on your knees and say, 'O God, we're committed to do what those passages say. Give us wisdom to know how, but Lord we're committed.'" You don't need to go to rummage the bookstore for more books on how to do it. You need to get committed and will to do it. And God the Holy Spirit will give you the wisdom as you're committed to do what God says. God says, "Husbands love your wives." That means what it says. And when I as a pastor have to deal with husbands who won't even communicate (they carry on this perpetual torture of non-communication), I frankly wonder how they can be Christians after all the teaching they've had and the examples they've had. If they willfully say, "I don't care. I'm not going to communicate." My friend, if you refuse to obey Ephesians 5:25, you'll go to hell just as much as if you refuse to obey the seventh commandment.
O, dear people, do we take seriously what the Book says? Who is going to heaven? Only those who've been morally, ethically renewed and made holy, obedient subjects of Christ. That's why God says in Revelation, "Nothing unclean shall enter."
Well, I must hasten to a conclusion. The fourth line of description in the book of Revelation in particular is that only those who overcome and persevere to the end will enter heaven. We could look at all the overcomer passages in Revelation 2 and 3--let's look at just two of them. Who should know better than the Lord Jesus who's going to heaven? He died to open heaven.
We read in Revelation 2:7: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." If you don't overcome, Jesus will never hold to you the fruit of the tree of life in the paradise of God. Mark it down, overcome, or you'll never make it. Chapter 3, verse 5: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." Chapter 3, verse 12: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name." And then the beautiful summary statement in chapter 21, verse 7. After giving a description of the new heaven and the new earth, who's going to enter it? Let the Word of God speak, and O may it speak with power: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."
But isn't there another class for believers who don't overcome? No, look at verse 8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." You'll either overcome, or you'll burn. And again, I really wonder--and it may be that it's simply something from the fruit of my own pastoral dealings that has left my judgment imbalanced. I pray it's not so, but I acknowledge it may be so. But I really wonder, we who confess our faith in the doctrine of the preservation and the perseverance of the saints, our confidence in the certainty of God's preserving grace, but the necessity of our persevering activity--I really wonder, dear people, if we believe that either we overcome, or we miss heaven.
You let a man appear at my door who says, "Look, you kill me, or I'm going to kill you, your wife, your son, and your two daughters." If I believe him, I won't stand there and take a little jab at him with my elbow. I won't just stand there and spar with him. If I really believe it's either him or me, it's a fight to the death. And I go down in a pool of my own blood, or he's going down in a pool of his. But I tell you, there won't be any fooling around. If I sense he's a mad man who's serious, and he says, "You kill me, or I'm going to kill you, your wife, and your kids." I tell you, friends, we're locked in a death struggle. And if you were looking in, everything about it would indicate those two guys are after one another's blood. And, my friend, it's just that way in this business of overcoming.
If you, like Bunyan's Christian, are determined to cross the river and enter the celestial city, you don't play games and strike treaties with Apollyon. You don't sit around and have sparring sessions with the things that drag you into the world and spiritual dullness, whether it's your TV programs, your love of this, your love of that. You go hacking and hewing and plucking and casting out. That's the language of the Son of God. "Pluck out right eyes; cut off right hands." In the name of truth, dear people, do you believe that? If you do, then in the name of God, why do you go on encumbered with all of your trinkets, continually feeding the very lust which again and again land you in spiritual dryness and dullness. Then you have a little stirring, a little activity, a few tears, and a few resolves, but in a few months time, you right back where you were. That's not overcoming. That's just sparring. And it's just delaying the time until that one who's committed to your damnation will land you in a pool of your own blood.
Who's going to heaven? Well, as I've tried to open up these passages that describe them, according to these passages, only those whose names are in the book of life, only those who've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, only those who've undergone a moral, ethical renovation and been made the holy subjects of Christ, only those who persevere and overcome. And remember, when they get there, they have one song: salvation to our God and unto the Lamb.
Some of you may go out of here and say, "I've never heard such crazy stuff. That preacher talked like you make it to heaven on your own." I said no such thing. That's heresy. Salvation is all of God, but it's not a salvation that so operates as to carry you there oblivious to the conflicts along the way. The same God who's revealed they've washed their robes and made them white is the God who said in Jesus Christ, "He that overcomes, I will give the right to partake of the tree of life."
There's no contradiction. There's a beautiful synthesis. If I'm enabled to overcome, it's because I've been morally and ethically renovated by the Spirit. And if I've been morally and ethically renovated, it's because I've come in the way of repentance and faith. I've taken my posture as a guilty, helpless, undone sinner and gone out of myself to Jesus Christ alone for salvation and grace. And if I've done that, it's because God set His love upon me in eternity. You see the beautiful synthesis? The overcomers trace their overcoming all the way back to God's sovereign electing grace, grace that marked them out and gave them to the Lamb, grace that in time brought them to see their need of the Lamb and to go out of themselves and to trust the Lamb and wash their robes and make them white. And that same grace gave them a new heart and gave them a desire to be holy men and women and gave that passion to be like the One who is the object of his trust. And His face and His fellowship and His ways and His people were so precious that they were willing to fight and hack and hew and be overcomers at any cost so that at last they could stand in His presence with all the multitudes of the redeemed and sing that song before the throne of God and of the Lamb: salvation unto our God and unto the Lamb.
Will you be amongst them? O, my friend, I ask you, will you be amongst them? But you say, "I don't know if I'm elect." My friend, there's only one way you can read your election, and that's by taking your place as a guilty sinner and run to Christ. Now you dare to say, "I don't know that I'm a sinner." Your own conscience condemns you in the question. You know you're a sinner. "Well, I don't know if Christ is available to me." He is. He says, "Come, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." O, my sinner friend, come. My deceived professing Christian friend, come.
And dear child of God, press on, press on. A few more years shall roll, and we shall be home at last. And every tear and every struggle (all the hacking, all the hewing)--it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. "One look at His dear face, all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race till we see Christ." What else matters? Answer me, what else matters, but that we should look upon His face? God grant that we shall come to spiritual sobriety and see that nothing else really does matter.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 12:58:16 GMT -5
Benefits of the House of Mourning by Albert N. Martin
Edited transcript of message preached January 19,1986
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I believe that anyone possessed of any measure of spiritual discernment has been conscious that a special unction has rested upon the reading of the Word of God and upon our corporate prayer. And I trust it is God's index of His purpose to bless us with more than an ordinary portion of His presence and power in the preaching of His Word. Let us seek His face to that end.
Our Father, we cry with the Psalmist that as the young dear pants after the water brooks, so pant our souls after You, O God. We long to see Your power and Your glory. We thank You for those little tastes You give to us, even in the ordinary stated means of grace, when the reading of Your Word comes with peculiar unction, and we are led in prayer and together are conscious of being given a more than ordinary measure of largeness of heart in the things for which we seek You. And O, God, how we long that those mercy drops shall become a mighty deluge of the felt power and presence of Your Holy Spirit. To this end, we would be bold to plead that in the reading and exposition of the Word of God now, that You will come by the Holy Spirit and arrest every mind, every conscience.
O Lord, from the youngest to the oldest, so speak that some will mark this night as the night when they were shaken out of their dream world of carnal ease and began to find themselves in the way of seeking life and salvation in Jesus Christ. And may there be others, our Father, who mark this night as the night that they closed with the offers of mercy in the Lord Jesus, when they shall for the first time pillow their heads with a well-grounded peace and with a well-grounded assurance that all is well with their souls. May your people mark this night as a night when we have been stirred to renewed devotion to You and renewed commitment to serve You against a backdrop of the brevity of life. O Lord, come and speak to us with power we plead through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Most of the membership of Trinity Church are aware that during this past week we sought to obey the Biblical injunction in weeping with several of our number who have wept at the loss of a loved one. And as I sought to be sensitive to the desires of these loved ones in conjunction with the planning of the funeral service of a mother who was taken from two of our members, it was their request that I bring a brief meditation at the funeral home based upon Ecclesiastes 7:2. And since early Thursday morning, when I reflected upon that text and then later on in the morning had the occasion briefly to expound and apply it at the funeral or memorial service, the text has been with me along with the passage in Mark. They have been my meat and drink over the past days. And as I prayerfully reflected upon what I should bring this evening, this text would not let go of my mind and my spirit. And in a sense, it would have almost been impossible to preach on any other text.
And so I would direct your attention to the book of Ecclesiastes tonight, chapter 7 and verse 2. The writer of Ecclesiastes declares, "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." Bypassing the knotty problems of the authorship of the book of Ecclesiastes, bypassing the equally difficult matter of the overall structure and the principles of interpretation which must be present in any responsible handling of the entire book of Ecclesiastes, I'm asking you to go directly with me to this statement that is an accurate reflection of a wise man with reference to a very sensitive area of human behavior and reaction. And in the text, there is set before us, first of all, a comparison. A comparison is stated. "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting...." And after the comparison is stated, then an explanation is given. Why is it better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting? Well, the explanation comes to us in two parts: "...for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart."
First of all, then, consider with me what the writer tells us in this comparison stated. In his comparison, he is contrasting two houses. One is described as the house of mourning and the other as the house of feasting. Now what are these two houses? Well, the house of mourning is nothing other than a situation that would have its closest parallel in our day in that which we would call a funeral service. Some would call it a wake. Different terms are used in differing cultures and even within different parts of a given broader cultural context. But the writer is comparing that house where people are gathered on the occasion of the death of a friend or a loved one and are entering into that spirit of heaviness and mourning in the face of the intrusion of the grim, harsh reality of death. And so the house of mourning is the place where people are forced by the very circumstances of the proximity of death to face its great reality. That's the house of mourning.
What then is the house of feasting? Well, those who are very knowledgeable in the language of Hebrew tell us that the house of feasting is literally the house of drinking, the place of banqueting, the place where, under the influence of food and wine in abundance, an atmosphere of gaiety is so pervasive that the grim realities of life and death are at least for a time forgotten or pushed very far to the background of one's thinking. If you want to be a party pooper par excel lance, introduce a discussion on the subject of death the next time you're in a banquet. You see, banquets are not a place to think sober thoughts about death. Banquets are not a place where the mindset is at all prepared to have much affinity with the realities that throb and pulse through the very climate of a house of mourning. And so in this comparison, the author is contrasting the two houses, the house of mourning and the house of feasting.
Now in considering the two houses, he says that it is better if one has his choice, to make his way to the house of mourning than to the house of banqueting or feasting. Now note, neither of the options is in itself virtuous of sinful. There is nothing sinful with going to a house of feasting. We read in the Scriptures that our Lord Jesus attended both. His first miracle was performed in a house of feasting. It was there our Lord turned the water into wine and increased the joy and the legitimate gaiety of those who were gathered at a time of feasting. Furthermore, when Matthew was converted, he throws a banquet for Jesus. And Jesus goes to the house of feasting as the guest of honor and so enters in with delight, albeit, within the bounds of moderation in his eating and drinking. But the Pharisees looking in are not only disturbed that He is in company with the rift raft of Israel, the publicans and sinners, but they said, "Behold, a winebibber and a glutton." When He goes to a banquet, He doesn't fast. He is not a party pooper at the banquet. At a banquet of feasting, He eats and drinks with relish and delight as do all the other banqueters. So the text cannot say in light of the analogy of Scripture that there is something inherently evil in the house of feasting. Nor is there anything automatically virtuous in the house of mourning.
Now you see, in a day in which the attitude of the average person is to grab all the gusto you can ("Let's play! Let's party!" or in the teenage language, "Let's have a blast!"), surely these words sound strange: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting." Not only do they sound strange in the light of the prevailing climate of our day, but in the light of the prevailing teaching of the Word of God, they have a note of strangeness about them. Do not the Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness, joy in the Holy Spirit? Are we not told that the joy of the Lord is your strength. "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice." Are we not told that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy? Well, in the light of that Biblical teaching, how can it be said it is better, if one has the choice, to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting? What led this wise man to reflect upon human experience and to make such a statement as we find in the comparison here stated?
That moves us to our second division, an explanation given. Why is it better to go to a funeral than to a festival? Well, for two simple reasons given to us in the text. Number one: "...for that is the end of all men." What is he saying? He is saying it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting because our presence at the house of mourning reminds us forcefully of our own inevitable end. "...for that [that is, a place in the house of mourning] is the end of all men."
Picture with me a man who's out on Tuesday night. He's at a company banquet. And there at the banquet, food and drink are had in abundance, and a speaker comes and makes everyone laugh. And let's assume there's nothing rye bawled and off color and lecherous in the humor; that it's wholesome humor. Someone gives a speech on the company's future and a pep talk to the employees. There is nothing inherently sinful in that evening spent in a house of feasting at the local Holiday Inn banquet hall. During all those hours, there is little likelihood that the successful young businessman, who is there to be both rewarded and motivated to greater incentive in application of all his faculties to the company's concerns, from the appetizer until the final speech is made, will soberly reflect upon the fact that in a few short years at best he will be laid upon a slab; he will be embalmed and placed in a casket and carried to a funeral parlor. There's very little chance that that thought will enter his mind. However, the very next day at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, he and in company with his fellow employees goes to a funeral parlor to pay respects to a respected executive who was climbing his way up through the corporation latter, and at the height of his career in his late forties was taken away by a sudden and unexpected heart attack. And he must stand by the open coffin and look at the earthly remains of that friend. And it is much more likely if he will stand there and think for even thirty seconds that he one day will lie in a casket as his friend now lies. And it's precisely that observation that caused the writer to say, "It is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men." And our presence at the house of mourning vividly reminds us of our own end.
Now the Bible tells us that all of us, in the language of Joshua 23:14, will go the way of all the earth. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed un to men once to die." Human observation affirms and confirms the teaching of the Word of God. We see grandfather and grandmother taken from us in death, and then father and mother and work associates. And we see on every hand the grim and inescapable reality that the only thing certain about life is our death. From the moment that little baby is taken from it's mother's womb and cries its first cry and sucks in its first lung full of the air of the outside world, only one thing can be said for certain about that life, and that is that it will end in death. That's all that can be predicted with certainty. Whether that life will be surrounded with luxury or poverty, whether that life will become a noble or a tragic life, none of these things can be predicted with certainty, but that that life will end. As surely as that child shall breathe its first air, it shall breathe its last. But O, what folly sin has wrought that we will think so little about this great reality. And therefore, the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting because our presence in the house of mourning vividly reminds us of our ultimate end.
Then he adds a second part of the explanation in these words: "...and the living will lay it to his heart." What is he saying? He is saying our presence at a house of mourning should prod us to prepare for our own death. "...and the living will lay it to his heart." Now what does that phrase mean? Well, when you lay something to your heart, you no longer allow that thing simply to have a glancing blow upon your thinking or upon your actions or your attitude. For example, you may have a neighbor that has a chronic habit of cutting short the entrance into your driveway. He runs up over your curb and messes up six inches to a foot of your lawn. And you may be so accustomed to it you never lay it to heart. It doesn't trouble you, it doesn't bother you. Well, he gets bold, and instead of his six inches to a foot, he begins to chew up a whole yard of your lawn. And when you begin to see him getting bolder and bolder, there comes a time when his carelessness and insensitivity to your property; you begin to lay it to heart. It begins to bother you. It begins to be something that concerns you enough that you're going to do something about it. You have laid it to heart. We use similar terminology all the time. And that's precisely what the writer is saying, that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting, not only because our presence at the house of mourning reminds us vividly of our own end, but our presence at the house of mourning should prod us to prepare for our own inevitable death. It should cause us to lay to heart the great and grim reality that we shall die.
Now would to God that this text could be spoken in the absolute: "All of the living shall lay it to heart." But alas, it is not so. Some of the most light and frivolous conversation I have ever heard has been carried on in a funeral parlor. And some of the most giddy social interaction I've ever witnessed has been carried on in the home in which people gathered right after they watched a body being sunk into the dark, deep earth at a cemetery. And I have marveled and said, "O God, how blind is the blindness of sin in context where people were strangers both to the knowledge and the power of the Gospel. Such giddiness was utterly out of place. I am not talking about that kind of joy that breathes through the tears of believers at a funeral parlor or at a home at which they gathered. I am not speaking of that. But I am speaking of that irresponsible, that damning, that delusive kind of indifference and insensitivity which the house of mourning ought at least temporarily to jar and to arrest and cause men to lay to heart that they too shall die.
I can remember as a boy dreading the first time I would have to go to a funeral and witness a dead body laid out. And I was quite old before I did. I had such a dread of death, such a fear of dying in my sin, going to meet my Maker laden with all of my lies and all of my sins of every sort. And the thought of being more reminded was horrible. But then the day came when a young man in his early teens with whom I had been running and playing and jumping in the water at Long Island Sound in Stamford, Connecticut where we lived, one day did something that we often did. In jumping off the side of a canal, he jumped over several fellows who stood there with their backs bent over. It was just a way we sort of cavorted as fellows will do. But he flipped a little bit too much. And when he landed, he hit the back of his neck and snapped his neck. And by the time they pulled him out of the water, he was dead. And I can remember when I saw that lifeless body lying there. For the first time I had seen a dead person, and how I was tortured for days. Why? Because I knew if that had been me, my soul would be in company with demons and devils and all of the damned in hell. But tragically, though I laid it to heart for a time, I did everything I could to push my spirit back into the house of feasting, back into a framework of fun and games and frolic that there should be no longer the pressure of the sobering thoughts of death and the judgment to come.
It is better to go to the house of mourning, for our presence to prod us to prepare for our own death. "The living will lay it to his heart." Thank God, some will, all should, many do not. Now, that's why the writer says by way of comparison that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Two reasons, and I've sought briefly to open them up.Now then, let me lay before you three very simple principles that grow out of the text, and I trust God will write them upon our hearts.
The first is this: this text indicates that none of us naturally is as sober as we ought to be about the great issues of death and judgment. The writer recognizes man's innate tendency to put off sober thoughts about death and judgment. He knew human nature. When young, we say that death is at least for middle age and old people. And when middle age, it's for real old people. And when we're old, it's for ancient people. But it's someone else out there. Death is there, inevitably I must meet it, but manana, tomorrow, some other time, some other circumstances. One of the most horrible effects of the blinding power of the devil is that he so works in us as the sons and daughters of disobedience, that none of us is as naturally sober about the great issues of death and judgment as we ought to be. And that's why the house of mourning, the funeral parlor, the graveside, the trip by the cemetery preaches to us.
How I thank God for the cemetery that presses up on both sides for acres and acres there on the Garden State Parkway in the 140 section in the Irvington area. How it has preached to me hundreds of times over these 22 years. When I've been on my way to preach somewhere, it's caused me to say, "O God, help me to preach tonight in the light of the fact that in a few more years a stone will be over my rotting remains. And O God, awaken men to the reality that every tombstone is an eloquent thundering voice from heaven concerning the devil: 'You are a liar. You are a liar.' For he said, 'You shall not surely die.'" And every grave and every tombstone is God's eloquent, thundering voice exposing the devil for what he is: a liar and the father of it.
No, none of us, saved or unsaved, is as naturally sober about the great issue of death and judgment as we ought to be. And therefore, it is better for us with our native tendency to shy away and to ignore and hope that by blinking we can remove these grim realities. Far better to go to the house of mourning where we cannot deny the reality. The lifeless body lies before us; the mourning loved ones stand around us, and everything thunders, "it is appointed to men once to die."
But then, secondly, our text teaches us that anything that jars us to serious and concentrated attention to the issues surrounding death is ultimately our friend. If there is to be a house of mourning, someone must feel the pain of the loss of a loved one. If there's to be a house of mourning, someone must feel the sting, the stab, the wrenching lose from all of the living, present exchange of mind and thought and word and touch and all that makes human interchange a living reality. That's a sad thing. Jesus wept in the presence of death. But if it can jar us to serious and concentrated attention to this issue, the house of mourning in all of its tragedy and sadness is our great friend.
If the house of mourning can burst a bubble of giddy self-deception and carelessness and indifference--for no man, woman, boy, or girl ever came from a giddy, carefree, unconcerned state of being to being a Christian man by magic. You hear me? No one ever came, young or old, from a being a giddy, carefree, unconcerned sinner on his way to hell under the wrath and judgment of God with hell only a heartbeat away--no one ever came from such a state into one who was trusting in the Lord Jesus, one who had repented of sin, forsaken all hope of salvation in himself, laying the weight of his guilty soul upon Christ alone and in the power of that new life imparted by the living God, seeking to love and serve God out of a motive of gratitude for His free salvation--no one ever came from that state to this state by magic.
You know what had to happen first of all? A young man or woman, old man or woman had first of all had to begin to think serious thoughts about God and about himself, about God as a righteous God and about himself as an unrighteous sinner. He had to think some serious thoughts about the reality of judgment and the subsequent horror of hell and the reality of the fact that his sins deserved the judgment of God and its ultimate expression in outer darkness. No one becomes a Christian who doesn't begin to become a Christian with serious thoughts about God, serious thoughts about sin, serious thoughts about death and judgment, hell, and the meaning of life. And generally speaking, except in the case of some who come into life, as it were, like the opening of a flower before the sun (and they do so in their infancy)--I know there are such, but generally speaking, God's way is to bring us to those serious thoughts; then to bring us to serious searching of the Word of God, to serious prayer, to serious crying to God, serious attendance upon preaching. And then these lead to true repentance, true faith, open confession of Christ, taking the badge of discipleship, being placed in the way of a visible saint in the community of the people of God. That's how people become Christians.
So my friend, listen to me, if you refuse to think serious thoughts about God, about death, and about judgment, you are refusing the very first steps to salvation. If you're so determined to live in spirit in the house of feasting, though you're feet may not be there, if you're so determined that wherever you are in whatever company you are, you will not allow anything to break in upon you to sober you about death and judgment and hell and the world to come, do you see what you're doing? You're saying, "I'm determined I will never be saved." What a horrible state to be in. And that's part (not the whole story, but part of the curse) of the screeching, of the horrible, cacophonic, lawless music that wherever you go greets you in the stores, in the shop, in the factory. Why must men and woman, boys and girls have the den poured into their ears--the jogger with his Walkman, the man in his car with his headphones and his radio. Why? He doesn't want to be quiet and think. He wants to be in the house of feasting where he can forget.
Why all the hype about Super Bowl--what is it? XX? Two weeks of hype--why? Well, one thing is the commercialism. If you were a company that stood to get over a quarter of a million dollars for a thirty minute spot ad, you'd be concerned about Super Bowl XX. But what is it that the average man and average woman are looking forward to? A Sunday when for six hours with all of the folderol surrounding the Super Bowl, they can gather in homes and bars surrounded with their bottles of beer and other booze and have a blast. Why? They want to be in the house of feasting, in the house of revelry? Why? They do not need to think sober thoughts about God and sin and death and judgment and hell. But O dear friends, listen to the text: "It is better to go to the house of mourning."
As I thought of this text and thought of next week when they estimate 70 or 80 or possibly 90 million Americans will be glued to their television sets on the Lord's Day--O, that we could somehow by force go into all the homes and all the bars and drag everyone out and make them stand by an open grave and watch a body lowered in and hear the sobs of loved ones and say, "You too shall be lowered, my friend." And your soul will have made its flight to go out into a fixed state of eternal bliss or eternal misery. Turn your Super Bowl Sunday into a house of mourning. Shut off your TV and sit and reflect upon the fact that it's appointed unto men once to die. Anything that jars us to serious and concentrated attention to these issues is ultimately our friend.
And then thirdly and finally, in my application, I want to say this: anything or any person which neutralizes the possibility of serious thoughts about death and judgment, heaven and hell should be resisted as our mortal enemy. You hear me? If it is better to go to the house of mourning, there to be reminded that's my end, and in the light of that reminder, to be stirred up to prepare for my death; if it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting where I am forced by the very context to put off sober thoughts about God, then I say anything or any person that neutralizes the possibility of my going to the house of mourning, that neutralizes the possibility of my thinking serious thoughts about God and sin and heaven and hell and judgment, I must resist that thing or that person as my mortal enemy.
Now I know that it's pointed application that gets me in trouble, but I love your soul enough to go after it in hand-to-hand wrestling. I'm convinced that there are dear and precious young people in this congregation who, from the human side, are never going to get saved until you are willing to change a very fundamental pattern. You know what that pattern is? It's the pattern of congregating with other giddy young people after every service to talk giddy talk about giddy things and have no sober thoughts about what you heard in the preaching. Some of you have sat here under the preaching, and unless I've been grossly deceived, in spite of yourself, you've listened. In spite of yourself, you've sensed the earnestness and the love and the genuine compassion of those who preached to you, and you have, as it were, for a few minutes been pressured by the thought of judgment and heaven and hell, and you've sat there and inwardly trembled and you've said, "I must begin to think seriously about these issues. I must begin to seek the Lord. I must begin to enfold into a receptive heart every seed of divine truth." But then the pressure of your peers the moment the service was over, less than five minutes later you were gathered with your peers, each one whistling a little louder in the dark to prove that "Nothing got to me. Anything get to you?" "Ah, of course not. It didn't get to me." Dear young person, in the name of God, what kind of friends are those that will drag you into hell? Careless, thoughtless, blind!
Dare to say tonight when they tap you on the shoulder and say, "Hey come on" (you know what they want you to say "Come on" for)--you say, "No, thanks." And you sit for a few moments and reflect. Or you talk to Mom and Dad, and you say, "Mom and Dad, I want to talk to you when we get home tonight. I see the truth of that passage. I can't deny I'm going to die, and I don't know when, and I'm not ready to die. Seek out one of us that we might take you aside in one of the many rooms here privately and speak with you and pray with you, pray for you. Dear young person, don't let peer pressure neutralize the pressure of the Word of God. For if you're ever saved, you'll be saved when you begin to lay hold of the Word of God as life itself, not until then.
What about some of you who can't be classified as teenagers or young people? What happens to you? You come, you hear the word, you sense the reality that throbs through the singing of God's people. You sense the earnestness, that tinge of spiritual reality and unction in the prayers. You know that these things are real; you can't afford the luxury of even trying to suggest to yourself for ten minutes that it's a lot of hot air. You know better. But what happens? You leave this place, and instead of going home, shutting yourself alone and taking out your Bible and turning to the text that was preached upon, that brought an impress upon your spirit, the passage that impressed you in the regular reading, what do you do? You go to the table, and light conversation follows. And then you watch the 10 o'clock news. And by the time you pillow your head, the devil has snatched away the Word. And you've gone back to the house of feasting instead of turning your bedroom into a house of mourning. O, dear people, hear me, anything, any person which neutralizes the possibility of serious thoughts about God and heaven and hell, that person or thing is your mortal enemy, and you ought to treat it as such.
Most of you are familiar at least with the broad outlines of Pilgrim's Progress, aren't you? And do you remember what happen when Pilgrim through reading the book of God became convinced he was in the city of destruction? And when he began to leave, so determined was he not be destroyed in that city that he placed his fingers in his ears to make himself deaf to the voices of any friends that would seek to keep him. And with fingers in his ears, he left crying, "Life, life, eternal life!" And he did not rest till he crossed the river. He did not rest till he came through the gate, came by the house of Interpreter, stood before a cross, and his burden rolled off. And after all the trials and ups and downs of his sojourn, he crosses the river and is ushered into the Celestial City. And he is home safe at last. But it all began when he got into the house of mourning long enough to have sober thoughts about hell and judgment and the world to come and set his heart upon obtaining eternal life.
For some of you, it may mean nothing less than the relinquishment of some of the toys that you've gathered around you as a grown adult, hobbies and pursuits that demand so much time and make you feel so good that they put you out of touch with the sobering realities of death and judgment. For some of you, it may mean severing a very dear relationship. You may have your heart set upon a young man or a young woman, and you know that they are not desperate to lay hold of eternal life. And you know if you become desperate, you run the risk of having them chuck you. My friend, when that person that you are thinking of exchanging for Christ has the power to present you faultless before God in the day of judgment, then cling to them. But until God confers upon that man or woman the ability to vindicate you in the last day, you better drop them if they stand between you and Christ. Because if Christ does not stand with you in the last day to vindicate you and plead your cause, you've had it, and you've had it for eternity.
Now am I advocating a joyless Christianity that only lives in the house of mourning? Of course not! That would be contrary to the whole teaching of the Word of God. I am not advocating becoming morose. I am not in any way propagating a notion of the Christian life that simply lives continually under a dark heavy cloud of the sobering realities of death. But what I am saying is, go to the house of mourning long enough to get sober enough to seek Christ until you're in Him. Then you can afford the luxury of being a happy man or woman, because then you can say, "For me to depart from this body is to be with Christ, which is much, much better."
You see, in a real sense, the only person who has any right to be in the house of feasting is one who has learned the lesson at the house of mourning. Isn't that right? Because our feasting is not to neutralize and to stop the voice of conscience. It is not to shut out the great realities. In the midst of our feasting we can say, "If life can be so full of joy now in union with Christ--hallelujah!--what will it be to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb? God's true people are a happy people, but they've got grounds for their happiness and a base for their happiness that will never be removed.
My friend, it's better to go to the house of mourning. O, go there tonight. Get alone and get quiet, and picture in your mind's eye the slab on which you'll be laid, the coffin in which you'll be laid out, the ground into which you will be placed. And then think of that soul, that never-dying, immortal soul, having left the body and gone into that world from which there is no return--eternal torment, eternal joy awaiting the resurrection when that body will be joined to that spirit. And then the intensification of that state fixed at death will be ushered in eternal bliss in resurrection body and perfected soul for those in Christ; eternal torment of body and soul for those that are out of Christ.
Thank God, though is it was at the price of grief and pain to some very dear among us in this assembly, He's brought us as a congregation in His providence into the house of mourning. It's better to go there than into the house of feasting. Why? For that's the end of each one of us. And those who are wise will lay it to heart. O, lay it to heart. Think soberly enough to get desperate to be in Christ. And desperate to be in Christ, rest not until you know you are in Him. Repent, believe the Gospel. Throw the weight of your guilty, vulnerable soul upon Him who is mighty to save. And find His promise true to you: "Him that comes unto Me, I will in no wise cast out."
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