I think it proper and in order that
I say a word about being here.
I want to express my appreciation to the
banner of truth, trust for inviting me and
allowing me this privilege to share and this
responsibility to share this hour with you.
We don't, haven't said much about the banner.
This, in this conference, I don't hear it
said, but I feel as though I ought
to say a word of how greatly used
the banner books and many other books that
we get from your country, how greatly they've
been used in America.
We express our gratitude to you.
I say this for myself and probably hundreds
of others to express our gratitude for what
we owe to banner and to many others
in this country.
We don't usually see behind the scenes, but
I thank God for Mr. Cullum and Ian
Murray and others who've been corresponding with, I
guess, with Earl Holtz and others for years.
And I do thank God for them.
I had the wonderful privilege of sharing a
few days with Mr. Cullum when he was
with us and we went off to a
cabin and I described it to others as
golden hours.
We spent in prayer and time in the
word together and they were rich hours, I
say, what Bunyan called golden hours we spent
together.
So I appreciated the devotional aspect and get
to know some of the spirit of prayer
that was behind this work.
I appreciate knowing him and knowing you.
This morning, Mr. Murray has also asked me
to read the scripture.
And so if you have your Bible, I
would like to turn to Exodus chapter 20.
I'd like to read the law of God
and then a New Testament passage, Philippians, beginning
at Exodus 20, verse 1 to 17.
And God spake all these words, saying, I
am the Lord thy God, which hath brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above or that is in the
earth beneath or that is in the water
under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them
nor serve them.
For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me and bless
God showing mercy unto thousands of them that
love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his
name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor and do all
thy work, but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor
thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea and all that in
them is, and rested the seventh day.
Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and
hallowed it.
Honor thy father and mother that thy days
may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet the summary of all
the others, the commandment that goes to the
heart, the commandment that shows us how the
others are to be interpreted, the commandment that
goes into that area of our life where
no man can go, the commandment in particular
that God used to slay Saint Paul, the
tenth commandment.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt
not, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor
his ox, nor his ass, nor anything, anything
that is thy neighbor's.
And all the people saw the thunderings and
the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet
and the mountains smoking and the people saw
it, they removed and stood afar off.
And they said unto Moses, you see, they
needed a mediator after that.
They needed a mediator.
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with
us, and we will hear.
But let not God speak with us, lest
we die.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear not,
for God is come to prove you that
his fear may be before your faces, that
ye sin not.
Philippians chapter 2, just a few passages.
If or since there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if
any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
of mercy, fulfill ye my joy, that ye
may be like-minded, having the same love,
being of one accord and of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vain
glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each
esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of
others.
Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God, sought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of
no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient, obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, things
in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should consent that Jesus Christ
is L-O-R-D, to the glory
of God the Father.
I'm meant to speak about spiritual needs, and
I didn't realize that Mr. Alexander has already,
I could just say he's expressed my whole
message, because the spiritual needs I wanted to
talk about is pulpits filled with ministers of
a special kind, men of God, the greatest
needs, spiritual needs in our world today, I
believe with all my heart.
I want to represent the pew today.
I'm not a minister, but I want to
represent the pew.
And let me tell you, the pew is
listened to a lot of preaching, if they
attend church regularly.
In fact, I met a fellow once, and
one of his apologetics for believing that the
Bible was the Word of God, he said
any book that could take such punishment by
so many people for so many years, he
said it must still be alive, he said
it must be the Word of God.
That was his apologetics for believing the Scriptures.
I figured out just roughly in 25 years,
I've attended church regularly.
As far as I know, I've never missed
church unless it was sickness.
And so if I went twice a day
for 25 years, prayer meeting, I figure that's
about 2340 sermons I've listened to.
And I doubt if as many preachers here
have listened to anything like 2000 sermons, because
you're busy preaching.
So you know, the pew ought to have
some idea about what to look for in
the ministry.
Now if I deduct off days for sickness,
and I could surely add on enough days
for those special meetings and conferences, it would
come out to somewhere between, a conservative estimate
would be 2000, and probably between 2000 and
2500 sermons I've listened to.
And besides that, elders are meant, the ruling
elders or the deacons are meant to put
their arm around their minister once in a
while if there's something about the preaching.
This idea that you can't talk to the
preacher about his preaching is false piety, I
think, if you do it in the right
spirit.
So I want to represent the pew today.
Another thing about the pew, that very few
ministers have ever been called upon by virtue
of their calling, and that is you very
seldom, I doubt if there's a minister here,
many, unless he did it before he went
in the ministry, has ever been on a
pulpit committee.
So you have no idea what those elders
and men talk about, I guess you do
have some idea of that, what they look
for.
What is it that they look for when
they think about a minister?
Well, three times I've had that privilege to
be one of several men seeking a godly
under-shepherd to shepherd our flock.
Now, I want to say at the outset,
when I say I want to represent the
pew today, I want to represent a special
part of that pew, not with a censorious
representation.
I want to look at the pew today
representing that host of men and women who
love Christ's church, who love Christ's servant, those
men and women who give and pray and
sometimes sacrifice, that group of men and women
who long to see our pulpits filled with
ministers who are called and equipped of God
to serve Him in the ministry.
I mean those men and women who want
ministers with a God-centered motive for being
in the ministry, with a God-revealed message
from the Scriptures and God-honoring methods both
in their living and in their preaching.
So I would like to qualify the kind
of people I want to represent, not people
who take the minister apart and scold, but
long for it, they pray for it.
Now the approach I want to take to
this is twofold.
I want to take the, first of all,
I want to use the approach from reading,
studying, observing those men whose life and preaching
has left a trail behind them.
They've left their marks in the sands of
time.
The fact is they've left two trails.
They've left a trail of life and a
trail of death.
Reading about these men.
You don't have to be a preacher to
read the sermons of Whitefield and the sermons
and study the lives of men in the
past and the present that God is using,
that God is honored, that God is blessed.
My first source is by comparison.
What right do I have to speak to
ministers except I bring it from some source
by comparison?
And so that's the first source.
The second source, I mean when we study
the life of those men and their testimonies,
some of which seal their testimony with their
blood.
Those men that every minister ought to want
to emulate, the people we esteem, men like
John Bunyan and Richard Braxter and John Brown
and Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer and George
Whitefield and John Owen and well name them,
Spurgeon, Bishop Ryle, men that we esteem, men
that we long to emulate and from the
Pew point of view, men that we long
to see our ministers emulate and esteem.
So the first source of approach would be
from studying and reading the lives of this
kind of men.
The second, of course, the more important is
from the Holy Scriptures themselves.
The Bible does have something to say about
what a minister is meant to be and
to do and therefore I would kind of
divide the rest of what I want to
say into kind of two parts.
The minister and the ministry.
First, let us take a look at the
minister.
We had a, I could, it's almost anticlimactic
to say anything about that after the nights
we've spent together in the presence of God
as his servant has ministered to us.
I think I went back that first night
to my room Monday night and I don't
think I said five words to my wife
because it was a searching message to me
and I hope you did what I was
forced to do.
I hope you did what I was forced
to do.
But let me just, a little repetition won't
hurt.
It's probably good to repeat.
We want to look just a bit at
the minister.
Baxter said the life of the minister is
the life of his ministry.
It is devotion that gives power and unction
to the calling and to the commission.
Therefore the minister, as well as the people
in the pew, must taste and see that
the Lord is good before they can ever
tell it.
We've had that.
A thousand wonderful sermons on holiness will never
cover a cold, callous, careless life.
A holy sermon is but for an hour.
But a holy life is a perpetual sermon.
And oh dear servants of Christ, what I'm
trying to say today is the pew longs
to see men in the pulpit, not men
who are just instruments of grace, but men
who are subject to grace.
Men who not only know how to explain,
by definition, sanctification, but men who are experiencing
God's sanctifying power.
If a man can't persuade himself to be
holy, it's not likely that he'll persuade others.
In John 17, our Lord in that prayer
where He prays for men to be sent,
you remember it's about verse 17 to 19
along there, He prays that they would be
sent.
But He didn't only pray that they would
be sent.
He prayed that they would be sanctified.
Sanctify them through Thy truth.
Thy word is true.
Again, when we hear the enthroned Christ speaking
from heaven to the messenger of the church
at Ephesus in Revelation, we see those wonderful
commendations.
He commends them for their service.
I know Thy works and Thy labors.
For my sake Thou hast labored and not
fainted.
He commends them for their sacrifice.
Thou hast borne and hast patient for my
name's sake.
He commends them for their suffering.
Thou hast endured.
He commends them.
They were separated apparently.
He even commends them for their ecclesiastical separation.
Thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles and are not.
They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
But then we come to verse 4 and
we have this, But, nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee because thou hast left thy first
love.
Now, if you haven't already chased your commentaries
to find out what that means, let me
save you a lot of trouble.
I have chased my shells up and down.
Every commentary I have, I've looked at that
verse, what that means.
Thou hast left thy first love.
And let me save you a lot of
trouble.
I'm going to tell you what it means.
It means thou hast left thy first love.
I believe that speaks of leaving the devotion
to Christ.
I believe a man's heart, I believe the
backslider in heart is nothing less than a
man not losing his judgment about the truths
of Christ.
If he's backslidden his heart, his judgment concerning
the doctrines and the truths of Christ doesn't
necessarily change.
Necessarily.
But it's that devotional life.
So, so much for the devotional life.
Just two other passages that come to mind
that I had in my notes.
I think I should share with you on
that.
We see it in the Song of Solomon,
verse 6.
This is the principle.
This is it.
They made me keeper of the vineyard, but
my own vineyard have I not kept.
And I think the New Testament corollary passage
to that would be 1 Corinthians 9, 27.
But I keep under my body and bring
it into subjection, lest by any means when
I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway.
Now, the pew in the next place not
only looks to the pulpit for someone who
has a devotional life, but they long to
see that built on a proper foundation.
And we should inquire, what is that foundation?
In answer to that question, it follows the
line of the breakdown that we've had these
nights.
From 1 Timothy 4, 16.
Take heed to thyself and thy doctrine.
What is the foundation that life should be
built on?
Sound doctrine.
In our country, in many, many circles, doctrine
is in disrepute.
Excuse me, I'm having a little throat problem
this morning.
Doctrine is in disrepute.
We have these signs at churches.
We see them on billboards for a church
where they have their church advertisement.
Signs like this.
Christ is our creed.
The Bible is our textbook.
And that sounds very pious.
Christ is our creed and the Bible is
our textbook.
But you know, somebody has to say, which
Christ now and then?
Which Christ are we talking about?
And now and again, somebody has to say
what the Bible means.
Don't they?
That's why I'm dedicated to that form of
doctrine expressed at least in three confessions.
The Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession and
the London Confession.
I'd hate to think that I'd say anything
out of the framework of the doctrine expressed
in those three great historical documents.
If I would, I'd like to be corrected.
It's been in great dispute, doctrine.
It's a bad word, and yet it's clear
in the Bible.
And then on the other hand, it seems
there are some of the circles that I
get in, that they have a great foundation,
doctrinally.
But you know, they're very sound.
In fact, they're sound asleep.
Sound asleep.
Is that the foundation?
And I used to say this was dead
orthodoxy.
I don't say that anymore.
I just say it's dead, because if it
was orthodox, it would be alive.
And I'm not sure that such a thing
as dead orthodoxy owns second reflection upon that.
These circles that I'm thinking of, you know,
they have to dot every I and cross
every T, and there's no Christian charity, no
Catholic spirit, no flexibility, even on the peripheral
subjects.
And this crowd is straight as a gun
barrel.
And they're just as empty.
Bishop Ryle said, it's not either or.
You see, and that's what, this is the
burden of my life.
Dear servants of Christ, I see these two
extremes, these people over here in feverish activity,
without a doctrinal root.
And others, they have nothing but roots, and
no fruit.
And I say, oh Lord, if you could
just bring them together a bit.
You know, that's what I long for.
It's not either or, it's both.
Bishop Ryle said, earnestness, zeal, and work are
brave words, but like cut flowers stuck in
the garden, they have no power to continue
if they have not their hidden roots below.
And that's been my experience, where I see
the lack of those doctrinal roots.
Now, I don't want to be so vague
about that doctrinal roots this morning.
I want to say a bit about what
I mean, what he believes.
The pews long for that man that believes
right, because if he doesn't believe right, he
doesn't think right, and he can't say right
if he doesn't believe right.
So they're longing for that.
And I won't be able to touch all
the very important things that I think are
vital to that, but I'm going to try
to touch a few, and I've put them
in the order, at least for today, I've
put them in the order of priorities, I
believe.
And the first one, I'd say this, and
I, this is a sad thing in our
country, I don't know about yours, but the
first thing I'd put on my list is
this, a clear view of the law and
the gospel, the whole of Revelation could be
divided into those two parts.
I don't know twelve men, there may be,
I don't know everybody in the United States,
but I don't know twelve ministers, and I
get in about ten to twenty churches a
year, multiply that by a few years, and
so I have known some, but I couldn't
name twelve, more than twelve ministers who are
straight on the law and the gospel, and
their relationship one to another, their distinctiveness, and
their mutual subservience one to the other.
I put it high, and I want to
say a little bit about that, I'm not
doing exactly what I had planned to do
this day, but I want to spend a
little time on that, and I want to
give you a couple of quotes.
John Newton said, I had a whole lot,
but I don't have it with me, and
I'm sorry I don't, I have quotes to
show the importance of this from Luther and
Calvin, but I just have one with me,
and I know there's one in this book
that I want to call your attention to.
John Newton said, he must clearly understand the
difference, speaking of the minister of course, he
must clearly understand the difference, the connection, and
the harmony between the law, they're not enemies,
the harmony between the law and the gospel,
and their mutual subservience to illustrate and establish
each other.
It is a singular privilege and a happy
means of preserving the soul from being entangled
on the right hand and on the left.
A fine line.
It's easy to drift into Pharisaic legalism on
the one hand.
It's easy to drift into antinomianism on the
other.
Just a quote, in fact that's where this
quote came from too, but just a quote
from Charles Bridges, a book that I think
is the best book, I used it for
years, and I still hold it second now.
I used to think Spurgeon's lectures to his
students was the best book on the ministry,
until I read this book.
And I say without any reservations, I believe,
and this is tough to get a Baptist
to say this, but I say this without
any reservations, I believe this book is the
best book on the Christian ministry that I've
ever found.
If you don't have it, I hope you'll
avail yourself to it, and I'd even help
you.
If you're a little short, I'd help you
to, we'd float alone together, and I'd help
you on that.
I get, Bob Dendel just called me before
I left and said, Ernie, would you, he
said there's a lot of preachers coming to
a conference, he said would you kind of
go along on a little support to see
that they all get a Christian minister.
I said amen, I'd do that with you.
May I read this quote concerning this, his
section on preaching the law, the mode of
preaching the law, and preaching the law and
the gospel is worth the book.
It says this, the mark of a minister
approved of God, a workman needeth not to
be ashamed, that a workman needeth not to
be ashamed, is that he rightly divides the
word of truth.
This implies, now listen, this implies a full
and direct application of the gospel to the
mass of his unconverted ears, combined with a
body of spiritual instruction to the several classes
of Christians.
His system will be marked by scriptural symmetry
and comprehensiveness.
It will embrace the whole revelation of God
in its doctrinal instructions, experimental privileges, and practical
results.
This revelation is divided into two parts, the
law and the gospel, essentially distinct from each
other, though so intimately connected that an accurate
knowledge of neither can be obtained without the
other.
And I believe that with all my heart.
And I think of the host of problems
that we would have solved in the United
States with all these independent things that go
on outside the church and these deeper life
movements and a thousand other things, if a
right understanding of the law and the gospel.
You see, I say by comparison again to
those old preachers, I didn't learn this because
I'm sharp or keen.
I learned it from reading the old preachers,
which I'm using today to compare what I'm
saying.
The old preachers preached the law to show
the character of God and the condition of
man.
They knew that man must see their pollution
before they'd ever desire Christ's perfection.
That men must see sin before they desire
a savior.
They knew that he must see his ruin
before he would seek a remedy.
They knew he must be disturbed by the
law before he would ever be delighted by
the gospel.
And I meet good men in reformed circles
that haven't preached the law.
Last fall, October, I was in a church
and one night I spoke from a catechism
question.
Incidentally, may I just get in a little
parenthesis here?
The larger catechism, and I'm a larger catechism
man.
They keep talking about the shorter catechism.
That's only a half a catechism.
It cuts out about 89 questions and some
of them are very pertinent, very pertinent.
My wife and I, this is by way
of parenthesis, to keep our personal and private
devotions from becoming perfunctory, we do different things
different years.
Twice we've gone through the larger catechism, as
adults, in fact as it's been in the
last five years.
Twice we've gone through the larger catechism.
Some mornings we only take one question, but
we've read every scripture.
I can't quite fit them all into the
questions, but in most cases, in many cases
I can.
But we've read every scripture.
The question and answer, and gentlemen, I want
to say it's been rewarding.
It's been a rewarding experience.
And the section on the law and the
larger catechism is profound.
It's excellent.
You don't know how to come at sin
until you've read that.
I don't believe.
Well, I was speaking on, in this church,
on the two questions.
There's the question, what is the right use
of the law to the unregenerate?
There's a question on what is the right
use of the law to all men?
And there's a question on what's the right
use of the law to the regenerate?
Three good questions.
And I was speaking from these three questions
in the catechism.
And the minister of that church, and I
say this not to scold him, but he
said to me, would you speak some night
on the seventh commandment?
He said, I've never had heard a sermon
on the seventh commandment.
We was in his study, and his diploma
was back of his chair.
And I looked up, and I saw that
he graduated, I think, in 44, and never
preached a sermon on the law of God.
I personally believe that one of our great
problems in the world, as far as immorality,
is the church has not sounded forth the
word of the law of God.
We live in a lawless age.
A lawless age.
Mr. Greer didn't tell us the man's name.
I was listening, eager to hear that fellow's
name who came through Ireland thundering the law.
Well, he paved the way for the other
fellow who came afterwards, whoever those men may
have been.
You see, why am I saying this?
Why, I'll tell you, gentlemen, there are three
great truths of the Bible that stand or
fall together.
And that is the law of God, the
cross of Christ, and the judgment of Almighty
God.
And if you touch one, you've touched them
all.
No law, no sin.
No sin, no necessity for a cross.
No judgment, if you touch that, then there's
no necessity for a cross or a law.
You can't touch one without touching the other.
And isn't that some of the things we're
sent out to fight?
We're sent out to fight sin.
We're sent out to save sinners.
Bring them the message that saves them.
That's why I say the law of God
and the cross of Christ and the judgment
of Almighty God are three great Bible truths
that stand or fall together.
That's why this is so vitally important.
Now, I say this as far as evangelism
is concerned.
I realize, and I say this, that we
have a scripture record of God calling one
man at least, or two, from the womb.
John the Baptist and Jeremiah are two scriptural
examples.
So I suppose I must make room for
that possibility today.
We have a record in God's Word of
Him calling one man at the hour of
death, I suppose, so that only one, so
that none would presume.
But on the other hand, thank God for
the one so that none would despair.
We have a record, at least one, of
what I would call a sovereign gospel call.
That is Zacchaeus up in the tree when
Jesus says, Today salvation has come to thy
house.
Now, I'm making room for God to do
as He pleases about that.
But I say in the same breath, God's
most common way of calling man are not
these exceptions, but God's most common way of
calling man is a prior work of the
law of conviction.
That's why it's important.
I almost got preaching on this last night,
if there is such a thing, on the
question when Mr. Murray asked me what we
do in our church.
The law of God reveals the character of
God.
It reveals the condition of the creature.
And I believe with all my heart men
must see the creator-creature relationship before they'll
be interested in a redeemer relationship.
Now, some people, when we think of the
law, they think of the moral law as,
oh, it pains me inside to listen to
some preachers in our country when they talk
about grace and then they make disparaging marks
about the law.
And they act like the law is an
arbitrary edict of some capricious despot.
But, ah, dear ministers today, the law, the
Bible tells me, is holy.
It's good.
It's holy and it's good.
It's not the capricious edict of some despot,
but the wise and holy and loving degree,
degree, degree, of one who is jealous, not
only for his own glory, but for our
good.
I'd quit today, right now.
I'd leave Christianity if I didn't believe that
the law of God was for the good
of man as well as the glory of
God.
God's law is not a tyrannical restraint upon
our liberties, but it's just and holy and
good and right, wholesome, highly beneficial to God
and His creatures.
I think I could prove this without any
strain.
What would it be like in this world,
in England, if everyone would love God with
all his heart and his neighbor as himself?
That's the summary of it.
Oh, someone says that would be heaven.
Well, isn't that for the good of man?
What would it be like if no one
would steal?
What would it be like if no one
would murder?
No one would bear false witness?
No one would covet?
What would it be?
It might be a little hard on our
economy or our prison institutions.
The lawyers would go out of business pretty
much and be a little hard on our
economy, but it would be heaven.
This summer I took the man I play
golf with.
I've witnessed him for years.
I don't believe he's converted yet, but I
was speaking back to about a dozen people
back in the mountains in Pennsylvania and I
asked him to ride with me one night
and I was speaking on the law.
The next day we played golf together and
he said, you know Ernie, he said the
law would be good for men and government
even though there's no God and no hereafter.
He said it would be pretty good after
listening to you last night.
Because I showed him, I took the Seventh
Commandment for instance, and I said most people
think of the committing adultery as some man
running off for a night with his secretary
or something and that's about the essence, they
think of the Seventh Commandment.
But I pointed out to these, or tried
to rather, to these dear people that the
Seventh Commandment is the commandment that protects my
wife.
It's the commandment for the home.
It protects my home, my wife, my sister,
my daughter, my mother, my home.
That's what God meant it for.
And you can take the rest of the
commandments and apply them likewise.
It's not some tyrant who wants to restrain
our liberties.
Why, you know, it's the rules of games
that make the game.
Could you picture American baseball with the third
baseman deciding he's going to be a pitcher
and the first baseman decides he's going to
pitch and the pitcher decides he's going to
pitch and they all start throwing balls at
the batter.
You say, well that's not baseball.
Well, of course not.
It's not baseball because they're breaking the rules.
The rules of baseball, that doesn't spoil the
game.
It makes the game.
It makes it.
And ah, we should know these rules make
life.
It's only where they're broken.
And another point about this is some men
seem to not read the preface to the
commandment.
You will notice before God gives the commandment
He reminds them of His love.
And not only love in a general way,
He reminds them of His redemptive love.
I, the Lord thy God, have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt.
That's an act of love.
So we should know that what's coming next
is coming from a loving hand of a
Heavenly Father.
And behind every thou shalt not is the
loving hand of a Heavenly Father.
It's the first message of the cross.
The first message of the cross is not
the love of God.
I beg to differ with about 90%
of the evangelism in my country.
The first message of the cross is Jesus
Christ satisfying the demands of a holy law.
I'll never forget, I reminded Mr. Murray, maybe
it was unnecessary to remind him, he's got
such a keen memory.
But I would ask him yesterday if he
remembers once when I was in Calvary Presbyterian
Church.
And I said, Mr. Murray, do you remember
what you told me there about the law?
And he did remember very vividly.
And he told me this story.
He told me about his dearest friend, Presbyterian
minister who once, when he was about to
administer the communion, how that he came down,
when he came down from the pulpit, he
took the elements and he just said in
kind of ecstasy, O Calvary, whose base is
divine justice, but whose spirit is divine love.
The base of the cross is Christ satisfying
divine justice.
If we bypass the law of God in
our preaching, who cares about Jesus?
Who cares about Jesus?
Unless it's in a sentimental way.
Unless it's in a superstitious way.
Who cares about Jesus if we bypass the
law of God?
I remember once I was in a minister's
study.
He gave me, I was there with him
for a week and he said, he left
the study open and had me and that
was my place of study when he wasn't
there.
And he said, help yourself to any of
my books.
And I remember that I saw one book
there by Robert Mary McShane on that text
in Isaiah 42, 21, I think it is.
It was on the law and this was
the text.
He shall magnify the law and make it
honorable.
Some of the pardons that these preachers in
America try to huckster off and I suppose
it's not even honorable pardons because it's a
lawless pardon.
But when we get the pardon, it's an
honorable pardon.
It's a wonderful sermon.
If you ever get McShane's sermon on Isaiah
42, verse 21, I commend it to you.
It's on this subject.
Now, you see, we live in a different
day than we did 50 years ago.
He used to say, somebody reminded me here,
a mother would say to her daughter or
son, be a good girl.
She may not be good, but she knew
what she meant.
Now we say, be a good girl.
We have no absolute.
We have no standard.
Our young people are at sea without a
compass.
Not only that, they don't have any idea
the shore they left from or that there's
a shore to go to.
My wife brought me home a book because
she knows one of my favorite subjects.
One of the magazines was about, all had
to do with, she said you could use
this with the seventh commandment.
She brought me home this magazine that she
saw, was reading I think in the doctor's
office and then picked one up at the
store.
And it was all this business about Mel
and some of these colleges and many and
most of our universities.
Young people live together as man and wife
without any shamefacedness about it all.
The fact is, they have the permission of
their parents.
Not all of them, thank God.
But they have the permission of their parents
to rent an apartment and live together.
That's not why she brought it.
She brought it to say that when the
university or college tried to put this to
a stop, especially when they had permission from
their parents, the university tried to put it
to a stop, the young people said, why,
what's wrong with it?
And the reason she brought the book was
the silly answer that the university gave for
not allowing this practice.
Sin wasn't mentioned, the commandments wasn't mentioned.
Well, this ought to teach us that obedience
stems from love to Him.
It's not servile slavish fear.
And then another thing, and I wanted to
get on to the Lordship of Christ this
morning, but I'm sure I won't.
But another thing about the law of God
that is so prevalent in our day, somehow
they kind of make it that, well, if
it's law, they say, well, we're not interested
in law, just tell us about love.
Tell us about love.
Love, love, lovey-dovey.
Why, this lovey-dovey gospel doesn't save anybody.
You know, and it's forced me to ask
the question, what is the love of God?
Well, gentlemen, I need not tell you that
God is not silent in His word about
such an important question.
In fact, it is a clear, distinct definition
in at least two places.
What is the love of God?
Don't talk to me about the love of
God that's divorced from law.
1 John 5.3, a concise, succinct definition.
For this is the love of God that
we keep His commandment, and His commandments are
not grieving.
Doesn't it sound like a Christian?
Oh, how love I thy law, isn't that
the attitude of a Christian's heart?
He doesn't make it perfectly all the time,
but he'd like to.
Isn't that the disposition of the heart of
a Christian?
Oh, how I love thy law.
Isn't this the disposition of a Christian's heart?
I delight in the law of God after
the inward man.
That's because something's been done in his heart.
What is the two blessings of the New
Covenant?
One is a new record in heaven.
Their iniquities will I forgive, and their sins
will I remember no more, Jeremiah chapter 31
and Hebrews chapter 10.
That's one.
Their iniquities will I forgive.
But what's the other blessing of the New
Covenant?
I will write my law on their hearts.
And that crowd you preach to Sunday morning
have no reason to believe that they have
forgiveness of sins if something hasn't been written
on their heart.
Because you cannot separate the two blessings of
the New Covenant.
They are inseparably joined in the application of
God's grace.
Well, that's only one.
Let's look at Romans for a minute.
I must hurry.
Romans chapter 13.
We're asking the question, what is the love
of God?
What is the love of God?
Well, the Bible is not silent.
Verse 8.
O no man anything, but to love one
another.
For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the
law.
What law?
Well, this.
Verse 9.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
If you love your neighbor, you won't commit
adultery with his wife or daughter.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not commit.
And if there be any other commandment, it
is briefly comprehended in this thing.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Verse 10.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.
Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
The directing principle or motive is love.
But to what does love direct?
If it's biblical love, to that which is
right.
Love directs to that which is right.
May I say it firmly?
Grace never changes what's right.
Ephesians 6.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right.
And whatever grace does, it never changes what's
right.
It changes my relationship to what's right.
It changes and gives me power to do
what's right.
But it never changes what's right.
Love is a motive.
The law is the direction.
Why it's vital to evangelism.
Why the law is the knowledge of sin.
What is sin?
Verse John 3.4. Transgression of the law.
Bunyan didn't miss this point.
Bunyan didn't miss this point on the use
of the law in evangelism.
You know, the best commentary I ever got
on Romans chapter 7, verse 9.
This is no disrespect to your commentary.
I love it, Mr. Murray.
But the best commentary I ever got was
from my patron saint, John Bunyan.
I must share this with you because it
shows you this vital relationship.
I believe that every true minister here is
interested in evangelism.
But my dear brother, if you've missed the
law relationship to evangelism, you've missed a salient
point.
Listen, let me read these two verses and
then give you Bunyan's commentary on it.
Incidentally, this was the commandment that brought Paul
to Christ.
That's why he said in Galatians, the law
is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
You see, and if we lock up the
schoolmaster, we lock up that which meant to
bring us to Christ.
Is it any wonder people aren't coming to
Christ?
We've locked up the schoolmaster.
Listen to this, Bunyan.
Romans 7, verse 7-9.
What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
God forbid!
May I had not known sin.
Well, how'd you find out, Paul?
By the law, for I had not known
lust.
Listen.
Except the law said.
He passed the first nine pretty well.
I had not known lust.
He had not slept with his neighbor's wife
or stolen from his neighbor.
I had not known lust.
Except the law said, Thou shalt not covet
something down here.
But sin, taking an occasion of the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law, sin was dead.
Now get this.
Without the law, sin was dead.
Then I'll give you Bunyan's commentary on it.
For I was alive without the law once.
This used to sound like double talk, I'd
read this.
For I was alive without the law once.
But when the commandment came, sin revived and
I died.
Do you remember in Interpreter's House when Bunyan's...
when the interpreter called the pilgrim into Interpreter's
House?
And he showed him a large parlor.
And it was covered with dust.
And they stayed there a minute.
And a man came in with a broom.
And he started sweeping in as he swept.
The dust kept squirting.
And then he called for a little maid.
She brought in water.
Sprinkled it.
The dust settled and they swept the room
clean.
Bunyan's pilgrim said, What might this...
The interpreter said, That large parlor is the
heart of an unsanctified man.
The dust is the original sin.
Quite settled.
I was alive once without the law.
Perfectly comfortable.
The dust is his sin.
That man that came in with the broom
is the law.
It could sweep and sweep and sweep.
Not get anything clean.
It's made it worse.
But it revived it and made sin alive.
That little maid with the water, that's the
gospel.
That's the gospel.
Is there any wonder old Bolton said, It's
the sharp...
Samuel Bolton.
If you haven't read that book of banners,
you better read it.
Samuel Bolton said, It is the sharp needle
of the law that makes way for the
scarlet thread of the gospel.
It's the sharp needle of the law.
Well, my time's up.
I must do one other thing because I
hear somebody say, Oh, but now we have
the Holy Spirit.
And we don't need that direction.
I must kill that snake before I go.
Romans 8.
If there's a chapter in the Bible that
has anything to do with the Spirit, I
think we'd all agree that there's not probably
a more profound chapter on the work of
the Spirit in Romans 8.
Because I hear that person say, Oh, but
now we have the Holy Spirit.
Well, to what does the Spirit direct?
Now listen.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of the
life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death.
Not free from the moral law, free from
the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do in
that it was weak to the flesh, God
sending his own Son in sinful flesh.
And for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
This is the verse I want you to
see.
For the righteousness of the law, that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us.
Christ paid it for us, but it might
be fulfilled in us who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
What righteousness is fulfilled in us?
Why, the righteousness of the law.
Now don't misunderstand me.
The law points the right road, but gives
no power for the journey.
I don't misunderstand you.
It gives no strength for the journey because
it's weak to the flesh.
You'll never know, and your people will never
know, or understand the perfection and the love
of Christ.
And still they've stood under the perfection in
the presence of God's holy law.
And the law to most minds in our
day is nothing more than the cold ashes
and the extinguishing fire of the religion of
another day.
But ah, dear friends, the truth about the
law goes straight to the root of our
problem, modern problem, both in the church and
out.
It lays the finger on the church's deepest
need in evangelism and also in Christian conduct
and behavior.
Now there's no power in the law to
save, no power in the law to sanctify.
The fact is, I like that little phrase.
It's part of one of the old hymns,
I think.
Run and work the law of command, but
give me neither feet nor hands.
A sweeter sound the gospel brings, it bids
me fly and gives me wings.
The law and liberty are friends.
The law and love are friends.
The law and the Savior are friends.
The law and grace are friends.
Well, I didn't get very far.