In the
name
of
the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit.
Today I'm going to share a teaching with
you called, Hell's Best-Kept Secret.
In the late 70s, God opened an itinerant
ministry to me.
Living at a travel, I found to my
horror that up to 80% of those
making a decision for Christ were falling away
from the faith.
Let me bring it up to date for
you.
In 1991, a major denomination was able to
obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ.
They could only find 14,000 in fellowship.
In other words, they could account for 280
,000 of their decision.
This is normal, modern evangelical results.
I discovered this way back in the 70s.
So I made it a matter of prayer
and began to study the gospel proclamations.
The men like Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and
others that God greatly used down through the
ages.
I found a huge principle which is almost
entirely neglected by modern evangelism.
The Bible says that the law of the
Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
To illustrate the function of God's law, let's
look for a moment at civil law.
Imagine if I said to you, I've got
some good news for you.
Someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding
fine on your behalf.
You'd probably react by saying, that's not good
news.
It doesn't make sense.
I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine.
My good news would be good news, too.
It would be foolishness.
But more than that, it would be offensive
to you.
Because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when
you don't think you have.
If I can put it this way, it
may make more sense.
On your way to this meeting, the police,
the law, blocked you at going 55 miles
an hour to an area set aside for
a blind children's convention.
There were 10 clear warning signs.
Stating that 15 miles an hour was the
maximum speed.
But you went straight through at 55 miles
an hour.
It was extremely dangerous.
It was a $25,000 fine.
The law was about to take its course
when someone you don't even know stepped in
and paid the fine for you.
You are very fortunate.
The news that they're telling you what you've
done wrong first actually makes the good news.
If someone paying the fine for you makes
sense, if I don't clearly bring instruction you've
violated the law, then the good news will
seem foolishness and offensive.
If I clearly bring instruction you've violated the
law, then that good news will become good
news indeed.
In the same way, if I approach an
impenitent sinner, someone whose understanding is darkened, and
say, Jesus Christ died on the cross for
you, it will be foolishness to him and
offensive to him.
Foolishness because it won't make sense.
The Bible says that.
The preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness.
And it will be offensive to him because
I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't
think he is.
For him, these concerns are a lot of
people worse than him.
But if I follow the footsteps of Jesus,
then they make more sense.
If I pick up the time to open
up the divine law to open up the
Ten Commandments and show the sinner precisely what
he's done wrong, then when he becomes, as
James says, convinced of the law as a
transgressor, the good news will not be foolishness.
It will not be offensive.
It will be the power of God unto
salvation.
With those few thoughts in mind, by way
of introduction, let's look at Romans 3 verse
19.
We're looking at God's word to see what
it says about the law in Romans 3
verse 19.
Now we know that whatsoever things the law
says says them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world not just the Jews but all
the world may become guilty before God.
So one function of God's law is to
stop sinners' mouths and leave them guilty before
God.
Following verse, Romans 3 verse 20.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there
should no flesh be justified in his sight
for by the law is the knowledge of
sin.
So God's law tells us what sin is.
First John says sin is transgression of the
law.
Then over to Romans 7 verse 7.
Romans 7 verse 7 says Paul speaking, What
shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
God forbid.
No, I had not known sin but by
the law.
Paul says he didn't know what sin was
until the law told him.
And over in Galatians 3 verse 24 says
these words.
Galatians 3 verse 24.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ that we might be justified
by faith.
So the law acts as a schoolmaster to
bring us to Jesus Christ that we might
be justified through faith in his blood.
The law doesn't help us because it leaves
us helpless.
It doesn't justify us it just leaves us
guilty before the judgment bar of almighty God.
And the tragedy of modern evangelism is that
around the turn of the century when it
forsook the law and its capacity to drive
sinners to Christ modern evangelism had to find
another reason for sinners to respond to the
gospel.
And the issue that modern evangelism chose was
the issue of life enhancement.
The gospel degenerated into Jesus Christ will give
you peace joy, love, and fulfillment.
Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this
very popular teaching I want you to listen
very carefully because the essence of what I'm
saying pivots on this next story.
Two men are seated in a plane.
The first is given a parachute and told
to put it on because it would improve
his flight.
He's a little skeptical at first because he
can't see how wearing a parachute in a
plane could possibly improve the flight.
After a time he decides to experiment to
see if the claim is true.
As he puts it on he notices the
weight upon his shoulders and he finds he
has difficulty in sitting upright.
As he consoles himself he realizes that he
is not alone in the fact he was
told the parachute would improve the flight.
So he decides to give the thing a
little time.
As he waits he notices that some of
the other passengers are laughing at him because
he's wearing a parachute in a plane.
He begins to feel somewhat humiliated but they
begin to point a finger at him.
He can stand it no longer.
He slinks in his seat and straps the
parachute and he throws it to the floor.
Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart because as
far as he was concerned he was told
an outright lie.
The second man is given a parachute but
listen to what he's told.
He's told to put it on because at
any moment he'll be jumping 25,000 feet
out of the plane.
He gratefully puts the parachute on but he
doesn't notice the weight upon his shoulders nor
that he can't sit upright.
His mind is consumed with the thought of
what would happen to him if he jumped
without the parachute.
Let's analyze the motive and the result of
each passenger's experience.
The first man's motive for putting the parachute
on was solely to improve his flight.
The result of his experience was that he
was humiliated by the passengers was disillusioned and
somewhat embittered against those who gave him the
parachute.
As far as he's concerned it will be
a long time before anyone gets one of
those things on his back again.
The second man put the parachute on solely
to escape the jump to come and because
of his knowledge of what would happen to
him without it he has a deep-rooted
joy and peace in his heart knowing that
he's saved from sure death.
This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand
the mockery of the other passengers and his
attitude toward those who gave him the parachute
and his attitude toward those who gave him
the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude.
Now listen to what the modern Gospel says.
It says, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ
He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment and
lasting happiness.
So the sinner responds in an experimental fashion
puts on the Savior to see if the
claims are true.
And what does he get?
The problem of temptation, tribulation and persecution The
other passengers mock him So what does he
do?
He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ He's
offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned and
somewhat embittered And quite rightly so He was
promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting happiness
And all he got was trials and humiliation
As bitterness is directed to those who gave
him the so-called good news His latter
end becomes worse than the first Another inoculated
and bitter backslider So instead of preaching that
Jesus improves the flight He should be warning
the passengers that they're going to have to
jump out of the plane So what does
he do?
He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned
and somewhat embittered And
quite rightly so He was promised peace, joy,
love, fulfillment and lasting happiness And all he
got was trials and humiliation As bitterness is
directed to those who gave him the so
-called good news His latter end becomes worse
than the first Another inoculated and bitter backslider
He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned
and somewhat embittered And quite rightly so He
was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting
happiness And all he got was trials and
humiliation It doesn't matter how happy a sinner
is How much he's enjoying the pleasures of
sin for a season Without the righteousness of
Christ We'll perish in the day of wrath
Scripture says Richest prophet not on the day
of wrath But righteousness of Christ But righteousness
of Christ Delivers from death Peace and joy
are legitimate fruits of salvation But it's not
legitimate to use these fruits As a drawcard
for salvation We continue to do so But
if we continue to do so Sinners will
respond with an impure motive Lacking repentance And
do you remember why the second passenger had
joy and peace?
Because he knew that parachute was going to
save him from sure death Because he knew
that parachute was going to save him from
sure death And as a believer He's not
going to repent I have joy and peace
in believing Because I know that the righteousness
of Christ Is going to deliver me from
the wrath that's to come Because I know
that the righteousness of Christ Is going to
deliver me from the wrath that's to come
Now that thought in mind Let's take a
close look at an incident on board the
plane We have a brand new stewardess She's
carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee That's
her first day She wants to leave an
impression on the passengers And she certainly does
Because as she's walking down the aisle The
trip to the airport is about to begin
She steps on someone's foot And slops that
boiling hot coffee All over the lap of
our second passenger What's his reaction as that
boiling liquid hits his tender flesh?
Does he go, phew, that's hot?
Oh yeah, he feels the pain But then
does he rip the parachute from his shoulders
And throw it on the floor To say
the stupid parachute No, why shouldn't he?
He didn't put the parachute on for a
better flight He put it on to save
him from the jump to come If he
thinks a hot coffee incident Doesn't have clean
clothes on the parachute And he even looks
forward to the jump Now if you and
I put on the Lord Jesus Christ for
the right motive To flee from the wrath
that's to come To flee from the tribulation
that strikes We won't get angry at God
We will enjoy peace Why shouldn't we?
We didn't come to Jesus for a happy
lifestyle We came to flee from the wrath
that's to come And if anything, tribulation drives
the true believer closer to the Savior Sadly,
we have multitudes of professing Christians Who lose
their joy and peace when the flight gets
bumpy Why?
Because they are the product of modern evangelism
They came lacking repentance without which you cannot
be saved You see, there's no way I'm
going to take a cure Unless I first
admit I've got the disease I should not
take a cure But I believe I've got
the disease The law convinces me I'm diseased
So that I'll accept the gospel Now biblical
evangelism Is always Law to the proud And
grace to the humble Never will you see
Jesus Giving the gospel The cross, the grace
of our God To that arrogant self-righteous
person The law, he breaks the hard heart
And with the gospel, he heals the broken
heart Why?
Because he always did those things that pleased
the Father God resists the proud And gives
grace to the humble Everyone who is proud
of heart Is an abomination to the Lord
Jesus told us for whom the gospel is
for Then the Spirit of the Lord is
upon me Because he has appointed me To
preach the gospel To the poor The broken
hearted The captives And the blind The poor
means those who are poor in spirit The
broken hearted are the contrite ones Those that
mourn The captives are those of whom Satan
has taken captive And the blind are those
whom the God of this world has blinded
Only the sick need a physician And only
those who are convinced of the disease Will
accept the cure Now Luke 10.25 We
see Jesus doing this Giving the law to
the proud Now let me paraphrase this somewhat
for you In Luke 10.25, a certain
lawyer Stood up and tempted Jesus Here
we have a professing expert in God's law
Standing up And tempting the Son of God
He was proud, arrogant, and self-righteous So
Jesus gave him the law Jesus, what is
within the law?
What is your reading of it?
And he said You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, mind, soul,
and strength And you
shall love your neighbor as yourself And then
Jesus said This do, and you shall live
And then the Bible says That he willing
to justify himself Said to Jesus Who is
my neighbor?
The living Bible brings out more clearly The
effect of the law on that man And
the man wanted to justify The lack of
love for some kinds of people So he
said to Jesus Which is my neighbor?
See, he didn't mind Jews But he didn't
like Samaritans So Jesus told him a story
Of what we call The good law He
loved his neighbor as himself He merely obeyed
the basic requirements of God's law And the
effect of the essence of the law The
spirituality of the law Of what the law
demanded in truth He was going to stop
that man's mouth He didn't say another word
Because he didn't love his neighbor to that
degree Remember the law was given to stop
every mouth And leave the whole world guilty
before God We see a similar thing in
Luke 18 verse 18 We won't turn to
it for the sake of time But the
rich young ruler said he had kept the
commandments So Jesus used the first of the
ten commandments I am the Lord your God
You shall have no other gods before me
To show this man that his God was
his money You cannot serve God and mammon
So we see the Lord of the proud
Then we see grace being given to the
humble In the case of Nicodemus He was
a humble Jew Who acknowledged the deity of
the Son of God He was a teacher
in Israel So he obviously knew the law
And the law was a schoolmaster to bring
this godly Jew to Christ Same with the
case of Nathanael and John 1 Who was
an Israelite He was brought up under the
law He was an Israelite indeed Not just
in words And there was no deceit in
his heart And the law was a schoolmaster
to bring this godly Jew to Christ Same
with the Jews on the day of Pentecost
They were devout Jews From every nation under
heaven Who therefore drank and slept God's law
And the law was a schoolmaster to bring
3,000 to Christ First Timothy chapter 1
verse 8 Tells us once again what
God's law is used for First Timothy chapter
1 verse 8 says But we know that
the law is good If it is used
lawfully For the purpose for which it was
designed What was the law designed for?
The following verse tells us The law was
not made for the righteous but for sinners
It even lists the sinners Homosexuals If
you want to bring a homosexual to Christ
Give him the 10 commandments Show him that
he has sinned against God The slightest perversion
If you want to bring a Muslim to
Christ Muslims accept Moses as the prophet Give
them the law of Moses And strip them
of their self-righteousness Show them that God
requires truth in the inward parts The Bible
is filled with examples Of the law doing
its work in evangelism Think of the woman
caught in the act of adultery The law
called for her blood Her only avenue was
to fling herself at the feet of Jesus
And that's the function of God's law Paul
spoke of being shot up under the law
But you cannot condemn sinners They are already
condemned Even those who believe not are condemned
already Normally in this teaching I go through
the 10 commandments But it may be more
practical for you If I share with you
how I share my faith I'm a strong
believer in following the example of Jesus Given
to us in John chapter 4 When Jesus
approached the woman at the well He spoke
in the natural realm first So that's what
I do I go up to someone and
say, Hi, how are you doing?
What do you do for a job?
Then I say, did you get one of
these?
Maybe I give them a gospel tract And
then I carry in my pocket pennies with
the 10 commandments pressed into them But you
don't really need one of these All you
need is something Christian And when they say
it's Christian You say, do you think you've
kept the 10 commandments?
And this is usually what happens Oh, pretty
much I haven't killed anyone I say, have
you ever told a lie?
He says, yeah Once or twice Then what
does that make you?
He says, a sinner I say, more specifically
Does it make you a liar?
He says, oh, I'm not a liar I
say, well, how many lies do you have
to tell to be a liar?
Ten and suddenly a bell rings?
One lie makes you a liar, isn't that
right?
He says, yeah He says, have you ever
stolen something?
He says, no He says, come on, you've
just told me you're a liar He says,
have you ever stolen something, even if it's
small?
He says, yeah He says, what does that
make you?
He says, a thief Did you know Jesus
said if you look at a woman and
lust after her you commit adultery with her
in your heart?
So have you ever done that?
He says, yeah, plenty of times So from
your own admission, you're a lying, thieving adulterer
at heart And you have to face God
on judgment day And we've only looked at
three of the Ten Commandments But if you
hate somebody, you commit murder in your heart
And as you go through the commandments they
leave us all guilty And the wonderful thing
that happens is that the work of the
law is written in their hearts He says
in Romans 2, verse 15 He says, the
conscience bears witness Conscience means with knowledge Con
means with Conscience is knowledge So when anybody's
lied or stolen or lusted He's not really
a cop, but he's done wrong So on
the day of judgment, he will be without
excuse So the law brings the knowledge of
sin You may identify with this, some of
you ladies You dust your table down in
the morning It's a clean table Then you
draw back the curtains And let in the
early morning sunlight What do you see on
the table?
Dust What do you see in the air?
Dust Did the light create the dust?
No, the light merely exposed the dust And
when you and I take the time to
draw back the curtains of the Holy of
Holies It lets the light of God's law
shine upon the sinner's heart So if you
feel that in truth The commandment is a
lamp And the law is light That's why
Paul says, by the commandment Sin became exceedingly
sinful In other words, the law showed him
Sin in its true light And someone who
has this knowledge Can now understand The God
who has to be at them That His
wrath abides upon them They can see their
weight in the balance They know that there
is no other way And they know that
they can't avoid the judgment of the Lord
And they can therefore understand Why Jesus had
to die Christ revealed this from the curse
of the law Being made a curse for
us God commanded His love toward us And
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us We broke the law He
paid the price And those who repent and
accept What He did on the cross Will
be free from the wrath of God Charles
Spurgeon A great preacher from a hundred years
ago Said they will never accept grace Until
they tremble for a holy and just law
They will never take the cure Unless they
feel convinced they have the disease The law
works It converts the soul And makes a
man a new creature in Christ He puts
his hand to the plow And he doesn't
look back Because he is fit for the
kingdom So why don't you find yourself a
sinner And experiment on them Just try it
out See if it works And you can
be the example Follow If someone comes to
you and says I'm just a terrible sinner
I've committed adultery I've got lust burning in
my heart I'm filled with jealousy and hatred
Give them grace More than likely You'll find
people saying I'm really a good person A
lot of people worse than me They go
about to establish their own righteousness Being ignorant
of the righteousness which is of God So
you must give them that light God doesn't
want you to get decisions He wants people
to be saved And for that thing you
repent And they will not repent If they
don't know what sin is So as I
said Try it out But as you do
Remember this one story You're sitting on a
plane Enjoying your flight And suddenly you hear
This is your captain speaking I have an
announcement to make The tail section has just
fallen off this plane We're about to crash
We're 25,000 feet in the air There's
a parachute under your seat So we'd appreciate
it if you put it on Thank you
for your attention And thank you for flying
with this airline You put your parachute on
Boy, am I glad to be wearing a
parachute You look next to the guy next
to you Watching a movie Say, excuse me,
didn't you hear the captain?
What parachute are you on?
The captain says I really don't think the
captain means it I'm quite happy as I
am, thanks Well, don't turn to him And
say, please Put the parachute on It'll be
better than the movie It doesn't make sense
Put the parachute on Because it'll improve the
flight You put it on for a wrong
motive If you want to put it on
and keep it on Tell him about the
jump Excuse me Jump without a parachute Splat
I'm sorry, I beg your pardon I said
if you jump without a parachute Lower of
gravity Come around He says, goodness me I
see what you're saying Thank you very much
As long as that man knows As long
as he has knowledge That he has passed
through the door To face the consequences Of
breaking the law of gravity He'll get that
parachute off his back Because his life depends
on it If you look around you'll find
There are multitudes of passengers enjoying the flight
They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a
season Excuse me Did you hear the command
from the captain of our salvation Put on
the Lord Jesus Christ He turns to you
and says I really don't think God means
it God is love As long as I'm
happy, I'm happy Don't turn to him with
zeal without knowledge Say please Give your heart
to Jesus He'll give you peace, joy, love,
fulfillment He'll fill the God-shaped vacuum in
your heart He'll fill your marriage He'll help
your alcohol problem He'll help your drug problem
Just give your heart to Jesus No, you'll
give him a wrong motive for his commitment
Instead say God give me courage And tell
him about the jump Say if you die
without the Savior The point of a man
wants to die Without political judgment If you've
lost and you've committed adultery If you've hated
the Lord If you've hated someone you've committed
murder If you've told one lie, you're a
liar You're a lay of wrath The fist
of eternal justice will come down upon you
And grind you to pieces Love him Now
I'm not talking about hellfire preaching Hellfire preaching
will produce fear-filled converts Using God's law
will produce fear-filled converts This one comes
merely to escape the fires of hell Because
the law wasn't used to show him he
deserves hell He doesn't appreciate God's mercy
There's no gratitude in his heart But this
one comes knowing he's sinned against heaven He's
violated the law of a holy God And
on the day of justice God was to
lay out all his sins as evidence of
his guilt Almighty God in his holiness Pick
up an unclean thing And cast him into
hell But instead he's given him heaven He's
commanded his love to water him And what
is he the sinner Christ died for?
He falls on his knees In the blood
-sodden soil of Calvary's cross He cries, O
God, if you do that for me, I'll
do anything for you I'd like to do
your will, O my God The law of
the Lord is written upon my heart And
like the man who knew he had to
pass through the door Like the man who
refused to jump off the parachute Like the
man who broke the law of gravity Like
the man who wears the parachute Like the
man who comes before Jesus Christ Knowing he
has to face the holy God on the
day of wrath Because
his very life depends on it Such converts
become soul winners Not pew warmers
Laborers Not layabouts Assets Not
liabilities For the local church Let's bear in
prayer as we close Father, we pray that
we'd be as the Bereans And search the
Scriptures to see if these things are so
And that we'd examine ourselves To see if
we're in the faith Father, if we're not
Let us make our calling and election sure
I'm praying, O God, forgive me, I'm a
sinner By exercising repentance towards God And faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ In his name
we pray Amen