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Romans and chapter seven. The Epistle to the Romans, chapter seven, beginning to read there in verse four. Wherefore, my brethren, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. So today, in our sessions together, we have been thinking of the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. And in our first session, we thought of that foundational work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer, as he pours out God's love for us in our hearts, forming the foundation of all our later experience of God.
Then, in our middle session, we gave ourselves to considering some aspects of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that we might be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, to know, to understand, to grasp both with intellect and imagination, and above all by the Spirit, what is the hope of God's calling? That is what God had in mind when he called us. What is the glory of the riches of his inheritance in the saints?
The great, great harvest that God is reaping for himself in the redemption of men and women through Jesus Christ, his son, to form God, his eternal inheritance. What is the exceeding greatness of his power that he unloosed when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that power being unleashed and still continuing, rippling across time to the hearts of all who trust the Savior. Now, in our final study, we come to consider some aspects of the Spirit's role in the sanctification of the believer.
So at this juncture, let us remind ourselves of the initial cleansing that each believer experiences when first they trust the Savior. For just as in the ancient temple and tabernacle of God, there stood in the forecourt not one vessel, but two. There stood first the altar offering cleansing to those who came, cleansing by blood. So there also stood a laver that provided cleansing by water.
Not one cleansing, but two, and in that order. First cleansing by blood, then cleansing by water. With the laver, there was a once and for all cleansing. Though some theologians are loath to admit it, but they stand to be corrected. Uh, because when the priests, the sons of Aaron, were inducted into their holy office of priesthood, they were brought to the door of the tabernacle, and there they were bathed all over. That was the initial ceremony of their induction as priests.
And if you were asked how they were bathed and with what water were they bathed all over at the door, well, the obvious answer is they were bathed with the water that was placed at the door, placed there in the laver of washing. Then, of course, there were repeated washings of hands as they came near to minister to God. So in Christ, we are given two kinds of cleansing. There is cleansing by blood, as it is written, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin.
Cleansing by blood. But the New Testament also talks to us of another cleansing, cleansing by water. Christ loved the church, says Ephesians chapter five, gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of... not blood this time, by the washing of water. By the word. And similarly, the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter ten, as it dilates on that delightful topic, how God has cleansed us and made us fit to enter even now in spirit into the holiest of all, through the veil, whither the forerunner has entered for us, so that in spirit we may enter into the very throne of God and know ourselves accepted there.
And the preparation is phrased in this fashion: let us draw near in a full heart of faith, having our hearts cleansed, sprinkled, the word is, sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies bathed in pure water. Two cleansings, you notice. Our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, bodies bathed with pure water. Hearts sprinkled, or sprinkled is the technical term that is used in the Old Testament when it was a question of cleansing by blood, as the priest would take blood and sprinkle it on the person or elsewhere as they came for forgiveness of sins.
Never in the Old Testament bathed in blood, always sprinkled by blood. And therefore the New Testament, in talking of the great sacrifice of Christ and his atoning and cleansing blood, uses that same term, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, that is by the blood of Christ. But then it adds, and our bodies, our persons bathed in pure water. Two types of cleansing then, and you might well ask why we should need two types of cleansing. Or you could argue if you please.
Look, I have been cleansed by the blood of Christ and cling to that wonderful scripture, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And if I have thus been cleansed, why do I need any other cleansing? Mm. So now we need to speak of these initial cleansings, don't we, and what they do. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But now then, what type of cleansing, and how does it cleansing?
We shouldn't think of it as some sort of detergent, surely. The epistle to the Hebrews there helps us when it spells out what this cleansing by blood does. Hebrews nine fourteen: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works. The blood of Christ, let us notice, cleanses the conscience from the guilt of sin.
That is very important. When we sin, the Holy Spirit combines with our conscience to make us feel the guilt of our sin, and we seek cleansing from the guilt of sin, and of course, cleansing therefore, so that we might avoid the wrath of God due to that sin. We are told that it is the blood of Christ that cleanses our conscience. How does it cleanse my conscience? Why? Because when I have sinned and my conscience registers the guilt I have broken God's law, there follows the sense that I deserve the penalty of that law.
And it is there that the blood of Christ comes to my rescue. For the blood of Christ is the symbol, so to speak, and the evidence of his death. He died for our sins. Oh, blessed gospel, grasp it again with both hands. This is the gospel. Not that our Lord Jesus lived, though there's a gospel message in that. Not that he gave us an example, though there is encouragement in it. The gospel is this, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. Our sin was laid on him. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He bore the penalty of sin. Judgment God will not twice demand, first at my bleeding shortest hand, and then again at mine. That payment suffices God and his everlasting justice. So when I see that Christ has died and paid the penalty of my sin, and God has accepted that holy sacrifice, then is my conscience cleansed of its guilt. I have boldness to enter the holiest of all. No wonder our blessed Lord Jesus laid it down for us, that we were constantly to come, and taking the bread and the wine at the Lord's Supper, we are to remember how he gave his body and gave his blood on our account.
And even as we take the holy cup at the Lord's Supper, in response to our Lord's gracious invitation, oh, what a joy it is to hear him say in our hearts again, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And as we take the cup and drink it, we hear again in our hearts the words of the New Covenant, reminded by the Holy Spirit. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. It isn't that God forgets that we were sinners.
He'll never forget that, nor will you anyway. I forewarn you that when you get to heaven, you'll not forget that you once were a sinner, will you? Do you hope to stand with the choirs of heaven singing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain? Do you suppose that then you'll nudge your next door person and say, wait me, tell me, why was the Lamb slain? Will you? Not in heaven, you won't. Nor shall God ever look at his blessed son and say, I can't remember now why he was slain. No, no, indeed not. He'll not remember our sins.
That does not mean that he will forget we've been sinners. The term is a legal term borrowed from the customs of the kings of the ancient East in their palaces. Among their officials was one called a recorder, or in Old English we call him the remembrancer. His job was to keep the record of people's misdemeanors and sins against His Majesty. And if His Majesty couldn't sleep one night, as as has you heiress found himself in the situation, he could call for his recorder, or at any time, and for his entertainment ask to be read from the book that the recorder kept. And the recorder would read out the names of the people that offended and their sins.
And His Majesty, having heard it, would demand to know, have they been punished for this sin? And if the recorder said no, then His Majesty forthwith would give command that now that their sin had been called to mind before his judicial bar, they must be punished. That's what remembering sins is. God has had his records, doesn't he? Of all that we have done. Praise God for this, that they who have trusted his son for salvation and his atoning death may know it by the voice of the very Holy Spirit, their sins and iniquities, I will never recall, remember in the legal sense, bring them up before my judgment bar and command that the penalty be exacted.
Why will he never do it? Because for everyone who trusts the Savior, the record of the sins came, comes before God, so to speak, when on Calvary the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Thus it is that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. And lest we forget it, the Lord Jesus commands us, doesn't he? To come and remember him. Taking the bread, emblem of his body that was given for us.
Drinking from the cup of wine in memory of the blood that was shed for him. And when this is so basic to our relationship with God, the wellspring of our gratitude to Christ, my dear brothers and sisters, we shouldn't make it just a ten-minute interlude in meetings that are really organized for other purposes. This is central. Cleansing by blood from the guilt of sin. If that is so, why should I need any further cleansing? For there is cleansing by water, and we get a hint that might serve a first step towards our understanding in Ephesians chapter five, where Paul is urging Christian men to love their wives, as Christ also the church.
You'll see it says that Christ also loved the church, Ephesians five twenty five, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her 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. Now we're not talking about guilt. We are talking about disfigurements. You gentlemen that have such beautiful wives, I can see that.
And you love your wives, don't you? Now, should your wife one day, coming down to breakfast, give evidence that she has rather a nasty, uh, sore on her cheek. You wouldn't blame her, would you? You wouldn't want her to feel guilty for it. And you wouldn't even say, oh my dear, you do have a nasty place on your cheek there. Nevertheless, I forgive you. Well, that'd be nonsense. You don't forgive carbuncles, do you? I've never heard of it. But, gentlemen, you wouldn't say, well, uh, that doesn't matter. She hasn't broken the law.
Oh, the more you loved her, the more you would determine to get rid of the old carbuncle, wouldn't you? You'd say, my dear, you'll have to go to the doctor, much more I'll pay. I'm determined that your beautiful blossoming cheek should not thus be disfigured by such an outrage. Hmm. And, uh, Paul uses the metaphor, doesn't he? The church. Christ loved her. But nowadays he sees in us, his people, all ca- kinds of what he calls spots or wrinkles or other such things.
And it's not the spots and wrinkles on our bodies, is it? It's the spots and wrinkles and disfigurements in our characters. Christ forgives sins, that is, acts of sin. He doesn't forgive bad temper, does he? If we lose our temper and confess it, he forgives us for losing it, but he doesn't say, and I don't mind if you carry on having bad temper, does he? By the very fact he loves us, he's determined to get rid of it, and our meanness and our cowardice, and our self-centeredness and our pride, and our narrow-mindedness and our jealousies and our envies and our greed.
Doesn't, in that sense, forgive us. That's irrelevant. He's determined to get rid of it. Like the husband doesn't forgive the carbuncle, but he's term- determined to get rid of it. So now it's not a question of cleansing by blood. That cleanses us from the guilt of sin. It's a question of cleansing, as you heard, by water, to cleanse away the spots and the blemishes and the disfigurements that spoil our, the beauty of our character. If you want an illustration of that at the level of conversion, you have one in the epistle by Titus in chapter three.
Let's turn to it and read it together. Titus chapter three. While you are finding the place, let me remind you that Titus was at this time in the island of Crete, where there had been those who had professed faith in Christ. But this much was to be said that in those days, the Cretans, generally speaking, were possessed by rather difficult personalities. Chapter one and verse, uh, twelve says, one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, gluttons, could never rely upon them to tell the truth.
Promised to come to the meeting and they wouldn't turn up. And evil beasts. God, they tear you to pieces as soon as they look at you. Yes. Like lions, you know, if they've had their breakfast, they smile at you and purr. If they haven't had their breakfast, and you're the nearest breakfast they could think of, tear you to pieces. Cretans are like that. And idle gluttons, that's feeding themselves and never doing any work whatsoever. You'll find it difficult to get a Christian church working as it should with people like that in it, wouldn't you? I hope.
If you're like that, oh dear. How would, um, God deal with that? Paul doesn't say, well, never mind, you see, they've been cleansed from the guilt of all the sins they've committed, so they'll never come into judgment. So why bother about these evil traits? Of course not. God is determined to get rid of them. How? So we turn over to chapter three to hear Paul talking about this kind of cleansing from the spots and the blemishes. And he says, verse three, thought chapter three: we also were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Plenty of blots and blemishes and spots and wrinkles there, what hope. And he says, but when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us. How? You say by the blood of Christ, that's how he saved us. Well, in a sense he did, but it's not what it says here, is it? He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
It's the washing, isn't it? Do you note the, um, the metaphor? Not sprinkling, washing. Or as Hebrews put it, our bodies bathed in pure water. This is nothing less than regeneration. Oh, make it, let us be sure that we grasp both sides of our glorious gospel. This is he that came by water and by blood, and not by water only, but by water and blood, and blood and water. Blood to cleanse the guilt and free us from the wrath of God. The water of washing, of regeneration, to begin the work of our sanctification, removal of the blots and blemishes.
And for that there is, as our Lord preached when he was here on earth, there is a once and for all cleansing, and then there is a repeated cleansing, is there not? You will remember at the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus, in the middle of the supper, rose from table and stripping his clothes and girding himself with a towel, stooped at his disciples' feet and filling a basin with water, not with blood, of course, with water, he washed his disciples' feet. And, uh, coming to Peter, he found Peter objecting, not me, Lord, you're never going to wash my feet. And our Lord said, but if I don't wash your feet, Peter, you have no part, uh, with me.
And Peter typically went to the other extreme. Well then, Lord, he says, not my feet, only, but my hands and my head and all over. Come, come, Peter said, oh Lord, not so fast, dear boy. Do see, um, he that has been bathed all over doesn't lead afterwards except to rinse his feet. Yes? If you were invited to a great feast in the evening in the ancient East, you took a bath in the afternoon. That was kindness to your fellow guests, do you see? And set you in the mood for the festivities. Then you walked to the house at the hour of the dinner, but walking through the dusty roads, your feet would get defiled and gritty.
So when you arrived at the door, there would be a slave appointed by your host, and he would gently take your sandals off as you sat up in the seat. He would bathe your feet, not yourself all over. You didn't need to be bathed again. We did graciously rinse your feet before you proceeded to the festive. So our Lord is saying there's a once and for all cleansing. He that has been bathed once and for all, all over, doesn't need thereafter, except to rinse his feet. Cor, it begins to put the smile back on your face, doesn't you?
You're conscious of all your blots and blemishes, my dear sir. And yet, this glorious work of salvation, God who has seen them, begins the initial work of sanctification by the washing, the bathing in pure water, our bodies bathed in pure water, not baptism, of course. It's the regeneration performed by the Holy Spirit of God as he regenerates us and gives us new life. This is the beginning of true holiness. Oh, I am so glad it's that way. It is not merely that Christ forgives us and then says, do the best you can to get rid of your blots and blemishes.
No, no. It is that God forgives us through the blood of Christ and then does that miracle of his grace upon us in which he regenerates us and puts within us a new life that wasn't there before. The difference is important, isn't it? You could, if you, uh, thought or do it, uh, dig up an old corpse and say, this is a smelly old corpse, many a wrinkle here, uh, and a blot and a blemish, so let's get out the soap suds and, uh, uh, try to clean up the corpse. What use would that be? Be a different principle, wouldn't it? If you let the corpse stay still and you planted within it an acorn, and the acorn began to grow a new life.
Ah, that's God's way. The initial stage of sanctification performed by the Spirit of God as it regenerates us and puts within the life of God that wasn't there before, which life will grow with its own divine nature and bring forth its fruit for God. Oh, hallelujah then, what a savior, what a... Yes. And he that has been bathed all over, that's initial and permanent, needs not thereafter save to rinse his feet. In other words, to come constantly to the Word of God and allow the Word of God to be applied to our hearts by his Holy Spirit, correcting, rebuking, encouraging, and exhorting.
Where we find things amiss, as we confess it before the Lord, seeking the cleansing of his Holy Spirit and power to overcome. When then does that initial action of sanctification take place? Well, Acts fifteen eight to nine, Peter is talking about the Gentiles. And God has given them his Holy Spirit, somewhat to the consternation of the Jewish Christians. They thought a Gentile could never be made ready to receive the Holy Spirit? Wow. Weren't Gentiles by definition unclean?
How could Gentiles ever receive the Holy Spirit? Yet, as Peter told them, here was the manifestation on the day that he went into Cornelius's house, and as he preached and the Gentiles believed, God gave them the Holy Spirit as he gave to us at the beginning. How can you explain God putting the Holy Spirit into the hearts of Gentiles? How had they been cleansed? And Peter tells us that he, verse nine of chapter fifteen, he made no distinction between them and us, cleansing their hearts by. Or that's where he says he gave them the Holy Spirit, as he did to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus.
The initial work of sanctification. That is important to know. For sometimes religiously inclined people make the mistake. They try to cleanse themselves day by day and make themselves pure. That is a very noble ambition. They forget the first basic necessity, that is that initial cleansing, that initial generation through personal faith in the Lord Jesus. So now, on what principle does the Holy Spirit work holiness in our hearts? There is the initial cleansing.
What about the rest of the thing? For that purpose, I read you the verse in Romans chapter seven ah and it says in verse six, let's read this again, but now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that which, uh, wherein we were hidden, uh, we were holden, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. We shall need to pause about that. What does it mean to serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter? We shall have to pause because we have a saying in English that could lis- mislead us here.
We say that sometimes you have to, uh, break the letter of the law in order to keep its spirit. Yes? So you go along the road ordinary days, and you come across the sign that says thirty mile an hour limit, you see. Ha. And all the gentlemen and ladies here observe it to the letter, don't they? They'll say. The point of it, to save the lives of the citizens from careless drivers driving too fast in built-up areas, they'll say. That's the law. But one night at two o'clock, the ambulance is rung for and comes to transport somebody with a terrible heart attack to hospital.
And now time is everything. And they come to the thirty mile an hour sign, but they can't observe it this time. They neglect it and go roaring through at seventy miles an hour to get this patient to the hospital. And if you were to question, they say, well, we, we broke the letter of the law. We kept its spirit. What do you mean? Well, we asked ourselves, what was the point behind that law, you mustn't go over thirty miles here? Well, it was to preserve the life of citizens. Oh yes, but if we observe that law now, the citizen who's got the heart attack in the ambulance might die before we got him to hospital. So if the purpose of the law is to stop people dying, we keep the s- the s- uh, spirit of the law by breaking its letter, and there they go through the old thirty mile an hour limit at eighty miles an hour to save his life.
So we understand that. It's not what this is talking about at all. You say, what on earth did you talk about it for then? Well, to stop you talking about it that way round. What does it mean? Well, this is God's technique of getting people to obey his law, that the righteous requirement of the law be fulfilled in us. And it's not now simply a matter of laws chiseled on a piece of stone, or even laws written in a book, for that matter. That's how it was in the Old Testament days. Moses came down the mountain with the two tablets of the law, written by the very finger of God, and you may be sure they were written very carefully, beautifully, artistically, and legibly.
But before he got to the bottom of the mountain, the people had broken the first and the greatest of those laws. In that sense, there was nothing wrong with the law. It was holy, just, and good, expressive of the glorious holiness of the character of God. You must never insult God's holy law. It was a beautiful and a glorious thing. Its condemnation of sin was lovely. And the more we grow towards the knowledge of God, the more we shall admire God's holiness and his anger against sin. How we may thank God for the beauty of God's wrath against sin.
It's the beauty of God's holiness that makes heaven what heaven is. It may be glad that God doesn't diminish his standards of holiness, as heaven would be turned out to be the hell this world has become. Nor must we ever apologize for the wrath of God and the holiness of God, like we do for our friends sometimes. You see, meet Archibald Simmons here. Nice chap, you know. Sometimes he blows his top. Well, yeah, that's unpleasant, but he gets over it, and on the whole he's a nice fellow. You don't talk like God about that. Wrath is beautiful. When the great angels come out of the temple of God bearing the vials of God's wrath, how would you picture them?
Like hags, dark with blood and gore oozing from them? No, indeed not. The angels come out with the bowls of God's wrath. They come out dressed in white, brilliant and beautiful white. The wrath of God, his holiness, be beautiful. But how would God get us to be holy? That is the point. The law was written on tablets of stone, told people what to do and what not to do. Didn't give them any power to do it or to refrain. So what the law couldn't do now has to be done by a different matter.
And so in two Corinthians chapter three, you need not turn to it now, record it if you like in your notes. Paul has occasion to describe what happened in Corinth when he came and preached the gospel, and many of the Corinthians were converted. And he uses a dramatic metaphor to describe it. He says, i- i- in effect, Christ took me as his pen. And using the Holy Spirit, so to speak, like ink, he wrote on your hearts. That is the new covenant.
You'll see the new covenant that we celebrate at the Lord's Supper every time we keep it says not merely I will be merciful to their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. The first provision of the new covenant that we celebrate is this, I will write my laws on their hearts. I tell you, that's a difficult job, isn't it, what? You can write laws on a bit of stone if your chisel is sharp enough and make them very precise and clear to read. You can write them on a bit of paper if you're a skillful penman. You try writing laws on fleshy tables of hearts that are all a move.
That is what God has set himself to do, fenced himself to do by the blood of the covenant, writing his laws on our hearts. And Paul says that what I did in Corinth. Christ took me as his pen, and by the Holy Spirit, so to speak, of the analogy to the ink, he wrote his laws on your heart. That is a miracle of the grace of God, isn't it? True in the life of the believer, and we find it progressively true. While we fail much and in many things go astray, there is within a new nature that answers to the Spirit of God, created by the Spirit of God, and we want to do God's holy law and have the potential within us to do it.
Marvelous, isn't it? That is what it means. We try to keep God's holy law merely in our own strength and find, like the writer of Romans seven, how difficult, if not impossible, it is. With our intellect, our mind, we can serve the law of God. For living a holy life is the only intelligent thing to do, isn't it? Living a sinful life is a crazy, or I nearly said lunatic, thing to do. And our intellects can assent to the law of God that it is good. And we can bring our emotion to play, as Paul does, and says, I delight after the law of God. Yeah, there's a certain loveliness about his law.
Then he brings his willpower to bear upon the topic. The things I would do, I tell myself now here, you're going to behave differently next time. Uh, intellect, emotion, will, put all three together. You'll find them ultimately inadequate. How shall we then keep God's holy law? By God's spirit. Not just observing the letter on the tablet, so to speak, but by the life of God's Holy Spirit within. So if that be the principle of the New Covenant, let us think of the further principle that it will, uh, uh, uh, manifest as we proceed.
The principle of sonship, not slavery. And we shall remember what Galatians chapter four tells us, that because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That is the naturalness of a believer's life, isn't it? Because you are sons, you have the status of sons. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, and instinctively the believer knows God as Father and cries, Abba, dear Father.
But look what Romans eight fifteen to seventeen says on this matter of the principle of Christian living. Romans eight fifteen: For you receive not the spirit of bondage again unto fear. But, uh, uh, you receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father. How does a slave go about his work? Well, many slaves would go about their work through fear. They would do what they had to do, and often do it begrudgingly, in fear that if they didn't, the taskmaster's lash would come sweeping down on their backs.
So they did, but did the minimum, of course, and did it resentfully. We have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. We may say in passing, if believers ever find themselves driven by excessive fear, they might know at once it is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will inculcate reverential fear of God, but not unhealthy fear and panic. That is not the work of the Holy Spirit. God tells us so, that he might help us to distinguish from real genuine reverence of God and the sometimes unhealthy psychological neurotic fear that sometimes assails some people.
For if they should think that that fear and panic is the ho- voice of the Holy Spirit, then it will drive them into more serious psychological difficulty. But here we are not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. What spirit then? We received the spirit of adoption as God's dear sons. When I was a child, you know, God had to deal with me, says Paul, like God, uh, parents deal with children. So when I was a child in my father's home, if we were caught running in from the garden with mud on our shoes, right across the floor that mother had recently hoovered, means were brought to bear upon our pasteria to dissuade us from that point of view a- a- and action.
You see? That was the only la- language we understood. We were no better than slaves and had to be kind of driven to it, you see. When we grew up, it was different. You see, our father didn't then lay the ground ash upon our posteriors. Didn't need to. Why? We were grown up sons. We'd come to value the home like our parents valued it. We didn't want to muddy the carpet anyway. And we behaved like sons of the Father. Oh, my brothers, my sisters, God isn't going to fill heaven with a lot of slaves.
People say, do I have to do this? What, another prayer meeting in heaven? Oh, dear me. How many more prayer meetings throughout eternity, I wonder? I have to come. What? I have to listen to God's word. What again? There will be no slaves in heaven. God's business is produce, to produce sons, because they share the, uh, nature and attitude and outlook of their father, wish to do his will. Let led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God, because sons of God have the Spirit of their father, and therefore those who are being led by the Spirit give evidence that they are sons of their father.
Yeah? Being led by the Spirit, it's not just a matter of what shall I do in life, but it comes to that and other things, obviously. But being led by the Spirit in this context is being led to behave like sons and daughters of God are meant to behave. That's how the Spirit leads us. But lest we should think this is somehow automatic, notice what it says. If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. We need that extra healthy balance, do we not? We are to take responsibility as grown up sons and daughters of God, ourselves to deal with the misbehavior of the various members of our bodies, be they tongue or brain or what have you.
We have to put to death, mortify. It isn't a question of just letting go and letting God, and everything somehow will turn out all right in the end. We are called upon as responsible sons and daughters of God, in the grace and power that the Holy Spirit gives us, systematically to mortify those actions and of our bodies and and desires that are not good. That is important, isn't it? It's not, I repeat, an irresponsible letting go and see what happens next. The Holy Spirit will guide us if we are sons.
Last carefully to mortify the wrong deeds of the body. Or we could look, if we will, to uh Galatians, uh, chapters five, uh, chapter 5, verse sixteen to seventeen, where Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the law. Yes, there is a difference. The holiness that we seek is a fruit of the Holy Spirit living within us. The flesh does its work. We note the contrast between works and fruit. Let us also notice, however, verse seventeen, sixteen, seventeen: walk by the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary the one to the other, so that you may not do the things that you would. Two desires, lustings, if you like, but it's uh, uh, uh, uh, the sense of desire. Spirit desires against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit. I had a shower in my bathroom that was like that, and jolly uncomfortable and dangerous it could be, because it was one of these old-fashioned sort, and you had to turn the tap, the cold tap and the hot tap, and somehow get them balanced. But I, I guarantee to you, the cold water lustred against the hot water, and the hot water lustred against the cold water.
So at one moment it was very nice, the next moment you got showered with an icy cold, uh, blast of cold water, and you went and seized the other tap, and it came out scalding hot, and getting things balanced, you'll see, was a bit of a difficulty. Yes. And God, the spirit desires against the flesh, sets up this holy warfare, and the flesh against the spirit, so that we shall not do the things that otherwise we might. We are not left alone. But that said, you'll see, uh, let us notice what chapter six verses seven to eight tell us.
Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that sows unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. To some people, that appears to say that, after all, salvation and eternal life depend on our works. That is not so. We must here make a distinction between the penalty of sin and the consequences of sin. Yes? The penalty imposed by the wrath of God is one thing.
Consequences of sin are another. Suppose a Christian farmer, and he feels in his heart, for some reason, I can't tell you, but if he should sow wheat in his field, yes? God would have him sow wheat. But he notices that he'll get more money from the market if he sows barley. So he disobeys what he feels the Lord would have him do, and he sows barley. And when the barley starts to come up, and it's quite clearly barley, then he's smitten with remorse of conscience. He's disobeyed the Lord and sowed barley instead of wheat. So he goes to the Lord in humble repentance and says, Lord, I've sinned.
I knew you wanted me to sow wheat, and I've gone and sowed barley. Do forgive me, Lord. And the Lord forgives him, of course. If we confess our sins, he's righteous and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So now the man is forgiven. He shall not endure the wrath of God for that sin. Does that change the barley into wheat? Does God do a miracle? Say, well, I'll turn and wave my wand over it and turn the barley into wheat. No. God is not marked. What we sow, we reap. That's a very important thing to get hold of, isn't it?
Not a question of our salvation being secure. Our salvation is being secure. And there is forgiveness for our individual sins as we repent. But consequences. If a believer falls away from the Lord for a while and gets drunk, and in a rowdy fight in some pub, he falls from the first floor window, crashes onto the ground, and breaks his leg, and it has to be amputated, and it all brings him to his senses, and he comes back to the Lord and confesses his sins, and the Lord forgives him. And makes the amputated leg grow again. Well, not this side of glory. To live with the consequences till he goes home to heaven.
God can turn the consequence to a healthy discipline that drives the man nearer to the Lord. But let us notice, in the leading of the Holy Spirit, he would restrain us from sinning when willfully we sin. And there is forgiveness when we repent. But in this life, God doesn't guarantee to remove the consequences. And with that, let us close on this wonderful note. We have the Holy Spirit within us, and says Romans eight twenty six to thirty, the Holy Spirit within us.
He intercedes for us, according to God. Oh, that is lovely, isn't it? God has his purpose for us when he called us. That purpose is, as he puts it, those whom he justified, those he glorified. One day I shall be, and you shall be conformed to the image of God's dear son. That is the goal, and each of us who know the Lord is moving in that direction, footstep by footstep. But when it comes to praying, oftentimes Paul observes we don't know what to pray for as we ought, do we? What do I need to pray for next?
Do I need a time of sunshine to lighten the load, a bit of seeming success, joy and gladness in my heart that will help me on my home to heaven? Or is my need at this time a time of difficulty and testing for my faith, or sorrow, that faith might be purged and made stronger? How would I know what to pray for, as I ought? And God is not left to me.
I say my childlike prayers as best I know how. But within, there is the Holy Spirit, says Holy Scripture, interceding for me according to God. He knows the plan. He knows what is the next step good for me, and he prays within, according to God. And he will bring us home to God at last. Oh, I love those stories, and with this I cease. I love that story in the ancient testament, how that Abraham sent a servant of his to find a bride for his son.
I like the bit where the drama reached its, um, peak, you know, its turning point, and the servant put the word, you see, will you go with this man? Wise servant, servant, as addressing the lady, he got out, you know, the jewels and the pearls and the earrings and the dresses and all the rest of the things that would appeal to her heart, and he preached her a lesson. He says, you know, my, my, my master has a son, and he loves his son, and he's given all things in his hands. Here are some of the treasures, the earnest of what you'll get if you come with me and become the son's bride.
Yes, he stood there glorifying his master's son. So we are told by our Lord himself that one of the functions and duties of the Holy Spirit is this, says the Lord Jesus, he shall glorify me. He shall take of the things of mine and reveal it to you. And when I say my things, says our Lord, uh, you see, what I mean is this, that all that the Father has is mine. And the Holy Spirit will come and help you to see the wonders of Christ, heir of God, heir to the universe, and pose you the question, would you like to be part of the bride of God's dear son?
Oh, what a lovely thing. How vividly it contrasts to the yarn that the serpent put to the woman in the garden. Look at these trees, he said, aren't they lovely, my dear? Beautiful to look at, aesthetically pleasing, good for food, intellectually rewarding, uh, desirable to make, uh, one wise. Why don't you take it, my dear? She said, I mustn't, you see, because God has said you mustn't eat that tree. Oh, nonsense, said the serpent. Nonsense. That's God always trying to keep you down, tantalizing you, putting lovely things in front of your nose, and when you go to take them, saying you can't have them. That's God, you see? Go on, my dear, take it.
You shall be as God. So did the serpent inculcate into the human race that insane notion that man can be as God, independent of God. Our God's counter to that, see it foreshadowed in that servant of Abraham's as he stood before the girl. This is the real thing. My father's son owns everything of the father. Would you not like to be the bride of my master's son? That's it, friend. The Holy Spirit, in all that he does, holds this as supreme.
His task to enrapture your hearts with the glories of Christ. Not just the correctu- correctness of some legal code, but so enrapture your heart with Christ that you will long for him and live to please him. That is it. And when the girl at last said, I will go, he didn't say, well, I'm pleased to hear you say that, my dear. Now look here, let me give you, uh, Abram's visit, uh, visiting card, and, uh, if you should arrive at, uh, the tent where Abram and his son lives, you'll find they'll be there to welcome you. See you when you arrive.
No, indeed not. Ha, when she said I will. He said, here, my dear, the, uh, the camels. And he put her on the camels and walked himself side by side with her every step of the way until he got her home to the father's house. So is it with the Holy Spirit, in us and with us, and shall abide with us as he glorifies Christ to our hearts. He doesn't just leave us to make our way through the wilderness. He walks with us every step of the way until he shall get us home to glory.
Shall we pray? have some seven or eight questions. We've only fifteen minutes to deal with them, and I have been asked to read them twice so that you will understand and also so that they can be recorded in the, uh, tape so that there's question and answer. This one asks, I understand what you said about being declared righteous. How do you interpret two Corinthians five twenty one where it says that we become the righteousness of God in him? Is this not being made righteous?
I think I would be tempted to answer the question briefly by referring to Philippians chapter three and what Paul there says when he observes, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. What a believer gets when he trusts the Savior, notice, is the righteousness of God in Christ. And that righteousness which through faith in Christ is given to us is described not as Christ's righteousness, but God's righteousness.
And it is the righteousness that God gives us by faith and not by works. Yes? So in that sense, uh, uh, yes, we have this righteousness. You can liken it, if you like, to a robe of righteousness that God places upon us, that we are right in his sight. It's what the thing we get by faith. I'm not denying that as believers, we have there about- thereafter to go on and do works of righteousness by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, you'll see. But I still think that the, uh, uh, becoming the righteousness of God in Christ is, uh, what Paul is talking about in Philippians three, that is the righteousness which is of God, God's righteousness, which we get by faith and not by works.
You have defined the believer and God and Jesus, but who, what is the Holy Spirit? You have defined the believer and God and Jesus, but who stroke what is the Holy Spirit? In technical terms, though you won't find these terms in the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Holy Trinity, or rather, as the Orthodox Church prefers to call it, the Holy Triunity. For the Godhead, though one, there is one God, is not a monolith.
In the Godhead, there is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you ask us to define it, we should have at once to say it goes beyond, by definition, human concepts, let alone language. S- Christian thinkers down the centuries have to try to define the Trinity, how it can be one yet three, and they have given us various analogies, none of which is one hundred percent satisfactory, because, and this is not a cop-out, it goes beyond human concept to conceive of it.
Doesn't mean it's wrong. Let me remind you that when it comes to the nucleus of an atom and what goes on inside the particles, and what goes on at the quantum level of physics, is conceptually beyond us. Uh, but we know the results of experiments that show these things are thus. If physics ultimately goes beyond our conceptual possibilities, how much more the God of the atom is beyond us. We are better, therefore, to listen to scripture and see what scripture says. And when it comes to the Holy Spirit, it is noticeable in the New Testament that he is spoken of not just as a power, but as a person.
Now that comes out in the Greek language beyond dispute in certain places, where our Lord refers to the Spirit as he. The Greek for spirit, pnevma, is a neuter noun. That is simply a grammatical thing. Pnevna, uh, spirit in Greek is neuter. But when our Lord uses that in the Gospel of John, of the Holy Spirit, and then talks about the Holy Spirit, he refers to the Holy Spirit not as something neuter, but as a person. He, and he, when he is come, he will guide you into all truth. He is a person, therefore, and we do well, therefore, to say, well, what's he like?
What does scripture say he does? And form our, our concept of him from what scripture actually says about him and what he does. That, I think, is all I could say at this moment about a subject that has filled massive tones of theology ever since the Christian era was born. There are two questions on this, and I'm going to read both of them. What will the angels be doing when we have their jobs? What will the angels be doing when we have their jobs? The second one says, as it's written here, apart from praying to God and the Holy Spirit, how can we be sure that we are doing God's will and not just a good work?
Apart from praying to God and the Holy Spirit, how can we be sure that we are doing God's will and not just a good work? What will the angels be doing when we have their jobs? Well, as far as I know, there's no unemployment bureau in heaven. I can't tell you what the angels would be doing. I can tell you what they're doing at the moment, not only running the universe for God, but, um, they are sent forth to be servants, ministers to them that are heirs of salvation. That's the likes of you and me. And angels are given charge to help and guard and guide and protect.
But even now we don't pray to angels. We have access to higher authorities than they. We come, may come direct to the Father and to the Son through the Holy Spirit. So I suppose that while the Lord Jesus is above them, and we in him shall be above them, that God will find plenty of them for them to do. Don't ask me what, do say it. For if you would ask me, when God administers through Christ and his people the universe to come, what jobs shall we have? Well, I can't begin to imagine the universe to come, can you? God is not hard up for ideas. He is taking all this trouble with us now because of the responsibilities that we must bear in the glory to come.
Do remember that the glory to come is described as a weight of glory. Glory can be such a heavy thing that you have to be strong to hold it. You wouldn't mind if it were cash, would you? You said make it as heavy as you like. Ha ha. You'll see. It will be not only a thing to be enjoyed, but a wonderful responsibility to carry. Glory that shall be ours. Second question, apart from praying to God and the Holy Spirit, how can we be sure that we are doing God's will and not just a good work? That is a question that r- uh, raises its head at different levels.
You'll see it raises its lev- uh, its head at the level of the floor, doesn't it? People will say, I, I believe if I do the best I can, I shall be all right. I'm doing a lot of good wor- works, and I help Oxfam, and I, and in the children's work and so forth, and I think if I do that, I shall be all right for heaven, because these are in themselves good works. Then you do need to read scripture, as this question suggests, to find out that however good our works are, and God is all for good works, don't let anybody tell you otherwise. When Peter came to Cornelius, he he he he said, you know, I've learned this, that in every nation he that doeth good is accepted with God.
He didn't come to Cornelius and say, Cornelius, the first thing I want you to get hold of is all your righteousnesses are as filthy rags. For had Peter said that to Cornelius, Cornelius could have well replied, that's very odd, Peter. So I had an angel here this morning, and he said my works had come up before God as a memorial. Yes. Not as the basis of his salvation, no. He was doing these good works as best he knew how to please God. And God saw the evidence of a heart that wanted to please him and sent Peter to tell him, now notice this, how he could be saved. That's another thing. You can't be saved by your works. If salvation depended on our works, it would make slaves of.
God doesn't make slaves. Salvation is a gift, given to faith, not dependent on our works, good or bad, you'll see. So it raises its head at that level, and to get this thing square, we do need to consult scripture and not just go along and say, I'm doing a lot of good work in my community, I think I shall be all right. That could be exceedingly dangerous. As a believer, it raises its head. I want to please the Lord. What job shall I do? What career shall I follow? Shall I go out as a missionary? This, that, and the other. We yearn for the guidance of God, don't we? How do we know if we have the guidance of God, as distinct from just doing something because it's a good thing to do?
That is a complicated question, and uh, to answer it in full, you'd have to ask me to come again, or preferably get a better preacher. Eh, you'll see, but uh, uh, we have to have a balance here, don't we? The scripture shows us that even the holy apostle Paul and his fellow missionary, when they started out on their second journey, they attempted to go here, and the Holy Spirit stopped them, which shows that they didn't have the Holy Spirit's guidance to start with, did they? Or so wouldn't have gone here, they had to be stopped by the Holy Spirit. They attempted to go somewhere else, and the Holy Spirit stopped them there, which shows they didn't have any particular guidance. Till at last the Holy Spirit got them where he wanted them, across into Macedonia, and they were guided to go, uh, into Macedonia to preach.
Now you'll see, we have to notice that God is balanced. He gives us our general orders, and we are to follow them out unless we get specific guidance. Then on times he gives us special and particular guidance, but not all the time. What would you think of a Christian mother who got up in the morning with her uh three-month-old new baby and said, now I mustn't just pre- feed the baby just because it's a good work to do, but to get down and pray, God, do you want me to feed the baby this morning? Say nonsense. The very fact that God has given you a baby is his guidance that you should feed the, the, the thing, the child, and go on feeding it and tending to it.
So God has given us the command to generally to preach the word, to do good to all men. We have to go on and do it. Shall I do good to this man or not? Well, we don't have to ask the question. We are called to, to do good to all men, especially those that believe. That's what you might call general guidance. We're to carry on with general guidance. But then there are occasions when we need specific guidance, are there not? And there we have all sorts of, uh, things open to us, the word of God in general. I don't need to ask the Lord, will you guide me to be the master of this betting shop? Do we? No.
Uh, shall I ask the Lord to get me to cheat the income tax this time? I don't have to ask guidance about it. Comes under our general rules. Can't do those kind of things. We need to ask specific guidance. Shall I marry this man or the other man? Does the Lord want me to be a missionary to my family, to the neighbor next door, to some nation overseas, and all those kind of questions. And these are questions that, as growing up children of God, we wait on God, we read his word, we listen to those that God has given us as our guides in the Lord. But then from time to time, we may expect special guidance from the Lord in a way that he knows how to give it to each individual heart.
Don't move, David. Uh, we'll just save time with the upping and downing. This may be a yes or no answer. I have heard it said that we can't get more of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit can get more of us. Would you agree? I have heard it said that we can't get more of the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit can get more of us. That's a very neat sentence, and, uh, the meaning that it intends is very right, because it starts from this, that the Holy Spirit is not just so much power like electricity, he is a person. So if the Holy Spirit is given to us, it's a person that is coming to live in our hearts. And yet, of course, um, let me use a, a, a, a quite inadequate analogy, but the sun up in the sky is up in the sky, doesn't it?
The sunbeam that comes down and latches on your head and makes you nice, feel nice and warm, is that part of the sun or isn't it part of the sun? So the Holy Spirit exercises his power, and sometimes we can limit his power, can't we? And sometimes we can know much more of his power. So, in one sense, uh, yes, uh, we, the Holy Spirit's a person, we have the Holy Spirit as a person. We don't have to ask more of him, he is the Holy Spirit, but we do need to have his ongoing work and more of the power of the Holy Spirit and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit manifested in our hearts and in our churches.
Is lack of assurance sin and rebellion, or do some young adults need time and maturity before they fully embrace the truth of salvation? Is lack of assurance sin and rebellion, or are some young adults... do some young adults need time and maturity before they fully embrace the truth of salvation? Now, as far as assurance goes, it's not just young adults that need it. In my experience, there are a lot of middle-aged believers who, in their heart of hearts, sometimes come to doubt, and they're wondering if they believed the right way round to start with, and then they try to say, well, how did I believe when I believed, and was that the real kind of faith?
And they get themselves in interminable muddles through it. So it's not just young believers. Similarly, in Eastern Europe, the further east you go, you'll find believers who feel that you cannot be eter- assured eternally. You're not eternally secure. You could fall away and be lost. And they feel it so ardently, it's no use putting your fist in their faces and say, you've got to believe this. You have to say, is that what you believe? And then get on with talking about the Lord Jesus and expounding his salvation. And then you sometimes you can see the ice melt, and they come to see how lovely the Lord Jesus is. That's because he is so wonderful, and God's character is so stable that we can be sure of salvation.
So yes, sometimes people need, uh, time to think about these things. Sometimes it can be as the result of unbelief. People sometimes lack assurance because they've not yet fully repented. You say, what do you mean? Well, they have agreed with God that stealing is sin, adultery is sin, and various other things are sins. And their idea of repentance is that you repent of these individual sins. But in another radical sense, they haven't repented. Repentance towards God is listening to God's word that says that our sins deserve eternal death. And when you get ninety nine and a half, you will still come short of the perfection of God's law, and God's law curses you.
And you might as well own it now as own it then. That is repentance. Coming to say I'm absolutely lost. Unlike that book I quoted earlier that says few of us will feel we've ever done anything worthy of damnation. The people who wrote that said, likewise, when you see God, you'll be terrified. Yeah, because they'd never repented. It is precisely that point. We have all been worthy of damnation. Until we face that, God can't give us assurance. Assurance comes when we see that under God's holy law, we're worthy of damnation. First to last, we're right off, deserve to be executed dead and buried.
That's what we symbolize in baptism, of course, buried out of sight. And when we do that, then God is ready to hand with his salvation through Christ. We can have him as a gift and be utterly sure of it. That's why that basic repentance is so important, and why the preaching of the wrath of God and how we get freed from it, when it is soft-pedaled and not preached nowadays, and people are preached mere experience, and are you joyful in your heart, and Jesus can chase away the blues, leaves many people after the excitement of emotional experience, unsure in their hearts of salvation. Because the whole question of the wrath of God and the penalty of sin has been bypassed.
It's when we've accepted that, ha, then God can give us complete assurance, which doesn't depend on our merit or works or so forth, but solely on the sacrifice of Christ and the character of God. But if folks are laboring, uh, with doubt in their hearts, spiritual or psychological, it is not nes- in itself sinful, is it? In the sense you shouldn't regard it as one more sin that is pushing you down. Our Lord, when faced with Thomas. Thomas, you know, he's a brave man, would have gladly died with the Lord Jesus. But when the apostles told him that they had seen the Lord in resurrection, he said, well, my brethren, if you like to believe that, if that gives you a good comfort, well, you carry on believing it, you see.
I just couldn't. And when the Lord appeared, he didn't rebuke Thomas and say, you wicked man, Thomas, daring to doubt. Of course not. The doubt was honest. Hey, Thomas, I think the other day you were asking for evidence, weren't you? You said that you wouldn't believe unless you saw the print in my hand, the nail in my hands, and the sword thrust in my side. You wanted some evidence, didn't you, Thomas? Well, Thomas, put your hand here in the print book and in my side. Yes, and if you have doubts as a young person, bring them to the Lord Jesus. You can be honest with him, tell him what you like.
In the days when I was a student and had my doubts about inspiration of scripture, I couldn't see the evidence that would have confirmed inspiration of scripture. Couldn't stand against the professors who said the Bible was mis- uh, mistaken. I found the secret was to bring it to the Lord and say, Lord, you'll have to show me the evidence. Yes. So, uh, that's an old man talking about that, put up with his vagaries. Uh, Two Peter two twenty twenty one. Does this imply that a believer can lose their salvation, or are these people never believers in the first place?
Does this imply that a believer can lose their salvation, or were these people never believers in the first place? Two Peter twenty one. Twenty twenty Twen- Twenty twenty one. Oh, I see. Yeah. Well, sir, let me first say, I was told by official in high place that there were only three questions, and therefore I might preach till three past 4. There seem to be more than three questions. One more. One more. Double question. One more, good. Well, let's take the analogy that Paul uses. It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
The second of those analogies, the parable of the sow, is the sow that went down to the baths. It watched the ladies go there and saw how they came out clean and beautiful and pink looking and lovely gowns and earrings and things. It decided to be a lady. So it went down to the baths and got itself scrubbed and tail nice and curly, and uh, then it got a dress on and had an earring in it, a ring in its snout, and had watched the ladies how they went prancing up the street, so it tried to do it on its back legs and went up the street, you see, like that, making a good effort to be a lady. Unfortunately, it came up to a deep puddle of mud and water, and forgetting about being a lady, it went into it, all beautiful mud, mud, glorious mud, you see.
Ha ha. You say, what was wrong with that? Well, it had been cleaned up outside, never changed inside. Lot got muddled up into some very funny things, both in Sodom and in the caves afterwards to which he fled. But Lot was a genuine believer and was saved. And as for the judgment, the angels said to him, I can't do any- we can't do anything to Sodom by way of pouring out judgment until we get you out. He was a justified man. But, um, there are those who clean up on the outside, try to become Christians by doing things that Christians do, without ever having been changed inside.
That is exceedingly dangerous. And when it comes to the new morality, as they call it, that's the immorality. We live in a world full of it, and the kids are taught it at school. In at least Britain, they're taught it. You see, then we must be very careful. For Peter also envisaged those who fall from their steadfastness. Believers who once would have stood straight down the line for the holiness and morality that God's word teaches, but under the influence of modernist teachers in the churches, compromise somewhat and fall from their own steadfastness. We have to distinguish between the two groups.
Just briefly on this one, why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel when many people would laugh at him for it? Would it not be his human nature to be embarrassed? And what do we say when we try to share God's love with others? Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel when many people would laugh at him for it? Would it not be his human nature to be embarrassed? What do we say when we try to share God's love with others? Well, many people did laugh at him, and the Stoics and the Epicureans in Athens mocked his notion of a resurrection. He preached it nonetheless, of course. Eh, why was he not ashamed? Because it works, the gospel works. Its diagnosis is right.
When the world by its wisdom didn't know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching of the message of the cross to save people that believe. If you ponder that, you'll see that God's di- the diagnosis of man's need is right. You can philosophize how you like, but philosophy has not changed people's hearts and made people friends of God. Why not? Because it's not the, uh, uh, uh, our intellects that's at fault. It's our hearts that are at fault. And therefore God diagnoses it by preaching the gospel of the cross, which shows us what's wrong with us. It's our ha- heart attitude to our Creator, not our intellectual difficulties, but our heart attitude.
And what can change that heart attitude, that is the gospel of the cross of Christ, can change that heart attitude. And Paul had seen it work. I'm not ashamed of it, for it works. As far as the intellectual arguments go for the existence of God and so forth and so forth, there's much to be said about that, isn't there? And at that level, I'm not ashamed of the gospel either, because atheistic evolution is not science anyway. It is a philosophy, and it's a science built on an atheistic, materialistic philosophy. If there is no God, then evolution is the only, only explanation on the market.
But if there is a God, how does the atheist know there isn't? Beware of taking not in, taking in not only science, but beware of taking in the materialistic, atheistic presuppositions, philosophical presuppositions upon which some science or some scientists base themselves. Yeah, we needn't be ashamed of the gospel there either. Thank you, brother, for sharing those answers with us, and I trust they have been a help to not only those who que- sent in the questions, but to all of us as we have listened.
