John MacArthur: The Gospel According to Jesus, Singapore

[Applause] thank you for that very gracious introduction and I am very grateful to the Lord for the privilege of being with you tonight it's been wonderful to be in your beautiful country and we are learning to love and appreciate it very very much just in a few days so I'm thrilled to be able to Minister the Word of God to you tonight I want to say that the Lord has blessed our ministry in many many ways and when people say to me how has your ministry grown the answer I always give is because God is sovereign and because God sovereignly decided to build a church and he has done that and we have really watched him do it it's not the reflection of the work of men but of the work of God and we give him all the glory and all the praise one of the wonderful things that we've enjoyed in the ministry has been the spread of tapes and literature around the world to many people who are hungry for God's Word and over the last several years we have even begun to distribute tapes and study materials here in Singapore and the Lord has really encouraged our hearts with that so for those of you who may have heard some tapes or read some material that we're very grateful for your part in our extended ministry and as I said to someone today my objective and the objective of our church is not to reach everyone but to provide some materials that'll touch the hearts of those who are really hungry for the Word of God and that hunger is worldwide I just came from Australia and New Zealand and there we met with crowds of people all of whom had the same thing in common they wanted to know what the Bible meant by what it said they wanted to understand God's Word and how it applies to their life so that's very exciting to know that I'll continue to have a ministry here in this lovely place even after I'm long gone in a couple of days the Word of God will go forth through the tapes and materials and we trust that it'll be a blessing to you I might also mention that when you leave there are some book tables outside of the hall and some information regarding the Masters College and Seminary I know that many of you are concerned about getting Christian education the Masters College is a fully accredited college with all kinds of areas of study including pre-med and pre-dental and business and computer science and science and history and and many many things as well as theology and Bible and missions and if you're interested in that there's a little brochure you can pick up that looks like that and it'll give you a little card you can write in if you'd like information on the Masters College we have students now approaching about a thousand students in our school a regular daytime students and from about 19 or 20 nations of the world as well as the United States we also have a graduate seminary called the Masters seminary there's a little brochure on that we train men because lives depend on it it's a unique seminary we not only teach the Word of God again it's a fully accredited seminary by the accrediting Association that accredits all the universities of our land we not only teach the Word of God but we're very much involved in building godly men seminaries only for men who want to be preachers and teachers of God's Word and we have an investment in their lives more than just with doctrine and fact they are discipled by the faculty and we endeavor to produce godly men by God's grace so if you're interested in either of those schools you may feel free please to pick up that material and we hope that it'll be helpful to you well when you only have one opportunity to speak in a place there are many many subjects that grip your heart I have so many favorite things I might share with you but some dear folks who are here in Singapore asked me if I would speak on this matter of the lordship of Christ and I am anxious to do that because they felt it would be helpful to you for the last about eight to ten years I've been writing a book on the subject now the lordship of Christ may seem like a fairly covered subject like it's already had everything said that could be said about it but there is a very very important issue facing the church in the world today with regard to the lordship of Christ and over the last eight to ten years I have been deeply concerned about the gospel that the church is preaching today and so I've been in the process of writing this book which by the way is now released it has just been released in the last four weeks and I think there are some available tonight its title is the Gospel according to Jesus the subtitle what did Jesus mean when he said follow me it really deals with the issue of what is the true gospel and what is a true Christian let me give you a little bit of background as to why this is of great concern to me number of years ago of course when I was a high school student I had a very good friend his name was Ralph and he and I played on the football team and we played on the basketball team and we were very close friends in high school we had parents each of us who were Christians still are our parents were very active in the church my father is still preaching the Word of God for over 50 years he has been doing that and we had Christian background Christian upbringing involvement in the church and very often on the weekends we would go down to the center of Los Angeles where there's a big square called Pershing Square and we would preach or witness to people in fact that was the place where everybody went who wanted to make a speech and people would stand up on a bench and make a speech about anything so we thought as long as speeches are being made we might as well make some for Christ so we made our speeches and talk to people and Ralph and I were involved in communicating the gospel to folks well when we graduated from high school we both went away to different universities he went to a university in California and I went University on the east coast of the United States about 3,000 miles away I didn't see Ralph for two years at the end of two years the second year in the university I came home and I happen to run across him and I said Ralph how are you how are you doing he had gone to a university that had been founded by the Baptist's in Southern California and it had a heritage of Baptist doctrine I said to him how you doing spiritually he said to me well you might not understand this but I might as well tell you I'm an atheist I don't believe in God I don't believe there is a God and I was shocked because this is a young man that I knew so very well and I really wasn't sure where to put Ralph in my theology I didn't know where he fit and I asked myself the question how can a person be apparently committed to Christ talk about Christ witness for Christ go off to a university that has roots in the Christian faith and come out two years later an atheist was he ever a Christian is he now a Christian how am I to understand this as far as I know to this day he has never changed his mind about being an atheist then I went back to University this time I transferred to a school on the west coast because I wanted to play American football and I had received a scholarship offer so I went to this school to play football and to be involved in athletics and I was what we call a running back I carried the football and there were two of us on the team myself and another guy and we were the running backs we were best of friends we were co-captains of the football team he was student body president I was student body vice president we led the student associations his father was a pastor my father a pastor we were involved outside of our college experience as youth pastors he was youth pastor at a Presbyterian Church and I was youth pastor at a Bible Church we both were involved in teaching a Bible study to college students i I taught a Bible study he taught a Bible study we were both theology majors in the school and we were both headed for seminary we were just so much alike we were very involved in ministry involved in prayer groups together Bible studies together and when we graduated we both hit it off for seminary I went to seminary to prepare for the ministry he decided to go on and get a degree in philosophy he finished his degree in philosophy at the same time I finished my seminary I became a pastor and he became a professor in the state college system he was teaching a philosophy class when I next heard about him and it reached the whole nation because it was front-page news on the newspaper that he had stripped naked two of his students and stood them before the class and done some things that are not worthy to be repeated he then got involved in selling drugs and in promoting rock concerts denied Christ denied the faith was caught by the police for his drug trafficking and served a seven-year prison sentence this was my friend who was a college Bible study leader and a youth pastor and I had no place in my theology quite yet for him either and I was asking myself by that time why does this keep happening to me there were others like him but that's the most dramatic another one of my fellow students who took a Bible major at the University and was headed for ministry became an atheistic communist to join the Communist Party after being raised in the Christian Church and then perhaps the saddest thing of all I went away to seminary and during my years in seminary had a very dear friend this friend had graduated from Westmont College at Christian College in California he had studied the Bible and he had come to seminary to train for the pastor it his father became the Dean of the seminaries father taught my homiletics class my hermeneutics class many of the pastoral theology classes and this young man was my friend we sang duets together we sang in a quartet together we served in leadership together in the seminary I graduated from seminary became a pastor he grades you up graduated from seminary and became a Buddhist he set up a Buddhist altar in his house his wife was a Buddhist and I found that very difficult to deal with I came to my church to Pastor my church and there was a young man there who said he wanted me to disciple him and I've always been involved in disciple eman and I did I said I will disciple you and I said we'll meet every Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m. you find out whether someone is serious about discipleship if you meet him at 6 a.m. every Tuesday and I said we're going to spend time in prayer and so for 1 year we met on our knees on Tuesday morning and we we knelt on our knees with one or two others that we prayed and we studied God's Word and at the end of the year he left the church he left the Lord he left his wife he left his children and went off into an adulterous relationship and has never come back who's a true Christian never ask the question can you repeat that kind of testimony of yourself do you know some people who once seemed to be so on fire for the Lord and drifted away there are so many like that so many I see people as a pastor who come to the church they make a profession of faith in Christ and then they disappear they just disappear they face some kind of difficulty in their life and they're gone you know the Apostle Paul said in second Corinthians 13:5 examine yourselves whether you be in the faith examine yourselves whether you be in the faith and jesus said in john 8 when the scripture says many believed on his name John 8:31 he then said if you continue in my word then you are my Mothe a taste allay those my genuine disciple jesus said a true disciple continues in the word continues in obedience does not defect the writer of Hebrews says that salvation belongs to those who endure to the end who continue who do not give up who persevere and Jesus said the same thing in the Olivet discourse who is a true Christian well I submit to you that the church is filled with people who are deceived about that and part of the reason for their deception is because many people are preaching a gospel that is inadequate I heard a Calvinist say one time sometimes we don't present the gospel well enough for the elect to reject it are we really preaching the true gospel the way Jesus would if he were here there is a wave of preaching in America that is very frightening and since in many ways America tends to set the pace for other parts of the world it pertains to people even outside of our own society but there are those who say that the pure gospel the true gospel demands nothing but faith that is believing the facts that Jesus died and rose again and salvation does not necessarily result in a change life in fact some would say you could be a Christian and have no change in your life at all let me give you an illustration I was riding along in a car with a professor one of the leading seminaries in America strong Bible teaching seminary and we passed a series of stores that sell liquor and I said that's a very interesting-looking store they all look the same and they had the same name as we move through the city and I said that that is a strange name for a liquor store I thought I was just making conversation he said well it's interesting you brought that up because there are 26 of those liquor stores in our city and they're owned by a man in my Sunday School class and I said well now wait a minute the man who owns those liquor stores is in your Sunday School classes it yes I said well has anybody ever talked to him about owning all that liquor store business well he said I don't know I said well does he knew he said Allah noise becoming four years I said well doesn't it bother him and the church that this man is supplying liquor for a major portion of the city isn't there something about Christian life that sort of militates against that he said well he said I could never do that and I may not understand that but he said that's not really what bothers me about the man I said oh there's more he said yes he said the real concern is that he left his wife and he's now living with a girl is not his wife now the plot is thickening and I said you mean to tell me he's living in adultery and he owns 26 liquor stores I said is he come all the time he comes every week and no one speaks to him I said to him how can that be and then he said this and I'll never forget it he said I do find it hard to understand how a Christian can act like that I'm talking about a seminary professor I do find it hard to understand how a Christian can act like that I said to him did it ever enter your mind that he might not be a Christian all know he said I remember the day he walked the aisle I remember the day he walked the aisle and went forward and received Christ how do you tell it to Christian by where he walked he tell it through Christian by what he signed or do you tell it to a Christian by a transformed life who's a true Christian there are some today who would say well you can be a Christian and not be a disciple you see all Jesus calls to discipleship were strong calls he said if you're not willing to leave father mother you're not worthy to be my wife my disciple if you're not willing to take up your cross and follow me that is even die if need be that's what a cross meant that wasn't mystical when he said take up your cross and follow me today do exactly what he meant people died on crosses and he was calling for the kind of discipleship that was willing to give its life and he says if you're not wanting to do that you can't be my disciple so people today are saying well you see he's not talking about Christianity you can be a Christian and still not be a dedicated disciple you can take Jesus as your Savior and then maybe later on you'll take him as your Lord and really follow me is that a proper biblical interpretation did Jesus come into the world to call people that were already Christians to a second level discipleship was Jesus an evangelist or a deeper life teacher was Jesus calling people to a second level kind of living or was he calling them to salvation when he called for discipleship when Jesus said go into all the world and make disciples was he telling us to evangelize or to find Christians that were already there and tried to get him to make a bigger commitment I think the answer is obvious a Christian and a disciple are one in the same and when Jesus called for discipleship in strong terms it was equal to salvation but I don't hear that kind of call today I hear a rather simplistic believe on Jesus and that's it don't worry about anything else and then later on you can worry about whether you get serious can you receive Christ as Savior and not as Lord you hear people say well you know I took him as Savior but I I didn't take him as Lord until later is that possible do you tell Jesus who he is do you say to him you can be Savior but don't try to be Lord are you in control of that am I very important questions now let's answer them by looking to the Word of God tonight I want to take you into Matthew I hope you have your Bible do you Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 and I want to start in Matthew 7 and move through touching some very important things that our Lord said regarding this matter of entering the kingdom which is synonymous with salvation but let's begin at chapter 7 verse 13 a very familiar passage but one that might not be always understood in Matthew 7:13 Jesus comes to the invitation at the end of the Sermon on the map the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest evangelistic sermon ever preached I believe a masterpiece in which Jesus basically systematically destroyed the Pharisees religion he stripped them naked he said they were phonies and frauds and their prayers were hypocritical and their fasting was hypocritical and they're giving their arms was hypocritical and their religion was external not of the heart he literally stripped them naked and bare and exposed as self fulfilling self aggrandizing self-righteous hypocrites and the whole idea of stripping away the false religion was to leave them naked and desperately in need of Savior he comes then to the invitation in verse 13 he has torn their religious garments off and they're naked they have to make a choice are you going to go back to your religious system or are you gonna come to the truth the truth of course was in Christ he gives them two options verse 13 enter in at the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction many there be you go in there because narrow is the gate and compressed is the way which leads to life and few there are who find it now think this through with me two gates two ways I know you've heard of that many times but I think perhaps you might misunderstand what he means now listen carefully two gates two ways both gates are marked heaven that's the whole point the narrow gate doesn't say heaven and the broad gate hell nobody is calling people to go to hell nobody is inviting people to damnation the both gates are identified heaven the problem is one gets there in one doesn't one is the broad gate and the broad Road of false religion that promises heaven but can't deliver in the case of our Lord's life it was Judaism Pharisee ik corrupt apostate Judaism which promised heaven through self righteous works but couldn't deliver heaven it was a broad way in the sense that you could just about live any way you wanted you could float all over any kind of lifestyle that you wanted lots of room and space and latitude it was even a broad gate you could get on with all your baggage you could carry on anything you could take a cart on if you wanted full of sin and self-righteousness and works and whatever come on the road of religion live any way you want just do your religious duty now and then and you'll get to heaven that's the broad road it is not marked hell it is marked heaven it just doesn't go there it's an easy way to get on it and you can live any way you want it's very typical very typical talk to a man this evening in the hotel and I asked him his nationality and he told me he was Chinese and Singapore was his home and I said what your name is Patrick and he said yes he said because I was baptized Catholic 18 years ago and now I'm Catholic and I was Buddhist till my mother died and then I became Catholic and I said are you still Catholic oh yes I'm Catholic and all my family's Catholic and he said you know the thing I like is it really doesn't matter you can worship God anywhere in any way you like that's the broad road that's exactly what the broad road is it's absolutely anything you want it to be whatever religion you come up with do you realize there's only two religions in the world only two the religion of divine accomplishment in Christ and the religion of human achievement and it comes under thousands of names but it's all salvation by works many names all the same religion all the broad road you're earning your way in by something you do some religious ceremony some religious routine some religious activity some self righteous deeds that's the broad road and what is tragic is that there are many people in Christian churches on that road who thought they could just step into the Christian world with all a garbage of their life and live any way they want and still get to heaven and John Bunyan said for those people the entrance to hell is from the portals of heaven what a frightening thought but on the other hand you have this narrow road and this narrow gate did you ever try to go through it can you imagine for example going through a turnstile with all your luggage you can't do that well the gate into the kingdom that doesn't that does go to heaven is a turnstile you go in without anything you drop your sin and yourself and your works righteousness and you come through just like the publican and Luke 18 the Pharisee what is he saying oh lord I thank you that I am NOT his other men that I fast twice a week that I tithe of all that I possess that I give my arms all that list of good things is nothing but baggage the only Road he can get on is the broad one with the broad gate and then you have the man in the corner beating his breast saying God Beamer to fall to me what sinner he's destitute he is coming with a beatitude attitude meek broken and spirit crying out for mercy stripped of everything he comes on the narrow way and when you come on the narrow way it's a narrow way you live a very circumscribed life Jesus laid it out if you're not willing to leave father mother follow me and I worthy to be my disciple take up your cross follow me you're not worthy to be my disciple the one who loves me he said keeps my what my Commandments he it is that loves me very narrowly it ends in heaven one leads to life one leads to destruction the broad way please notice a word in verse 13 many go that way many the narrow verse 14 few find it beloved I submit to you that what Jesus says here is that the majority of people in the world are on the broad road that says heaven but doesn't get there and many of them I believe are in churches that supposedly hold up the name of Christ they're deceived let me show you why go to verse 21 Jesus says not everyone that says unto me Lord Lord not everyone that says that's the keyword you want to underline in your mind not everyone that says Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven shall be saved but he that does the will of my father who's in heaven how do you tell a true Christian from a false one one is assayer and the other is a what a doer how do you tell it to Christian not by what he says but by what he does James says do not be hearers of the word only for if you do you are what deceiving your own selves my great burden starts with the church because I believe the church was filled with self deceived people many of whom have been victimized by a shallow gospel what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace easy believe ISM Jesus says not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one whose pattern of life is doing the will of the Father so how do you tell a true believer not by what he says or she says but by what he or she does now follow verse 22 what's the first word in verse 22 what is it many now where did we hear that word before in what verse verse 30 now listen to this the many who got on the broad road are the many who will show up at the end and say Lord Lord haven't we prophesied in your name preached haven't we in your name cast out demons and in your name have we done many wonderful works you see they're going to come to the end of the road the many and they're gonna say Lord we were serving you and we were preaching for you and we were casting out demons for you and we were doing all these things for you whether or not they really did them isn't appointment here it's just that they make the claim and then jesus said i will profess to them i have never known you what does he mean by that does he mean I don't know who you are no he knows where they are in what sense does he use the word no that is a marvelous term the word no and in biblical terminology it means an intimate relationship for example the Old Testament it says Cain knew his wife and she bore a child it means a lot more than he knew who she was and you remember that Joseph and Mary had not yet consummated the marriage and it says she was with child and Joseph had not known her and in Amos 3:2 God said Israel only have I known it is a term to reflect an intimate relationship and Jesus is saying I have no intimate relationship with you depart from me you workers of iniquity now follow the thought how can you tell a true Christian how can you tell a true Christian first of all a true Christian is one who has come on through the narrow gate to the narrow way that's point number one through the narrow gate to the narrow way what's the significance of that you come through the narrow gate having dropped your sin and the baggage of your selfishness and your works righteousness and all of that you come with that humble attitude Lord be merciful to me a sinner you come out of a repentant heart you come as the Beatitudes indicate when he began the sermon you must come and you remember back in chapter 5 what he said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven what is poor in spirit beautiful Greek word it means so poor you have to beg the spiritually bankrupt the spiritually destitute those who are meek he says those who hunger and thirst after righteousness those are the ones who come on the narrow way through the narrow gate and their lives show it verse 21 says they're not the sailors they're the doers and verse 23 says the pattern of their life is not continually iniquity so we could say the first mark of a true Christian is he comes on the narrow way he comes with repentance and a hunger for righteousness stripped of all his own works secondly his characteristic of life is he does the will of God that's the pattern now listen carefully that will not be the perfection of our lives but it is the direction of our lives let me put it to you simply I believe that a true Christian is driven by the desire to do God's will we don't always do it do we Paul says in Romans 7 the things I want to do I what I don't do and he says the things I don't want to do I do and I recognize that there is the flesh warring in me so that there's a certain wretchedness that's the heart of a Christian who longs to do the will of God but finds the flesh getting in the way but still the pattern of his life is to do the will of God that's his desire and that becomes the new pattern at first it's a kind of an intermittent pattern and as he matures in Christ becomes more frequent more frequent more frequent more free I've always said spiritual maturity is the decreasing frequency of sin and the increasing frequency of righteousness who is a true Christian not somebody who walked an aisle signed a card stuck a hand in the air got baptized true Christian is a person who came with a repentant heart whose deepest desires to do the will of the father and who is not characterized as a worker of iniquity now he gives an illustration of this point in verse 24 therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them I liken to a wise man who built his house on a rock the rain descended the floods came the winds blew beat on the house it fell not for it was founded on a rock and everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them not shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the houses and fell and great was the fall of it now here's this point he closes a sermon like any good preacher with a good illustrate and what he says this you got two houses two men building to house what are these houses religious structures two religious men both building up their religious structure there's only one difference one is on rock and one is on sand but you can't tell that until what happens storm comes storm represents judgment it's awful hard to tell who's real until the judgement comes not only can you be deceived but even the people themselves can be deceived right because they're gonna say Lord Lord and he's going to shock them when he says I never would never knew you and the difference is at the foundational level and Jesus here is warning religious people who are not saved and he says first of all the genuinely saved come through a narrow gate bankrupt realizing their desperate need of a savior they come committed to live a life of obedience to the will of God and they build that life on the rock who is Christ he is their great hope and their great love I love what Peter said you know what Peter said the authorized version translates it so beautifully to those who believe he is precious if you were to come to me and say I'd like to know if I'm a Christian can you help me I think the first question I'd ask you is tell me what you think about Christ and if I could ascertain that Christ was the most precious person in your life that would be a good indication that your salvation was real because that is the purpose of the Spirit of God to make Christ precious unto you I understand that let's look at a further thought go to chapter 13 in Matthew and we'll look at maybe four portions of Matthew just the next few moments Matthew chapter 13 gives us another of Jesus clear insights into this matter of who's the true Christian and we'll pull it all together at the end verse 3 Jesus begins this marvelous set of parables which by the way we're describing the era in which the disciples lived and in which we live and what we should expect in trying to evangelize this age the first thing we have to expect in our evangelistic efforts is that as we go out to sow the seed we're going to run into different kinds of what soil right okay let's look behold and he gives a very simple story a sower went out to sow typical in fact Jesus here has the multitude gathered along the Sea of Galilee and very well they could have looked off in the distance and seen somebody doing this because the whole region was dotted with little farms and fields so he said a sower went out to sow put a patch around his neck and reached in his hand and threw the seed into the ground and as he sowed some fell on the wayside some on the path the beaten path rock hard because that's what people walked between the fields typically when they transverse the country they walked on the paths between the fields on one occasion you remember Jesus was walking with his disciples through the fields on one of those paths plucking corn to eat so that was the common way they traveled and that's the way the farmer moved from field to field so as he threw his seed the little gusts of wind would come and blow some of the seed up on the harder path if Birds had come along and eat the seed every solar knew that when he went out to sow he would be followed by birds right who wanted to get the seed then he says some of the seed verse five fellin rocky places not that there were rocks on the top of the ground but Palestine is just loaded with rock the rabbis used to say that when God distributed the rocks around the world he made a mistake and dumped too many in Palestine you ever been there you can appreciate that there every word but very often you have rock thick rock bed under the soil maybe maybe two feet below the soil there's rock bed and the farmer doesn't know that his plow doesn't reach that far and he's got the soil all cultivated and their surface rocks are all taken out but as the seed goes in is not much earth that says and so it springs up why well it dies in the warmth of the soil decomposes and it starts to grow the roots start to go down and the top starts to go up reaching for the sunlight it bursts through the ground the roots can't go too far so all of the energy and nutrition the soil provides goes up and the plant flourishes and it looks like it's gonna be bigger than all the other plants but because it had no depth the Sun came up burned it and it withered away it its roots couldn't get to the water and so what looked like a fast growing plant was a dead plant and he says in verse seven some fell among weeds the farmer had ploughed the field as well as he could but there were still weeds way down in the soil and when everything starts to grow everyone knows that weeds grow better than anything else and the weeds grew and choked out the good seed you have three soils then that produced no fruit none the hard soil the stony soil and the weedy soil then you have three other soils look at verse eight other seeds as he threw fell into good ground and brought forth what fruit that's the key that's the key some hundredfold some sixtyfold and some thirtyfold let me tell you something there are different qualities of soil but all good soil brings forth some fruit you get that now three kinds of soil no fruit three kinds of soil fruit they listen to it but what did it mean go to verse 18 and let's find out what it meant here therefore the parable of the sower when anyone hears the word of the kingdom now that then must be the seed the seed is the word of the kingdom what's the word of the kingdom the message about how to enter the kingdom what's that that's the gospel obviously Jesus hadn't yet preached his death and resurrection but he was talking about the heart attitude that is required of one who enters the kingdom so when you go out to sow the seed of the gospel or how men come to the kingdom you'll face this when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn't understand it does not compute does not register they don't think about it they reject it then comes the wicked one Satan and catches the seed which was sown in his what heart the heart is the soil man the seed is the word the heart is the soil that's a parable then about sowing the word of salvation in the heart of the man some hearts are hired have you ever had that experience I got on an airplane not long ago flying from New York City to Los Angeles about a five-hour flight I sat down next to a man who was obviously Jewish from New York he was an interesting looking guy he said yeah I said to him what do you do he said I'm I'm into rock music he said I managed rock music I said are you really into the rock cuts are all man I'm into it smoked grass and went to the whole thing he said what do you do I said I teach the Bible I'm a minister never forget him he looked at me said Oh God he says now five hours you're gonna convert me right I said right I'm gonna try oh no he said how did I get this seat within about three hours he was blaspheming the name of God and blaspheming the name of Christ profane he was saying vile wicked things about Christ anything he could do to reject the truth he will i I just said that is the hardest soil I have ever seen some hearts are like concrete the seed bounces then Jesus said verse 20 he that received the seed in stony places is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy wow that's that's what I've been wanting to hear salvation deliverance joy peace happiness Wow but there's no root verse 21 Saul endures for a while but when tribulation the word is ellipsis pressure when pressure persecution arises because of the word the person is scandalized offended they're gone they die you know what kind of person this is person comes you preach they got all kinds of problems typically all their problems many problems you talk about Christ loves yous died for you wants to save you take away your problems so everyone so on all I want that and they're grabbing for something as if it's an instant cure all I want Jesus it makes some professional oh there's so much joy boy this is it I found it and then when the price is laid that you have to pay to be a faithful disciple they don't want a thing to do with it no fruit no fruit one of the wives of the elders of an elder in our church called me one day she was crying she said I just had a terrible experience terrible I'm so distressed I'm so distressed I said well tell me what is it she said my neighbor came over to me last week and my neighbor said to me I need help i need help she said I just found out that I have cancer breast cancer and she said not only that my son had a mental breakdown and not only that my husband is threatening to divorce me she said please help me to which this wife of the elder said all you need Jesus Christ Jesus Christ can put your marriage together Jesus Christ can touch your body Christ can bring your son back and unique Christ in your life she said well if he can do all that I want him and so this lady told me on the phone she prayed a prayer and ask Christ into her life and and then she said you know here she came back a week later she walked in my house and she said your Christ is a liar and you're a phony and Christ doesn't do anything that you claimed he does my son was committed to a padded cell I have to have my serious cancer surgery and my husband filed papers for divorce your Jesus doesn't work hey don't you promise people that Jesus will cure all their problems I know some people got saved and their problems just began I want to tell you that Peter says after you have suffered a while the Lord will make you perfect and James said count it all joy when you fall into various what trials knowing it's the trial of your faith that produces patience and patience has a perfecting work but if we go around offering Jesus as the genie who jumps out of the bottle and gives you your three wishes we got a problem if we promise people Jesus will make you healthy wealthy and wise instantaneously solve all your problems patch up your marriage fix your body cure your kids problems people are going to be disillusioned there's more to coming to Christ than wanting to solve your problems you come to Christ because you need to be saved from your sin not just have you proud of yourself a lot of folks have an emotional reaction and never have fruit because they didn't count the cost but a true believer is willing to take up his cross because he has a certain desperation about his sinful condition and he knows he needs a Savior at any price then in verse 22 Jesus says and there was also seed the Hmong thorny ground and that's the person who hears the word to hear the word to take it in but they just love this world and they're just in the riches and they can let go of them and it chokes the word why because no man can serve what two masters you can't serve God and money you can't sew no fruit no food there you have three types of non-believers the instant rejecters the short-term people who want their problems quickly fixed and the people who would like to add Jesus to their life but don't want their life to change I remember preaching to the group of actors and actresses in Hollywood and a young guy came up afterwards who was from Asia and he said to me I want Christ to be my Savior and I said that's wonderful what's your background he said I'm Oh I said boy that's wonderful so I told him a prayer to pray I was young in the ministry and he prayed this prayer and then he opened his eyes what that means at all now I have two gods Jesus and Muhammad I said sit down we got to go over this again you don't add Jesus to your life he transforms it so some people think you just sort of add Jesus to your worldliness and your riches and but in every case there's no fruit then you had three kinds of good ground thirtyfold sixtyfold hundredfold but they all produced what fruit now listen first mark we saw the true Christian as they come through a narrow gate with a sense of spiritual bankruptcy the second factor we saw in a genuine Christian is that they do the will of God from the heart and their pattern of life is obedience not iniquity and here we see the third factor and that is this the true believers are marked by what fruit fruit what is fruit glad you asked we need to understand what is fruit when you look at somebody's life you're looking for fruit what is it well first of all let's call let's call it attitude fruit what would be the fruit of good attitudes how about this Galatians 5:22 and 23 the fruit of the Spirit is what love joy peace gentleness goodness faith meekness self-control that's attitude fruit love is an attitude Joy's and attitude pieces and attitude gentleness an attitude goodness an attitude those are all those are all internal fruit internal attitudinal fruit but there's a second kind of fruit action fruit what you do the fruits of righteousness the fruit of your lips praise to God the first fruits Paul called converts the first fruits and when he wrote to the room and said I want to have some fruit among the only lead some people to Christ that you might be filled with all the fruits of righteousness Paul says so you have attitude fruit love joy peace gentleness goodness faith meekness self-control and action through deeds of righteousness praise toward God and testimony all those things any righteous attitude any righteous act is fruit a true Christian then will be known by that fruit if you look at a person's life and there's no love joy peace gentleness goodness faith meekness self-control and there life is not characterized by a pattern of righteous deeds praise toward God doesn't matter what they claim does it their should they're known by their what by their fruit by their fruit look at verse 44 of Matthew 13 he says the treasure of the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field when a man is spying I found it he hides it and for the joy of it goes and sells all that he has and buys the field now here's a simple little parable of guys plowing a field he pops up a big box and out of the box is an immeasurable treasure the treasure is so valuable he sells everything he has buys the field takes the treasure by the ways a very honorable guy a dishonorable guy would have taken the treasure without buying the field he's say well now wait a minute didn't it belong to the owner of the field no there was a law in Judaism that once the original owner had died it was whoever finds it gets it but you had to pay the price so man did exactly what the law of do of Jerusalem and Judea called for him to do but the point that Jesus wanted to make was this the treasure was so valuable the man sold what oh let me tell you what it is to be a Christian it's to exchange all that I am for all that he is not part-time deal it's not I'll take you as Savior but don't try to be Lord it's all that I am for all that you are look at the next parable verse 45 the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man seeking fine pearls when he found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it see the same thing again the pearl was so valuable the man sold everything he had that's the exchanged life all of it I am for all that he is it isn't a part-time Jesus it isn't you can be my Savior you can't be my lord it's I give up all that I am for all that you are and I don't fully understand that at the moment of my salvation but that's my heart desire I don't understand the ramifications of that completely but that's my heart's desire you say well why did Jesus give two parables to say the same thing because in the first parable the man stumbled over the treasure in the second parable the man spent all his life looking for it and that's how it is in salvation some people stumble over them the truth of salvation and some people spend their life looking for it but in the end both do the same thing when they find it they what they sell all total exchange let's go to chapter 19 and we'll wrap it up come to a conclusion so much more could be said how about take you to the story of a young man verse 16 of Matthew 19 and Jesus is teaching and he says behold one came let me tell you about this one okay he was young he says that in verse 22 he had great possessions says that in verse 22 if you compare marks account of the same incident mark 10 and Luke 18 you find that this young man was a ruler our cone means ruler he was a ruler of a synagogue which meant he was the leading layman in his church as we would see it today leading Jewish laymen in the synagogue respected religious young rich prestigious had it all had the whole thing but the one thing he didn't have was something in his heart so he comes to Jesus and he says good master what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life this is an honest guy if you read Mark and Luke you'll find that he came running now this everyone knew this man everyone knew who he was the whole community knew him they thought he had his religious act together but here he comes running and the record tells us that he fell on his knees that he bowed humbly he has the right attitude he's earnest he's excited he's running he's humble he's kneeling he acknowledges Christ as Master calls him good master and he asks the right question what do I do to get eternal life and he asks it to the right person wow this guy this is the hottest evangelistic prospect in the New Testament if this if Jesus can't get this guy saved boy I mean he's right there you ever hear anybody run up to you and say what do I do to have eternal life you'd be shocked i sat on an airplane flying from st. Louis to Los Angeles and a young man sat down next to me a huge young man I was reading my Bible he looked over at me and he said I don't want to bother you but could could you possibly answer a question for me I said sure he said I see you reading the Bible could you possibly tell me how I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ he asked me that my first reaction was nobody ever asked me that I mean you mean I don't even have to prove that the Bible is God's Word or the deity of Christ or the Trinity or apologetics you just want to know how you can have a personal I said it just so happens that I can tell you that doesn't happen very often doesn't here's a man who runs up slides in on his knees and humility says how do I have eternal life I want you to see how Jesus dealt with him okay because I'm gonna learn how to deal with people first of all Jesus said why are you calling me good there's no nun that's good but God you know what he's saying he's saying that you wouldn't be saying I'm God would you I don't think the young man thought he was God but Jesus took the opportunity to plant the thought then he said this if you would enter into life eternal life do what what do you Tom to do keep the commandments is that the right answer is that the right answer what would happen in your church if your pastor said to you how does one enter into life and you stood up and said keep the commandments somebody would take you to the back room and sit you down and instruct you you'd say wait it's by grace through faith believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved what is he saying is this the wrong answer can't be the wrong answer because the right person gave it Christ he doesn't get a wrong answer say well why would he say to a person keep the commandments let's find out verse 18 the young man said to him which ones it's a good question oh the Jews alone has 650 of them which ones you want me to keep Jesus say well let's try these and he gave him the second half of the Ten Commandments plus one thou shalt do no murder thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shall not lie and honor thy father and thy mother and then he threw this one in love your neighbor as yourself the essence of humility and the young man said this all these things have I what kept now wait a minute this is shocking do you know what Jesus is trying to get the young man to admit he wants him to admit that he is well a sinner the reason he said keep the commandments was to expose the fact that this young man hadn't and to expose that this young man might have said I can't I can't that's my problem but the young man says all the commandments of course I've kept them all I've never broken them I've just done a little mental check on my life and I can't think of any commandment I've broken I just don't know what I lack I know that's a pretty sickening egotism and be honest you say why didn't Jesus just say to the guy look believe on me and you'll be saved and forget this because true salvation is built upon the recognition of sin that causes the sinner to cry out in need of a savior it isn't just simplistically taking Jesus it starts with a repentant heart and a brokenness over sin that's why Jesus on another occasion said the people that were entering the kingdom are pressing their way in there's a desperation there the young man wouldn't acknowledge his sin in effect jesus said before we talk about how you can have eternal life let's talk about your sin the young man said I won't talk about sin I don't have any then Jesus approach to the second way verse 21 jesus said to him if you would be perfect or saved if you would be right with God go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come and follow me now this sounds like the wrong answer to we'd have you ever told anybody that who said to you what do I do to be a Christian go sell everything you have to give the money to the poor listen do we get saved by philanthropy do you get saved by giving your money to a poor man if you do the poor man is lost cuz he's got your money so you can stand there and hand it back and forth and hope you don't have it when the rapture comes you know what he gets saved by giving your money away of course not what stay why did you say that because there was a second thing that was an essential element of salvation the first was repentance from sin the second one was submission to the lordship of Christ why did Jesus tell him to take his money and give it to the poor simply this to establish whether or not the young man had a submissive heart and he said it come and follow me I only want to know two things young man before we talk about eternal life let's talk about your sin do you see it and do you need a Savior secondly let's talk about who's in charge in both cases the young man failed the test he didn't recognize his sin and he wasn't about to let anybody rule his life the issue Jesus could have asked him to do anything it didn't it wasn't specifically giving his money he only asked him to do that as a test and then he said come and follow me you see when when you call someone to salvation what you're doing is asking him to turn from their sin and receive Christ as Savior and then follow him as what as Lord that's Elvis now somebody says well is Etta is that something that men do on their own not on your life not on your life Tim Paul writes to Timothy and says it is God that grants repentance isn't it and it is God that breaks the will and gives a submissive heart it's all the work of God but it hadn't happened in that man's life you know why because the soil wasn't prepared his heart wasn't right the Spirit of God had not ploughed up that heart that man was not willing for that to happen and so he went away sad why was he sad because he still had an empty place in his heart why was he sad because he knew he didn't have a right relationship with God the Jew saw eternal life as a quality of life in which there was great hope for life after death he didn't have that hope he didn't have the life of God he went away sad because of what he didn't have but he considered his possessions more valuable two things the man wouldn't do acknowledged sin to submit to Christ those are the two elements of salvation that man who was the hottest potential prospect for salvation in the New Testament went away lost because Jesus said you can't have eternal life on your terms they come on my terms repentance and Submission look at verse 23 then said Jesus to his disciples truly I say to you a rich man shall with difficulty enter the kingdom of heaven how difficult is it for a rich man to enter the kingdom I'll tell you how difficult it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God by the way you'll note the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God it the same thing because they're used interchangeably here well you say what is he saying here it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom of God well that's pretty strong language isn't it people say well now wait a minute well that's I know some rich people who got saved so a camel must be able to go through the eye of a needle right so I've heard preachers say well there's a there's a needle gate if you've heard that yes there's a needle gate it's a little gate and they Jam camels through that little game look you have the Jews that break they're not gonna Jam camels through a tiny gate no one ever found a needle gate there never has been a needle gate and if they wanted to stick a camel through the wall of the city they'd walk down 35 feet to one of the other gates and walk through a big gate there's no needle gate I've even heard people say well yeah if you could reduce a camel to liquid you could I drop in through the eye of the needle I heard one guy say well if you can line up the molecules of a camel you could shoot them through the eye of the needle well what is what is he saying listen when he said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle he meant it is impossible where did he get that phrase that's an interesting phrase he got it from the Persians it was common in Persia whenever the Persians wanted to say something was impossible they said it would be easier to put an elephant through the eye of a needle but there weren't in the elephants in Palestine so the Jews used the camel instead that was the biggest animal they had it was strictly a slang expression for something that was impossible and what Jesus was saying is a rich man on his terms can't be saved did you get it a rich man on his own terms can't be saved the verse 25 the disciples heard that they were amazed they said who then can be saved why did they say that because rich people tended to be thought of as the people who had the most opportunity to be saved why because they had so much money they could buy so many sacrifices and they could put so much money into the temple fund and the Talmud says with arms a man purchases his Redemption the more money you have the more money you give God the more money you give the temple the more arms you give the poor the more sacrifices you buy the more likely you are to get saved get salvation and Jesus blew that theory away and said it's impossible for rich men to get saved on their own terms and the disciples said who can be saved verse 26 Jesus looked at them and said with men it is what impossible but with God what do you know something the rich man on his terms can't save himself the rich man on God's terms can be saved this rich man wasn't interested in God's terms only his own what were God's terms repentant heart submissive spirit repentant heart submissive spirit how do you tell a true Christian he comes out of repentance comes with a submissive heart comes with a beatitude attitude comes begging in spirit poor in spirit meek hungry thirsting after righteousness the pattern of life is to do the will of God to love the will of God the pattern of life is attitude fruit action fruit that's how you tell true Christian and as I said at the very beginning jesus said if you continue in my word then you're my real disciple if you continue in my word you my real disciple if you really love me you'll do my what Commandments what about my friends what about Ralph what about Don my college football teammate what about Dale my seminary friend what about these people they didn't continue in the word Jesus Christ is not precious to them anymore there's no fruit in their life there's no pattern of godliness no matter what they claimed they're not Christians not by the biblical standard do you remember in Matthew 22 there was a feast given by a king for his son remember that the son obviously represents Christ the King God and all the guests were lined up and one guest was there but he didn't have what didn't have on a wedding garment and the King said time up and throw him into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth send him to hell he has tried to crash into the kingdom without a garment what is the garment isaiah 61:10 says that it is the garment the robe of righteousness I'm convinced with all my heart that true Christians love God love the Lord Jesus Christ love to do his will and our manifesting righteous conduct we aren't all we ought to be we agree to that don't we we stumble we fail we fall but we hate sin and we love righteousness and it's not the perfection of our life to be righteous not yet but it is the direction of our life I think if we're going to preach the gospel we need to preach it the way Jesus did and that means that when people come and say they want eternal life we make sure we introduce them to the Lord's terms repentance and submission a narrow gate a willingness to walk a narrow way committed to obedience to the will of God joyfully that manifests itself in fruit it manifests itself in righteousness that's the mark of a Christian one footnote when you're saved all of that is the work of God people say to me so very often why as you get older do you ever stop feeling inadequate the answer is no let me tell you why the more mature you become as a Christian the more you'll love righteousness the more mature you become as a Christian the more you'll hate what sin the more mature you become as a Christian the less you sin but the more you hate it the more mature you become as a Christian the more righteous you are and the more you love it so in a real sense relatively speaking sin becomes less frequent and more hated righteousness becomes more frequent and more loved and so there's a sense in which you have a permanent dissatisfaction with your life and that's what makes you long for heaven and that's why Paul said far better to depart and what and be with Christ why you get tired of the battle you get tired of the battle why would he say at the end of his life I'm now ready to be offered because he wanted to get out of the battle he wanted to get on to perfection because he loved righteousness so much and hated sin and may this be the pattern of our lives let's bow in prayer father thank you for this wonderful evening together we bless your name with Thanksgiving for all that you have given us in your precious word give us that hunger for your truth that we might seek it and love it and live it and that Christ may be exalted in all who prayed his dear name Amen let us continue worship the Lord I gave

Channel: Joel Leong

Views: 50,010

Keywords: john macarthur the gospel according to jesus, the gospel according to jesus, the lordship salvation, john macarthur lordship salvation, repentance, jesus gospel, john macarthur gospel, evangelism, faith, true gospel john macarthur, the gospel according to jesus john macarthur, lordship salvation john macarthur, lordship salvation, gospel, john macarthur, jesus

Id: jf9Zr8CXxzQ

Length: 77min 0sec (4620 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 28 2017