Greetings and good morning, almost good afternoon to you. It is the 19th of December, it has just gone past 11.30, and it was my intention to, excuse me, to not actually preach today because of the United Kingdom, their Sabbath is going to come to an end here within an hour, but I cannot neglect United States for the sake of England or Australia or New Zealand. And for those of you who follow along in those countries, please forgive me. My animals would not allow me to get to the laptop here to be able to preach without them barking and carrying on. Anyway, we are going to pick up again the almost Christian discovered or the false professor tried and cast by Matthew Mead and this will be part eight and I'm going to continue Actually, I'm going to go back and read the paragraph previously to set the context for what is going to be preached today and So it is in this case If a man come into a profession of religion, but be not right born, if he be not begotten of God and born of the Spirit, if there be not a thorough work of grace in his heart, all his profession of religion will never mend him. He may be bolstered out by a life of duties, but he will be but an hypocrite at the last. A form of godliness may cover his crookedness, but will never cure it. A man can never be a true Christian, nor accepted of God, though in the highest profession of religion, without a work of grace in the heart. 4. Number 1. There must be an answerableness in the frame of that man's heart that would be accepted of God, to the duties done by him. His spirit and affections within must carry a proportion to his profession without. Prayer without faith, obedience to law given without fear and holy reverence of the law giver, God abhors this person. Acts of internal worship must answer the duties of external worship. Now where there is no grace wrought in the heart, there can never be any proportion or answerableness in the frame of that man's heart to the duties done by him. Number two, those duties that find acceptance with God must be done in sincerity. They must be done in sincerity. God does not take our duties by tail. nor judge of us according to the frequency of our performances, but instead according to the sincerity of our hearts he looks upon in the performance. It is this that commends both the doer and the duty to God. With sincerity God accepts the least we do. Without sincerity, God rejects the most we do or can do. And this is that temper of spirit which God highly delights in. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 20. They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in the way are his delight. They are his delight. The Apostle gives it a great epithet. He calls it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 12, the sincerity of God, and that is such a sincerity as is his special work upon the soul, setting the heart right and upright before him in all his ways. And this is the crown of all our graces and the commendation of our duties. Thousands perish and go to hell in the midst of all their performances and duties, merely for lack of a little sincerity of heart toward God. Now where there is not a change of state, a work of grace in the heart, there can be no sincerity to God. For this is not an herb that grows in nature's garden. The heart of man is naturally deceitful and desperately wicked. That's Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. More opposite to sincerity than anything, than to anything. As things corrupted carry a greater dissimilitude to what they were than to anything else which they never were. God made man upright. Okay? Now man voluntarily losing himself than anything below himself. He is more like a lion, or a wolf, or a bear, a serpent, a toad, than to a man in innocency. So that it is impossible to find sincerity in any soul till there be a work of grace brought there by the Spirit of God. and hence it is that a man is but almost a Christian when he hath done all. And we come now to the fourth question. What is the reason that many go no farther in the profession of religion than to be almost Christians? Well, reason number one, it is because they deceive themselves in the truth of their own condition. They mistake their state and think it good and safe, when in fact it is bad and dangerous. A man may look upon himself as a member of Christ, and yet God may look upon him as a vessel of wrath. As a child of God, by looking more upon his sins than his graces, more upon his failings than his faith, more upon indwelling lusts than renewing grace, and may think his case very bad, when yet it is very good. I am black, saith the spouse, and yet saith Christ, O thou fairest among women. And so the sinner, by looking more upon his duties than his sins, may think he sees his name written in the book of life, and yet be in the account of God a very reprobate. There is nothing more common than for a man to think himself something when he is nothing, and so he deceives himself. Many a man blesses himself in his interest in Christ when he is indeed a stranger to Him. Many a man thinks his sin pardoned when, alas, he is still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. Many a man thinks he has grace when he has none. There is, saith Solomon, there is that makes himself rich and yet has nothing. This was the very temper of the church at Laodicea. Christ says, Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not, pray mine, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Thou knowest not. As bad as she was, she thought her state good. And meat is referring now to the church, calling it a she instead of a he. She thought her state good. As poor as she was in grace, she thought she was rich. As miserable and naked as she was, yet she thought she had need of nothing. Now there are several rises or grounds of this mistake, and I will name five to you. First, the desperate deceitfulness of the heart of every natural man. The heart is deceitful above all things. Again, Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. The Hebrew word is the same with Jacob's name. Now you know he was a supplanter of his brother Esau. And he is rightly called Jacob, saith he, for he hath supplanted me these two times. And so the word signifies to be fraudulent, subtle, deceitful, and supplanting. There's no wonder then that God changed his name to Israel from Jacob, being that's what it means. How about that? Thus is the heart of every natural man deceitful above all things. You read of the deceitfulness of the tongue. I've actually preached on that. the deceitfulness of riches, and the deceitfulness of beauty, and the deceitfulness of friends. But yet the heart is deceitful above them all. Nay, you read of the deceitfulness of Satan. Yet truly a man's heart is a greater deceiver than even he. For he could never deceive a man if his own heart did not deceive him. Now it is from hence that a man presumes upon the goodness of his case from the desperate treachery of his own heart. Well how common is it for men to boast of the goodness of their hearts? I thank God, though I do not make such a show and pretense as some do, yet I have as good a heart as the best." Or another way of putting it, and you'll hear from a lot of people, will say, well God knows my heart. as if that's any excuse. Now he knows your heart and the Bible tells us of your heart, all of our hearts outside of regeneration. It is deceitful, desperately wicked above all things who can know it. That's the state of everyone's heart. Oh do but hear Solomon in this case. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. A fool. Will any wise man commit his money to the cut purse? In other words, will any man commit his money to a purse with a hole in it? Back in those days the purse was like a bag and the money, the coins went into the bag and he's referring to the bag actually having a big hole in it. Will he trust a cheat? And it is a good rule, remember, to distrust. And it was Austin's prayer that man that trusts to his own heart shall be sure to find himself deceived at the last. Okay. Don't trust your own heart. It's deceitful and desperately wicked. Okay. Secondly, this mistake arises from the pride of a man's spirit. Okay. Pride. We all know where this is going. I'm going to read it anyway. There is a proud heart in every natural man. Again, natural man refers to the man outside the generation. Their hearts are proud. And there was much of this pride in Adam's sin. And there is much of it in all of Adam's sons. That's us, the human race. It is a radical sin and from hence arises this overweening opinion of a man's state and condition. Okay, here's what Solomon says about this matter. Be not righteous over much. Austin, speaking occasionally of those words, saith, it is not meant of the righteousness of the wise man, but the pride of the presumptuous man. Pride and presumption. Presumption and pride. Can't have one without the other. Now, in this sense, every carnal man is overly righteous, though he has none of that righteousness which commends him to God, and to wit, the righteousness of Christ. Yet he hath too much of that righteousness which commends him to himself, and that is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness, seed fruit of pride. A proud man hath an eye to see his beauty but not his deformity, his parts but not his spots, his seeming righteousness but not his real wretchedness. And it must be a work of grace that must show a man the lack of grace. It's a work of grace to show a man that he lacks that grace. The haughty eye looks upward, but the humble eye looks downward and therefore this is the believer's motto. The least of saints, the greatest of sinners. But the carnal man's motto is, I thank God I am not as other men. Thirdly, Many deceive themselves with common grace instead of saving grace. And I preached on that before too. Common grace has always been substituted for saving grace to give man that sense of everything's going to be okay. But as we're going to find out, it's not okay. Many deceive themselves. I'm going to read it again too. Many deceive themselves. common grace instead of saving grace through that resemblance that is between them. See common grace and saving grace are like sheep and goats to the untrained ear. Okay? They sound the same. They look the same. There's a...I mean they don't look the same obviously, but they sound the same. except for to a shepherd who knows the difference. But to most of us we don't know the difference. They both sound the same. Well Mead here is saying that common grace instead of saving grace and they are deceiving themselves with common grace instead of saving grace and through that resemblance that is between them. As many take counterfeit money for current money or real money and so do too many take common grace for true. Saul took the devil for Samuel because he appeared in the mantle of Samuel. And so many take common grace for saving grace because it is like saving grace. A man may be under a supernatural work and yet fall short of a saving work. The first resisteth or the first raiseth nature. the second only reneweth nature. Though every saving work of the Spirit be supernatural, yet every supernatural work of the Spirit is not saving, and hence many deceive their own souls by mistaking a supernatural work for a saving work. Fourthly, many mistake a profession of religion for a work of conversion. outside reformation or a sure sign of inward regeneration. Preached on this too. Okay. There are a lot of people there who can talk the talk and they can make other people think that wow this guy's really a Christian. Look at how smart he is. When in fact there's no saving grace in the man. This can be done. Matthew Mead is even saying so 350 years ago. Okay. I'll read it again. Many mistake a profession of religion for a work of conversion. That's like somebody saying, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Okay, well the scriptures say any man that says that is saved. Well, James tells us that the devils know that Jesus is the Christ and profess it. Does that save them? Of course not. Of course not. Many mistake a profession of religion for a work of conversion and outside reformation for a sure sign of inward regeneration. If the outside of the cup be washed, then they think all is clean, though it be never so foul within, like whitened sepulchres, all clean on the outside and filthy and rotten on the inside. This is the common rock that so many souls split upon to their eternal hazard, taking up a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Fifthly, lack of a home application of the law of God to the heart and conscience to discover to a man the true state and condition he is in. where this is lacking, a man will sit down short of a true work of grace and will reckon his case better than it is." That is a notable passage which the Apostle hints concerning himself. He's talking about the Apostle Paul. I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And here you have an account of the different apprehensions Paul had of his condition with and without the word. Number one, here is his apprehension of his condition without the word. I was alive, saith he. I was alive without the law. Paul had the law, for he was a Pharisee, and they had the form of knowledge and the truth of the law. Therefore, when he saith he was without the law, you must not take him literally, but spiritually. He was without the power and efficacy of it upon his heart and conscience, convincing and awakening, and discovering sin. And so long as this was his case, he doubted not of his state. He was confident of the goodness of his condition, but he hinted, when he saith, I was alive. But then, number two, here is his apprehension of his condition with the Word. that is quite contrary to what it was before. When the commandment came, saith he, then sin revived and I died. It's like the Lord Jesus Christ telling us that unless your righteousness is better than that of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you'll not enter the kingdom of God. Why would he say such a thing? Well, because to the outward eye, the people of Israel, the Pharisees, were the top tier of religion. They looked like, they acted like, they were elect. They did. Jesus says that that righteousness is not good enough to enter into the kingdom of God. When the word of the Lord came with power upon his soul, The Spirit of God set it home effectually upon his conscience, that is meant by the coming of the commandment, then sin revived and I died. That is, I saw the desperateness of my case and the filthiness of all my self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. Then my hope ceased and my confidence failed. and as before I thought myself alive and my sin dead. So when God had awakened conscience by the word then I saw my sin alive and powerful and myself dead and miserable. See this is why the modern doctrine in the modern church, this is why they never preach on the law. They never do it. It's almost like they're red-letter New Testament Christians and they just go specifically off of that. How in the world is anybody supposed to know that they're a sinner unless the law is read to them? Paul is saying the same thing. The word came by the law. He saw himself a sinner and that he was dead and miserable. And so that this is the first reason why men go no further in the profession of religion than to be but almost Christians. and it is because they mistake their state and think it is good when it is not. Okay, which mistake is five-fold? Okay, number one, they think their state is good but they have a deceitful heart. Number two, they have a proud spirit. Number three, they mistake common grace for saving grace. Number four, they mistake outward reformation for true regeneration. And number five, The lack of home application of the law of God to the heart and the conscience. Okay, that takes care of reason number one. And I'm going to keep going with this because it's important. So, both of you counting on a 30 minute sermon, sorry, we're going a little longer. At least to finish reason number two. Reason number two. It is from Satan's cunning. Who, if he cannot keep sinners in their open profaneness, then he labors to persuade them to take up with a form of godliness. If he cannot entice them on in their lusts with a total neglect of heaven, then he entices them to such a profession as is sure to fall short of heaven. And he will consent to the leaving of some sin, so as we do but keep the rest, and to the doing of some duties, so as we neglect the rest. Nay, rather than part with his interest in the soul, he will yield far to our profession of religion, and consent to anything but our conversion, and closing with Christ for salvation. He cares not which way we come to hell, so as he gets us but thither at last. Reason number three. It is from worldly and carnal policy. And that brings back memories to John Bunyan's book, Pilgrim's Progress. Worldly and carnal policy. This is a great hindrance to many. Policy many times enters caveats against piety. Jehu will not part with his calves lest he hazard his kingdom. Now among many men there would be more zeal and honesty where there less design and policy. There is an honest policy that helps religion but carnal policy hinders it. We are commanded to be wise as serpents Now, the serpent is the subtlest of creatures, but then we must be as innocent as doves. If piety be without policy, it lacks security. If policy be without piety, it lacks integrity. Piety without policy is too simple to be safe, and policy without piety is too subtle to be good. Let men be as wise, as prudent, as subtle, and as watchful as they will, but then let it be in the way of God, and let it be joined with holiness and integrity. That is a cursed wisdom that forbids a man to launch any further out in the depth of religion than he can see the land, lest he be taken in a storm again. Reason number four, there is some lusts espoused in the heart that hinder a hearty close with Christ. Though they bid fair, yet they come not to God's terms. In other words they love the fact of being able to call themselves allegedly prove that they are, but they're doing it on their own terms and not on God's terms. Okay. The young man would have eternal life. Okay. This is the man who said good master. He was the rich man. Okay. And he bid fair for it. He had a willing obedience to every command but one, but only one. And will not God abate him one? Well, is he so severe? In other words, will God not accept him just for the one fault? Okay? Is he so severe? Will he not come down just a bit in his terms when man rises so high? Must man yield all? And will God yield nothing? No, my brethren. He that underbids for heaven shall as surely lose it as he that will give nothing for it. He that will not give all he has. And that's not just money. That's heart. That's mind. That's purpose. That's zeal. Everything for God at the expense of everything that is not of God. He that will not give all he has. Part, in other words, to part with all for that pearl of great price shall as surely go without it. as he that never once cheapens it." Now, the not coming up to God's terms is the ruin of thousands of souls. Nay, it is that upon which all that perish do perish. A naked sinner to a naked Christ. A bleeding, broken sinner to a bleeding, broken Christ. Now these are God's terms. Your face must be in the mud. It has to be. You cannot just lay in the mud with your face up. The face must be down in the mud. And I'm being, I'm using an illustration. I'm not saying going, you know, lay in a mud puddle. Okay. But that's the, that's the symbolic part of what he's saying here. Now most professors are like iron between two equal lodestones. God draws and they propend towards God. And then you have the world that draws and they incline to the world. They are between both. They would not leave God for the world if they might not be engaged to leave the world for God. You see this is why Christ said he can't serve both. can't serve God and the mammon, the unrighteous ungodly mammon. These are the things of the world. It's not just money, it's the things of the world. All of it. You can't serve both. It's just you can't. Okay? But if they must part with all, with every lust, with every darling, every beloved sin, why then the spirit of Demas possesses them. God is forsaken by them. And again, you see he's not just talking about money. He's talking about every lust, every darling sin that you have. Okay? And God is forsaken by those who hold on to them. My brethren, this is the great reason why many that are come to be almost Christians go no farther as some one beloved lust or other hinders them. after a long and high profession it parts them and Christ forever like John chapter 6 verse 66. When from verse 37 of chapter 6 to verse 65 the Lord Jesus Christ lays out the case. Okay. For He is the bread and the blood and if you don't have those you don't have Him. Verse 66 says that many who were his disciples turned away from him and followed him no more. Now I'm paraphrasing it, but that's what it says. Okay? Departs them and Christ forever. They did run well, but here it is that they give out and after all they fall short and perish to eternity. and thus having answered these four questions. Okay, now these are the four questions that he covers and this is going to be the end of it because after such is the application. Okay, and I'll start the application next week. Okay, these are the four questions that were just covered. If you're listening and have a pen and paper, write them down or better yet, find the PDF and read it and then still write it down. Okay, four questions. Number one, How far a man may go in the way to heaven and yet be but almost a Christian. 2. Whence it is that a man goeth so far as to be almost a Christian. 3. Whence it is that a man is but almost a Christian when he hath gone thus far. 4. What is the reason men go no farther in religion than to be almost Christians. It's a lot to consider. It really is. But it's good for you. I mean, I for one, I thank God that I'm alive, okay, to be able to consider these things. I'm grateful that I have eyes to see and ears to hear by adoption to see these things and consider them so that I may examine myself to make sure, make my calling and election sure. This is what we are all supposed to do. We're not to trust in anything but the Word of God. Don't trust in your physical things that you can see with your eyes. That you're like, for example, you're a member of a church. You go and you pay 10% of your gross income even though you were coerced into doing it as a prerequisite for church membership. That's a whole other thing. I don't want to digress into that. Okay? Okay? Don't put your trust in that you go to church every Sunday. You should be going on Saturday, but again, I don't want to digress any further, okay? Second, don't put your trust in your duties. Well, I do this. I visit the sick in hospitals. I, you know, I'm on social media all the time and I'm preaching and doing thus and thus and, you know, don't put your trust in that either. Put your trust only in the Word. Always be examining yourselves. Always. I mean, look. Next Friday we have the greatest day of idolatry in human history that has been going on for centuries. And yet nobody even bothers to look to see where it came from. They're just following it blindly. And you think that because you are saying happy birthday Jesus, which is blasphemy, okay? It's not his birthday. But yet people, millions are still doing it and they think themselves Christians and they're just carrying on and they don't know or even want to know that they're following the spirit of Antichrist. They're comfortable in it, but yet they won't examine themselves. They won't even bother to look to see where these things have even come from to begin with. And we know that Rome, we know that Rome is the author of all evil. Nothing good has ever come out of Rome. Nothing. but yet millions upon millions still blindly follow what has been set up through their infrastructure and through history. Guys, girls, brothers, sisters, even those of you who are listening maybe for the first time, okay? You've got to examine yourselves all the time. All the time. Don't let your guard down for a minute. Always be seeking God Always be seeking to please God, our Father. God is our Father, our real flesh and blood Father. Do we not want to please Him? Do we not want to make sure that we're doing the right things? Our Bibles tell us what is pleasing to God. Read it, or even listen to it. Okay? Anyway, that's all I have for today. Next time we will get into the application of everything that we have just read, these four questions. They will meet us going into an application portion and that's where we will continue. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless and preserve each one of you. May He keep you from evil. May your minds and your hearts be ever or always pleases Him. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.