Good morning. It is 946 a.m. In Wisconsin Rapids. It is the 9th of January in the year 2021 and We're gonna get straight back to it back to the hammer and We're gonna finish up here with part 9 of the almost Christian discovered or the false professor tried and cast You're following along in the PDF file. We're starting on page 177 and I'm going to Retreat just a little bit so that way I can refresh your memories as to what we're discussing and Let's get to it Thus having answered these four questions, namely, number one, how far a man may go in the way to heaven and yet be but almost a Christian. Number two, where it is that a man goes so far as to be almost a Christian, or how it is that a man goes so far as to be almost a Christian. Number three, whence it is that a man is but almost a Christian when he has gone thus far. And number four, what is the reason men go no farther in a religion than to be almost Christians? And I proceed now to the application. Inference number one, that salvation is not so easy a thing as it is imagined to be. And this is attested to by the Lord Jesus himself. Matthew chapter seven, verse 14. Straight is the gate. and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. The gate of conversion is a very straight gate, and yet every man that would be saved eternally must enter in at this straight gate, for salvation is impossible without it. We go to John 3.3. except the man be born again, that is, born from above, he cannot see, perceive, or understand the kingdom of God. And not that this gate is straight simply and in respect of itself. No! For converting grace is free. The gate of mercy stands open all the day long. In the tenders of gospel grace, none are excluded, unless they exclude themselves. Christ does not say, if such and such will come to me, I will not cast them out. But he says, him that cometh unto me, be he who or what he will, if he hath a heart to close with me, I will in no way cast him out. He doesn't say, if this or that man will. Here is water of life for him, but he says, if any man will, let him take the water of life freely. Christ grudgeth mercy to none. Though salvation was dearly purchased for us, yet it is freely pro-offered us. So that the gate which leads to life is not straight on Christ's part or in respect of itself. but is straight in respect of us because of our lusts and corruptions which make the entrance difficult. A needle's eye is big enough for a threat to pass through, but it is a straight passage for a cable rope. Either the needle's eye must be enlarged or the cable rope must be untwisted or the entrance is impossible. And so it is in this case. The gate of conversion is a very straight passage for a carnal and corrupt sinner to go in at. The soul can never pass through with any one lust beloved and espoused, and therefore the sinner must be untwisted from every lust. He must lay aside the love of every sin or he can never enter in at this gate. For it is a straight gate. And when he is in at this straight gate, he meets with a narrow way to walk in. So our Lord Christ says, narrow is the way that leadeth to life. And what way is this but the way of sanctification? For without holiness, no man shall ever see the Lord. Now this way of sanctification is a very narrow way. For it lies over the neck of every lust and in the exercise of every grace, subduing the one and improving the other, dying daily and yet living daily, dying to sin and living to God. This is the way of sanctification. And oh, how few there are that walk in this way! The broad way has many travelers on it. this narrow way is like the way of Canaan in the days of Shongar. It is said in the days of Shongar, the son of Aua, the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways. In the Hebrew it is through crooked ways. The way of holiness is by the most and unoccupied way and so says the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 35 verses 8 and 9, quote, A way shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, but the redeemed shall walk there. Close quote. The unclean and the lion and the ravenous beast, they are in the crooked ways. None but the redeemed of the Lord walk in the way of the Lord. And it is no wonder then that our Lord Jesus Christ says of life that few there be that find it, when as the gate is straight, in the way narrow that leads to it. Many pretend to walk in the narrow way but they never entered in at the straight gate. And many pretend to have entered in at the straight gate and yet they walk not in the narrow way. Now it is a very common thing for a man to perish upon a mistake of his way. To go on in those paths that take hold of hell and yet hope to find heaven at last. Those 20 parts aforementioned run into destruction and yet many choose them and walk in them as the way of salvation. And for those who may be coming in at this part here not having listened to the first eight portions those 20 paths that he's referring to are recited in those previous eight parts. As many profane and open sinners perish by choosing the way of death And so many formal professors perish by mistaking the way of life. And this I gather from the things that our Lord Christ says, like, few there be that find it, which does clearly imply what in Luke chapter 13 verse 24 says, to wit that many seek it. Many seek to enter in and yet are not able. Many run far and yet do not run as to obtain. Many bid fair for the pearl of price and yet go without it. And hell is had with ease, but the kingdom of heaven suffers violence. Now inference number two. If many go thus far in the way to heaven and yet miscarry, then what shall be the end of them who fall short of these? If he shall perish who is almost a Christian, what shall he do who is not at all a Christian? If he that owns Christ and professes Christ and leaves many sins for Christ, they may still be damned, notwithstanding. What then shall his doom be that disowns Christ and refuses to part with even one sin or one lust or one oath for Christ? Namely, that openly blasphemes the precious name of Christ. A blasphemy or a perversion of this, for example, could be that I invited the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart and he definitely came in. that is profaning the gospel. Or I can make a decision for Christ of my own will outside of regeneration. That too is a blasphemy and a profanity. Or even saying that faith comes before life. That too is a blasphemy and a profanation or a profaning of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. If he that is outwardly sanctified shall yet be eternally rejected, what will be the case of such as are openly unsanctified that have not only the plague of a hard heart within, but also the plague sore of a profane life without? If the formal professor must be shut out, surely then the filthy adulterer and the swinish drunkard the deep-swearer, the profane Sabbath-breaker, which I'm going to get into with a sermon that I wrote later on this afternoon, the foul-mouthed scoffer, and yea, even every carnal sinner much more. If there be a woe to him that falls short of heaven, then how sad is the woe to him who falls short of them that fall short of heaven. Ah, that God would make this an awakening word. Oh, that He would make this an awakening word to sinners that are asleep in sin without the least fear of death or dread of damnation. And now we come to the use of examination. The use of examination. Are there many in the world that are almost and yet but almost Christians? Why then it is time for us to call our condition into question and to make a more narrow scrutiny into the truth of our spiritual state. That is, we are going to examine ourselves and what it is, whether it be right or not, whether we are sound and sincere in our profession of religion or not. When our Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples, one of you shall betray me Everyone began presently to reflect upon himself. Master, is it I? Master, is it I? And so should we do when the Lord discovers to us from his word how many there are under the profession of religion that are but almost Christians. We should straight away reflect on our hearts. Lord, is it I? Is my heart unsound? Am I but almost a Christian? Am I one of them that shall miscarry at last? Am I a hypocrite under a profession of religion? Have I a form of godliness without the power? Now there are two questions of very great importance, very great importance, which we should, every one of us, me reading and you listening, that we should often put to ourselves. What am I? Where am I? Number one, what am I? Am I a child of God or not? Am I sincere in religion or am I only a hypocrite under a profession? Number two, where am I? Am I yet in a natural state or a state of grace? Am I yet in the old root, in old Adam, or am I in the root of Christ Jesus? Am I in the covenant of works that ministers only wrath and death, or am I in the covenant of grace that ministers life and peace? Now indeed, this is the first thing a man should look at. There must be a change of state before there can be a change of heart. In other words, life must come before faith. We must come under a change of covenant before we can be under a change of condition. For the new heart and the new spirit is promised in the new covenant. And there is nothing of that to be heard of in the old. Now a man must be under the new covenant before he can receive the blessing promised in the new covenant. He must be born again. He must be in a new covenant state before he can receive a new covenant heart. No mercy, no pardon, no change, no conversion, no grace dispensed outside of this covenant. therefore this should be our great inquiry. And by the way brothers and sisters, when Mead is talking about a new covenant state before he can receive a new covenant heart, the no mercy, no pardon, no change, no conversion, no grace dispensed outside of that covenant, he's saying that in words that we would understand possibly in this day, that there is no such thing as common grace. No such thing as common grace. Okay? For if we know not where we are, we cannot know what we are. And if we know not what we are, we cannot be. And remember, cannot means not able. We are not able to be what we should be. Namely, altogether Christians. Let me then, I beseech you, press this duty upon you that our professors, in other words, a professor is someone that says, I am a Christian. You are professing. Okay. I know those of you who are listening are going, come on, Duane. Come on, brother Duane, please. We already know what professors are. I'm sorry. There may be some who are listening who do not understand. Baby Christians even. Okay. I want to be as understanding toward you, young Christians, a professor or someone who calls himself a Christian. Let me then I beseech you to press this duty upon you that are professors to try your own hearts and examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. Prove your own selves. And I urge this upon most cognate arguments. Number one, because many rest in a notion of godliness and outward shows of religion and yet remain in their natural condition. In other words, they may go to church every Sunday. They may pay 10% of their gross income so God can fulfill his will and they think that they're doing their part. Okay? That, my brothers and sisters, is remaining in a natural condition. You're resting on your works and not on Christ. Many are hearers of the word but not doers of it, and so deceive their own souls. And some neither hear nor do. These are profane sinners. And some both hear and do. These are true believers. Some hear but they do not do. These are hypocritical professors. He that slights the ordinances, the ordinances, cannot, is not able to be a true Christian. But yet it is possible that a man may own them and profess them and yet be no true Christian. For example, and I'm mixing in with what Mead is saying with what we see in our own day. For example, A man may own them and profess them and yet be no true Christian. Like I had just previously said, someone that goes to church every Sunday and Wednesday. Someone that pays their tithes. Someone that reads their Bible every day. Okay? Someone that chooses Christ because they're afraid to go to hell. You know? And that being the only reason why he chose them or she chose them. These are all kinds of duties and professions but yet not be a true Christian. Who would trust to a profession that shall see Judas as a disciple, an apostle, a preacher of the gospel, one that cast out devils to be cast out himself. There's another example, Judas. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. Now I want you to understand something here that is in this quote. Okay I'm going to quote it again. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Okay well what's Paul talking about? He's not a Jew who's one outwardly. Well, we're not Jews, right? We're Gentiles. Paul's saying we're Jews because the true Jew is what a Christian is. Christianity comes from Judaism which is why Paul refers to us Christians as Jews. Okay? We're not Roman Catholics. Christianity did not come from Roman Catholicism. It came from Judaism and is the completion of Judaism. He is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Number two, because errors in the first foundation are very dangerous. Now if we be not right in the main, in the fundamental work, If the foundation be not laid in grace in the heart, all our following profession comes to nothing. The house is built upon a sandy foundation, and though it may stand for a little while, yet when the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon it, great will be the fall of it. 3. Because many are the deceits that our souls are liable to in this case. There are many things like grace that are not grace. Like I said, those who believe in the doctrine of common grace that is not true grace. That's an example. Now it is the likeness and similitude of things that deceives and makes one thing to be taken or mistaken for another. Many take gifts for grace. Common knowledge for saving knowledge. When as a man may have great gifts and yet no grace. Great knowledge and yet not know or love Jesus Christ. Some take common faith for saving. Same thing. Some take common grace for saving grace. When as a man may believe all the truths of the gospel, all the promises, all the threatenings, all the articles of the creed to be true, and yet still perish for lack of saving faith. Some take morality and restraining grace for piety and renewing grace, when as it is common to have sin much restrained where the heart is not renewed. Some are deceived with a half work, taking conviction for conversion or mistaking conviction for conversion, mistaking reformation for regeneration. We have many mermaid Christians. Or like Nebuchadnezzar's image, the head of gold and feet of clay. The devil cheats most men by a synagogue, putting a part for the whole. Partial obedience to some commands for universal obedience to all. Endless are the delusions that Satan fastens upon souls for lack of this self-search. It is necessary therefore that we try our state. Try the spirits to see if they be of God lest we take the shadow for the substance and embrace a cloud instead of Juno. Number four. Satan will try us at one time or another. He will winnow us and sift us to the bottom. Look, if you are a true Christian you're going to get butchered by Satan. It's just a give me. It's going to happen. Your life is not going to be gravy. It is not going to be a Joel Osteen's getting your best life now. It is not going to be a Rick Warren purpose-driven life where you're free from being attacked. And I'm not talking about someone saying, oh you're not a Christian and you being lily-livered and weak and effeminate fall down screaming like you've got a broken leg. Okay, no. Satan will try us at one time or another. He will winnow us and sift us to the bottom. And if we now rest in a groundless confidence it will then end in a comfortless despair. Nay, God himself will search and try us at the day of judgment especially. And who can abide that trial that never even tries or examines his own heart? Number five, whatsoever a man's state be, whether he be altogether a Christian or not, whether his principle be sound or not. Yet it is good to examine his own heart. And we should be examining our own hearts because the scriptures tell us what our hearts are. Genesis 6-5, Genesis 8-21, Jeremiah 17 verse 9. We know what our hearts are like. I mean there's plenty of you that say you can't judge me by you don't know my heart. Yes I do. Because the Bible tells us what our hearts are like. Wicked. Desperately wicked. From our youth, from conception, Psalm 51 verse 5. Psalm 58 verse 3. We know the state of our hearts. Whatever a man's state be, whether he be altogether a Christian or not, whether his principle be sound or not, it is good to examine his own heart. If he find his heart good, his principles right and sound, then this should be a matter of rejoicing. Rejoicing and praising God that His mercy has stood and will stand forever to those who are elect. If he find his heart rotten, his principles false and unsound, the discovery is in order to a renewing. God is showing you. He's not leaving you left out. He's not turning his back on you. If you examine your heart and you find that your heart is rotten and your principles that are false and unsound This discovery is in order to a renewing. It is good news. Good news. Not good news that you have a chance to choose Christ, but good news that you know that you are already chosen. Already chosen. Because God is showing you where you're wrong. If a man have a disease upon him and knows it, he may sin to the physician in time. And Christ is the great physician. We all learn about how rotten we are in the book of the law. That's what tells us, it shows us. When we read those five books of Moses, we see how rotten we really are. And that is the schoolmaster, which leads to Christ. Okay? If a man have a disease upon him and know it, he may send to the physician in time. But what a sad vexation will it be not to see a disease until it be past the cure. Like a person on their deathbed. They finally see it, but it's too late to do anything about it. You're not going to trust in an 11th hour conversion because they just don't happen. They don't happen that often. So for you to put your hopes in, well, I can be a sinner and all of that. I don't really see how, but I know just because I know and yet it's okay. I got time, you know, to repent and choose Christ. It's not going to work like that. For a man to be graceless and not see it till it is too late, to think himself a Christian when he is not, and that he is in the right way to heaven when he is in the ready way to hell, and not know it till a deathbed or a judgment day confute his confidence, this is the most irrecoverable misery." Irrecoverable? It's too late. I would especially ask those who are young and listening to this to think about it. You may think that you're young. You may think that you've got years to go and that you can, you know, have your taste of sin. I remember my daughter telling me once when she was young, long before I rejected her and cast her out, how she said all she wanted was a taste. Not that she believed the Bible. She had to have believed, otherwise she would at least believe to a point. But said that she wanted to at least taste it. Okay, well I'm sure there's a lot of people that feel the same way. That's what I'm talking about. You're young, you think you've got all the time in the world, but you may not. Okay? This is the most irrecoverable misery. These are the grounds upon which I press this duty of examining our state. Oh, that God would help us, to grant us grace, sustaining grace, operating grace, that God would help us in the doing of this necessary duty. Now here comes a question. You say But how shall I come to know whether I am almost or altogether a Christian? If a man may go so far and yet miscarry, how shall I know when my foundation is right, when I am a Christian indeed? Well, here's an answer. Number one, the altogether Christian closes with and accepts of Christ upon the gospel terms. gospel terms. True union makes a true Christian. Many do close with Christ, but it is upon their own terms. They take him and own him, but not as God offers him. The terms upon which God in the gospel offers the Lord Jesus Christ are that we shall accept of a broken Christ with a broken heart and yet a whole Christ with the whole heart. This is taking the plunge. This isn't just putting your foot in just to test the water to see if it's warm or cold. This is diving straight in, but I tell you the truth you already know that it's okay to dive straight in. A broken Christ with a broken heart as a witness of our humility. A witness of our humility. A whole Christ with a whole heart as a witness of our sincerity. A broken Christ respects his suffering for sin. A broken heart respects our sense of sin. No way we can have a broken heart from the sense and understanding of our own sin unless we take it completely without excuses. We take the scripture for what it is in the law without saying, but I, no buts, goats but. Goats but. Okay? A whole Christ includes all his offices. A whole heart includes all faculties. The mind, the body, the heart, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the mouth, the ears, all of it. Christ is a king, priest, and prophet, and all as mediator. He is the go-between. Not the priest, not the nun, Not your mother, not your father, not the pastor at your church. Christ is the mediator. Without any one of these offices the work of salvation could not have been completed. As priest he redeems us. As a prophet he instructs us. As a king he sanctifies and saves us. Therefore, the Apostle says, he is made to us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All in one fell swoop. It all comes in one shot. Bam. Righteousness and redemption flow from him as a priest, wisdom as a prophet, sanctification as a king. Now many embrace Christ as a priest but yet they own him not as a king or a prophet or a king and a prophet. They like to share in his righteousness but not to partake of his holiness. They would be redeemed by Him, but they would not submit to Him. They would be saved by His blood, but not submit to His power. Now many love the privileges of the gospel, but not the duties of the gospel. Now these are but almost Christians, notwithstanding their close with Christ. For it is upon their own terms, but not upon God's. You cannot have it your way. It is not Burger King. The offices of Christ may be distinguished, but they can never be divided. But the true Christian owns Christ in all his offices. He not only closes with him as Jesus, but as Lord Jesus. And he says with Thomas, my Lord and my God. He does not only believe in the merits of his death, that is Christ's death, but also conforms to the manner of his life as he believes in him so he lives to him. He takes him for his wisdom as well as for his righteousness, for his sanctification as well as his redemption. Number two, the altogether Christian has a thorough work of grace and sanctification brought in the heart as a spring of duties. Regeneration is a complete change. All old things are done away and all things become new. It is a perfect work as to parts though not as to degrees. Okay? Carnal men do duties but they are from an unsanctified heart and that spoils all of it. A new piece of cloth never does well in an old garment, for the tear is made worse. But when a man's heart is thoroughly renewed by grace, the mind savingly enlightened, the conscience thoroughly convinced, and the will truly humbled and subdued, the affections spiritually raised and sanctified, not sanctifying, sanctified, and when mind and will and conscience and affections all join issue to help on with the performance of the duties commanded, then is the man altogether a Christian. He that is altogether a Christian looks to the manner as well as to the matter of his duties. Not only that they be done, but how they be done. Hebrews 12.2, Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. As an example, where is you or I involved in that? We're not anywhere in it. It's all him or none of him. He knows the Christian's privileges lie in pronouns, but his duty in adverbs. It must not only be bonum or good, but it must be bene. That good must be rightly done. And here the almost Christian fails. He does the same duties that others do for the matter, but he does them not in the same manner. His motive. His operation. Not what the Bible is teaching. He does it of his own. While he minds the substance, he regards not the circumstance. If he pray, he regards not faith and fervency in the prayer. If he hears, he does not mind Christ's rule. Quote, take heed how you hear, close quote. If he obeys, he looks not to the frame of his heart in obeying and therefore miscarries in all that he does. And of these defects, it spoils the good of every duty. Number four, The altogether Christian is known by his sincerity in all his performances. Sincerity nowadays we can also use the word transparency because a person is definitely going to be known whether he's sincere or not by what he shows. His transparency in all his performances. Whatever a man does in the duties of the gospel, he cannot be a Christian without sincerity. Now the almost Christian fails in this. For though he does much, prays much, hears much, and obeys much, yet he is a hypocrite under all. And again, for example, he chose Christ because he didn't want to go to hell. Not that he came to Christ because Christ broke his heart. drew him to himself, but that he did it in his own way, in his own manner. We've already covered that. Number five, he that is altogether a Christian has an answerableness within to the law without. There is a connaturalness between the Word of God and the will of a Christian. His heart is, as it were, the transcript of the law. The same holiness that is commanded in the Word is implanted in the heart. The same conformity to Christ that is enjoined by the Word of God is wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God. The same obedience which the Word requires of Him, the Lord enables Him to perform. by His grace bestowed on Him. And this is that which is promised in the New Covenant. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. Now the writing, His law, in us is nothing else but His working, that grace and holiness in us which the law commands and requires of us. In the old covenant administration, God wrote his laws only upon tables of stone, but not upon the heart. And therefore, though God wrote them, yet they broke them. But in the new covenant administration, God provides new tables, not tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of the heart, and writes his laws there. God writes His laws there, that there might be a law within, answerable to the law without. And this every true Christian has. True Christians love the law. They do. Why do they love the law? Because it is the Word of God. The laws, the ordinances, the precepts, are the things that God wants us to do. They come from His mouth. This is what I want you to do. Not that it's going to save you, but this is what I want you to do. Full stop. God provides new tables, not tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of the heart, and writes his laws there, that there might be a law within, answerable to the law without. And this every true Christian has, so that he may say in his measure, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Your law is within my heart. And every believer has a light within him, not guiding him to despise and slight, but to prize and to walk by the light without him. The Word commands him to walk in the light and the light directs him to walking according to the Word. And moreover, from this impression of the law upon the heart, obedience and conformity to God becomes the choice and the delight of the soul. For holiness is the very nature of the new creature. So if there were no scripture or no Bible to guide him, yet he would be holy. for he has received grace for grace. There is grace within to answer the word of grace without. Now the almost Christian is a stranger to this law of God within and without. He may have some conformity to the word in an outward conversation, but he cannot have this answerableness to the word in the inward constitution. Number six. The altogether Christian is much in duty and yet much above duty. Much in duty in regard of performances. Much above duty in regard of dependence. Much in duty by obeying, but much above duty by believing he lives in his obedience. But he does not live upon his obedience, but rather upon Christ and his righteousness. The almost Christian fails in this. He is much in duty but not above it. He rests in it. He works for rest and he rests in his works. He cannot come to believe and obey as well. If he believes then he thinks there is no need of obedience and casts it off. If he be much in obedience, then he casts off believing and thinks there is no need of that. And he cannot say with David, I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments. The more a man is in duty and the more above it, the more in doing and more in believing, the more Christian. Number seven, he that is altogether a Christian is universal in his obedience. He does not obey one command and neglect another, do one duty and cast off another, but he has respect to all the commandments and he endeavors to leave every sin and to love every duty. Now the almost Christian fails in this as well. His obedience is partial and piecemeal. If he obeys one command, he breaks another. The duties that least cross his lust, he is much in. But those that do, he lays aside. Now the Pharisees fasted, prayed, and paid tithes, etc. But they did not lay aside their covetousness, their oppression. They devoured widows' houses. they were unnatural to parents. Number eight, the altogether Christian makes God's glory the chief end, the chief end of all his performances. If he prays or hears or gives or fasts or repents or obeys, etc. God's glory is the main end of all. It is true, he may have someone else at the hither end of his work, but God is at the further end. As Moses' rod swallowed up the magician's rods, so God's glory is the ultimate end that swallows up all his other ends. Now the almost Christian fails in this as well. His ends are corrupt and selfish. In other words, like I said previously, selfish in the means of I want to come to Christ because I'm afraid to go to hell. You didn't do it because you were shown to be a sinner and it broke your heart. You did it to preserve yourself so you wouldn't burn. And that is selfish. God may possibly be at the hither end of his work, but self is at the farther end. For he that was never truly cast out of himself can have no higher end than himself. In other words, he does everything for his own benefit. I'll use paying tithes, even though it's not biblical. Not biblical for us. We're not Levites, okay? But for example, A person pays their tithes because they're told that God can't get his will done unless they pay them. Or they pay their tithes every week because they get a check back at the end of the year or they get a tax exemption. They're not doing it for the purposes of actually giving money so that people in the church who cannot support themselves or are having trouble meeting their ends, that money is supposed to go to them to help them out. to love your brother as you love yourself. Okay? That's what the money's for. It's not to pay a priest a salary or to pay a pastor a salary or an elder a salary. It's to share amongst the church. Not for people to go out there and video them giving money to blatant sinners, showing, look, look, I'm doing good. I'm giving away all this money to people who don't deserve it. I'm a good Christian. They do that for selfish reasons. Okay? This is what meat is talking about. Self is at the farthest end of it. For he that was never truly cast out of himself can have no higher end than himself. Now then examine yourself by these characters and put the question to your own soul. Do you close with Christ upon the terms of the gospel? Is grace in the heart the principle of your performances? Do you look to the manner as well as the manner of your duties? Do you do all in sincerity? Is there an answerableness within the law without? Are you much above duty when much in duty? Is your obedience universal? And lastly, is God's glory the end of it all? That is your motive. If so, then are you not only almost, but you are altogether a Christian. And like I said, I'm going to plow through this thing to the end. Second use of caution. Oh take heed of being almost and yet but almost a Christian. It is a great complaint of God against Ephraim that he is a cake not turned. That he is half-baked, neither raw nor roasted, neither cold nor hot, as Laodicea. Because thou art neither cold nor hot, therefore I will spew thee out of my mouth. This is a condition that of all others is greatly unprofitable, exceedingly uncomfortable, and desperately dangerous. First, it is greatly unprofitable to be but almost a Christian, for failing in any one point will ruin us as surely as if we had never made any attempt for heaven. It is no advantage to the soul to be almost converted. for the little that we want. It spoils the good of all our attainments. We say, as good never acquit as never the near. There is no profit in leaving this or that sin unless we leave all of the sin. Herod, for example, heard John the Baptist gladdening and did many things. but he kept Herodias, and that ruined him. Judas did many things, prayed much, preached much, professed much. He had the power to work miracles, but yet his covetousness spoiled all of it. One sin ruined the young man. that kept all the commands but one. That's the man who said, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Some like to say, well, it says in the scripture that Jesus loved him. Well, if he loved him, then it would have saved him, right? No, he didn't. One sin ruined the young man that had kept all the commands but one. He that offends in one point is guilty of all. that is, that lives willfully and allowedly in any one sin. He brings the guilt of the violation of the whole law of God upon his soul, and that upon a twofold account. Number one, because he manifests the same contempt of the authority of God, the sovereignty of God, in the willful breach of one as of all. Number two, by allowing himself in the breach of any one command. He shows he kept none in obedience and conscience to God. I'll give you one example, the fourth commandment. And that's going to get many of you, many of you, most of you I would say, breaking the Sabbath. You worship on Sunday, you're a Sabbath breaker. God never appointed Sunday as the Sabbath day. The Lord Jesus didn't do it. The apostles didn't do it. And again I'll be preaching on that later this afternoon. You are breaking the Sabbath. Period. No excuses. By allowing himself in the breach of any one command he shows that he kept none in obedience and conscience to God. For he that hates sin as sin hates all sin, and he that obeys the command is the express will of God, obeys every command. For this cause, the least sin, willfully and with allowance lived in, spoils the good of all our other obedience and lays the soul under the entire wrath of God. Now again, brothers and sisters, I'm not talking about the ceremonial law. We know the ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Christ. But the moral law and the judicial law have yet to be fulfilled. That's not going to happen until the final judgment. The moral law will exist for us as long as this earth exists. And I don't have the scripture number right off the top of my head, but you know it. I shouldn't have to tell you. For this cause, the least sin, willfully and with allowance lived in, it spoils the good of all our obedience and lays the soul under the whole wrath of God. One leak in a ship may sink her, though she be tight in every other way. Gideon had seventy sons and but one bastard, and yet that one bastard destroyed all his sons. And so may one sin spoil all our services. One beloved lust may spoil all our profession as that one bastard slew all the sons of Gideon. By the way, for those of you who don't know, a bastard is a child born out of wedlock. That's what a bastard is. Secondly, It is exceedingly uncomfortable and this appears in three ways. Number one, in that such a one is hated of God and men. The world hates him because of his profession. God abhors him because of his dissimilation. The world hates him because he seems good and God hates him because he doth but only seem so. God knows your heart and your mind and your motive. You think you're doing it in secret, but see you can't sense that God sees through all of that. And being that he's omniscient and omnipresent, he's everywhere. No escape. You cannot escape from God. You cannot sin without him seeing it. No person that God hates more than the almost Christian. And here the Lord Jesus tells us, I would thou work either cold or hot. That is, either all a Christian or not at all a Christian. Because thou art neither cold nor hot, therefore I will spew thee out of my mouth. What a loathsome expression does God here use to show what an utter abhorrency there is in Him against lukewarm Christians. How uncomfortable then must that condition needs be wherein a man is abhorred both of God and man. Wow. Number two, it is uncomfortable in regard of sufferings. For being almost a Christian will bring us into suffering. But being but almost a Christian will never carry us through the suffering. In Matthew chapter 13 verses 20 and 21 it is said, quote, He that receiveth the seed into stony ground, the same is he that hears the word and with joy receives it. Yet he did not have root in himself, but does for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended." Now there are four things observable in the words. Number one, that the stony ground may receive the word with joy. Number two, that it may for some time abide in a profession of it. He dureth for a while. Number three, that this profession will expose to suffering. Like I said earlier, if you're a Christian, you're going to suffer. Even if you're a fake Christian, you're still going to suffer. And we see why from Mark. Persecution, not Mark the person. Mark is an observe. Persecution is said to arise because of the word. Number four. This suffering will cause an apostatizing from our profession. That which is here called offense as in Luke chapter 8 verse 13 called falling away. Which for a while believed and in time of temptation fall away close quote. Now I gather hints. A profession may expose a man as much to suffering as the power of godliness. But without the power of godliness, then there's no holding out in a profession under suffering, or persecution, or affliction. The world hates the show of godliness and therefore persecutes it. The almost Christian lacks the substance. therefore cannot hold out in it. Now this must needs be very uncomfortable. If I profess religion I am like to suffer, but if I do but profess it I am never like to endure. Number three, it is uncomfortable in regard of that deceit that it lays our hopes under. It is uncomfortable in regard of that deceit it lays our hopes under. To be deceived of our hopes causeth sorrow as well as shame. He that is but almost a Christian hopes for heaven, but unless he be altogether a Christian, he shall never come there. Now to perish with hope of heaven, only to go to hell by the gates of glory, to come to the very door, and then to be shut out as the five virgins were, To die in the wilderness within the sight of the promised land. At the very brinks of Jordan, at the very banks of the Jordan. This must needs be sad. To come within a stride of the goal and yet to miss it. To sink within sight of harbor. In other words, like you hear a ship and you see the harbor and yet you sink right before it. Well, how uncomfortable is this? Number four, as it is greatly unprofitable and exceedingly uncomfortable to be but almost a Christian, so it is desperately dangerous for, number one, this hinders the true work. A man lives A man lies in a fairer capacity for conversion that lies in open enmity and rebellion than he that soothes up himself in the formalities of religion. And this I gather from that parable of the two sons which our Lord Jesus urged to the professing scribes and Pharisees. Quote, there was a man who had two sons. He came to one and said, go to work today in the vineyard. And he said, I will not, but afterwards repented and went. He came to the second and said, likewise, and he said, I go, sir, but went not. Close quote. Now, the first represents the carnal, open sinner that is called by the word but refuses, yet afterwards repents and believes. The second represents the hypocritical professor that pretends much, but performs little. Now, let's observe how Christ applies this parable. Verse 31, quote, Barely I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Close quote. And upon this account, it is better not to be at all than to be almost a Christian. For the almost hinders the altogether. It is better in this regard to be a sinner without a profession than to be a professor without conversion. For the one lies fairer for an inward change when the other rests in an outward. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells the scribe, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God, yet never like to come there. none farther from the kingdom of God than such as are not far from the kingdom of God. As for instance, when there lies but one lust or one sin between a soul and Christ, that soul is not far from Christ. But now when the soul rests in this nearness to Christ and yet will not part with that one lust for Christ, he thinks his condition secure, though that lust be not subdued. who is farther from the kingdom of God than he. And so our Lord Jesus Christ tells a young man, one thing thou lackest. Why he was very near heaven, near being a Christian altogether, and he was almost saved. He tells Christ that he had kept all the commands in verse 30. He lacked but one thing. I say, but one thing. But it was a great thing, and that one thing he lacked was more than all the things that he had, for it was the one thing necessary. It was a new heart, a work of grace in the soul, a change of state, a heart weaned from the world. This was that one thing, and he that lacks this one thing perishes with all things else. Number two, This condition is so like a state of grace that the mistake of it for grace is easy and common. That's the common in common grace. It's common to mistake it for true grace. For it is very dangerous to mistake anything for grace that is not grace. For in that a man contents himself. as if it were grace. Formality does often dwell next door to sincerity, and one sign serves the both. And so the house may be easily mistaken, and by that means a man may take up his lodging there and never find the way out again. What one saith of wisdom, many might have been wise had they not thought themselves so when they were otherwise, But one saith of wisdom, the same I may say of grace. Many a formal professor might have been a sincere believer, had he not mistaken his profession for conversion, or mistaken his duties for grace, and so rested in that for sincerity. That is but hypocrisy. Number three, it is a degree of blasphemy to pretend to grace and yet have no grace. And I gather this from Revelation chapter 2 verse 9. Quote, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not. Close quote. This place undergoes variety of constructions. Grotius and Pyramus do not make their blasphemy to lie in their saying that they are Jews and are not. but rather to lie in the reproaches that these Jews fastened upon Christ. That is, they call them an imposter, a deceiver, one that has a devil, etc. Breitman goes the other way and says this was the blasphemy of these Jews, that they retained that way worship that was abrogated and thrust upon God those old rites and ceremonies which the Lord Jesus Christ had abolished and nailed to the cross by which they overthrew the glory of Christ and denied his coming. But I conceive the blasphemy of these Jews to lie in this, that they said they were Jews and were not." And again, a Jew At that time, natural Jews were the chosen people of God. Same principle as a Christian. A Christian is a chosen follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. A Jew here is not to be taken literally and strictly only. Now this is me talking. For one of the lineage of Abraham but it is to be taken metonymically for a true believer and one of the spiritual seed of Abraham. He is a Jew which is one inwardly, so that for a man to say he is a Jew when he is not, to profess an interest in Christ when he has none, to say that he has grace when he has none, this the Lord Jesus Christ calls blasphemy. Why would the Lord Jesus call this blasphemy? This is hypocrisy. But how may it be said to be blasphemy? Why, he blasphemes the great attribute of God's omniscience. He doth implicitly deny that God sees and knows our hearts and thoughts. Or sorry, I might get this word wrong because it's almost blacked out of the PDF here. While he blasphemes the great attribute of God's omniscience, he does implicitly deny that God sees and knows our hearts and thoughts. For if a man did not believe the omniscience of God that he does search the heart and sees and knows all within, he would not dare to rest in a graceless profession of godliness. This, therefore, is blasphemy in the account of Christ. Number four, it is dangerous to be but almost a Christian. I'm not going to be able to get through all of this. There's 45 pages left so I'm going to hurry up here and close this out. Number four, it is dangerous to be almost a Christian in that this stills and serves to quiet conscience. Now it is very dangerous to quiet conscience with anything but the blood of Christ. It is bad being at peace till Christ speaks peace. Nothing can truly pacify conscience less than that which pacifies God and that is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the almost Christian quiets conscience but not with the blood of Christ. It is not a peace flowing from Christ's propitiation, but a peace rising from a formal profession. By the way, formal profession is a sort of work. Not a piece of Christ's giving, but a piece of his own making. That is, the sinner's own making. He silences and bridles conscience with a form of godliness and so makes it give way to an undoing soul-destroying peace. He rocks it to sleep in the cradle of duties and then it is a thousand to one that he never wakes up anymore till judgment or death or death or judgment. Oh my brethren, it is better to have conscience never quiet than quiet in any way but by the blood of sprinkling. A good conscience on quiet the greatest affliction to saints and an evil conscience quiet is the greatest judgment to sinners. I want to read one more, number five. It is dangerous to be almost a Christian in respect of the unpardonable sin. The sin that the scriptures say it can never be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. I mean the sin against the Holy Ghost. Now such are only capable of sinning that sin as are but almost Christians. A true believer cannot. The work of grace in his heart, that seed of God abiding in him, secures him against it. The profane, ignorant, open sinner cannot, though he lives daily and hourly in sin, yet he cannot commit this sin, for it must be from an enlightened mind. Every sinner, under the gospel especially, sins sadly against the Holy Ghost, against the strivings and motions of the Spirit. He resists the Holy Ghost, but yet this is not the sin against the Holy Ghost. There must be three ingredients to make up that sin. Number one, it must be willful. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. Number two, that sin must be against light and convictions after we have received the knowledge of the truth. Number three, it must be in resolved malice. It's got to be done deliberately, in malice with effect. Now you shall find all these ingredients in the sin of the Pharisees. Matthew chapter 12 verse 22. Christ heals one that was possessed with a devil. A great work which all the people wondered at. That's verse 23. But what say the Pharisees? See verse 24. this fellow casteth out devils by the prince of devils. Now that this was the sin against the Holy Ghost is clear, for it was both willful and malicious, and against clear conviction. They could not but see that he was the Son of God, and that this work was a peculiar work of the Spirit of God in him, and yet they say he wrought by the devil. whereupon Christ charges them with this sin against the Holy Ghost. Verse 31, 32, and 33. Now the Pharisees were a sort of great professors, whence I gather this conclusion, that it is the professor of religion that is the subject of this sin, not the open carnal sinner, and not the true believer, but rather the formal professor. Not the sinner, for he has neither light nor grace. Not the believer, for he has both light and grace. Therefore the formal professor, for he has light but no grace. Here then is the great danger of being almost a Christian, that he's liable to this dreadful, unpardonable sin. I'm going to go ahead and stop there at number five because like I said there's 42 more pages and that's quite a bit Anyway again This is a lot to take in and I would invite those of you who haven't listened up to this point The first eight parts to please catch up Binge it Okay I'm gonna finish this off of the fuck the last 42 pages next Lord's Day which is Saturday, not Sunday. And again, I'll get into that in my afternoon sermon. If I don't get to it today, I mean I want to get to it today, but stuff happens. If I manage not to get to it today, it will be done within the next couple of days. And I have preached on this before, so it's not like I'm dropping something new. It's just I found somewhere else where someone who put it a lot together a little bit better than I did about the Lord's Day. and how there are two Sabbaths during Passover. Anyway, that's all I've got for today. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless and preserve you, brothers and sisters.