Dr. John MacArthur’s sermon: God saves only sinners.
You may have heard that statement many times, but if you have not practiced self-observation and examination, you may be thinking that you are a “good” Christian, because you attend church regularly; tithe…. Those kinds of works are, according to the Bible, suppose to be done from gratitude for your salvation.
Knowing your wretchedness qualifies you to be saved; yet, you will grow in the knowledge of your wretchedness as you mature in your faith; as you increase in your knowledge of God and of yourself; as the Holy Spirit continues to reveal your sinfulness to you.
Sermon highlights [square brackets mine]:
- Romans 5:6ff: while we were helpless, Christ died for the ungodly…while we were sinners, Christ died for us…
- while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
- Herein is the uniqueness of the gospel: salvation is offered, and is only possible for the ungodly; only for sinners; only for enemies of God
- Luke 5:27ff – Christ called Levi; Pharisees complained that Jesus ate with tax collectors
- Luke 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance
- That is, those who think they are good, or good enough, will not be called to salvation by Jesus
- All other religions offer salvation to those who are good; God only saves the self-confessed wretched
- Another uniqueness of the Christian gospel is that there is only one Savior; one Way: John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 20:31; 1 Cor. 16:22; Gal. 1:8; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1,2; 1 John 5:11
- Romans 10: 9-17; verse 9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
- Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…
- Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
- Current “evangelical” survey described: errors in its questions
- Satan’s biggest lie: that salvation comes to good people (whatever religion)
- Jesus’ call of Levi
- Background of the social status of tax collectors; types and functions of varying offices
- Social crimes of tax collectors
- Levi recognized his wretchedness
- Judaism would NEVER offer salvation to a tax collector
- Levi’s great feast was partially to introduce his friends, all wretched, to Jesus for salvation
- Zacchaeus: Jesus stayed at his house after giving him salvation
- Pharisees grumbled that Jesus condemned them and saved tax collectors; prostitutes…
- Pharisees were moral and self-righteous; not holy. Their righteousness was as filthy rags to God
- Luke 5:36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old
- Jesus spoke the above verse to the Pharisees to say that the gospel of grace is new and stands alone: salvation by grace, through faith alone by Christ alone; That Judaism is OLD and cannot be blended, mixed with this new gospel…
- They could not give up their system of external righteousness (self-righteousness), and morality that left them inwardly defiled – self-righteousness is intoxicating and very, very difficult to let go of; yet those who are the self-confessed wretched have done so [not on their own, the Holy Spirit has worked poverty of spirit; mourning for sin; meekness; hungering…into them]
The above sermon is good news to you if you have formerly believed yourself to be too bad, wretched…to be saved, the good news is that your wretchedness qualifies you for salvation! Cry out to Jesus for it.
However, if you believe yourself to be a good person, like the Pharisee of Luke 18, then you must begin to abide in God’s appointed means of grace: Bible reading; hearing of gospel preaching; prayer; the Lord’s supper; and fellowship around the word as in Bible study and prayer meetings — these means humble God’s children via the Holy Spirit; thereafter, your sinfulness will become more apparent to you.
Furthermore, self-examination is necessary to see the deceitfulness of your own heart regarding this matter. For help with that topic, see, Categories: Jonathan Edwards. The 3 posts about his spiritual journey.
Besides the recent Edwards posts, additional understanding could be gained by reading posts on the beatitudes: see, Categories, Beatitude Life for narrative posts on the beatitudes; and True Kingdom Citizen, for video posts on the beatitudes.