If you're gonna do heartwork, you don't wanna use a butter knife. And if you're gonna do heartwork spiritually, There's only one really efficient knife to use, and that's the Word of God, because it pierces all the way through the joints and the marrow, and it gets all the way down and dissects the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. The story is told of a classical music fan who realized he was staying in the same hotel as and in fact right next door to the master violinist whose concert he was attending the following night.
He could hear the musician practising, and he expected a free mini concert. But instead he heard scales. In fact, that's all he heard all night long. the virtuoso understood the value, really the absolute necessity, of rehearsing the fundamentals.
Well, that's true not only in music. In your Christian life there are fundamentals you can't afford to ignore, attitudes that create a sturdy foundation for your spiritual growth. John MacArthur called those attitudes the pillars of Christian character, and that's the title of John's study here on Grace to You.
So with today's lesson, here's John MacArthur. In spite of the identity crisis in the church, The Bible is very clear about what a church should be. The scripture lays out a definitive way in which life in the church is to be conducted. There really aren't any mysteries. in terms of how the church is to conduct itself and what the nature of its ministries are to be.
In fact, God has outlined definitely a right way to do work in the church. It's very, very direct and easy to see. Cultures change. Styles change from time to time and place to place, but the character of the church doesn't change, and God's design for how the church functions. is clearly revealed in Scripture.
The sad reality is that when the church deviates from the plan. There is chaos, and that's the kind of thing the church is experiencing in the world today. Speaking of the right way to do things, in a recent issue of a magazine I never read, called Meat and Poultry. The editors quoted from another magazine I never read. Feathers.
That is the publication of the California poultry industry. But the following story was irresistible. It seems the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has a unique way. of testing the strength of windshields on airplanes.
The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken. Right at the plane's windshield. at approximately the speed the plane flies. The theory is that if the windshield doesn't crack from the carcass impact, It'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight.
Well, it seems the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new high-powered locomotive they're developing. They borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher. loaded the chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken Shattered the windshield. went right through the heart of the engineer's chair.
smashed the instrument panel behind him. and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned. And asked the FAA to recheck the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had only one recommendation.
Thaw the chicken.
Now, I'm trying to make that into a parable for this sermon, you understand?
So you have to come back. From that hilarious scene. There's a right way to do things. And if you do things the wrong way, the result is chaotic. There's a right way to do things in the church, and the Word of God has laid out the formulas for that.
Jesus said, I will build my church, and he has established the plans, and he has revealed them to those who are employed in the building. Those of us who lead in the church, who serve in the church, Have the plan in hand in having the New Testament. As I said, styles may vary from time to time and culture to culture, but the basics for the life of the church. are non-negotiable. They are not interchangeable.
They are fixed. And we're reviewing them in this series around the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ. There are a number of ways in which the church is described metaphorically in the Bible as a flock, and as a family, and as a household, and as a temple, and so forth, even as a. A vine and branches. But the most rich metaphor for the church is the body idea that we are like a physical body attached to the head, the head being Christ and His life and direction and guidance flowing out.
Through the body. And so we've borrowed this metaphor and extended it a little bit in our series on the anatomy of the church. You've gone to the doctor's office or into the lab in high school or college and you've You've seen a skeleton suspended on a hook, on a metal frame, and you know that it isn't alive. It has the structure, but it doesn't have the life. You have to hang on that skeleton, the internal systems.
that cause the fluids to flow. and maintain the life. And we're talking about what it is that has to happen on the inside of the lives of believers for the church to be what God wants the church to be. To be. Spiritual attitudes, spiritual motives.
Spiritual convictions. That's what we're talking about. Spiritual ministry in the church applies the truth of God and the means of grace to the soul. The work is the work on the inner man. That's what we do.
Legalism is content to work on the outside. It's content to conform people externally. That's what legalism does. It manipulates people. It intimidates people.
It somehow promises them rewards, or it brings them under fear, and it gets them to conform externally to certain behaviors. But that doesn't accomplish the work of God. That's legalism, and legalism is rejected by the Word of God, as you know. We're not interested in controlling people, we're interested in seeing the heart transformed. It's the same thing in parenting.
It's a good analogy. It's not difficult to control your children. You're bigger. You're smarter. You're more powerful.
You have a better way with words. You have all the money. You control the car. You've got the keys to everything. It's not difficult to control your children.
But it's a whole other thing to see their heart transformed. That's a completely different mission. And that's what the church must recognize. Controlling can be done a lot of ways. But change can only be done one way, and that's by heart work.
Working on the heart. And then that takes care. Of the outside. Spiritual attitudes are the internal life of the church, and those attitudes have to do with motives and convictions. Building those into people.
The issues of the heart. Or where the church has to spend its time. And those are the internal systems. That's where the life flows. And apart from that, The church is really dead.
To sort of set this thing in motion, I want you to look at Ephesians chapter 3. And as I've noted for you, we're going to go through a lot of different passages as we sort of reach back and pull together a summary of all of these salient matters with regard to life in the church. And one of those very important passages is Ephesians chapter 3. It takes us into the heart of one of the noble pastors, of course, of all time, the Apostle Paul. We get an idea of what he was really after in his ministry, and it was the heart.
There are a number of notable passages in which he makes that clear, but this one is perhaps as clear as any of them. And we find that his His desire for heart work. is manifest in how he prayed for his people. Look at verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
For this reason, a reason he is about to tell you. He prays. And he prays to the Father. Because the Father is the creator of every family in heaven and on earth. In other words, God is the creator of every family and every kind of family, whether you're talking about The human family in general, or whether you're talking about what is called the nuclear or individual family in particular, or whether you're talking about the spiritual family of the church, the body of Christ, God is the father of all of that.
God is the one from whom everything derives its life. And not only in the human world, but everywhere else in creation as well. And so he is saying, I go back to the source. I go back to the one who is the creator. And in regard to the family that is spiritual, I pray this.
This is the reason I pray. Here's the reason. Number 16. That he would grant you According to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit. Here's the key.
in the inner man. The issue is the heart. We know that. This is a very good emphasis, however. The issue is not what someone is conformed to doing on the outside.
The issue is what is the heart condition? Doing the will of God from the heart. Paul says in Ephesians 6, 6 at the end of that verse. doing the will of God from the heart. Paul says, what I'm concerned about is the inner man.
I'm concerned about the inside because it is out of the heart that everything proceeds. It's not that which goes into a man that defiles him, Jesus said. It's that which comes out of him. And since the defilement is on the inside, that's where the work has to be done. Moving back into a sort of a medical metaphor for a moment.
Men need heart surgery. They have sick hearts, diseased hearts, and the work has to be done internally. You've got to cut through and get to the inside to do the work. And that's what Paul prayed. When he bowed his knee to the one who is the creator and the source of every family in earth, including the spiritual family, he asked him to work on the inside.
In fact, he prayed that according to the riches of his glory, and there are no limits to those riches, according to the vastness of God's spiritual riches, that he would grant. through the Spirit, strengthening with power in the inner men. In other words, Paul prayed for strong inner men. that there would be a strong spiritual heart. A strong inner man, that's where the work had to be done.
Then notice in verse 17, he even moves beyond that. He wanted that inner man strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit in order that. Or so that in order that to Hina purpose clause, Christ may settle down, katoi ka'o, to settle down in your hearts.
Now let me stop there in a moment. For a moment, Christ, if you're a believer, is already in your heart. But he may not be settled down. He may be up all the time fixing things. You remember that wonderful little book, My Heart Christ Home?
I read it as a young man, and it had a marvelous effect upon me. It had the picture of a house. like the heart. And Christ comes in. And he goes into the living room, which is the realm of fellowship.
And he goes into the dining room, which is the realm of appetites. And he goes into the library, which is the realm of thought. And there's work to do in all those places, and all those places receive his purging. And then all of a sudden, when all of that is done, there's a terrible stench coming out of somewhere. And Christ finds a closet and opens it up, and there are all the hidden iniquities.
And Christ can't settle down and be at home until all that work is done. And that's what the Apostle Paul is praying. He's praying that the Spirit of God would strengthen your inner man so that sin would be dealt with, and the response to the cleansing of Christ would be a complete response, and Christ could settle down and be at rest. Because. Sin is being dealt with.
That's what Paul's praying for. He's praying for the Spirit to come, bring his strength to the inner man, do a cleansing work so that Christ is comfortable in your life. Very opposite would be 1 Corinthians 6, where you go to a harlot and join Christ to that harlot. I can't imagine anything more. disconcerting to the one who is joined with the believer than being so joined to a harlot.
Such an embarrassment and a shame to Christ that would be. The opposite is to have Christ settle down and be at rest in your life. because holiness is there, sin is being dealt with. And when Christ settles down, something else happens. You become rooted and grounded in His love.
You are able to understand with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. The Holy Spirit comes in, gives you strength in the inner man. Sin is dealt with. Christ is at home and he exudes his love. Into every part of your life.
And out to those around you. And you literally are a walking Advertisement. A walking testimony, a walking witness. to the transforming love of Christ. And that's not all.
The end of verse 9, another sequence, another purpose clause that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God. The progression is amazing. The Spirit comes first and brings you the power. To control that inner man, to bring that inner man into harmony with God's truth, Christ cleanses your life, settles down, is at home, and then you're flooded with the fullness of God. The whole Trinity is there.
As a result of that, verse 20, you become able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, and as a result of that, To him be the glory in the church. And in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. The ultimate purpose of a life that glorifies God is. Produced.
That was Paul's prayer. I mean, it is a massive... The reduction of all the work of sanctification into this one prayer. That the Spirit would come in and do his work and not be quenched or grieved. That Christ would be free to cleanse every area of your life so that he is at rest and at peace and comfortable in your life.
Then the fullness of God comes in and you begin to exhibit all the attributes of God because Christ is being fully formed in you. And then you become useful to do beyond what you could even ask or think. And in the end, all the glory in the church goes to the Lord of the church, the head of the church, Jesus Christ. And all of that is an inside work. All of that is an inside operation.
This is the long haul, folks. This is doing it the hard way, but it's the only right way. building into people convictions and motives and attitudes. that caused them to do the work of God from the heart. Let me expand on that just a bit.
Go back to Romans chapter 2. And this is still kind of just introducing this need for heart attitudes, but in Romans chapter 2 and verse 5. Here is an indictment in this chapter of Israel. And in verse 5, of Romans Chapter 2. That indictment against Israel is an indictment of their heart condition.
Because of your stubbornness, An unrepentant heart. I mean, here were the Jews who had all the law of God and the covenants and the promises, and the Messiah had come to them, and they had all of this. They had all the external religion, they went through all the ceremonies, carried off all the sacrifices, gave all the offerings, went through all the external codes, did it all. But they were stubborn and unrepentant in heart, and because of that, instead of storing up merit with God, verse 5 says they were storing up wrath. They were just accumulating more fuel for the fire in which they themselves would burn.
And the problem down in verse 29 is further defined at the end of the chapter in these words: He is a Jew who is one inwardly. And the circumcision that God's concerned about is the circumcision of the heart. Always it has been internal. The Jews, of course, had totally ignored that and they had created an external religion. They had a form of godliness without any power.
They had an external kind of religion. You remember that they had substituted the commandments of God with traditions? Their religion was completely on the outside and consequently They were storing up nothing but wrath. God's work is a work of the heart. Over in Hebrews chapter 4, It tells us.
What is most efficient In doing that work, Verse uh 12 of chapter 4. For the word of God is alive or living. and active. and sharper than any two-edged sword. If you're going to do heartwork, you don't want to use a butter knife.
You're better off with a fairly sharp scalpel. And if you're going to do heart work spiritually, There's only one really efficient knife to use, and that's the Word of God, because it pierces all the way into the division of soul and spirit. It is efficient all the way to the very place you need to go, all the way through the joints and the marrow, and it gets all the way down and dissects the thoughts and intentions of the heart. If there's any question why we do what we do with the Word of God, that's the answer to it. If we're going to do heartwork, we've got to use the one knife that can penetrate that deeply.
We we have to use the one efficient Tool. And that's the Word of God. And the Word of God is what cuts all the way down to the heart. It produces conviction. It tears up the thoughts and intentions and unmasks the reality of the condition.
It cuts open and reveals the true state. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, In verse 22, It says, if we're going to draw near God. We have to come with a sincere heart. A true heart, an honest heart without hypocrisy. And then following it says, having our hearts sprinkled clean.
from an evil conscience. You go in there, the Word of God. Slices open. Takes you down to the heart. removes what is diseased.
cleans the heart. And then you can draw near to God.
Now what is the That's the metaphorical picture. What is the actual manifestation of a pure heart? Go back to Deuteronomy 13. When the surgery is done, And the patient has Had the disease removed. The bypasses have been inserted.
Or whatever was done was done. There'll be a new kind of condition in that heart, and it's described for us in Deuteronomy 13. Deuteronomy 13, 3. For the Lord your God is testing you. to find out If you love the Lord your God with all your what?
Your heart. And with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear him. You shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him. Everything really that needs to be said about the whole of the Christian life is said in those two verses.
It is a Glorious summation. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul. Follow him, fear him, obey him, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him. That's it.
And that all starts When you love him, with all your heart. The heart is the place. It has to come from inside. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 6, Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart. And the heart of your descendants.
He wants to go in and cut your heart. He wants to cut. The disease out of your heart. He wants to cleanse and purify and purge your heart. Why?
To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul in order that you may live. That Foundational reality of loving the Lord your God with all your heart is repeated in Matthew 22, 37, in Mark 12, 30 and 33, in Luke 10, 27. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, the New Testament says. It all starts with the heart, and so The internal systems give the church its life and it starts on the inside and flows out. That's why we're not into legalism.
We're not interested in just herding you around in external conformity. But we want to see the Lord do heart work.
Now, what are the essential heart attitudes? What are the essential heart motives and convictions? I gave you the first one: faith. Faith. And the back at 2-4.
Repeated in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38. The Lord's repeated it all through Scripture. It says this: The just shall live by Faith. At the heart of everything is believing God. He that comes to him must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Faith is the important foundational attitude. Right alongside that is obedience. The perfect companion to faith is obedience. Obedience. Simply means to submit.
Do what the Lord says. Do what he tells you. And what he tells you is revealed in Scripture. How foundational is it? Go back to the Great Commission, the last verse.
Of Matthew. Matthew 28. Verse 20. Jesus is commissioning his disciples to go out and Make disciples. Of all nations to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That's the salvation part. You go out there, you preach the gospel, they believe, they become disciples, you take them and baptize them, public confession of their faith. And then, verse 20: once they're saved, here's what you do. teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. That's what we do.
We teach people to obey God's word, to obey God's commands, to submit to him. 1 John, John repeats this same emphasis in 1 John chapter 2. By this, we know we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him, does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has been truly perfected.
In other words, you say you love God, you say you believe in God, you say you belong to Him, then it'll show up in your obedience. We're talking about heart obedience here. From the heart. Obedience without equivocation. Obedience without resistance, obedience without compromise.
This is part and parcel of the original commitment we made. Turn to 1 Peter, and I want to show you. A very important Part of this first chapter in 1 Peter. 1 Peter 122 describes salvation as an act of obedience. It says, you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls.
He describes the same Reality in verse 23 is having been born again. Through the Word of God. When you were born again through the Word of God, That also could be described as obeying the truth. That purified your souls. What truth was that?
The gospel. What was the gospel? Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And that's a command, so you either obey it or you don't. God said, This is my son, hear him.
Jesus said, repent. Repent, repent. The apostles, remember on the day of Pentecost, Peter says, repent, be baptized for the remission of sins, and so forth. Always they preach the gospel, believe, believe. That's a command.
It's always in a command mode, and it calls for obedience.
So Peter says, You obeyed the truth. And you were purified. You were saved. You were born again because you obeyed the truth, the truth contained in the Word of God. The word of God was preached.
You heard it, you believed it, you obeyed it. It said believe, you believed. It said repent, you repented. It said cast yourself on Christ, you cast yourself on Christ.
So the point is that at the moment of salvation, you engaged in an act of obedience. But you did more than that. You pledged yourself that that obedience was only the beginning. Not some isolated event. In other words, at the time when you committed yourself to obey the gospel, you also affirmed Christ as Lord, right?
You came and You recognized that he was your savior and there was no other way to be saved from your sins. And you were on your way to hell and the burden of your sin was overwhelming. And so you said, I can't save myself. I can't deliver myself from sin. And only you can.
You alone are the savior. And please forgive my sin. I cast myself on your mercy. I cast myself on your grace. Please forgive my sin based upon the fact that you died in my place.
And you recognize Jesus as Savior. But at the same time, you also acknowledge that he was Lord and Master, and you said, I'll follow you. I'll follow you. I'm confident that no Christian at the time of salvation has a grasp on the full implications of what that commitment meant. You don't know what that means at that point, but the commitment is there.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit has produced it. The Holy Spirit is produced The sense that you are now becoming a servant of God, and you are now becoming a servant of Jesus Christ, your Master, and acknowledging Him as your Lord. And you have stepped into a place of obedience. That's part of the covenant of salvation.
God's part, I save you, I forgive your sins, I give you eternal life. through the work of Jesus Christ, your part. You repent. And you submit to follow me. That's salvation.
When you came to salvation, that's what you did. That's what you did. you committed to obedience, though you didn't fully understand all the implications involved in that. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today's lesson unpacked a simple yet profound truth.
If you love Christ, you will obey Him. John's current study is called The Pillars of Christian Character.
Now, as the perfect complement to this series, we have produced a brand new study guide, also titled The Pillars of Christian Character. It gives you the outline for each message and all the supporting details, rich content, page after page, and it has space in the margins for taking notes.
So it's ideal for your personal devotions. It's also excellent curriculum for your midweek Bible study with plenty of discussion questions for your group to work through and to enhance what you're learning. And for a limited time, the prices for nearly all our resources have been reduced 25%. That includes the Pillars of Christian Character Study Guide. It's available exclusively from Grace2You.
So order yours today. Right now, the Pillars of Christian Character Study Guide costs $7.10 and shipping is free. Place your order at gty.org. or call us from 7.30 to 4 o'clock Pacific time at 855 GRACE. Again, to order the Pillars of Christian Character Study Guide, go to gty.org.
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Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question for you. What's the appropriate response to the love Christ shows you? What does his love demand? Find out tomorrow as we continue John MacArthur's study, The Pillars of Christian Character. with another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time.
on Grace to You.
