The Tax Collector’s Attitude

The word of the Lord says, “Awake, you who sleep, and Christ will give you light,” so let us get ready, because God has something very special. Pay attention to the word of God; that word is powerful to bring about transforming things in our lives this afternoon.

I want to invite you to turn to a passage of Scripture that reflects very well the subject we want to address; it is found in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 18. Luke, chapter 18—let us go to verse 9, a well-known passage.

How many have heard the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? How many have heard it? Raise your hand, okay? Well, at least a smaller number than I thought. Perhaps some are asleep and did not hear my warning.

Let me explain first so that you can understand what you hear, because some brothers and sisters may not have brought their Bibles and may not understand who a Pharisee is and who a tax collector is. We have many new people here in the church who are just beginning to walk in the ways of the Lord, and they will not necessarily understand what a Pharisee is—which for many of us is a familiar word—or what a tax collector is, which is definitely more difficult.

First of all, a Pharisee was a member of a religious sect in Jesus’ day that placed great emphasis on keeping the Law of Moses, on observing the dietary laws of Moses: do not eat this, do not eat that; and on keeping the Sabbath law with the utmost punctiliousness. In other words, they almost dared to say that you could not even breathe, because that would be work on the Sabbath day.

That was how cautiously they observed the law of the Sabbath day. They also observed a great many ritual laws, such as continually washing their hands, not touching a dead person, and not touching a woman during her menstrual period, or whatever the case might be.

It was, so to speak, a captivity to laws that froze Israel’s spiritual life. These people practically controlled Israel’s spiritual life, and Jesus faced much opposition from them because of the righteousness they believed they possessed, that sense of pride that came from keeping the Law and therefore considering themselves better than everyone else.

On the other hand, in Jesus’ day there was also a class of people called tax collectors. They were officials of the Roman Empire—Jews who nevertheless cooperated with that empire, which the Israelites hated so much because it ruled them by force. And these agents were—we might say—agents of the revenue service, some of the least popular people in the world: income tax collectors, the people who take your income tax, the IRS.

Although these people were Jews, they cooperated with the Romans and abused their position, often taking more from people than they should and keeping the rest. They gave Rome its share, and they kept a sizable portion of the money. They were hated both for being traitors to their country and for oppressing their countrymen. They were like the very symbol of sinners. No one wanted anything to do with tax collectors, and people regarded them as an abomination before God and before the Jewish nation.

So there we see two extremes: on one side, a very respectable person, supposedly very religious and deeply committed to fulfilling the requirements of religion; and on the other, someone who was completely outside religion because of his unacceptable behavior.

Now let us begin reading the parable in Luke 18:9. Listen or read along with me. It says: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others....”

A parable is an illustration, a narrative, a story told to people to illustrate a spiritual truth. Look at whom he addresses it to: people who were very self-confident, believing that they were righteous and had fulfilled the Law. So they looked down on everyone else as though saying, “You poor devil, you who do not keep the Law and know nothing about the things of God, right?” They despised others. He also told them this; it says:

“Two men went up to the temple, to the church, to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself.” Notice how revealing that is, right? He was praying to himself; he was not even praying to God. That is very important. God may have been a thousand miles away from him at that moment, but he prayed for his own satisfaction.

“He prayed with himself in this way: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—thieves, unjust people, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of everything I earn.’”

But the tax collector, the Lord says, stood far away and would not even lift his eyes to heaven—the complete opposite of the first man, right? This man had tucked himself away in a little corner of the church where no one would see him, and he did not even dare to lift his eyes toward God. The other man stood tall, very proud, very sure of himself, very confident in his own righteousness. This man was the complete opposite: he had a broken heart, was conscious of his sin, and was overwhelmed because he knew that he had offended God and was sinning through his behavior. And it says that this man did not dare even to lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me”—that is, have mercy on me—“a sinner.” In other words, he acknowledged who he was.

And look at the Lord’s verdict at the end. He says, “I tell you that this man”—meaning whom? The tax collector, that terrible offender, that sinner—“went down to his house”—what?—“justified.” What does that mean? In other words, he went home forgiven, his debt covered, his relationship with God restored. What is supposed to happen when someone comes into the presence of God happened to him: he returned clean; he returned with his accounts settled with God.

“He went down to his house justified rather than the other....” In other words, I do not think the other man got enough out of it even to pay the water bill that day—completely dry. “For everyone who exalts himself”—that is, everyone who boasts and takes great pride in his own righteousness—“will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be”—what?—“exalted; he will be lifted up....”

Brothers and sisters, here you have a very graphic portrayal of the basic dynamic of how a man or woman must approach God while in a condition of sin.

And what does God expect from us? Remember that I am preaching this series of sermons that I have called doctrinal sermons, sermons intended to explain very important aspects of Christian, biblical doctrine.

Over the next several Sundays, I will be preaching to you about many different subjects that I know will help you better understand what God expects from you and from me and, as a church, what basic teachings we must practice and retain in our spirits and minds.

And here you have what I would call the essence of the gospel: a man or woman is justified before God not by the things he or she does, not by conduct, not by anything external that he or she might accomplish—and I will qualify that later, but this is the essential truth—but by an attitude of the heart that connects that person with the grace of God.

That attitude of the heart requires a couple of things. Number one, it requires an acknowledgment of sin; it requires the person to admit that he or she has offended God. That is the first thing. One of the problems today, many times, when people are spoken to about certain areas and they take offense because the church is pointing out this thing or that, is that they do not want to admit their sin. Instead, they have disguised it and are calling it by another name so that it will not look like sin. And we tell them, “Look, why go through all those gymnastics and do all those somersaults, when all God wants is for you to admit, ‘Yes, Lord, I sinned’—or, as the Mexicans say, ‘I messed up’?” Then, from that point, God can work with you.

The first thing required is an attitude of repentance. The Word says, “A broken and contrite heart”—what?—“you will not despise, O God.” God never despises a person who is truly repentant, so there must be repentance of heart.

Second, there must be confession; there must be a verbal admission, something through which the person expresses it verbally. It is like signing something. When you acknowledge and declare before God, “Yes, Lord, I have sinned; I have offended you,” that quiets God’s heart and immediately appeases God’s wrath.

Now, after that—which I place under the heading of acknowledging sin—one must take another step, and that is to entrust oneself to God’s mercy through whom? Through Christ Jesus, through what Christ did on the cross of Calvary.

Then one transfers one’s debt and places it in the hands of Christ Jesus, saying, “Father, I acknowledge that my debt must now be covered by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.” Now, when you do that and take refuge under the work of Jesus, God gives you something the Bible calls grace. Then God extends his grace to you and says, “You know what, my son, my daughter? I forgive you. Your slate is wiped clean; you have a fresh start.”

Grace. You did nothing. You did not have to go to Rome on your knees. You did not have to climb a set of stairs, bleeding all over, in order to receive it. You did not have to go to the pastor so he could hear your verbal confession. You do not have to go and buy an indulgence somewhere to have a hundred years taken off your time in purgatory. You do not have to go to a saint’s relic where a little piece of the cross is enclosed in a glass case and touch it. You do not have to do anything physical; that attitude of the heart alone makes you a recipient of God’s mercy and grace. That is how it is.

That is what happened to this tax collector. He was full of sin, but he went before the throne of God, repented in his heart, felt the weight of his offense, acknowledged it, confessed it, humbled himself, and God forgave him.

What was the other man trusting in? In everything he did. “Lord, thank you because I fast twice every week; I give my tithes with perfect faithfulness.” That does not mean those things are unimportant—understand me clearly. The problem was that he was placing his trust in those things. The issue is not so much that you do good things—I will qualify that—but that you cannot think you are saved because you do those things, because God changed that ancient system of the Law and turned it into the system of grace through his Son Jesus Christ.

Let me give you an example, because what I want today is for you to understand this clearly, to leave here with a clear understanding of these doctrinal sermons and of this interrelationship: the interaction between, on the one hand, God’s grace and, on the other, works. We are not saying that we are simply going to set works aside—do you remember what I told you before? But I want you to understand these concepts in Scripture: grace, works, God’s forgiveness, the concept of justification. What happens when we are already within God’s grace and then sin? What resources remain available to us? I want you to understand all these kinds of things, so that you leave here with a good grasp of the system God has established for the benefit of us all.

But the first thing we see here in this passage is that the justification of a human being—that is, being right with God—depends not on actions, but on the heart and its attitude.

This morning I gave the brothers and sisters an example to help them understand this better. Look, there is no one who drives who does not continually break some traffic law in one way or another. The Bible says that no one can claim not to have sinned. Human beings sin because they have no other recourse; it is impossible not to sin against God, impossible not to violate God’s law. And do you know what the Bible says? That whoever does not keep the whole Law perfectly is guilty and deserving of death.

If, technically speaking, you offend God just once, it is as though you had already violated the entire Law. Why? Because violating God’s law just once already makes you, technically and judicially, deserving of God’s rejection. Legally, that is how it is, because God is a perfect God, and nothing imperfect can enter his kingdom.

And you know that something is either perfect or imperfect; there is nothing in between. One tiny thing that breaks the seal of perfection already makes that person imperfect, and then that person can no longer enter. The person is already marred and cannot enter the kingdom of God.

So, technically speaking, we all sin continually. How can I illustrate that? Look, I was telling you, for example, about traffic laws, which cover only one tiny part of human life. Driving is such a small area, but just think: during a two-hour trip, let us say to Portland, Maine, or wherever, or to Connecticut, even if you do not mean to, you will break the law several times. Let us say you are listening to a very lively song, feeling happy, and when you happen to look at the speedometer, you are already going 67 or 68. You did not notice. And that is what happens to the brothers and sisters who are careful—imagine those who are not. You have already broken the law, and even if you ease up and let off the accelerator a little and bring it back down to 65 or 55, you have already broken the law.

Brothers and sisters who drive here in the city… you are driving, you come to a stop sign, to a sign… a stop sign, and what happens? What do most of us do? We… slow down to almost a stop, at best, look around while the car is still moving a little, see nothing, and keep going. You have already broken the law, yes or no? What does the law say? That you have to come to a complete stop, look one way and then the other, and perhaps look again… ah!! And it has to be behind the line—watch out!!! If you crossed the line, you are toast too—and then move slowly and proceed. How many of us do that? Be honest.

So we are always breaking the law. You are driving, and before you know it, without realizing it, the car drifts a little and crosses the line into the next lane. Do you know what the law says? That you have to signal before changing lanes—and watch out if it is a solid line or whatever; that is even worse.

So we sin either out of ignorance, because of bad intentions, because of a defect in the car, or whatever it may be; we are always breaking the law.

Imagine what would become of us if there were something installed in the car that recorded every traffic mistake I made and they sent a ticket to my house. Most of us would be bankrupt. They would have revoked the licenses of almost everyone at Lion of Judah by now, I think; only the pastor would still have a license.

I have already sinned there, brothers and sisters—all of us… The Bible tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Now notice this: if that is true in such a tiny area of life as driving, multiply it by a hundred and add all the other dimensions of life—human relationships, marriage, our relationship with our children, work, finances, the IRS, the church tithe, and all the other things out there, hundreds of dimensions of human life.

Brothers and sisters, we sin even while sleeping; we sin when we are thinking; we sin when we speak, because it is impossible not to stray over the line, not to speed up the car, not to roll through the stop sign. It is impossible. Man is inherently sinful.

Imagine, then, if you had… every time you committed an infraction and the car recorded it, if you had to pay a fine. In this case, it would be as though you had to make a confession, and if you forgot one sin, you would be toast; and the same would be true if you failed to notice something you had done.

.

Martin Luther, the great reformer of the church, lived obsessed with that, and he already had his confessor… because he was a Catholic monk, a very meticulous man of incredible moral character, but he was completely neurotic, because he was… he spent his life confessing every little thing, every little sin. His confessor told him, “You are driving me crazy already, Martin. You have to trust in God.” And that is why Martin Luther had to turn to the Bible.

He was appointed professor of theology because he was a man who knew a great deal about Scripture—or rather, he knew about religion, but he did not know Scripture. And when he had to begin teaching his lessons and lectures, which forced him to read the Bible, that was when he stumbled upon the doctrine of grace: salvation by grace and not by works.

Because until then Rome required confession, required papal bulls and indulgences, required pilgrimages to sacred places, required touching the relics of this or that saint, or of so-and-so or someone else, and required giving alms and performing good works. And that was the only way a person could go—not to hell, but to purgatory, because there they would fry him for one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, or four thousand years, depending on his situation, and then he had to be brought out of there through indulgences and other things. It was a terrible trap.

When Martin Luther read in the Bible that salvation is by grace and not by works, it was a revelation that lifted a terrible burden from him, and from there began the great Reformation that became what today is Protestantism, the gospel. Glory to the Lord.

So, brothers and sisters, first of all I want you to understand this: God has established something new through Jesus Christ, whereby, when you offend, when you sin, when you break God’s law, you can go and appeal. A fine is incurred, but that fine is paid by the blood that Christ shed on the cross of Calvary, and immediately there is something that covers it. Now, that applies if we acknowledge our fault.

There is a balance that must be maintained. I have shown you here what this passage says, right? Salvation by grace, through repentance; but the other part of this process also requires us to have a measure of repentance and to live according to what God asks.

Look at what 1 John, chapter 2, says—the other side of the coin. I like this passage from 1 John 2:1–6 because here I see the balance God wants us to have. On the one hand, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this: as children of God, you and I do not have to live under condemnation. That means God has established a system so that, when we sin, there is a covering, a source of forgiveness, a source of justification before God; but there also has to be the other side, right?

Let me give you another illustration so that we understand this clearly before reading this passage. We will continue with the image of the traffic department, because it is something with which we can identify. Let us say a person commits a traffic violation and goes to the department of motor vehicles to pay the fine. As long as he has not paid the fine, he is in sin before the law, so to speak; he wants to go to the department to be justified. Justified means that God tells you, “You know what? You no longer owe me anything; you and I are all right now,” like this tax collector who went home justified. And the law says that when you break the law, in order to be justified you have to pay in some way, whether through a prison sentence, a fine, or whatever it may be; but somehow you have to make restitution before the law.

Well, you go to the department of motor vehicles with your checkbook, and when you reach the counter, you hand over your ticket and say, “Yes, miss, look, I acknowledge that I ran that red light, and I have come to pay the ticket.” And the young lady tells you, “You know what, sir? There is a new program we have just started… An immensely wealthy man has established a fund so that anyone who has broken a traffic law does not have to pay if he acknowledges that it was his fault and enrolls in the program, because that man will pay the fine. The only thing you have to do is enroll in the program and admit your guilt.

“If you say that you did not do it, that it was your wife talking to you and distracting you, that does not count. But if you acknowledge that you were the one who committed the offense and enroll in the program, we will take a picture of you while you smile and raise your hand to show that you are part of the program, and that way you will not have to pay the fine.” And you say, “Woooow, I love it!!! Go ahead, let’s do it, right?” And you do what you have to do, your fine is paid, and you go home justified before the law; you no longer owe the law anything.

That is justification by grace. But then you leave overjoyed and say, “Woooow, now I can drive as fast as I want and run every red light, because I have Bill Gates to pay my fines.” And the young lady says, “Oh, I forgot something. You know what, sir? You also have to promise to behave well from now on and obey the law, because this is not meant to be abused either.

“If you abuse the system and we see that you keep repeating the same things over and over, committing the same offenses and continually coming to bring me your tickets, that is not how it works. But from time to time, when you have a problem—because we know there will always be difficulties—if you repent and come here and admit it, we will… that program will remain in effect, and we will pay your fines; but do not abuse the program.

“You have to conduct yourself very well, because now you are under a program that others are not. We want others to enter the program, and we want you to let others know that this program exists so that they do not have to keep wasting their money paying unnecessary fines. But you also have to be an example to them, because otherwise the whole thing falls apart.”

I believe that gives you a good illustration of what justification by grace is. But at the same time, there is a balance: God asks you not to abuse it, but also to keep trying to do everything possible, because if you continue living like a person who does not belong to the system God has established, then you are not reflecting the fact that you belong to that new system. You are simply saying that you have not experienced that redemptive work of God.

So let us now turn to 1 John, chapter 2, verse 1. (My usher brothers, if you have a little water—thank you, thank you.) First John 2, verse 1. Look at how John, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, handles that balance which I want both you and me to have in our spiritual lives. Handling grace, works, justification, Christ’s sacrifice, faith—these terms which together create a complete system that we, as believers, must learn to handle very well.

Look at what it says here: “....My little children.” The apostle Paul speaks to his readers… And I always say how beautiful the word of the Lord is, with what mercy God speaks to us. You know? God is not that ogre, that grumpy old man out there with a bunch of thunderbolts in his hand, ready to hurl them at people every time they do something. God is loving, merciful, fatherly; he speaks to us with mercy and love, and he counsels us just as I was saying in Ezekiel 33:11: “…I do not want the wicked to die, but to repent and live…” And John says, “My little children, these things I write to you.” What for? “So that you may not sin.” In other words, why does the word of God exist? To counsel us and so that we may live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

So God is always telling us, “Children, I expect you to behave well, to live a life that is pleasing to me, a life acceptable to me, and not to break my law willfully,” as Romans—excuse me, Hebrews, chapter 10—said last week when we read: “…these things he writes to you so that you may not sin....”

Now look at what it says here: “......And if anyone has sinned…” What happens? “We have an advocate with the Father.” Whom? “Jesus Christ the righteous....” As the Pentecostals say, that advocate has never lost a case. Glory to God. That advocate is always there.

So look, God does not want you to sin, and you have to be careful about sinning willfully, about making sin a pattern of behavior. You also have to be careful not to abuse the law of God’s mercy. Because many Christians today have not learned that… yes, God is love, but he is also a consuming fire.

So we walk around carelessly because, ah, now we have grace, we have the forgiveness of our sins, we have a God who knows us and has mercy on us. But no—God wants us to keep his law. Now, when we break that law, once we are walking in the ways of the Lord, there is a safety system, a system of… an escape valve, so to speak, that allows restitution to be made even in that case, if you meet the proper conditions by having the right attitude.

For example, I was giving the brothers and sisters an illustration: this building. When we renovated it, the law required us to take every kind of precaution so that there would be no fire here. For example, the carpet you are walking on is not flammable. That means that if you put a match to that carpet, it will not burst into flames; all it does is give off a little smoke, but it does not catch fire. If there is a fire here, that carpet will not catch fire. Say, “Glory to God.”

Those chairs are not flammable either. They are made of a fabric that does not catch fire, because imagine how terrible it would be if there were a fire and the chairs began to burn. So there is a precaution there.

The walls we share with the building next door have a double layer of Sheetrock, of wallboard, that can withstand two hours of fire. I said one hour this morning, but it is two hours of fire. That means that if there is a fire, that wall—the layer covering the brick—will take at least two hours to melt or burn completely. And if people take shelter in the… for example, in the stairwells, which are also enclosed… Don’t you thank the Lord for all the safety measures in this place? All the stairs, all the stairwells are enclosed by two layers of wallboard to make sure that if people take shelter in there, no fire can penetrate and burn the place of refuge. That is why the stairways are also built with a certain degree of safety. And we could mention many other things. The doors have… Do you wonder why the doors have a bar instead? That bar is called a panic bar, and the doors have to open outward. Why? Because when a crowd is trying to get out, if you have to turn a doorknob or whatever, what happens? People can get stuck, and those pressed against the wall become like decals, right? Everyone will push against them, and if the door opens inward, they will not be able to get out. So that door is designed so that if a crowd wants to get out, the crowd will push the bar, the door will open, and everyone will be able to leave.

Look at how people think, right? All of these are safety measures so that people will not suffer. Now, you know that if that system fails, there is still an additional system of grace. What is that system? Those sprinklers up there, those pipes—and there are also those little white dots you see up there—are sprinkler heads, irrigation heads. When the temperature reaches a certain level or smoke gets all the way up there, those little things pop, those little caps pop off, and water comes down and ruins the hair of half the sisters here. There are sprinklers everywhere here; there are irrigation heads. Why? Because systems often fail, and there has to be a second system.

Well, that is a long illustration to make a point. Look, God has told believers: now that you are on the path of faith, you are not supposed to sin; but if you do sin, there is also an irrigation system called the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin, which continually washes us, and if we repent and confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive them, says the word of the Lord.

So that is what the apostle John says here. He says: “...but if we sin, if anyone has sinned, we have an advocate...” an irrigation system that still keeps us from catching fire, “...Jesus Christ the righteous,” it says here, “...and He, Jesus Christ, is what? The propitiation for our sins....”

What does it mean that He is the propitiation? It means that He is the sacrifice; He is the substitute for our sins. When Christ died on the cross of Calvary, your name was upon Christ, even though you had not yet even thought of being born.

And Christ is the One who stands before the Father, takes your sin, and assumes it Himself so that you can be justified before God. It says: “...and He is the propitiation for our sins....”

That is why, brothers and sisters, do not let anyone sell you a pig in a poke, as they say. Neither the saints—with all the respect I have for many of those people—nor the saints, nor Mary, nor anyone else is the propitiation for your sins. You cannot go to a saint to have him forgive your sins. You cannot plead with a deceased relative to help you pay for your wrongdoing. Who does it say it is? He is the propitiation for our sin.

There is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Always remember that. What you should do is pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, and you receive forgiveness for your sins. Glory to the Lord.

You do not have to live your life overwhelmed by guilt. If you sin, go directly to the Father, confess your sin, settle accounts with God, entrust your case to Christ Jesus, and you can once again have an untroubled, untarnished relationship with your heavenly Father, because God has established that system. He is the propitiation for our sins, it says, and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world. Glory to the Lord.

In Christ there is enough grace, potentially, to forgive all the sins of humanity. Then it says in verse 3:

“...and by this we know that we know Him.” How? “If we keep His commandments....”

How do you know that you are a child of God? Well, you know that you are a child of God first of all because you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior and have confessed Him. But you also have to… If your life is out of order and undisciplined, if there are recurring sins in your life, if your conduct does not reflect the order of God’s kingdom, if there is contradiction in your life, then something is wrong. It does not compute, and you have to begin asking yourself: Have I truly been regenerated by God? Have I been… Have I had a saving experience with Jesus Christ? Because my life does not reflect it.

What the Bible says is that there is a unity between being a child of God and behaving like a child of God. Now, what is the difference? If behavior is important, then why do they say that grace is what matters? It is because the order of things sometimes causes confusion, as does the relationship between the two. Works are important, grace is important, but how fundamental is each one to salvation? That is where the difference lies.

Under the old system of the law, you were saved by carrying out the rituals of the law, by fulfilling the law’s requirements, by keeping the Sabbath, by bringing a ram to be sacrificed as propitiation for your sins, by going before a priest so that he could perform some mumbo-jumbo over you so that you could be forgiven, or whatever it might be. God said, “No more of that. My Son paid the price on the cross of Calvary. My Son took all the sin of humanity upon Himself, and now the only thing a person has to do is believe in My Son as his Savior.”

And the Bible says: “...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, what happens? You are saved....”

That is the role of faith in God’s system. When you believe in the saving role of Jesus Christ, you are already saved. It is not because of what you did, because of your behavior, because of your tithes, or because you fast twice like the Pharisee. No. Now, what happens? The foundation is Christ and the grace that God releases through Christ, together with the faith you place in that system. But after you have become a child of God, the fact that you are a child of God means that your new nature will be reflected as you behave in a way that reflects your nature.

That is why James says it is impossible to separate faith from works. It is not that James was contradicting the apostle Paul, as many have said. Rather, James was adding a little nuance to this problem that we have had so much difficulty resolving. How are the identity as adopted children of God that we acquire through Jesus Christ, and conduct and works, related? I am going to put it this way, as I did with the brothers and sisters this morning.

Look at this flower. What is this flower called, Meche? A sunflower. And I am going to ask Diana because she is a sunflower fanatic. This is a sunflower, okay? This is a very beautiful flower; you can see it here. Now, why is that flower a sunflower? Because if you analyze its genetic, biological, or chemical composition, the genetic configuration of that flower is completely identical to that of all the other sunflowers in the universe, in the world. Its composition, its internal constitution, makes it a sunflower.

Now, it is not its color or anything else; rather, it is what is written in the genetic code, in every gene that plant has, okay? Now then, because it is a sunflower—you know, since it is a sunflower—it is beautiful, it is yellow. Look at the lovely texture it has, the different circles inside, the different shades of color. Look at how beautiful those petals are. Look at the harmony of its appearance. Look at how beautiful the little green leaves behind it are, and its stem. All these are the works of that entity. Its nature is to be a sunflower, and its works are to adorn the world, to bring enjoyment, pleasure, and beauty to the eyes that look at it. It has harmony, it has coherence, it has symmetry, it has texture. Why? Because it is a sunflower. It is not a sunflower because it has those things. It has those things because it is a sunflower. That is the perfect combination of nature and behavior or appearance.

In other words, a child of God is a child of God because he has the constitution of Christ in his spiritual nature, because by accepting Jesus he has been made a child of God. It says that all who believed in His name were given the right to do what? To become children of God. Spiritually, we become children of God. But what happens? If you are a child of God, then you have to bear the fruit, have the appearance, display the behavior, and have the mindset of a child of God.

It is not possible for this to be a sunflower and to go around walking on the floor with two pincers like a crab. You are going to tell me, “That is impossible; a sunflower does not do that. A sunflower is like this: passive, lovely, yellow with brown and other things.” You were not expecting a dissertation on sunflowers this morning, were you?

But what I mean is that the apostle James says: “Hey, if you are a child of God, you have to behave like a child of God. And if you are behaving like something else, then it is not possible for you to be a child of God, because a child of God produces certain fruits that are natural to a child of God.”

An apple tree does not produce pears, does it? And a pear tree does not produce apples, because every tree produces what? According to its nature. So that is why… That is where I resolve this problem of whether James contradicted Paul or what. No, there is no contradiction whatsoever; the two things are perfectly united.

Let me make a digression and go to the Epistle of James so that you can understand what the apostle James says about this in James chapter 2, verse 14. I am about to finish. It says: “...my brothers, what good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?....” He is asking a rhetorical question, because the answer is: it is no good at all.

If someone says, “No, I am a Christian; I love the Lord,” but lives like a pagan, what good does that do him? It cannot be. A pagan does not live like a Christian, and a Christian does not live like a pagan, because they have two different natures; each one bears fruit according to his nature.

Then James says, “My brothers...” And I believe he wrote this to correct the problem that arose when people heard the doctrine of grace, fell in love with it, and said, “Wow, tremendous! Now I can forget all about conduct that pleases God, because I am already a child of God saved by grace.”

Be careful, right? “...My brothers, what good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?....” It seems like a contradiction because we have said that the righteous shall live by faith, says the apostle Paul.

That is why, when you hear this saying, it sounds as though James is contradicting what the apostle Paul said, right? “...Can faith save him?” it says. “And if a brother or a sister is naked and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and be filled,’ but does not give them the things the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself....”

In other words, a child of God is, for example, compassionate and merciful. And if he sees someone dying of cold or hunger, his nature as a child of God will give off what? Love, compassion, mercy, generosity; and his nature will lead him to share with that person.

And James says, how can someone say, “I am a child of God,” yet see his brother dying of hunger and feel nothing in his heart? Because a child of God, by nature, feels compassion for his brother. You see? Or he feels other things. James is using just one example. So he says that faith, too, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.

“...someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works....’”

He is giving an example there, right? Some people will say, “Well, I am a specialist in faith,” and others say, “No, I am a specialist in works.” There it says, “Oh, well, let us compare notes: you are an expert in works, and I am an expert in faith.” James says that is not how it is. You have to have faith and have works; the two things go together.

Now, your work is not what makes you a child of God; your faith does. But if you have faith, works will inevitably come with your faith. Do you understand the comparison? So when someone tells you, “Oh, there are contradictions in the Bible...” No, there is no contradiction. What there is is complexity; what there is is the richness of the word of God.

“...You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble....”

In other words, there are many people who say, “I believe in God,” and James says, “Yes, you know that even the demons believe in God. They know that God exists, they know that God is real, and they are afraid of God, but they do not change their behavior.” Or people often say, “Oh yes, I believe in God, I have… but, well, where is…?” That is why people say, “I do not need to go to church because I believe in God,” and this and that—but where are the works of a person who believes in God? Look, if you believe that God exists, that has an incredible number of ethical, moral, and behavioral consequences.

For someone who knows that God exists out there, that should completely change his life. A person cannot acknowledge that God exists and live as though that were merely one more piece of information in the world; it is revolutionary.

So there must be consequences. “...But do you want to know, O man,” says Paul—James—“that faith without works is dead...?” Verse 24, look there, says: “...You see, then, that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone...”

Again, what he is saying is not that a person is justified or saved by works alone, but rather that faith comes first and works afterward; the two go together. No one can simply say, “Well, I am saved by faith, and now I do not have to worry about the kind of life I live.” Rather, there has to be a proper balance between the two things. Do you understand me, brothers and sisters? Very good. Okay?

I hope that… and that is what I want to establish here. Now again, look at how wonderful God is: even within His expectation that we conduct ourselves according to His commandments, He has appointed something called the Holy Spirit, and I am going to talk about that.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian? You know that the Holy Spirit is your helper; the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the one who stands beside you to help you so that you can fulfill God’s law. Even for that, God provided help. The Holy Spirit is there to strengthen you, counsel you, guide you into all truth, lift you up when you fall, and warn you when you are walking down a dangerous path—all these things. That is to say, even while expecting you to behave like a Christian, God says, “I am going to help you even with that.” Because you are not alone; you have the Paraclete to help you fulfill God’s law.

I am going to ask the musicians to come up here immediately.

So, brothers and sisters, this afternoon I want to leave in your minds that complex system which God has devised. He sent His Son Jesus Christ so that we might place our faith in Him. God said: “...This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him...”

And once you place your faith in Christ Jesus, you immediately enter into peace with God. Your believing in Jesus releases grace from the Father’s unlimited bank account, and all your debts, all your fines, are immediately paid. Then God says to you, “Now, My son, My daughter, we are going to walk together, and we are going to travel the road of life, you and I. And when you fail, although I do not want you to fail, I have made provision even for that. I will lift you up; I will strengthen you. The devil will not be able to accuse you, because if you repent and set your life right, I will always cover you. And when the devil comes to tell Me, ‘Look at what he did,’ I will tell him, ‘He and I have settled accounts; you can no longer accuse him.’” The Bible says, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is He who justifies.”

So there is a beautiful system that God has established. It is not so that we leave here overwhelmed, but quite the opposite: encouraged.

God desires proper behavior from you so that you may be happy, not so that you may live an unhappy life. When we stray from God’s ways, suffering begins because we depart from His protection, and the devil then has the legal right to say, “Look at that one; he is carelessly violating Your law. I have the right to demand that You let me touch him.” And that is where the suffering of the human race comes from.

As children of God, we must bear fruits of repentance, fruits of righteousness, because we are justified. And the Holy Spirit—please, brothers and sisters, if you would be so kind—if the Holy Spirit is in your life, He will make sure that you are able to set your life right with God.

Brothers and sisters, you do not have to live anxiously; you do not have to live wondering whether or not you will be saved. God has made things very simple. God wants you to pass the test, and He commits Himself to walking with you. God is very straightforward; we have made Him very complicated, and we resist this system that He has established so that we may have peace with Him.

I would like us to bow our heads for a moment now, and I want to invite anyone here who has an outstanding fine, who knows there are accounts to settle with God and has not yet done so, and who can barely sleep because he knows there are bills to pay and that the interest is mounting, and he has not settled accounts with God. And God says to you, “You know what? Remember this system that I have established. It is very simple: if you register under My system, all your fines… My Son has already paid them. We will cancel all your debts. As long as you remain within the program and make a proper effort, I will be with you. You do not have to live in anxiety. I will protect you from the devil’s attacks, I will protect you from his accusations, and I will help you become a little better every day, a little better and more like My Son. But you have to enter the system, and you have to write your name in the system and register.”

So I want to ask whether there is anyone here this afternoon who has not yet made peace with God and would like to register in the system that God has established. I want to invite you to raise your hand so that I may pray for you before we leave here. I want to ask whether there is anyone who would like to give his or her life to Jesus this afternoon, receive Him as Lord and Savior, and say to Christ, “Pay my debt; I want to register in Your new system.”

God bless that brother raising his hand there. Is there anyone else who recognizes that he needs to settle accounts with God and would like to receive that forgiveness from God? Here are two hands being raised in front of me. Glory to the Lord.

Is there anyone else who would like us to pray for you this afternoon? You say, “You know what? I want to—I am tired of going around paying fines myself, and I want to enter God’s new system.” Is there anyone else? “And from now on I want to do everything possible…” God bless those two men in the back as well. “With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, I want to walk as God wants me to walk.” Anyone else?

May I ask those brothers and sisters to come up here for a moment, please? Come here; we are going to take your picture so that you can enter the new system, okay?

That is all. The Lord Jesus Christ says, “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” There are no underground Christians; there are no secret, clandestine Christians. Christianity is to be lived publicly. So I want us to pray for these beautiful lives that are here at the front, and if anyone else wants to come up here, there is still time. Come forward; enroll in this system of salvation by grace that God has opened.

It says, “...Come and let us reason together, and though your sins are red like scarlet, they shall become white like white wool, says the Lord. I will forgive all your debts...” No matter how great they may be, there is more than enough grace in God’s system.

Is there anyone else who would like to come right now to receive forgiveness for your sins, to receive grace that will flow throughout all the days of your life? Remember this: if you offend the Lord from now on, you have an advocate in Christ Jesus. You should not offend Him, but if for some reason you fall, appeal to your advocate. There is an advocate who will be with you twenty-four hours a day, and you never have to come fearfully before your God, because the Lord commits Himself to you until the end of the world. Glory to the Lord.

If you would like to come and pray for one of these brothers or sisters, place your… stand behind them, you are welcome to do so. Simply stand there and bless that person in the name of Jesus. Stand up if you wish, extend your hand toward him or her, and accompany them in this very important thing they are doing, which is when a life says, “I know that I cannot save myself, but Christ has already paid the debt, and now I can be at peace because He saved my soul from the perdition of hell.”

So confess there in your heart. Say, “Lord, I acknowledge that I have sinned. I have sinned against heaven and against You, and I now ask You to forgive my debts. Erase every past offense with the blood of Your Son; cleanse me and enter my heart. I renounce sin. I renounce behavior that is offensive before You, and I commit myself to pleasing and obeying You. And if I offend You, I know that in Christ Jesus I will have salvation and forgiveness for my sins. Until the last day of my life, I will depend on You, Lord Jesus. Thank You.”

“Receive me into Your kingdom, enter my heart, and make me Yours, in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Amen, amen.”

I bless you in the name of Jesus. Your debts are canceled, brothers and sisters. The blood of Christ cleanses you from all sin. Now walk as children of God, walk as children of God, and enter into a relationship of growth and transformation until the last of your days. We bless you in the name of the Lord.

If you want to remain there for a little while, do so. Do not worry; stay there and let the Lord thoroughly bathe you in His grace, so that you may truly feel that you have arrived where you needed to arrive. Hallelujah! We give glory to the Lord. Give the Lord Jesus Christ a great round of applause.