Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to another episode of Line Upon Line Ministries podcast. Line Upon Line Ministries is committed to the expository ministry of the Word for the life of the local church. I'm your host, Mark Williams.
On today's episode, we're going to talk about an important topic, listening to preaching.
We'll also hear another classic sermon from Brother David Miller, this time on the doctrine of justification from Romans chapter three and four. Before we get into the content of today's episode, I would remind you to go to our website www. Lineuponlineministries.com and check out the David Miller Sermon archive where adding more resources to that regularly and there's been a lot over the last few weeks especially. So go there, check out some of the new sermons that have been uploaded. You can download those for free and enjoy some of those sermons from Brother David Miller.
Recently on social media, I posted a quote by Dr. Jay Adams that sort of got some mixed reviews.
Here's the quote. He says the Scriptures themselves say more about the listener's responsibility to hear, understand and implement the message than about the preacher's obligation to faithfully preach it.
Now, of course, line upon line, we are dedicated to expository ministry. And we would never want to say that expository preaching is unimportant or less important or requires less work or time or effort on the part of the preacher. However, there's been very little emphasis on the responsibility of the hearer.
We believe that preaching is a biblical mandate and so we should be doing it according to biblical standards.
But did you know that how the listener actually hears and receives the message is spoken about more than the responsibility of the preacher? So today I just want to simply open the word and look at what the Bible tells us teaches us about the responsibility of the listener. So the first thing we see in Scripture is the call to hear.
In Mark, chapter four, Jesus is sharing a parable of the sower.
And in that parable he says this. He says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
So Jesus is emphasizing here the importance of simply hearing what Jesus is teaching, hearing God's word. And Jesus throughout his ministry emphasizes this. Again and again and again and again. He repeatedly calls listeners to actively listen to hear what he is saying. You see, hearing requires intentionality.
It requires attention.
Hearing in the Scriptures is not just about passively hearing auditory messages going through your ears.
It's actively listening to what is being taught. Deuteronomy chapter 6 is another example. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. We all Know the Shema calls Israel to listen and to respond with love and obedience to God. Hearing in the Scriptures is always tied to action.
It's never just about perceiving an auditory message. So there's the clear call to hear, but there's also the need to understand.
In Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus is explaining to his disciples why he speaks in parables. In that section there, he quotes Isaiah. And Jesus says to those who are listening that some fail to understand because of the hardness of their hearts. He says, you see, it's the listener's responsibility to seek understanding, not just to hear words spoken. And then Proverbs, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5 emphasizes the importance of seeking wisdom, and that seeking wisdom is an active pursuit. It's not just something we sit back and hope to receive by osmosis. Those verses in Proverbs tell the listener that they need to incline their ear and to apply their heart to gain understanding. The point here is that understanding the Scriptures, understanding the teaching, is the responsibility that requires effort and requires a desire on the part of the listener. So the Bible clearly emphasized that there's a call to hear and that there is a need to understand.
But that's not enough. There's more responsibility that the listener has.
He also has the duty to apply what he has heard. James, chapter one, verses 22 through 25.
You'll recognize these words. He says, be doers of the Word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. James is warning the church against deceiving ourselves by hearing and not acting.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: When.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: When we hear God's Word and don't do it, we are not taking the responsibility as the listener that we should. When we are truly listening, when we are truly hearing God's Word, it will lead to application. And when we fail to act, we're actually undermining the very hearing itself. We're not really listening when we don't act on what we hear. Also In Luke chapter 11, Jesus says, Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. I don't think it could be any clearer.
Jesus is emphasizing the need for obedience, which is the outcome of hearing, truly hearing, truly listening, truly seeking understanding. The outcome is always, always, always obedience to His Word. Don't miss it. He also says here that it is a blessing to hear and to do what. He says, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. So I would encourage you to go back and read some of those scriptures that I have referenced here and cross reference them with some of the other scriptures that talk about this important, important element of listening. Clearly, the pastor's role, the preacher's role is vital.
The, the teacher's role is, is so important that we are teaching sound doctrine, teaching the whole counsel of God properly.
But Scriptures clearly emphasize the vital importance of the listener's responsibility. The preacher could preach a wonderful message. He could explain the text, he could show you its relevance for your life and even give application for how you could implement those things today.
But if you're not hearing, seeking to understand in order that you would apply those things in your life, then the best preaching is only falling on deaf ears and no changes in your life will happen. So what are some things that you can do to help you become a more active listener to sermons? Well, there's some very practical things, such as take notes while the preacher's preaching.
Open your Bible, have your Bible open in front of you to the text that he's preaching from.
Bring a notebook with you if you are one who likes to outline.
You can outline the sermon notes, or if you simply want to bullet point things that stick out to you. Or if you like to draw circles and connect dots, do that, whatever it might look like. But take notes so that you are actively listening to the sermon and then are able to take those notes later and dive into deeper study so that you can seek understanding in order that you might be able to apply it.
Another thing you can do is following the sermon on Sunday morning, go to lunch with your family or with with other people from the church and engage in some dialogue about the sermon that you've just listened to. That can be a great opportunity for some iron on iron and again, to help you in seeking understanding and ways that you might be able to apply those things in the life of your family or with other church friends. Once again, we can't overemphasize the importance of expository preaching and teaching.
But let's not miss the very clear teaching of Scripture about the importance of, and responsibility of the listener for hearing, understanding, and applying their time.
So becoming an active listener takes time and practice.
So one of the ways that you can actually practice doing that, besides just at your local church with your pastor and taking notes and those kinds of things that we just discussed, you can also listen to sermons like what we're about to listen to with Brother David, take notes, practice these things. It will take time to get good at listening, to become a hearer who understands and applies what they are being taught. So I would encourage you, even now, while you're about to listen to this Sermon from Brother David to take out your Bible. Take out your notes. Unless you're listening in the car or somewhere like that, then please don't take your eyes off the road. But if you are sitting at home and listening to this podcast, I'd encourage you open your Bibles now, get your notebooks out, and begin to actively listen to what you are about to hear. So today's sermon from brother David Miller is on the doctrine of justification, and he will be preaching From Romans chapter 3, verses 23, through Romans 4, verse 3. Enjoy this classic sermon from brother David.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: I'm so thrilled to get to be a part of this conference again.
And what an unspeakable joy to get to talk about the doctrine of justification.
Are you interested?
I think I have something tonight that you're going to like.
It'll be something that will stick to your ribs, something you can get your hands on, something you can get your teeth into and be blessed by this grand truth.
Our scripture passage is Romans, chapter three, beginning at verse 23.
You need to turn there quickly now because you're wasting my time.
Verse 23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then?
It is excluded.
By what law of works?
Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is saved by the law of faith without the deeds of the law.
Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is the same God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith do we then make void by the law through faith, God forbid.
Yea, we establish the law.
What shall we say then, that our Father Abraham hath found as pertaining to the flesh?
For if Abraham were justified by the deeds of the law, he hath which off to glory, but not before God.
For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Ain't that something?
We have before us one of the grandest themes in the Christian religion?
Great hymns have been written in every genre on this theme.
I cut my teeth on Stamps Baxter.
I remember the old song.
There was a time on earth when in the book of Heaven an old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven My name was at the top with many things below I went unto the keeper and I settled long ago the old account was large and growing every day For I was always sinning and never tried to pay but when I looked ahead and saw such grief and woe I went unto the keeper and I settled long ago, Long ago, long ago yes, the old account was settled long ago and my record is clear today for he washed my sins away and the old account was settled long ago Free from the law.
O happy condition.
Jesus hath bled and there is remission.
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall.
Christ hath redeemed us Once for all, Once for all. O sinner, receive it once for all. O brother, believe it. Cling to the cross, the burdens will fall.
Grace hath redeemed us what for all I have only two points in my sermon tonight.
I want to give you a definition for justification, and then I want to give a delineation, as it is found in our text, three items by way of definition.
To be justified is to be cleared of guilt.
Does that sound good to you?
To be cleared of guilt?
Number two, it is to be declared innocent.
And number three, it is to be given the perfect righteousness of Christ.
Justification is salvation in the past tense.
I have been saved.
I have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Tis done.
Tis done.
The great transactions done.
I am my Lord's and he is mine.
I've been justified.
Now, that's the first half of my sermon.
That's point number one as far as the outline.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: We'll be back with the rest of Brother David's sermon in just a moment.
But if you have been taking up the challenge to listen actively during the sermon so far, where are you at? How's your notes?
Have you been writing down some of his major points? Brother? One of the things that is so wonderful about Brother David is he's very clear about the points that he's making, and so you should be able to outline the notes fairly simply.
What is he teaching about justification?
Is there anything about justification that you have questions about?
Circle those things and commit to going back and studying more in depth in the Scriptures. On that topic, perhaps the idea of active listening is still fairly new to you. Let me recommend a couple of very good books on this topic, and there are only a couple that I know of that even discuss this idea of listening and the responsibility of the listener. First one is by Dr. J. Adams. That quote that I gave earlier was from his book A Consumer's Guide to Preaching. And this is going to be again, a helpful tool to understand the biblical responsibility of listening and also some practical steps for how you can do so.
Another, which is very similar, is called Expository Listening by Ken Ramey. Both of these books will be helpful in thinking through this important topic and how you can become a better listener to teaching of the Scriptures. So let's get back to Brother David Miller's sermon on the Doctrine of Justification.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Now we come to the delineations of this doctrine as we have it in our text. And here I have two sub points. First, I want you to see the presuppositions regarding justification.
I shall mention two of them. One.
There is the justice God that has to be brought to the table.
If we would understand the biblical doctrine of justification, we must know that there is a judge and this judge is holy.
This judge will do right.
This judge will not acquit the guilty, but will execute the sentence of judgment and that without remedy.
This judge has the right to establish what the standard for the judgment shall be.
This judge is the holy Lord God Omnipotent.
Number two.
We must bring to the discussion as a presupposition that not only is God holy and just, and has the right to establish the criteria judgment, but man is a sinner.
Man stands guilty before this holy God.
The apostle has spent the entire first, second, and third chapters of this book establishing the depravity of the human heart.
In chapter one he has told us that the heathen are lost.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
For that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath showed it unto them.
Even his eternal power and Godhead has been revealed through nature and through their conscience.
But when the heathen came to know God existed, they glorified him not as God.
Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four footed beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God gave them over to uncleanness.
Through the lust of their own hearts they dishonored their own bodies between themselves they changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever.
Amen.
Men with men doing that which is unseemly, women giving up the natural use as designed by God.
The heathen are lost. Even those who have had the least amount of light and privilege.
Those who live in remote corners of the world, who've never heard a gospel sermon or a gospel song, those who have never read a gospel tract or had a gospel witness, those who know the least, Paul says, are yet guilty before this holy and righteous God.
But not only are the heathen lost, the Hebrews themselves are guilty before God.
The Hebrews who have received greater advantage and privilege, the Hebrews who have received the covenants and the signs, the Hebrews to whom the oracles of God came down through the prophets.
These have sinned.
And not only have the Hebrews sinned, but the hypocrites have sinned. Those who judge others, they are guilty, for they who judge others have done the same things themselves.
And he comes to chapter three, concluding that no flesh shall be justified in the sight of this holy God, that all the world shall be guilty and every mouth shall be stopped.
And he sums it up in verse 23 by saying, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now, the most profound philosophical or theological question that has ever been contemplated.
How will a guilty sinner ever be cleared of guilt, declared to be innocent, and possess perfect righteousness in the sight of this holy God?
Now herein lies the difference between Baptists and many other groups who call themselves Christians.
How shall we answer this question?
You cannot get more elementary or fundamental in the Christian religion than this.
How will a guilty sinner be justified in the sight of a holy God?
That brings us now to the second sub point in the last division, the delineation. We have seen the presuppositions.
Now I want you to consider with me eight prerequisites regarding justification.
Are you ready?
I just came out and told you I had eight.
It'll help you to relax and not be anticipating how long this is going to last.
When I get through with the eighth one, I'm done.
Here's item number one. I'm talking about prerequisites, things that must take place in order for justification to occur. Number one, justice must be propitiated.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.
Taking into consideration the sinfulness of man.
God hath taken our sins, and he has placed them upon the superlative Savior, Christ Jesus. Then has become our substitute.
He has become our scapegoat.
And when he who knew no sin became sin for us in that dreadful moment, the heavens refused to shine.
And God Almighty in holy justice poured out the wrath that should have been upon you and upon me.
He poured it out upon his Son.
Jesus hath suffered in his flesh.
He hath suffered in his spirit.
He has bled and he has died.
But that's not the end of the story.
In propitiation, as our high priest, he through the eternal Spirit has entered into the holy place yonder. In that more perfect tabernacle in the heavens not built with hands, Jesus not with the blood of bulls and goats or the ashes of Amher, but with his own blood entered into that holy place.
And there he sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat until holy justice cried out, I am satisfied.
I'm satisfied.
And once the justice of God had been satisfied, the wrath of God was. Was turned away from our souls.
Justice had to be propitiated.
God is a God of love. He's a God of grace and mercy and benevolence.
But he is a God of justice.
And justice demands that sin be punished. And Christ hath suffered and justice hath been satisfied.
Glory.
Glory.
He took the blame he bore the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross.
Number two.
God must be exonerated.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, that he that God might be righteous in pardoning, forgiving the sins of Old Testament saints.
Prior to the atonement of Jesus Christ, weaker brethren might have laid a charge against God.
How can you pardon the sins of Old Testament saints when the blood has not yet been spilled, when the blood has not been sprinkled on the. The mercy seat.
How can you justify these Old Testament sayings?
Well, I want to tell you, God will be just when he acts and when he speaks. And if God forgave and saved Old Testament saints, it was not a frivolous thing.
It was on the basis of his great forbearance, knowing that in eternity past he and the Son and the Spirit had decreed and agreed together that in the fullness of the time God would send forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. And now in our text, Paul says, God will be exonerated. He will vindicate himself.
He is righteous on the basis of his forbearance.
And for that matter, he is exonerated for saving you and me as well.
He will be just when he justifies every sinner who believes on Jesus.
God will be cleared.
3.
Sin must be expiated.
This idea, while not explicit in the text, is altogether implicit in the passage.
Sin must be expiated.
In the Old Testament, on the day of atonement, they would place their hands upon the head of one of the goats, they would confess the sins of the people, and then they would turn that goat loose out in the wilderness, in an uninhabited place where it would never again be seen symbolically transferring, imputing the sins of the people to the scapegoat, and those sins being taken into the regions of the unknown, being expiated.
Glory. Glory.
When Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, my sins went and he bore my sins into the regions of the unknown.
He took them out of view from a holy God.
He cast them into the deepest sea. He removed them as far as the east is from the west. He put them behind him to remember them against us no more. My sins are gone.
I've been set free.
Sin has been expiated.
Number four.
Christ must be exalted.
This redemption, this justification, this propitiation, this expiation of our sins is in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
We're not just talking about J.C. here.
Give me a J.
Give me an E. Give me an S. Give me a U. Give me an S. We are talking about the Son of the living God in hypostatic union with. With human nature. Taking our sins upon Himself, God Almighty set him forth on the stage of time and space.
He called the universe to attention. He called the solar systems and the galaxies to listen up.
The angels announced what he was doing. They this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Salvation is in him. He must be exalted.
Number five.
Faith must be exercised.
This justification is by faith.
And faith must have an object.
You don't just have faith in faith.
Now, the faith healer believes that the infirmity shall be made well.
The prophet in our day, who sends out the prayer cloth for a certain level of contribution, believes that ere long he will be able to upgrade his Learjet.
And the athlete who says, football been good to me when he receives the touchdown pass at the last second of the game to salt the victory away, lifts his hand toward heaven, believing that it was the Lord who gave him this physical ability.
But I want to tell you tonight, beloved, faith that justifies the sinful soul, faith that clears the guilty and declares them.
But our friends who believe that the sacraments impart grace, misunderstand, justifying Faith.
How can they believe on him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
But I would ask this question.
How shall they hear with a preacher who believes in baptismal regeneration?
How shall they hear with a preacher who believes in Jesus?
And the atonement plus are minus.
Faith that justifies, lays hold on Jesus only understands the atonement, understands substitution and satisfaction and redemption and ransom and. And propitiation and expiation, and wants to know how to spell them, wants to know how to pronounce them.
That's the kind of faith that shouts out in the congregation, glory to God.
That's justifying faith.
Baptists are in danger today of losing the gospel.
Faith that justifies is not health and wealth kind of faith.
The truth of the matter is, beloved, a person can be healthy and wealthy and happy and die condemned in the sight of God.
Faith that justifies is in the person of Christ. Christ and in what he has done upon the cross.
6.
Boasting must be excluded.
Where is boasting, then?
It is excluded by what law works.
Nay, but by the law of faith.
In my hand no price I bring simply to thy cross I cling.
Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know these? For sin could not atone.
Thou must save and thou alone.
Who am I that a king would bleed and die for?
Who am I that he should pray not my will thine? For the answer? I may never know why he ever loved me so that to an old rugged cross he'd go? For who am I that eliminates boasting in the flesh?
Boast not of good deeds, nor tell of good works. Let thy boasting and thy glorying be in the cross and in the Christ of that cross.
7.
The law must be established, seeing it is the same God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith, God forbid? Yea, we establish the law.
The law is established in three ways. 1.
The law reveals to men the holiness and the exacting demands of our God.
If you have not yet seen God in His holiness, if you have not yet comprehended the strictness, the exactness of his demands, then the law has not been established in your heart.
The law is established in the heart when it reveals to you your sinfulness and your moral inability.
When you come to the place where you can say, with the Apostle Paul, I was alive once without the law.
But when the law came in the power of its spiritual ministry sin revived and I died.
I died to any moral strength or ability that I thought I possessed. I died to any volitional capabilities that I had boasted in before I died in the sight of this holy God.
And number three, the law is established in our hearts when it has pointed us as a schoolmaster to Jesus Christ the Lord.
When the law has had its work, when the law has been established in our souls, we see ourselves as totally bankrupt, inadequate, undone, unfit in the sight of this God. And we throw ourselves upon the mercy of of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. That's when the law has had its perfect work.
It's not the law or the gospel. It's the law and the gospel that must be preached.
Number eight why don't you just do like this and go?
Number 8 Righteousness must be by imputation.
What shall we say? That our Father Abraham, as pertaining to the flesh hath found for if Abraham were justified by the deeds of the law, he hath whereof to glory and but not before God.
As it is written, Abraham believed God and it was counted, it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: Thank you for watching today's episode. I pray that it has been an encouragement to you. If you have any questions or comments or would like to learn more, you can go to our website lineuponlineministries.com or email me lineuponlineministriesmail.com Be sure to check out our other great resources on our website, YouTube and social media. And as always, God bless you as you continue to study and teach God's word, line upon line.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: God bless.
