Before Dan comes and reads his
scripture to us, let me make a couple of announcements. First
of all, I'm so happy to see Novi and Dee back with us this morning.
You don't even know how much I prayed for this day. I'm so
thankful, so happy to see you. We're happy to see Ed and Deb
too. All of you, we're so thankful.
Gary Faulkner and Erin Simpson are recovering slowly, slowly. So let's continue to remember
them in prayer. Brother Eric Floyd is preaching
in Danville, Kentucky this morning. Let's remember him as he preaches,
and he and Abby as they travel back home to us today. All right,
Dan, you come preach. Pastor has asked that we read
from 1 Timothy chapter 5, and I'll pick up our study in 1 Timothy
chapter 5, starting with Verse 21. I charge thee before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe
these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing
by partiality. Lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partakers of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use
a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Some men's sins are open beforehand,
going before to judgment, and some men they follow after. Likewise,
also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they
that are otherwise cannot be hid. And we'll bless this with
our hearts. Let's pray. Our great, mighty, holy Heavenly
Father, we're so thankful that sinful men such as we are can
come before Thy throne of grace in the person and work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing blessing to think
that you would think about your creatures, that in Christ we
have the righteousness to come before you and bring our petitions. Father, we pray that you would
send your spirit to be with us this morning. We pray that you
would give our pastor recall of his studies and the ability
to and preach Christ to our hearts. Give us hearing ears, Lord, and
receiving hearts. We know that if You don't bless,
we've gathered in vain. You've told us wherever two or
three are gathered in Thy name, that You'll be there. And we
pray that we've gathered in Christ's name this morning. I ask that you would continue
to comfort and heal those who are
going through difficult times. Father, we know that thou art
a great physician, that all healing comes from thee. We pray it might
be your will to restore their health and bring them back to
worship with us. Father, we're thankful for those
you've brought back, we think about Jessica Clark and the amazing
healing that you've given, and we pray that you would continue
to bless. And Father, bless our children. What an amazing gift that you've
given this congregation, the children and the young adults. Father, we pray that you would
raise up a new generation unto thee, that you would reveal to
them their need for Christ, that you would cause them to run to
Christ, to seek Him, to depend on Him for all righteousness. Father, we thank you for giving
us just a small glimpse of our sin. so that we know our great,
great need of Christ. Father calls us to never look
inward for salvation, but to look to our Lord Jesus Christ.
And what we ask for this assembly, Lord, we ask wherever men stand
today to claim the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with them. Cause your sheep to be fed. We ask all these things in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. When I was lost in sin and shame
How Thou let me take the blame Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me When I could look down deep within And see the sinfulness
of sin Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. How merciful, how merciful Blessed
Lord, how merciful Thou art to me A sinner lost and so hell-bent
Yet Thou say'st, I must repent Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me I wonder why should I rebel With a soul deserving
hell Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou was to me O how merciful, how merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. O how merciful, How merciful,
blessed Lord How merciful Thou art to me I'm not ashamed of all Thy grace
When You came and took my place Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me And when this world ceases to be Eternal blood will
speak for me Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me Oh, how merciful, how merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful, Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. That's a blessing. I'd open your Bibles now again
with me, if you would, to the passage Brother Dan just read
for us in 1 Timothy chapter 5. I titled the message this morning,
Keep Thyself Pure. I was talking to a pastor friend
of mine yesterday morning and we asked each other the question,
what we always ask, what are you preaching on tomorrow? What
are you preaching on tomorrow? I told him my title, and he said, I'd
like to hear that. I'd like to hear what you've got to say about
that. Keep thyself pure. I took my title from verse 22,
where the apostle writes, lay hands suddenly on no man, neither
be partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyselves pure. I believe
that the Lord's given me a message that will be of a blessing to
your heart, enabling you to look to Christ, and will be instructive
and helpful for you. Keep thyself pure. Now, how can
any of us keep ourselves pure? The word means just what you
think it means. It means pure from every fault. It means immaculate
and clean. Now, we know that we are totally
depraved. I hope we believe that, but at
least we know that. That's been preached from this
pulpit ever since its beginning. We know that we are totally depraved. We know all we are. is sin, all
we do is sin, all we think is sin, all that we say is sin.
Our nature is defiled and made filthy by sin. So how can a sinful
person ever be told, keep ourselves pure? Well, the answer is simple. It's through faith in Christ.
End of sentence. It really is that simple through
faith in Christ. We don't make ourselves pure
by what we do or don't do. We don't make ourselves pure
by quitting certain sins. We don't make ourselves pure
by living what people call the Christian life. We don't make
ourselves pure by obeying the law or being more religious than
other people or being nice to people. The only way any son
of Adam can be made pure, can be made holy, can be made righteous
and sinless is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I want to give you this morning six ways to keep ourselves pure. And it's all what God has done
for us and in us. And I promise to be relatively
brief, but I believe this will be helpful to you. Number one,
we keep ourselves pure by divine election. Look back up in verse
21 and see what Paul says about the angels. He says, I charge
thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels
that thou observe these things without preferring one another,
doing nothing by partiality. Now Paul calls some of the angels
here elect angels. Why does he do that? Well, it's
because some angels followed Lucifer's rebellion. Some say
a third of the heavenly host, a third of the angels followed
Lucifer and his rebellion, trying to take the throne of our Lord
Jesus Christ and God cast him out of heaven. Second Peter two
verse four says that God cast them down to hell and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved under judgment
because of this rebellion. But some of the angels did not
follow Lucifer's rebellion. And you know why? Paul tells
us, because they're elect angels. They did not fall because God
elected them. God chose those angels. He chose
to keep them from falling and to keep them worshiping him and
serving him. And the same thing is true in
the salvation of the sons of men. When Adam fell, the whole
human race was not wiped out. The whole human race was not
condemned. And you know why? because God had already elected
a people unto salvation. The father already saw those
people as redeemed. He saw them as holy, washed in
the blood of Christ, the land slain from the foundation of
the world. Those people could not be destroyed because they
were already redeemed. They were already put into the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now God elected a people to redeem. Look at Ephesians chapter one.
God elected a people. He chose those people. to be
holy. He didn't choose them because
they were holy or because they were pure or because they were
any better than any of the other sons of Adam. God chose those
people to be holy, to be made holy. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as He hath
chosen us, elected us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be, not because we are, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, and God did all of this according to the good pleasure
of His will. God chose a sinful people to
make them holy, to make them pure and righteous and redeemed,
in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in time, God, the Holy Spirit,
gives them faith in Christ, so that when they hear Christ preached,
they believe Him. They trust Him. They trust their
entire soul to Him. Some of them, maybe they're looking
for Christ. Maybe they're looking for something,
something true, something real. They're looking for salvation,
like the Ethiopian eunuch. He was looking, wasn't he? He
said, I can't understand this, except some man should guide me, but
he was looking. Like Lydia, Lydia was looking, she just found a
place that prayer was want to be made. And God's preacher showed
up there, preached the gospel. Maybe they're not looking for
Christ at all. Like the Philippian jailer. Oh,
but God found him, didn't he? God revealed himself to him.
And all that happens because the father chose them. Because
Christ died for them. And the spirit will give them
faith in Christ. See, that's how a sinner receives
salvation. That's how a sinner receives
the sanctification and purity, it's because God gave it to them.
God predestinated them to be made that way and they receive
it through faith in Christ. We keep ourselves pure by divine
election. And you know what that teaches
us? All of us are dependent on God. We're dependent on God to
choose us. That brings me to my second point.
We keep ourselves pure by faith in Christ, not by our works.
Look back at Romans chapter three. We keep ourselves pure by faith,
not by works. Romans 3 verse 26. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, the obedience, the righteousness of Christ,
that he might be just in the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus, who has faith in Christ. But where's boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified. He's made without sin. He's made
pure by faith, without the deeds of the law. And look down at
page Romans four, verse one. What should we say then that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory,
but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God. He had faith. He believed God
and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. We're made righteous by faith
in Christ, not by our works, And we know that this faith is
the gift of God. We're dependent on God to give
us this gift. Now, many people, at least on
the surface, would agree that salvation and righteousness do
not come by our works. Most people, at least on the
surface, would agree with that, that they come to us by the Lord
Jesus Christ. But many of those people somehow
think that our holiness, that our purity is somehow made or
kept by our works. by our conduct, and that's not
so. Salvation, righteousness comes
by Christ, and this holiness, this purity, sanctification is
ours through faith in Christ, too. And our works never enter
into it, never. Look here in our text, 1 Timothy
5, verse 23. Drink no longer water, but use
little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities. Now, this purity is by faith. It's not by what we eat or drink.
And here in what Brother Fortner used to call the buckle of the
Bible belt, I know this is treading on thin ice here, but now this
is so. Drinking wine doesn't make your soul impure at all. At all. Now, Paul said drink
a little bit of it. That's good advice. Drink a little
bit of it. But drinking wine, sin's not
in the wine. Sin's already in us before we
ever drink the wine. The reason why anybody ever has
a problem with wine is because of the sin that's in us. Drinking
a little wine's not a sin. And listen, you don't have to
drink wine to prove you don't think it's sinful. You don't
have to drink wine to prove you have faith in Christ. What we
eat, what we drink, what we put in this flesh has got absolutely
nothing to do with our purity. That's a work. It's by faith
in Christ. And don't ever fall into the
trap of judging a person's salvation by their works, what they do
with their flesh, what you see on the outside, because we're
going to make the wrong judgment. Verse 24. Some man's sins are
open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they
follow after. Now, sometimes it is obvious
that a person does not have faith in Christ. It's obvious. They have no love for Christ.
They have no interest in him. They love what the world calls
open sin and iniquity. And the sins of those people
go before them, before the judgment seat of Christ, as the evidence
that God will use to damn them and show that he's just in doing
it. But sometimes, the writer says here, it's not so obvious.
It's not so obvious that a person does not have faith in Christ.
It may look like to us, when we look at them on outside, it
may look like they don't have much sin in their life. Looks
like they're a pretty good person. But they don't have faith in
Christ in the heart, and that's where we can't see, into the
heart. And the sins of those people
will follow them to judgment, and that will be the evidence
that God is just when he damned. See, Paul says some men, sometimes
it's obvious and sometimes it's not. So don't fall into the trap
of judging somebody by their works. In verse 25, likewise
also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they
that are otherwise cannot be hid. Now, every believer, I don't
care where you find them, every believer has good works. And
you know this, I've told you so often that a good work is
a work that's done for the body of Christ. to help God's people,
not because you're trying to get any recognition, but just
out of love, out of faith in Christ, do something to help
his body. Every believer has good works,
but you know, they don't know about most of them. They really
don't. Here's why they don't know about most of them because
they're not trusting in them. They're not keeping track of
them because they're not doing those good works to get recognition
from God, doing those good works to get recognition from other
people. They're doing those good works
out of love, out of love for God and love for his people. I will freely admit to you that
I am one of the most spoiled men on the planet. I mean, Janet just, I mean, we
have a very traditional relationship and she takes care of me. Oh
my goodness. I mean, just my, I just can't
even begin to tell you. You keep track of those things.
Hold it on my hand. Not one time, not one time in
33 years, not once. You know why? It's a done out
of love. I hope I do the same for you.
It's done out of love. See that? And that's the way
God's people are. They're good works. I keep track
of them. They're just done out of love. Look at Revelations
chapter 14. Sometimes those works are obvious. I mean, it's just obvious to
us, but sometimes it's not. And those words follow the believer
to glory as the evidence that God has saved them in justice,
that he's bringing them into his presence and he's right to
do it. Revelation 14 verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, right, blessed
are the dead, which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them. Now their works don't follow
them to glory to give them more jewels in their crown. Their
works don't follow them to glory to give them a bigger mansion
in the skies and keep them from living in the slums of heaven.
They're in glory on the merits of Christ's work for them. Now
they kept the faith in Christ. But those works that follow them
They're the evidence God did something for them. They're the
evidence that they had faith in Christ because faith acts. Saving faith always acts. Saving faith always works. James
told us you have faith without works. It's dead faith. That's
kind of faith won't save anybody. Saving faith always works. So how is a sinner made pure?
How can a sinner keep ourselves pure? It's by relying on Christ. by trusting Christ to be my purity,
as my representative. And we talk about saving faith.
Saving faith is a reliance. It's just relying on Christ to
be my all. And that's the kind of faith
only God can give. And again, what does that do
for you and me? It makes us dependent on God, doesn't it? He must give
us this gift of faith. All right, now look at 1 John
3. Here's the third thing. We keep ourselves pure by the
new birth. 1 John 3, verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he's born of God. Look over page of 1 John 5. Verse 18, we know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself and that wicked one toucheth him not. Now the apostle John
here is talking about the new man, born of God and the new
birth. And that new man cannot sin because he's holy. He's pure
because he is holy. He is pure. His nature is pure.
The new man was conceived by holy seed, so he can't be anything
but holy. Just like the old man. How was
the old man conceived? The old man was conceived by
sinful seed, wasn't he? He can't be anything but sin.
He can't do anything but sin because of the seed that conceived
him. Well, the new man's the same
way. The new man, born of God, cannot sin because he's born
from holy seed. And the new man will never become
the old man. And the old man will never become
the new man. The spirit will never become
flesh, and the flesh will never become spirit. They are two distinct,
totally opposite natures in one person. And that new man is pure. And he keeps himself pure because
that's what God made him. That's just what God made him
that way. It's not that we made ourselves that way by our works
or by our whatever. The new man is pure because God
made him pure. That's his nature. Again, that
makes us dependent on God, doesn't it? You start to see a trend
here. This makes this purity. We're completely dependent on
God to give it to us. God must regenerate us. He must
give us this new nature or we'll never be pure. All right, here's
the fourth thing. We keep ourselves pure. by believing
the gospel. Now, what do we mean we talk
about believing the gospel? I mean, is it just believing
the facts and figures that, you know, roughly 2000 years ago,
the Lord Jesus Christ was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He
lived about 33, 33 and a half years and he died on the cross.
Is that believing the gospel? No, it's not believing the gospel.
A lot of people believe the facts of the gospel. There are many
people, many people, Maybe most people in the world believe that
Jesus was born and that Jesus died on a cross, but that's not
believing the gospel. That's just believing a historical
fact. Believing the gospel is believing the commandment of
the gospel. The commandment of the gospel
to you and to me is to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
as your all. Believe that he is all it takes
to save you and quit doing what you think you can do to make
yourself acceptable to God and trust Christ. That's the commandment
of the gospel. It's not to rely on yourself,
it's to rely on Christ. Look at 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verse
22. in His sight. Now what's the
only thing that's pleasing in God's sight? It's believing His
Son. It's trusting His Son. It's resting in His Son. Verse
23, and this is His commandment, that we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He has
given us commandment. Now I want to make this crystal
clear to each one of us here this morning. God's commandment
is to you. It's to you. It's not to somebody
else. It's to you. And God's commandment to you
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To cast your soul upon
Him. And I tell you right now, where
you sit, you quit. Quit trusting your works and
you believe, you trust your soul in its entirety to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Rest in Him. Rest in Him. Rest in Him to save you without
any help from you whatsoever. That's God's commandment to you.
Now I ask you, can you think of a more gracious commandment?
I mean, God didn't command you to do something that's harmful
to you. God didn't command you to do something that'll hurt
you. God commands us to believe on his son. Now believe him. And everybody that obeys that
commandment and believes on Christ is made pure. They're made pure
in Christ by faith, by faith in Christ. Verse 24, 1 John 3.
And he that keepeth his commandments, believes on Christ, dwelleth
in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit that he has given us. We're dependent on
the Lord to make us to believe, to keep us believing, and to
dwell in us, to make us pure and holy. All right, now the
fifth thing, look at Psalm 119. Psalm 119, here's the fifth thing.
We keep ourselves pure by the word of God. Psalm 119, in verse nine. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Now here's how we keep ourselves
pure. It's by believing the message of God's word. The message of
God's word is always Christ. Always. If you read God's word
and you think the message of it to you is you better do this
and you better do this and you better act this way and you better
not act that way or God's going to get you and God won't save
you. You missed the message. The message of every passage
of scripture is Christ, and we make ourselves pure by believing
Christ, who is the message of God's word. We make ourselves
pure by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate
word. He's the word made flesh, and
that word is only revealed in the written word. Christ is only
revealed in the written word. And if God will ever show him
to us, we'll believe him with our whole heart. Look at verse 10
of Psalm 119. With my whole heart have I sought
thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy
commandments, from thy word. Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee. That's how we make ourselves
pure, by hiding his word in our heart, by believing it. And that's
a heart that only God can give. See, there it is again. We're
completely dependent on the Lord. He must give us this heart to
believe His Word, because that's how we're made pure, by believing
Christ, through faith in Christ. We keep ourselves pure by believing
the truth that's revealed in the Word of God. Look back at
Psalm 19, Psalm 119. Now look back at Psalm 19. We
keep ourselves pure by believing the truth that's taught in the
Word of God. And the only place that that
truth is taught, the only place it's revealed how God saves sinners
is in this book. And more precisely, I'll tell
you what this book tells me. It doesn't just tell me how in
general God saves sinners. This book tells me how God can
save a sinner like me and still be God. That's what this book
teaches. Psalm 19, verse 7. The law of
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is sure. making wise the simple. The statutes
of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of
the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And in that passage,
when you read law and testimony and statutes and commandment,
you just substitute the word because that's what it means.
It all means God's word. The doctrine, the teaching of
God's word is Christ. The teaching of this book is
that everything is in Christ. Everything is Christ. Now you
trust Him. You rely on Him to be your everything. When God gives us faith to believe
this Word, to believe this testimony, it converts the soul. It restores
the soul. It makes us pure. And that teaching,
salvation is all in Christ. Everything you need is in Christ.
That teaching can only be learned from the Word of God. And you
know what? I want to be where it's taught.
I want to be where it's preached. I want to pray that God give
me an ear to hear it and a heart to believe it. I want to read
God's Word and ask Him for faith to believe it. Ask God to give
me an understanding to see Christ in it, because if God let me
see Christ, I'll be converted. My soul will be made pure. God
help us. God help us to always watch this
and be sure that our doctrine, our teaching, the foundation
of our faith comes completely and wholly from what this book
says. From what this book says. And if it's not in this book,
leave it alone in this pulpit. We can talk about it over dinner.
We can talk about it some other place. We can talk, you know,
but if it's not in this book, from this pulpit, let's leave
it alone. Just leave it alone. Let's have the foundation of
our faith always be what this book teaches and nothing that
the natural man, want salvation to be, or think salvation to
be, or thinks how God ought to save a sinner. Let's believe,
let's teach and believe only what this book teaches. That's
the foundation of our faith. We keep ourselves pure by believing
the word of God. Now the sixth thing, look at
James chapter one. James chapter one. We keep ourselves
pure. by conforming our thinking to
the word and not thinking like the world, not acting like the
world and letting the world influence our thinking. James chapter one,
verse 27. Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the father is this, to visit the fatherless and the
widows and their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from
the world. And how do we keep ourselves
unspotted from the world? If we don't keep ourselves unspotted
by the world, we've done what Paul told Timothy about, we've
partaken in other men's sins. We become spotted by the world
when we conform our thinking to the world, when we start acting
like the world. We stay unspotted from the world
when we conform our conduct in our thinking to the Word of God. And we leave the logic of the
fallen world and fallen flesh behind. I know that we think
we've come a long, long way, you know, from when Moses lived
and wrote. We've come a long way from when
the apostles wrote these epistles. And we think, well, we've progressed. We've, you know, become more
enlightened since then. That's allowing ourselves
to be spotted by the world. but think like the world. And
this is true of our faith. It's true of our religion. Now,
we're only going to believe and preach by God's grace what God
says in his word. That's true of our religion.
And it's true of our conduct, too, that we let God's word direct
our conduct, not the thinking of this sinful world. I tell
you, I have some very, very deeply held beliefs. I have some core
values. And those core values come from
the Word of God. That's not because I'm conservative.
I am, but that's not why I believe those things. These core values
that I hold so dearly, these core values that I want to govern
my life, how it is that I conduct myself, come from what the Word
of God teaches. You know, the way that I order
my life, the way I know what's right, And what is wrong is not
what the world tells me. You know, a hundred years ago,
what the world told you is wrong is different than what it tells
you is wrong today, isn't it? So I don't want right and wrong
to be determined by the world in which I live. Right and wrong
is determined by what God's word says it is. It is, it's an absolute
now. And no amount of progress man
ever makes will ever change what God's word says is right and
is wrong. You remember that now. And you
don't have to be mean to people that don't follow this word,
that don't live by it, but don't agree with them either. Don't
agree with them. Don't bid them Godspeed, because
if you do, you'll be partaker in their iniquity. Don't do it.
Now I'm going to give you just a few examples of these core
beliefs. We keep ourselves pure by following
the teaching of this book. How do I know? that I should
arrange my life. I've got a lot of things to do
in my life. You've got a lot of things to do and you're like
a lot of responsibilities. But how do I know that I should
arrange my life and arrange my responsibilities in such a way
that I can be in the worship service as often as humanly possible? That's a core belief of mine.
Jan and I, since we've been married, that's been a core belief. This
is the way we're going to order our family. This is what we're
going to do. How do we know that so? Because the Lord said in
Matthew 18 verse 21, where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And I want to
be where he is, don't you? How do I know that I should be
willing to do the lowest task in order to help my brother?
How do I know there's no task so low and so insignificant that
I shouldn't do it if it'll help you? How do I know that? Because
after the Lord washed the disciples' feet in John 13, he said this,
If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, you ought
also to wash one another's feet. Well, then no task is too low.
Nothing's too insignificant for me to do to help you. How do
I know that I should give an offering as part of the worship
service, that I should give an offering to help support the
gospel and to spread the gospel so other people could hear the
good news that I've heard? How do I know that? Well, Paul
tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 15, I do that in thanks, in response
to Christ, who Paul says is God's unspeakable gift. If God gave
to me, can I give to others? How do I know I should bring
an offering to the Lord? I want to please my Father. In
2 Corinthians 9 verse 7 tells us God loves a cheerful giver.
Then I want to be a cheerful giver. How do I know that I should
be a good and faithful husband? who loves my wife, and how do
I know that I ought to sacrifice for her needs? That being the
husband and the head of the home doesn't mean, you know, that
I rule with an iron fist and everybody's got to give me everything
I want. How do I know that being a good and faithful husband means
putting her needs first and sacrificing what I want for her? Her needs
come first, her desires come first. That is a core belief
of mine. How do I know that? Because Paul
said in Ephesians 5 verse 25, husbands love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church. And he gave himself for it. He
sacrificed himself for her. Oh my, then it ought to be easy
for me to sacrifice for her, don't you reckon? If I love Christ,
if I see him, if he sacrificed himself for me, And then how
does a wife know to lovingly and willingly submit to the loving
authority of her husband and to be a helpmate to him? To help
him, not be a hindrance to him. How do I know that that kind
of submission is an honor? It's not a dishonor, but it's
an honor. How do I know that? Ephesians 5.22. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. As unto the
Lord. How do I know that I ought to
be a parent who teaches my children, who teaches them Christ, and
who disciplines them so they know how to conduct themselves
in this world, so they know how to conduct themselves when I'm
not with them. How do I know I ought to teach my children?
They better obey the very first time. There's no counting to
three. You better obey the very first time. How do I know that?
Well, that's not the way of the world. That's not the way of
the world. You know, they say, oh, let the child decide. I just thought a lot of things
are in this book. So I'm not going to follow my advice and not saying,
let the child decide. Oh, they say, don't make the
child cry. You'll ruin their self-esteem.
That's all I have to say about that. In case you didn't hear
it the first time. How do I know that? The word
of God. Proverbs 13 verse 24. He that
spareth his rod hates his son. Hates him. Hates him. Doesn't
care anything about him. But he that loveth him chasteneth
him by the times. Proverbs 22, verse 15. Foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child. Don't be surprised when a child
acts like a child. Foolishness is bound in their
heart, but the rod of correction will drive it far from them.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. You better teach
him not to be a fool by the time he's grown. Better teach him.
Proverbs 23, verse 13. Withhold not correction from
the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not
die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and you're going to deliver
his soul from hell. And just so you know, the Word
of God teaches this to be done in love. Don't beat your child
because you're angry with them. They act like a child you're
angry with. Don't do that. This is what the Word of God
teaches. Do this with balance and fairness, not excessively.
Don't just beat your child just to be beaten. Ephesians 6 verse
4. Provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's what scripture
teaches. That's the kind of parent I want
to be. And children, how does a child know to obey your parents?
How do you children know to obey and honor your parents? I know
that's not the way of the world. I know the way of the world is
for children to be smart alecks with their parents and Oh, especially,
you know, you get to be a teenager, you know, you know more than
your parents do. How do you know that you ought to obey your parents?
Now, that's good advice. That's good advice. Obey your
parents. I tell you, they know more than you know. And nobody
has your best interest at heart like your parent does. But that's
not the real reason. How do we know a child ought
to obey their parents? The Word of God. Ephesians 6
verse 1. Children, obey your parents and
the Lord, for this is right. God says it's right. Honor thy
father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. This is a commandment of God
and God attached a promise to it. He said, you live a happier
life if you obey your parents, do what they tell you to do.
They got your best interest at heart. How do I know that when
I go to work, I ought to be the absolute best worker in the place? Even if I got a bad, mean boss
who takes advantage of me. I worked a long time, had some
mean bosses, and I had some good bosses. How do I know that regardless
of my boss's attitude, I ought to be the best worker in the
place? The Word of God. Ephesians 6, verse 5. Servants,
be obedient to them that are your masters according to the
flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of heart. Here's
the key, as unto Christ. as unto Christ. Not with I service,
as men please, just do it when they're watching, but as servants
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill,
doing service as unto the Lord and not unto me. See, that's
how I know that. Peter said this, 1 Peter 2 verse
18. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the foe. because you're serving the Lord,
not me. And that's how I know that. How do I know that a person
ought to work to support themselves? How do I know that the welfare
state is wrong? Now, I said that, and let me
say this now. I wholeheartedly believe in temporary
help for the downtrodden. But this is not permanent. They're
not gonna live the rest of their lives that way. And as a church body,
when somebody here is unemployed or they're in need, We shouldn't
depend on the government to do all the supporting. We ought
to do it. These are our brothers, our sisters. We ought to do that.
But how do I know that's true? The Word of God. Paul says 2
Thessalonians 3 verse 10. If any would not work, neither
should he eat. I mean, you want to have groceries
to eat? You want to have a roof over
your head? Work. God says it's good for you. How
do I know that a person should be a person of honor and integrity. How do I know how to be an honest
man, no matter what it costs me? How do I know that? 1 Peter
2.12, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that
whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your
good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation. Somebody ought to know, I believe
God, I trust God. Somebody ought to know that.
I ought to be an honest person. How do I know that I shouldn't be
angry all the time? How do I know that I should be easy to get
along with? That's not the way of the world today, isn't it?
Boy, somebody offends you one time, you're angry with them,
you cut them off, they deserve the death penalty. Somebody makes
a mistake in their job, they ought to be fired forever and
never be able to work again. How do I know I ought to just
take a beat here and be a little easier to get along with? First
Peter 2.1, lay aside all malice. Just lay it aside. Romans 12
verse 18, if it be possible, as much as life in you, live
peaceably with all men. If you can't live peaceably with
somebody, you make sure it's them doing it, not you. As much
as life in you, live peaceably with all men. How do I know that racism is
wrong? How do I know racism should not
be tolerated? Now logic ought to tell you that.
I mean, how can a person who knows and loves the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace and knows that the flesh has
got nothing to do with it ever be prejudiced against somebody
because of their flesh? How's that possible? How's that
possible? In our text, when the apostle
says here, that thou observe these things without preferring
one before another, doing nothing by partiality. That word preferring
is prejudice. Let nothing be done by prejudice. In Numbers chapter 12, this is
to drive home the point of what I'm saying here. Miriam and Aaron,
Aaron's brother and sister, they spoke against Moses. when he
married an Ethiopian woman. Now they were all about Moses.
They were all about following Moses and supporting him and
following his ministry. He's the prophet of God. And
as soon as he married this Ethiopian woman, you know what they said?
They said, he's not the only prophet of God. We ought to get
to be the prophets too. That's what they said. And the
only reason they said it is because he married an Ethiopian woman
and God struck Miriam with leprosy. And she'd have died unless her
brother Moses prayed for her. How do I know that I should submit
to political authority? Even political authority that's
not my party. How do I know that? Unless they
tell me I can't preach Christ, how do I know I should be obedient
to them? Well, you read Romans 13 and
1 Peter 2. They got a lot to say about this
matter. You be obedient to the authority
that God's put over you. It's God's authority. God sent
them for your good. And the apostles? were always
obedient. Our Lord was always obedient
to political authority unless they told them they could not
preach Christ. They said, don't preach in his
name anymore. They said, no, wait a minute. You decide whether
we obey you or God. Other than that, they were obedient.
They obeyed. Now that's a lot of examples, but you get the
idea here. This ordering our thinking and
ordering our conduct by the Word of God, that's what we ought
to do. That's how we keep ourselves unspotted from the way of this
world. You know, we believe the Word
of God. By faith, we believe the Word of God. That keeps us
unspotted from the religion of the following world. And following
the Word of God, following its teaching, that keeps us unspotted
from the way of the world. Now, doing these things, Don't
misunderstand me, they won't save you. If you try to do these
things, you be honest, you be nice, you do all that, that's
not gonna save you. It's not gonna make you more
savable, it's not gonna make you better than anybody else. But
I tell you what, it'll make me happier in this life. It'll make
the people around me happier too. They'll be happier to see
me. They'll be happier, they won't
wanna avoid me when they see me coming. People around me,
my wife, my children, my neighbors, my brothers and sisters, will
be happier. They'll be happier. If I'm living
in obedience to my father, they really will. And you remember
this as far as the way and the thinking of this world. Don't,
don't, it's a dangerous, dangerous slide to start agreeing with
him. You think, well, this thing is
probably true. You know, it's a dangerous slide. It's never,
ever, ever best for us to do it. Not God's way. Never. So
in closing, how do I keep myself pure by belief in Christ? looking to Christ by resting
in Christ. He's my purity. I don't make
it. I don't keep it. Christ is my purity. The only
person who can be pure is the person that believes Christ.
The only one. That person, they'll believe the word of God. By faith,
they'll believe it and they'll strive to follow it the best
they can. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. Thank you for the teaching of
your word. Father, I pray that you'd make this blessing or this
message a blessing to your people. Take your words that's been preached
and apply it to the hearts of your people, that we might believe,
that we might be instructed, that we might rest in our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we might learn to keep the things of this life
in their proper perspective and live following thee. Father,
we beg of you. that you take this text, this
passage, this message, and in our day, reveal your glory, the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemptive glory to our
hearts. Father, reveal the glory of Christ.
Enable us to believe him. It is in his precious name that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, you're dismissed. Thank you.