Good morning. If you would care
to turn with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 20. Our sister Sue Thacker is having
a time. She's been back to the hospital
and back to rehab. She's had a lot of weakness and
difficulty. Her AFib is back and some of
the side effects, I guess, from the anesthesia. She was just
really having a real problem. As much as the Lord can bring
her to your mind, let's remember her in prayer. Also be, as we
pray, ask the Lord for help. Be thankful for how the Lord's
healed and blessed several of our brethren who have been so
sick. Be thankful. In Acts chapter 20, we're going
to begin our reading in verse 17. And as I read, I kind of
want you to notice this. that Paul conducted himself,
how he operated in the church and in public, and that's kind
of the theme of what we'll be looking at this morning. Acts
20, verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus,
and called the elders of the church. And when they were come
to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the very first day
that I came into Asia, after what manner I've been with you
at all seasons. serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me
by the lying and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both
to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, say that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone
preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore,
I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood
of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, and of your
own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves
know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed
to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken,
he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept sore
and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. sorrowing most of all for
the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him unto the ship. Let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend, is your matchless name. And it is with awe and
wonder Hearts bent in worship that we bow before you. How we
amazed we are at your mercy and your grace to sinners. That you
would be so merciful as to save sinners through the awful, bloody
sacrifice of your only begotten son. Father, we thank you. Oh, how we thank you. Human words
can't express the the proper thanksgiving, the awe, the wonder,
the praise, as such a salvation and such a savior. But Father,
we thank you. We praise your matchless name.
Father, I pray that this morning that you would make this hour
an hour of true worship, that you would one more time bear
your mighty right arm of power, your mercy, and your grace to
your people. and that you would cause us to
see the Lord Jesus Christ and his glory, his sufficiency. Let
us see him with the eye of faith and worship. Father, we pray
you'd reach down and lay hold upon the hearts of your people
to save, to comfort, to instruct and edify. And what we pray for
ourselves, we pray for your people who meet together today everywhere
around this country and around the world to worship. Father,
bless your word, we pray, for your namesake, for the glory
of your name, and also for the good of your people. Father,
we thank you for the many material blessings, how abundantly you
blessed us, and we're thankful. Thank you for our children. Father,
pray that you would watch over them, that you would protect
them from this wicked generation in which they grow up. And Father,
above all, we beg mercy for their souls. Oh, would you be merciful. Father, we pray a blessing for
those who are in a time of trouble and trial. We pray for Sue, that
you would touch her body and heal and strengthen her, be with
her and her family. Father, there's so many others
who are sick and hurting in deep, deep waters or doing business
in deep waters. Father, we pray you'd be with
them, that you'd comfort their hearts with your presence, that
you would lead, that you would guide and provide a way out.
All these things we ask in that name which is above every name.
For His glory, for His name's sake, we pray and give thanks.
Amen. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene And wonder how he could love
me A sinner condemned unclean How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my
Savior's love for me For me it was in the garden He prayed not
my will but thine He had no tears for his own griefs But sweat
drops of blood for mine How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall
ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me And came from the world of light
To comfort him in the sorrows He bore for my soul at night
How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How
marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
And suffered and died alone How marvelous, how wonderful And
my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's
love for me! When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, It will be my joy through the
ages to sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. That was outstanding, Isaac.
Thank you. Alright, if you would, now for our text, turn your Bibles
with me to 1 Timothy 3. I titled the message this morning,
How to Behave in the Church. I took my title from here, these
two verses, verses 14 and 15 of 1 Timothy 3. The Apostle writes, These things
write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if
I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Now, it'll be helpful
for us to remember when we think about this subject, how to behave
in the church. It'll be helpful for us to remember
that how we behave in a place depends upon the purpose of the
place. I'll give you a cute example
that will probably help you remember this. We took our daughter, Savannah
Grace, to her first UK basketball game when Savannah was six years
old. It was a big game. Kentucky and Utah, they're meeting
in a rematch of the previous year's national championship
game. Big year, big game. Game was close down to the wire.
Now for six years, Savannah Grace had been told Do not yell in
the house. Use your inside voice, she was
told. That was drilled into her. Well, we went inside Rupp Arena,
and she would not yell and cheer at that game. And we told her
to yell and cheer. She said, no, we're inside. You
can't yell inside. And we told her it's OK to yell
in this building, because the purpose of Rupp Arena is to yell
and cheer for the cats. That's the whole purpose of the
building. She just wouldn't do it. How
we behave in a place. depends upon the purpose of the
place. In some places, it's okay to yell. In some places, it's
not. When I was a boy, I'm telling you, the very fastest way for
me to get spanked, and I mean spanked hard, was to run in the
church auditorium. Wasn't it, Becky? Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my. My dad had a way of strongly
reminding us the purpose of the building is to worship. It's
not a gymnasium. The purpose of the place is to
worship. And besides that, children run around, run into dogs. Oh,
boy. He would strongly remind us of
that. You see, how we behaved in the building depended upon
the purpose of the building. Now, running and yelling in the
auditorium, it's not a good idea, but that's not the real meaning
of the text. The meaning of the text, and
this is what I pray the Lord show us this morning, is the
purpose of God's church on earth. And if God will teach us the
purpose of the church on earth, then we'll know as believers,
how is it that we're supposed to behave? How is it that we're
supposed to help the church fulfill the mission that the Lord has
given us here on earth? So if we're going to know how
to behave in the church, the first thing we have to know is what
the church is. If we know what the purpose of
the church is, we'll know how to behave in it. So number one,
the church is an assembly of believers. The word church that
Paul uses here in verse 15, the church of the living God, the
word means an assembly. It's a gathering of citizens
together who have been called out. So the church is not a building,
is it? The church is people. It's an
assembly of people that have been called out and come together.
The church is all the people of God. Now there are many different
churches in different cities all around the world. And there's one universal church.
It's all believers. There are many different local
churches, but there's one church. It's all of God's people called
out and put together in one place. The church in scripture is called
the body of Christ. So the church is people. It's
not a building, it's all the people of God. So believers,
God's church, they have been called out. We've been called
out of our sin to come to Christ. We've been called out of depending
upon and trusting in our works and we've been called to come
to Christ, to trust Him. We've been called to look away
from ourself and look to Christ. We've been called out of self,
out of everything about ourself to come to Christ. We've been
called out of the world to come to Christ, be ye separate. Well, that being the case, here's
how we ought to behave ourself in the church as believers. Number
one, we should behave ourselves humbly, shouldn't we? Humbly. God called us. He called us. Just like He did Abraham, He
called us. Not because we deserve it, not
because we're any better than anybody else, but as a matter
of fact, just the opposite, because we don't deserve it. Idolaters,
just like Abraham was, and God called us. God has called His
people by His grace. by His grace, meaning the call
is undeserved. If it's of grace, it's undeserved,
right? Then we should be humbled by
that grace. And it's not just a feeling that
we should have we're humbled. We ought to act like it, that
we're humbled by God's call. God calls sinners to His Son.
Now, we ought to act humbly about that. And we should never act
like we're inherently better. This bothers me to no end. We should not act like we're
inherently better than all the lost people out there in the
world. Because why aren't we one of them? One reason, God
called us. And that ought to humble our
hearts. It ought to humble our hearts and it ought to drive
us to preach the gospel to them as much as God gives us the opportunity,
shouldn't it? The only reason we've come to
Christ, the only reason we've been called together is God called
us. Number two, we should behave
ourselves selflessly. God's called us out of self to
come to Christ. Then we shouldn't be so selfish.
We shouldn't be so self-centered. We shouldn't always only think
about what's best for me and mine. The first thing we should
think about, the first thing that is our first motivation,
the first thing we ought to think about the ramifications of anything
that I do is what's best for the assembly. We should think
that first. time. What's best so that the
assembly can worship? What's best so that this place
can be a place of worship? We should be selfless in that
way. Thirdly, we should behave ourselves
in faith. We've been called out of the
world to come to Christ. Then we should behave ourselves
in faith. Faith in Christ And behaving
ourself in faith simply means this, to live depending upon
Christ. To live believing Him, to live
trusting Him, to live believing and trusting His Word. You know,
the Word of God will often, often, almost always, maybe always,
contradict the thinking of the flesh. Well, I should behave
myself believing, trusting, following the Word of God. Alright, number
two. Look back at Acts chapter 20,
the passage we read to open the service. The church belongs to
Christ because He bought her. She belongs to Him. Acts chapter
20, verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. The Lord Jesus Christ bought
the church. He bought his people with his
own blood. Does that tell you how precious
that the church, does that tell you how precious those people
are to God? He purchased them with his own
blood. Now that being so, that we've
been purchased with the blood of Christ, the blood of God's
Son, how should we behave ourselves in the church? Well, first of
all, we should live to Christ. We should live to Him and for
Him. We're not our own. We've been bought with a price.
And that price is the precious blood of Christ. Then we should
live for the cause of Christ. We should live to do whatever
it is that we can do to help the church. To help the church
fulfill our role, our function of preaching the gospel to our
generation. Y'all hear about great preachers
of the past, great congregations of the past, great revivals of
the past. And I like reading those men.
And I like, you know, trying to learn some things from things
that they wrote and they said. But I'm telling you what, our
function is to preach Christ in our day. Not be so hung up
on all those ones of the past. Not to live off the fame of the
past. Our job, our role is to preach
Christ to our generation, to our generation. There's a new
one coming up. There's a generation right here
and there's a new one coming up. The function that God's given
us is to preach the gospel to them. God help us be dedicated
to it, be dedicated to it. And if we're pastors, we're elders,
we're teachers, Paul tells us, Feed the flock. Feed the flock
with Christ, the bread of life. Feed the flock with Christ, the
water of life. But all of us, that's not just
the pastors and elders and teachers now, this goes to all of us.
All of us should put our shoulder to this, to pray for one another,
to pray for the success of the gospel, to do whatever it is
we can do to look out for one another, to help one another.
Whatever it is we can possibly do so that the gospels preached
to our generation We should do it so the sheep could be fed
in our day. We just got to help us to do
it. If the Savior paid for you and me, he redeemed you and me
with his own blood. I mean, you know, they didn't
stick a needle in his arm and draw a pint out now. I mean,
he suffered and he died shedding his blood. If that's what he
did to purchase you and me, surely there's nothing too great that
we can do in his cause, is there? We should live to Christ. And
second, since He's purchased us with His own blood, we should
live in thanksgiving. God Almighty bought the likes
of you and me. Now let's not get too full of
ourselves. He bought the likes of you and
me with His blood. With His blood. We should never
be able to get over that fact and live in thanksgiving. Live
in thanksgiving. thankful for God's love, thankful
for God's mercy, thankful for God's grace, thankful for the
sacrifice of Christ, thankful for the blood of Christ, which
cleanses us from all sin and makes us accepted with the Father.
All right, back in our text, here's the third thing. What
is the church? If we understand what the church
is, we'll understand how to behave ourselves in it. Thirdly, Paul
says in verse 15 that the church is the house of God, that you
may know how to behave yourself in the house of God. Now you
understand a house, a household, and you know who lives in a house,
don't you? A family lives in the house. The head of the family
is the father. Well, the head of our family
is our heavenly father, and all of us are his children. Well
then, given that so, our heavenly father is the head of our home,
our house. How is it that we should behave
ourselves in the church? as obedient children. Obedient
children. Obedient to our wise and loving
Father. Janet and I demanded obedience
from our children. I mean, we demanded it. But we
weren't perfect. We weren't perfect. Every once
in a while we'll talk about things we wish we could do over again.
We weren't perfect. Another reason we're thankful
for God's grace. But our Heavenly Father is perfect. He's wise. His wisdom is perfect. His love
is perfect. His decisions are always right. Then we should live in obedience
to Him. Trust Him. You parents, how many
times have you told your children, trust me? Trust me. I know what
I'm doing here. This decision you don't understand,
this decision I've just made, but trust me. Let's trust our
Father. Trust our Father. and be in obedience
to him. This obedience I'm talking about
here is not us keeping the law. It's not us going out and living
so everybody says, oh, look how holy they are. Now, our conduct
ought to be exemplary, shouldn't it? Our conduct ought to be,
but our obedience, the way that we live in the world, what people
think about how we live, that's not our holiness. The obedience
of God's children is faith. It's faith in Christ. Our obedience
is to trust and to believe that Christ himself is everything
that I need. The obedience of God's children
is to quit trusting in our works to be any part of our salvation
and to trust Christ and Christ alone. See, obedience is to trust
nothing but Christ. It's not to trust my repentance.
It's not to trust It's not to trust my faith. It's not to trust
my morality. It's not to trust my prayers. It's to trust nothing
but Christ. See, obedience is, I don't look
to anything that I've done. I don't look to anything about
me. But I look to Christ. That's the obedience of God's
children. If you look at Ephesians chapter 5, in a house, there's
a husband and a wife, isn't there? Well, the church, the people
of God, they are the bride of Christ. Ephesians chapter 5. As I read this, you think about
the house that our husband is the head of. Verse 25. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church. For we're members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself
and the wife." See that she referenced her husband. Now in this home,
there's a husband and a wife. The Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious
Son of God, the Prince of Glory, has humbled himself to take a
bride. And I want to tell you, he went
slumming to find a bride like you and me. He did. And think
what the Lord Jesus Christ, this glorious, handsome, perfect bridegroom,
what he has done for his bride. Girls, when they're growing up, you plan your wedding from the
time that you can practically think, don't you? And what did
you picture in your mind's eye? You didn't picture some ugly,
mean, hard guy. that you're walking down the
aisle with. You picture the guy, tall, dark, and handsome. I mean,
he's smooth, he's kind, he's loving. This glorious, handsome,
perfect bridegroom. You think what he has done for
his wife. He's greater than we could ever
even imagine, isn't he? He's more handsome, he's more
glorious, he's more perfect than we could ever imagine. He loved
his bride. when she was unlovable, when
she was dead in sin, when she was filthy in the corruption
of her sin, yet even then he loved her. And he took her. He
didn't leave her in that condition. He took her and he washed her
in his blood. He made her clean and white,
holy and righteous. He made her spotless without
even a wrinkle in her garment and made her beautiful with his
beauty that he put on her. and he joined himself to her
so that they're one flesh. He said, you're my body, you're
my flesh, you're my bones. He allowed the likes of you and
me to be joined to the son of God. That's what he's done for
his bride. Well, then as his bride, how
should we behave ourselves in the church? Well, I can tell
you, isn't it obvious? We should behave ourselves in
loving submission to Christ our bridegroom. And again, this submission
is a spiritual thing. It's submitting ourselves to
the righteousness of Christ. It's to quit trusting our works. Quit trying to add something
by our works to the righteousness of Christ and to rest in Christ,
our Savior, who's finished the work of redemption for us. And
that would be easy. It should be easy if we know
and love Christ the bridegroom. And we should also live in willing
submission to the will of our husband, the will of our Savior. Now, I know as believers, we
want to do that. Oh, don't you? I want to be in
submission to his will. That says something about the
bridegroom, doesn't it? That you want to be in submission
to him. The only reason you want to be
in submission to him is he's so glorious. It's the only reason.
His love is so perfect. Who He is and what He's done
for you makes us want to be in submission to Him. And just as
an aside, something you get for free. Husbands, that's what we
ought to do for our wives. We ought to love them so well
that she wants to be in submission to Him. Not she has to, she wants
to. Because that's what Christ our
Bridegroom has done for us. And because of our Bridegroom,
we should live in great love for Him. great love for Him who
first loved us. And we should live to serve Him.
We should live to serve our Savior as His loving bride. You know,
a bride is a helpmeet. That's what God made for Adam.
He said, it's not good for you to be alone. Make you a helpmeet.
I'll tell you what a good helpmeet does. A good helpmeet will love
to serve in whatever capacity and whatever opportunity the
Lord's given us to serve. We'll love to do that, that's
how we'll behave. Then in a great house, there's servants. There's
a husband and a wife, there's father and children, and there's
servants. And we who believe, look at Romans
chapter 12, we who believe are the servants of the living God. And you think what an honor that
is, to be a servant of the living God. And that's not just talking
about preachers now, that's to every believer, we're servants
of the living God. And just like a helpmeet, a good
and faithful servant will love to serve in whatever capacity
the master has given to us to serve. Look at Romans chapter
12, verse 4. Here's how we serve. As we have
many members in one body, all members have not the same office.
So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members
one of another. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that is given to us. Whether prophecy, let us
prophesy, let's preach according to the proportion of faith. Or
ministry, serving, whatever kind of serving needs to be done.
Or ministry, serving, let us wait on our ministering. For
he that teacheth, on teaching. For he that exhorteth on exhortation,
he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth
with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. And
let love be without dissimulation. The poor that which is evil cleave
to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another.
Not slothful in business. See, this doesn't just apply
when you're in this building, does it? No, not slothful in
your business. Out there in the business world
tomorrow. Not slothful in business. Fervent in spirit. Serving the
Lord. Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. Continuing
instant in prayer. Distributing to the necessity
of saints. Given to hospitality. Bless them
which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice
with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Be
of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in
the sight of all men. And if it be possible, as much
as life in you, live peaceably with all men." Now that's all
those ways. Do you find it a difficulty to
find a way to serve the Lord in all that list? That's how
we serve the Lord. Then do it with all you got.
Do it with all you got. Because of who our bridegroom
is. Who our master is. All right, number four, back
in our text. The church is the dwelling place of the living
God. Paul says, verse 15, which is
the church of the living God. Now remember, the church is people. People who have been called out.
People who have been saved by the Lord. Let's look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. And these people, they have life. I mean real, spiritual, eternal
life. Now God gives us life, but we
have this life in ourselves because life himself dwells in us. Life himself dwells in us. 2
Corinthians 6 verse 16. And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they
will be my people. God says he dwells in his people. Now I know we call this building
the church building, don't we? But this building is just a building
where the church meets. You all are the church. Those
people are the church. But I'll tell you something about
this building. This building is special in this way. God is regularly in this building.
He's regularly in this building. And right now, Brother Henry
said, this building might be a hotel someday. But right now,
this is a place. God is here regularly. I know that's so, because you
know what our Savior said? Anywhere two or three are gathered
together in his name, two or three, 30. How many ever come
out on a cold winter morning, slippery, cold? Our Savior said,
I'll be there. I'll be there in their midst.
You who believe you're the temple of the living God. God dwells
in you. When you come here, you bring him with you. Do you ever
think of that? When you come here, you bring
the Holy Spirit with you. Now, since that's true, how should
we behave ourselves in the church of God? Well, I tell you, we
should be here to hear as often as humanly possible. We should
be here to worship. so that the whole assembly can
worship together. See, we need you. You think,
oh, nobody needs me. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We need
you. We need you here. We need you
to bring the Holy Spirit to the service with you because you're
the temple of the living God. It's just very interesting to
me. I benefit from being in the worship service. It's of the
utmost importance to my soul. It's of the utmost importance
to my life here below that I be here in the worship service too.
It's the right thing to do. It's what I ought to do to worship
God. It's how I learn, how I grow to be here. It's of the utmost
importance for me to be here when the Gospel is preached.
But you know, other people benefit. Other people benefit from us
being in the worship service. Even if I don't realize it. I
may not even realize somebody else is blessed by me being here.
But everyone is blessed when the Spirit of God is in our service.
That's the only way we can worship. completely and utterly wasting
our time if the Spirit's not here, blessing the Word of God.
So other people are blessed, even if I don't realize it, by
us being here together, bringing the Spirit here with us. And
that's the way we're blessed. All right, here's the last thing.
The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. As Paul
says at the end of verse 15, the pillar and ground of the
truth. Now the word pillar means a column. It supports something. It holds
something up. It makes it stand. And the ground
has a very similar meaning. It's a prop or support from below. Something that is immovable,
cannot be moved. Now I read that, I thought, that's
Christ our Savior. He's our support. He's our pillar.
He's the one that makes it so that we cannot be moved, so that
we cannot fall. But Paul tells us here that the
church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth of the gospel
in our day. We're to be the pillar that holds
up Christ the truth for all to see, just like Moses held up
that brazen serpent. There's nothing special about
Moses, but what he was holding up was another special bunch
of meat. But what we hold up is we're
to hold up Christ, the truth of Christ, so that people can
see. Nobody can see if we don't hold him up. We're to be the
ground of the gospel truth so that we cannot be moved away.
And our message cannot be moved away from the truth so that people
who hear can't be moved away from the truth of Christ. We're
to be the place where the truth is established in our preaching.
And the truth is established in the hearts of people. Now
we're not to seek a following for ourselves. Paul told those
Ephesian elders, I always find it interesting that they saw
most of all for the fact that they wouldn't see Paul again.
And I understand, I'm not, you know, but maybe they ought to
have been more sad, more weeping, more greed that Paul said, of
your own selves, people are going to rise up speaking perverse
things to draw disciples after yourselves. We're not to seek
a following for ourselves. Our sole purpose on this earth
is to preach the gospel, to hold up the truth of Christ. That's
our sole purpose. It's the sole purpose of the
local church. It's the sole purpose of the universal church. It's
to preach the gospel, to hold up the truth of Christ and never
be moved away from it. All right, then. How should we
behave ourselves in the church? That's the purpose. How should
we behave ourselves? Well, we should be and we must
be Dedicated to our purpose. Dedicated to the preaching of
truth. And several reasons for that. We should be dedicated
to this for the Lord's sake. For the Lord's sake. So that
the glory of our Lord will be seen. He's so glorious. He's been so merciful and gracious
to me. I sure would like other people
to know Him too, wouldn't you? For the Lord's sake. We should
be dedicated to this preaching for the truth's sake. Because
listen, the truth needs to be heard in our day, in this dark,
dark day of lies and a world full of people who believe them.
For the truth's sake, we should be dedicated to the preaching
of Christ. We should be dedicated to the
preaching of Christ for our sake. We need to hear the gospel, don't
we? We should be dedicated to this for our children's sake. Our children need to hear the
gospel, and they must believe the gospel. Because when they
were born, we gave them our nature. They need to hear the gospel.
We should be dedicated to it for their sake. We should be
dedicated to the preaching of the gospel for the sake of our
community. It's my constant prayer that
the Lord has more sheep in our community. And if he does, tell
you how he's going to call them out, same way he did you and
me, through the preaching of the gospel. compassion for souls. Let's be
dedicated, dedicated to this thing of preaching the truth.
And let me give you a word here about the truth I hope will be
helpful. Now we must, what we preach must be the truth. What
we preach, what we believe must be the truth. It's the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the whole truth, the
whole counsel of God. We don't try to reconcile or
explain it. I mean, how do you reconcile
God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? I don't have to. God doesn't
reconcile it. We just preach it. We preach it. But the truth
that we preach, it must be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth. That truth is Christ. It's Christ. It's not
that we're to preach true facts. I mean, I can get up here and
tell you 2 plus 2 is 4. 4 plus 4 is 8. I mean, it's true
facts. But it's not the truth, is it?
Not the truth. No, the truth is Christ. We're
not even to make it our business to preach true doctrinal facts. I've been to places like that.
Couldn't throw a stone at one thing that they said, but wasn't
blessed. Because it was true doctrinal facts, it wasn't truth.
Because the purpose, their goal, their aim was not to preach Christ.
It was to show people how smart they are by all these doctrinal
facts that they know. We're to preach Christ the truth. We're
not to preach on the truth of the evils of sin and how people
ought not sin. That's true. Sin's evil. You
ought not sin. But that's not where to preach.
We're to preach Christ. We're not to preach on the ills
of politics and the ills of government. They give you a lot of fodder,
don't they? A lot of fodder. But that's not our purpose. Let
somebody else take care of that. Those things, somebody will take
care of that. is to preach Christ. And if we
don't preach Christ, the truth, there'll be no worship, there'll
be no life, there'll be no faith, there'll be no comfort, and there'll
be no assurance, none whatsoever. You know, people in this congregation,
they find themselves in deep waters and difficult troubles. And I care. I mean, I care. I'm
broken hearted. Oh, how I care. I hope you understand this. But the best thing I can do for
you is to preach Christ to you. To give you a place where Christ
is preached. And maybe for a few moments,
it just washes over your heart.
It washes over your soul. It's the best thing we can do
is to preach Christ. To not just set out to tell you,
oh, it's going to be okay. but to preach Christ. And if
we see Him, it'll be alright. It'll be alright. See, when we
talk about true, true, we mean true doctrine and true heart
faith. Now what do I mean by that? True
heart faith. When we talk about the truth,
preaching the truth, true It's not just that I believe doctrine
that's true. It's not just that I believe
the doctrines of grace. It's not just that I believe the five
points of Calvinism. Those things are true. But true faith, preaching
the truth, living the truth, is that I believe Christ. And
I'll tell you how I can tell. I believe and love the truth
when I truly believe that I'm a sinner. Truly. I mean, I truly
believe that I'm a sinner. And I know I truly believe, it's
not just doctrine, it's not just words on paper, when I truly
believe that the only way I can be saved is by the Lord Jesus
Christ. The only way I can be saved is
by God's grace. It's in Christ Jesus because
I can't do one blessed thing to earn it. I believe in total
depravity. And by that, I don't just mean
I believe everybody out there is totally depraved. That's easy
to see. I believe truth when I believe
I am totally depraved. I am. And when I truly believe
that about myself, that truth, it will affect my behavior. Truly
believing that I am a sinner will make me not so self-righteous. We're not going to ever get rid
of it in this life, self-righteousness, but it will make me not quite
so self-righteous. It will make me not judge others
and look down my nose at them. You know, we are to make judgments
about what's right and wrong. If somebody does something, they
say, don't judge me. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. We're
to make judgments about what's right and wrong to protect ourselves,
to protect our children. I mean, you know, there are things
we would not let our children do. We made a decision. You know, we made a judgment
here. Now, we're to make judgments. But when Scripture says judge
not, this is what the Scripture means. I can't be judgmental
and look down my nose at somebody else. because we're both on the
same level. We're both totally depraved. I'm not less depraved than somebody
else. I'm not less in need of God's
grace than somebody else. The only reason I haven't done
something somebody else has done, and let me tell you why. The
only reason I haven't done what somebody else has done is this.
God's kept me from it and he didn't give me an opportunity
to do it. I mean, God puts you in a position to test you. Will
fail every time. Every single time. unless God
keeps us from it. God keeps us from it. That's
right. By nature, I'm no better than anybody else. I can't look
down my nose and be judgmental. That's what judge not means.
And if I truly believe in total depravity that I am to pray,
that I cannot save myself, then I know that the same thing must
be true of others. Even y'all, sinners saved by
grace. It has to be the same. You got
the same flesh, the same nature, the same problems that I got.
Now, if I believe that's true, it'll affect my behavior, how
I behave in the church with people. It'll make me a little more patient
with them. It'll make it so I don't need
them to be perfect. It'll make it so I don't need
this local assembly to be a perfect church. You know, people say,
well, I can't worship there because there's too many sinners there.
Where are you going to worship then? Every building you've got
is full of sinners. Don't look for the perfect church.
Say, oh, I can only attend the perfect church. You're not going
to find one. And this is kind of hypothetical. But if you do
find one, don't go there. You'll ruin it. Is that too hard? Is that too hard to say don't
go to a perfect place because you'll ruin it? Well, I'll tell
you what. I won't have a problem with that
statement. If I truly believe I'm a sinner, that has to be
saved and has to be kept by God's free and sovereign grace. If
I know and love the truth about myself and the truth about how
God saves sinners, it will direct my behavior. I'll behave in love
and care for others. I won't just do it outwardly,
you know, being a hypocrite, I'll do it truly with a true
love and a true care for the welfare of others. And the number
one way I'll do that is by supporting the preaching of the gospel,
because that's what people need the most. But you know, I'll
also be aware of people that have needs, and watch out for
them, and do what I can to help out. If I know the truth about
how God saves sinners, it will direct my behavior. It'll make
me do whatever it is I can do, whatever it is God's given me
to be able to do to preach this gospel, because it's the only
hope sinners have. of being saved. It's the only
way God's sheep are fed. We're all members of the same
body. The only way the other body parts are going to be fed
and kept healthy and kept strong is by the preaching of the gospel.
And I want to help that. Don't you? I want to help that.
See, that's the function of the church on earth. And knowing
the function, the purpose of the church tells us how we ought
to behave ourselves in it, doesn't it? Well, I hope that's helpful
to you. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, oh, how we thank
You for Your Word. How we thank You for the teaching
of Your Word. How we thank You for our Lord
Jesus Christ, our glorious Bridegroom, our Great Father, our Master,
our Savior. Father, how we thank You that You would purchase Your church
with your own precious blood. And that you would reveal yourself
to and in your people by the preaching of your gospel. And
that you'd teach us how it is that we are to behave ourselves
in your church, in your service. How are we to behave ourselves
in your service? Father, I pray that you'd give
us the heartfelt desire and the ability to serve, to serve our
master, to serve your cause, to serve your gospel, to serve
your people. In whatever way that you've given
us to serve, make us faithful servants, faithful stewards to
serve in whatever way that you've given us. And Father, make us
grateful, humble servants, not seeking our own glory, but seeking
the glory of Christ our Savior. It's in His precious name we
pray and give thanks. Amen.