Speaker 1: 0:06

We're going to continue through our Membership Matters series.

Speaker 1: 0:09

It's a series where we look back at the five vows of church membership. The truth of the matter is you could take these vows at any biblical church, because the vows just reflect New Testament Christianity. They reflect the biblical truths of what it means to be a follower of Christ. We're up to vow three and by way of introduction, I want to ask you this morning what the greatest burden is in your life. Quiet yourself before God and ask yourself what is your greatest sorrow and trouble? The old Puritan, john Owen.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Jesus put it this way in the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He went on to say. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, those who have filed spiritual bankruptcy with God. Blessed are those who mourn. Mourn over what Mourn? Over their own sin, the sin of God's church and the sin of the world. These are holy burdens. There is such a thing as a holy burden, and the very purpose for which God saves us goes right to the heart of this third vow. And I say that because there are some who get a misunderstanding of what salvation is and they view it as sort of making a quick profession and acknowledgement to God and it's a quick punch ticket into heaven and then they just go on with their life as it was before, and that's not a biblical view of salvation. Those who God saves will most certainly be in heaven one day. Aren't you glad for that, christian? You're going home. Thank God for that. But we have to remember that our ultimate home is a holy place and in that holy place, what makes it beautiful, what makes heaven beautiful, is the beauty of God's holiness, and he is perfectly and infinitely holy, and when we get home we will see him face to face, and so the Christian life is. In that sense. It's a preparation for heaven, and one of the fundamental commands set forth in both the Old and New Testaments is this be holy, for I am holy, says the Lord. God expects and calls us, his people, to be holy. Why? Because he Himself is holy. We're to reflect His holiness. The beauty in our life is to reflect His beauty, his holiness. The beauty in our life is to reflect His beauty.

Speaker 1: 3:05

When God brought His people out of Egypt by His goodness and grace and mercy, they did not earn that redemption. He brought them out of Egypt but he immediately took them where, to Mount Sinai. He taught them how to worship Him and serve Him and obey him with the Ten Commandments and the law. Why? Because he had called them to be a holy people and he was teaching them these things that they would come to understand what it means to live as a holy people, bought by his grace and mercy. We see this in the book of Leviticus. If you could ask someone, give me the theme of Leviticus in one word, and that word would be holiness. That's the theme of the entire book holiness. There's something different about God's people. That something different is the Holy Spirit within us, of course, but Moses as well as Peter make clear that God calls us out of the darkness and into the light to be a holy people under the nations, before all the peoples of the earth. Christian Jesus says you are the light of the world.

Speaker 1: 4:19

The Westtown church is a city set on a hill. God's put us on a hill. Why so that Jerusalem was on a hill? God's put us on a hill. Why so that Jerusalem was on a hill? Literally, in that case, and when you go from Jericho to Jerusalem. It's a 14 mile walk or ride upward to that city. On a hill it stands out. Light shines out like a lighthouse, shines out into the darkness of the sea.

Speaker 1: 4:46

The apostle Paul, titus 2.14,. Here's how he puts it that Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify us for himself, a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. He came to redeem us. Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession. God saved us not just to wipe away our guilt and thank God he did, aren't you glad? On judgment day, as God's people, we will not be found guilty. He took all of our guilt away. That's been settled at the cross of Christ. But he also had another purpose in our salvation, and there was a greater purpose that we would be purified, that God could purify people for himself, that we'd live a life of love and good works. That's what a holy life is. We see it most supremely in Jesus. And so when God truly saves a man or woman, he doesn't just wipe our guilt away. What does he do? He then breaks the power of sin's dominion in our life. Now.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Every Christian is going to struggle with sin. Sometimes it's very frustrating. Sometimes we go one step forward and two or three steps back. That happens. You live in the Christian life long enough. There's a battle and a struggle with sin between the spirit within us and our natural sinful flesh that will go on throughout this life. And even though no Christian will attain perfection in this life, attain perfection in this life, and even though the most mature saints' best works fall way short under the light of God's infinitely holy blazing light, nevertheless God's people, if they truly know God, will strive to be holy. There'll be a striving to be holy. We'll strive to be holy. There'll be a striving to be holy, a pursuing of holiness, the old Anglican Bishop JC Ryle. He has a classic book called Holiness.

Speaker 1: 6:53

True holiness is a great reality. It's something in a man, he says, that can be seen and known and marked and felt by all around him. Holiness is light If it exists, it will show itself. Holiness is salt If it exists, its savor will be perceived. Holiness is precious ointment If it exists, its presence cannot be hid. The aroma, you see, will be evident, that aroma of Christ, as Paul puts it.

Speaker 1: 7:28

And then listen to what he says, acknowledging that Christians fall way short of perfection. He says gold is not less gold because mingled with alloy. Nor light the less light because it's faint and dim. Nor is grace the less grace because it's young and weak. But after every allowance for all these imperfections that are in every Christian's life, ryle says I cannot see how any man deserves to be called holy who willfully allows himself in sins and is not humbled and ashamed because of them, vows himself in sins and is not humbled and ashamed because of them. And you see so sin bothers Christians, it bothers us, and sometimes people will make professions in Christ and then just slide back and just go back to their old life. It will be shown in some people's lives that the gospel didn't take root deep in the heart. It was just a brief joy in a religious experience, and then they moved back in with the world. That's what the whole book of Hebrews is warning about coming to Christ and then falling away.

Speaker 1: 8:43

And before, as part of this introduction, I just want to say to you there's a verse in the Bible that sometimes keeps sensitive Christians up at night, and I want to clarify it before we go any further. Hebrews 12, 14, listen Strive for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. That puts a little smelling salts underneath our nose, right, because in English this is how we kind of hear that verse. Okay, god freely accepted us, but now we got to strive to a level of holiness within the Christian life just to make sure Christ plus us. Keep, you know, get to a certain level in holiness, and then we can be sure that God's going to accept us at the judgment. But that's not what that verse means.

Speaker 1: 9:33

When the author of Hebrews says strive for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord, he's not talking here about the level of holiness in our life. What he's talking about here is simply what the whole book of Hebrews is about. He's talking about persevering in the faith. Persevering in the faith, faith in Christ. You're united to Christ. Persevere in that Christ. His holiness is totally sufficient at the judgment seat for us. He's the one that not only died for us but lived the perfect life for us in our place, and when we trust in him we're fully justified. We're not partially justified, but nevertheless we're to strive for what? The holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. That's the Hebrew writer's way of saying persevere in the faith, faith in Christ, and don't fall back, don't be like somebody like Esau. He goes on to say in that chapter Well, esau was not a true believer, he was an apostate. Esau was not someone who was truly in the faith and then trying to achieve a certain level of holiness. So when you read that verse us. So when you read that verse, don't fall back into a works-based righteousness. God's not changing the rules as we get from the second vow to the third, from the second truth that we're saved by Christ, we're fully saved by Christ, and then, oh, now I'm going to add additional requirements on for that. That's not what's happening. So just remember that.

Speaker 1: 11:08

With that brief introduction, I'm going to ask you if you're able to stand. I'm going to read just a few verses from the Scriptures that this vow reflects. This is the inerrant and fallible Holy Word of the living God. First from the book of Acts. The context here is it's Pentecost. God has just saved 3,000 believers in one day and full of the Spirit. Here's what Luke says. They did Verse 42 of chapter 2. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Devotion is a strong word. They devoted themselves to those four things.

Speaker 1: 11:48

Secondly, I want you to hear Jesus' words from Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16, we're going to look at verses 24 through half of 26. Listen. Then Jesus told His disciples if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? And then, lastly, jesus as well, over in the gospel of Luke, I'm going to give you verse 25 for the context and then read Jesus' words in verses 26 and 27 of Luke 14.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Now great crowds accompanied Jesus and he turned and he said to them if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen, you may be seated, father, we come to your word now and we ask that you would help us understand, show us the glory of Christ, help us to grow in holiness. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen, amen, holiness. We ask it in Jesus name, amen. Well, we've seen.

Speaker 1: 13:34

The first vow is sin, the first one, savior. The third one is sanctification. Sanctification, and so, whereas there's an endeavor unto holiness is the first point. The second point we'll see in this sermon is reliance upon grace. But let's take the first part Endeavor unto holiness. Do you now promise, do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

Speaker 1: 13:59

That's the whole vow right there, and I cannot tell you how important it is that we take this vow seriously. It's important to take this vow seriously because there's no entrance into heaven, even with the qualification I just made, there's no entrance into heaven without being holy unto the Lord, without this vow playing out at some level in our life. That doesn't mean we earn or merit our way to heaven. That's not what it's talking about. It's only to say what the Bible says everywhere is that saving faith is not a dead faith. Saving faith is a living faith. It's a living thing, because a saving faith is fueled by the Holy Spirit that lives within God's people, and so where the Holy Spirit is operating, there will be a level of holiness unto God.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Like I said, we looked at sin and Savior, but now, as we look in this idea of sanctification, I think it's fair to say that it's been a sad reality throughout all of church history and certainly to some degree in our own day. Some people will make a profession of faith in Christ, but they do it in such a way that there's a sense in which they stop after the first two vows yes, I'm a sinner, yes, I want to be forgiven by God. But then it becomes clear as time goes on that they may have had a religious, spiritual experience, but they didn't really come to know God, and the fact is that there's no saving grace being shown at work in their hearts and lives because there's no pursuit after holiness, and that's just not what biblical salvation looks like. They fail to realize Jesus didn't die for us just to make a profession. He didn't die simply to pardon us. He died that we could be holy, that we could be holy. He died to purify us, he died to make us holy, because there's no glorifying God without holiness, there's no enjoying God without a holy life. And so it's important that we take the third vow seriously and as we do, let's remember the words of the apostle Peter. He said this in one of his letters. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure. You see, he wasn't calling people to earn their salvation, he was just saying, in so many words just make sure that your profession is true, that you really do believe in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 16:49

As I said, there's two aspects of this third membership vow the endeavor unto holiness and reliance upon grace. And, as you can see, the endeavor unto holiness in these words first, you now resolve and promise that you will live as becomes the followers of Christ. Listen to those words resolve, promise, endeavor. And you see, here, according to the Bible, there's something you must have in your heart and sincerely say with your lips, exercise with your will in your life. You must resolve, you must make up your mind, as you come to Christ, that you want to be forgiven and be holy like Him. Have you done that, have you resolved? Have you determined to be holy? And then are you willing to promise before God and eventually before God's people and others, that you're committed to a holy life, that you're committed to living different? That's endeavor. Endeavor. It begins to show in your life Now.

Speaker 1: 18:13

It may be showing weekly, it could be showing strongly, it could be somewhere in between, and in most Christians' lives we get a mixture of both. Depends on what season of our life, or maybe even what particular week. But even a wilted plant is living, and that's what really the Bible is getting at here. A living faith is going to be striving after holiness, even if we feel like we're hobbling along. You know, sometimes in the Christian life you ever see those marathon runners. They get to the end. They can't quite get there and someone comes along, kind of helps them hobble across.

Speaker 1: 18:42

Sometimes the Christian life feels that way. But there's movement, there's constant repentance and even when there's failure, you're troubled by it. That's a good thing. It's a good thing to be troubled by our sin, because that means the Holy Spirit is at work in you. If you weren't troubled by your sin, you would not care. That's a holy conviction, a godly conviction. Now, don't forget to take it to the cross. You know the gospel's for Christians too, aren't you glad? Right? God brings us forgiveness, not only at the beginning of the Christian life, but within the Christian life, but nevertheless, he calls us our Lord, calls us the one who saves us as Savior, has called us as Lord to pursue a holy life. So we're to live as becomes the followers of Christ is how the vow puts it, jc Ryle. He rightly says a follower of Christ is resolved to pursue holiness in all kinds of various ways, and he helpfully lays out some of the different ways the Bible calls us to be holy.

Speaker 1: 19:51

A follower of Christ will begin to build a habit of being of one mind with God. We know that we need our thinking renewed and our desires renewed, and we're going to get with the word of God. And the word of God begins to become our food, and that's what satisfies our souls. We begin to feed on different things, namely God's word. And then, over time, what begins to happen? We begin to love more and more what God loves and we begin to hate more and more what God hates. And so it realigns our affections and over time we begin to do more and more what God would want us to do and less and less what the world would want us to do, and so a follower, too, strives to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 20:34

A follower of Christ wants to be like Christ. We want to be conformed to his character, and this means all kinds of things right, but one of the things it certainly means is is that we forgive other people who have hurt or offended us, as Christ has forgiven us. There may be times we have to lay aside our reputation for the good of other people, even if we take a hit in the world. There's times we have to deny ourself for the needs of other people, which is what Jesus did on the cross for us. We'll not be enslaved to the praise of men, but we'll be concerned. We won't be hardened against other people, but we won't be enslaved by their opinions. We'll be concerned most of all of whether what we're doing is pleasing to our Father in heaven.

Speaker 1: 21:21

And so Christ is the Savior of sinners, but he's also our example, and a follower of Christ will follow after meekness. You know what meekness is Receiving from God's hand the bad along with the good. It sounds like this in the Garden of Gethsemane Not my will but your will, be done, lord. That's meekness. We'll follow after meekness and long-suffering and gentleness and patience and kindness and control his tongue. That's what a follower of Christ those things will be striving to grow. In those ways, as Ryle says, we'll bear much, we'll forebear much, we'll overlook much and we'll be slow to talk of standing on our rights. We'll be willing to give our rights up on occasion, at the appropriate time.

Speaker 1: 22:12

A follower of Christ will follow after temperance and self-denial. Temperance and self-denial what does that mean? It means we're going to be working at killing unholy desires in the body. It's not that the body's bad, it's just that the body has been affected too. And we'll be crucifying sinful affections and lusts and curb sinful passions. Passion's not bad, sinful passions is bad, and we'll want those things purified in our life.

Speaker 1: 22:42

A follower of Christ will love his fellow Christians with brotherly kindness. We're going to care about people in the church. We're going to be concerned for them, for their bodies and property and characters, for their feelings, their families, their souls. We will realize we are our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper. First, corinthians 13,. The love chapter will be meaningful because that chapter was written for the kind of love that is to be evident in the life of the church toward other Christians.

Speaker 1: 23:18

A follower of Christ will follow after a spirit of mercy and goodness toward other people. What does that mean? It means that we have a life of love where we're not just trying to refrain from harming people, but we'll be about the business of actually seeing how we can do our neighbor good in a proactive way, like Dorcas in Acts 9, she was commended for she was full of good works and charity. And you hear it in the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. He says to the Corinthian church I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. That's it Spending oneself for our fellow Christians, for their good.

Speaker 1: 24:04

A follower of Christ will follow after purity of heart, and so we'll begin to be concerned about filthiness and uncleanness and vulgarity and profaneness and immorality in our life. We'll want a pure heart, a pure mind, a pure tongue. We'll want a pure heart, a pure mind, a pure tongue, and in our culture, in our day, that means we have to guard what media we let into our hearts and minds. We don't have to move into the wilderness and live under a bushel basket out there somewhere or become a monk or a nun. That's not what we're saying. What I'm saying is there is a limit. We shouldn't just be letting sewage flow into our heart and mind as if it's no big deal and it takes wisdom to know how to handle that. But we do need to ask God, give me discernment with the music that I pour into my heart and mind. Lord, give me discernment with the movies I should it's okay to watch and the things I shouldn't be watching. Lord, give me discernment on the internet. I want pure eyes, I want a pure heart, I want a pure tongue and I especially want to say to you, young people, and I especially want to say to you young people the media is trying to make cussing cool today. It's not cool to God, so reject that.

Speaker 1: 25:31

You know that word guard. You know when Moses says that God called Adam to work and keep the garden. That word for keep there in Genesis can mean guard. Adam didn't guard him and his family from the serpent like he should have. He didn't guard, he wasn't taking care, he wasn't overseeing, he was just letting stuff flow in. He was AWOL.

Speaker 1: 25:59

We don't want to do that in our own life and in the life of our families. We want to watch out for one another in that way, and a follower of Christ is going to follow after the fear of God. And this is the good kind of fear. This kind of fear is an intense passion and reverence and intense love for God, knowing that God, the Father, loves us and we love Him, and we're not trying to strive to earn his love, but we are striving to please him in the way that we live. And, christian, your good works are not filthy rags. That's not what Isaiah is saying. Your good works, even though they're imperfect, when they're sincere they're pleasing to God in Christ, so we can please our heavenly father with our life. And a follower after Christ will follow after faithfulness in all of our duties and relations in life. And this is a massive thought.

Speaker 1: 26:50

But the Apostle Paul, after he gets done preaching or teaching on the bodily resurrection 1 Corinthians 15, he says this Therefore, my brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. In light of the bodily resurrection of Christ and your own bodily resurrection unto immortality, abound in the work of the Lord, it's not in vain. It'll have an eternal reward. In Colossians 3, he says Whatever you do, work heartily. Work heartily, your heart's in it. Work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Keep in an eye who we're trying to please. We're working heartily unto God. Can people count on you? Do you work hard? Are you found faithful? And of course, none of us are perfect, but do we have a certain reliability?

Speaker 1: 27:53

To us, a follower after Christ will follow after spiritual mindedness. What does this mean? Well, as Raul says, we're going to live our life like our treasure is in heaven, because, as believers, our treasure is in heaven, for that's where Christ is. He's in heaven. And as followers of Christ, we're going to live our life in this world of strangers and as pilgrims, as if we're passing to another world. Because we are. We're on our way to heaven, which is our home, and in heaven we'll see our Father, there, face to face, and we'll see Jesus longing for those words.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Well done, good and faithful servant. Our greatest enjoyments in life. Is there anything sweeter than having sweet communion with God In prayer, through time in the Bible, through being with other Christians, with God's people. There are no deeper joys in this world than that. And if you're holy, you can say with David from Psalm 73, asaph you, o God, are my strength and my portion forever. You, o God, are my strength and my portion forever. It's God who satisfies Asaph's heart and soul. So you see, all these things and more. This is what it means to live a holy life. It's a massive project, right? The question is have we arrived? Of course we haven't arrived, but are we pressing on? Are we pressing on in Christ? Are we persevering in faith to grow and allow God's grace to build us up in Christ? Grow and allow God's grace to build us up in Christ Is, as Owen says, is sin your greatest burden, sorrow and trouble.

Speaker 1: 29:52

Remember in the Great Commission the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He gives the mission of the church. He gives the mission of the church. And it's interesting how he puts it. He doesn't say go and gain professions although I'm not mocking professions, professions are a good thing when they're sincere. Amen to that.

Speaker 1: 30:10

But at the heart of God's mission for the church, as Jesus put it in Matthew 28, is we're to go and make disciples. We're to make disciples, followers and learners of Christ. And then Jesus goes on to say what that looks like. Well, they're going to be baptized, symbolizing the forgiveness of their sins, and they're baptized into the life of the church and then also teaching them to obey everything that Christ has commanded us. That's, in the Great Commission obedience. He wants disciples that have the kind of faith that results in obedience, a general pattern of obedience in our life. That's what we're to do.

Speaker 1: 30:50

And so professions are great, but it's not necessarily the same thing as being a disciple of Christ. You can be a professor without being disciple, but a true professor will be a true disciple of Christ, following Christ, striving to be like him, desiring to be holy, and that's a lifelong work and it's a difficult work. It's a difficult work, it's hard. Becoming a Christian it's a free gift of God, but Christ is very clear in the Gospels that discipleship is costly. It's costly. Jesus was the greatest evangelist who ever lived, but he never tried to gain a cheap profession. He always put up front, even as he was presenting himself, that discipleship is costly. And if you want to be a follower of me, you have to not only know that salvation is free, but you have to know that your life as a follower of me is going to be very costly to you.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Here's how he puts it in Luke 14. He's talking to the crowds and to his disciples. He says if anyone comes after me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yes, even his own life he cannot be my disciple. And, by the way, when he says hate there he doesn't mean literally hate. The Jews would put love and hate as a comparative saying. You must give preference to this rather than that. So he's basically saying you've got to know who you're loyal to, and you have to be loyal even above your family. Of course Jesus calls us to love our family. He does not literally hate them, but when push comes to shove you have to have settled in your heart you're loyal to your family even over Christ.

Speaker 1: 32:51

Think of many of the Muslims in various parts of the world that are making professions of Christ and what it costs them today for that. And many Christians throughout the world have paid a heavy price. And even Christians in this world. Some of you know the pain of what it costs them today for that. And many Christians throughout the world have paid a heavy price. And even Christians in this world. Some of you know the pain of what it is to have your family mock you, to despise you, to look down upon you, maybe even reject you because you're a follower of Christ. Sometimes, as a pastor, I hear people say oh, christians in our society, we don't know what persecution is. Well, I'll tell you what some people do and it hurts you. Young people try to live holy life in school and see what happens to you in the locker room the mocking, the being cut out of certain groups.

Speaker 1: 33:36

It's painful to be a Christian, even in America, and Jesus says whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Here's how we would say it today Whoever does not bear his own electric chair and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Or what king going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able, with 10,000, to meet him who comes against him with 20,000. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. And you see, by renounce Jesus is saying we have to give up title to and possession of everything unto God. In other words, everything is God's. I am not my own, I'm bought with a price. I'm yours, lord. You see, my entire life is yours, at your disposal. God, I'm here to serve you with my life and with everything I have. God, I'm here to serve you with my life and with everything I have.

Speaker 1: 34:46

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran pastor who stood up against Hitler during his reign of terror in World War II. He says this and he died in a concentration camp. But he said when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Now, in Bonhoeffer's case, he literally died. He was called to be a Christian martyr. And God doesn't call most of his people to be martyrs right, they're relatively few but he does call all of us to die to ourselves, to deny ourselves. Is this the resolve in your heart, lord? I'm dead to myself. I'm all in with you.

Speaker 1: 35:28

Are you willing to publicly promise that with your lips? Salvation is free, but following Christ is costly. Are you willing to endure what it takes to be a Christian? Holiness in a sinful world is rough because this world hates Christ and it opposes holiness. But I just want to say this and this is really the second point's really just a very fast reminder we're called to endeavor unto holiness, but don't think you're called to do that in your own strength and power, because the fact is we don't have that in us. Naturally, the second part of this vow just simply says it's squeezed actually right in the middle we're to rely upon God's grace for this growth in holiness. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ? You see to endeavors to be serious and intense and determined and so forth. But for this to occur and to be maintained, and even when we fail, for us to get back up and continue, we need the grace of God at work in our life. That's where the power comes from. Peter says we have everything that we need that pertains to life and godliness in us because we have the Holy Spirit in us as God's people, and God knows, we can't live the holy life in our own power. So we're saved and pardoned by grace, the grace of his favor, but we're also, we grow in holiness, by the power of his grace within us.

Speaker 1: 37:07

It's interesting that the New Testament speaks of the Christian life with three very powerful metaphors, and I want you to grab hold of this this morning. It speaks of the Christian life as being a soldier, as being an athlete and as being a farmer. Think about the Christian life as a soldier. What that means? I think what it means is that the Navy SEALs and the Airborne Army Rangers have something to teach us about, something of what the Christian life is about.

Speaker 1: 37:40

There's a certain discipline that we have to pursue. There's certain things we have to give up. Think about the athlete, think about those who go to the Olympics and what they have to give up, what they have to set aside. They would have liked to have eaten a lot of ice cream and cake and all that greasy stuff, but what do they do to grow to be that? Eaten a lot of ice cream and cake and you know all that greasy stuff that we, you know we. But what do they do to be, to grow to be that? They set it aside, they deny themselves, and we see it, and we know it's a wonderful thing that they did that for the honor of their country. Well, we need to do that for the honor of Christ. To deny ourself not everything. To deny ourself not everything, but there's a place for it.

Speaker 1: 38:25

And a farmer? Right, a farmer has to work hard and he doesn't get a day off. There are no snow days, right, when you're a farmer, there are no days where you can just say, well, we'll take a break. Jerry Bridgers says that a farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize and cultivate, he cannot expect a harvest at the end of the season. But here's something else the farmer knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is totally dependent upon God.

Speaker 1: 39:08

Right, it's impossible to live a holy life apart from a humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit. And so I just want to end by telling you this what does that mean? It just means this. You see it, at Pentecost, in Acts 2,. And they devoted themselves what? To the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. You see, they devoted themselves to meet the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit said he'd be to grow them. So they met the Holy Spirit in the Bible, especially in public worship, and they would pray the prayers, especially corporate prayer, but also family and personal prayer, and in the sacraments and in the loving encouragement and fellowship of the church they devoted themselves to those things.

Speaker 1: 39:52

And the most important thing and I'll tell you this, the most important thing for you to do to grow in the grace of the Holy Spirit and humble reliance upon His grace is be here every Lord's Day without fail. It's in corporate worship. That is the key to a holy life. There's other things you can add to it, but don't give that one up. That's the stake in the ground and everything else flows from it. With that, would you stand? I want to ask you a question, westtown Church. I want to ask you this morning Do you now resolve and promise and humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit that you will endeavor to become the followers of Christ? If you do, say I do.