Please remain standing for the reading of God's word. Reading Ephesians chapter four, beginning in verse one. If you're using a pew Bible, it's on page 977, page 977. Ephesians chapter four, beginning in verse one. I therefore a prisoner for the Lord. urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Please be seated. God is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think according to the power at work within us, according to the power at work within His saints. See, when we talk about the power of God being on display and at work in our lives, we are in no manner discussing a power that is limited. That should be something that allows us and causes us and forces us to get on our knees and praise the Lord for that God is not limited in any way. He is all powerful, all glorious, all holy. So we talk about the power of God in our lives. It is not limited. He's not limited in any way. He is completely sovereign over all things. Therefore, God desires that His children live an abundant life, to live life to the fullest, as John 10, 10 declares, to live life in obedience to the commands of God, by the Spirit of God, for the glory of God. So Paul's desire for the church in Ephesus and the Lord's desire for a foundation church is to not be a church that just has knowledge. Knowledge alone is not what God has called the church to have. This world does not need more buildings with people who gather in the name of Jesus on Sunday morning and expand their knowledge of God and not live for him. We have enough of that, don't we? God's design for His church, His bride, is that they be visible. Visible is not a building. It is not a building. It's not the shrubs. It's not talking about the nice mulch. It's spread out. It's not that the lawn is cut clean and you have a beautiful sign that you update regularly and you come in and you see the beautiful shingle ears and you're walking out and you lay out the new carpet and you have everything else. It's all gathered about all this place looks beautiful. No, that's not the church. That's a building. When he's talking here, And he's using these words that we are to be a visible church. It's talking about us. We are to be visible. That we as saints, we gather as a local body, we are to be a city on a hill, shining the light of Christ in this dark world. Visible is loving one another. And in so doing, the world will know that we belong to God by the love that we have for one another. It is absolutely true that in any church you have individuals that really do not love one another. You have individuals that don't really care about other people. They're selfish all the time, including their time on Sunday. This world does not need individuals who claim to be Christians to live like that, visible and loving one another. And our love for one another will not happen apart from the power of the Spirit. This includes our gift of building up the body of Christ, the study and application of the Word and of prayer. The church is to be visible in obeying the commands of God, visible in declaring the manifold wisdom of God that Paul emphasized in Ephesians 3. We are to be visible in ministering the gospel to others. See, comprehension of absolute truth is not the end goal. One of the things that you can see clearly throughout institutions, not just churches, but seminaries, higher level education, as you have lots of men and lots of women who teach and talk about certain things and they have more knowledge than you could really even apply. And they talk like this is the end game. Knowledge is not the end. We are to apply the knowledge that we have as children of God. Life change, spirit power application is a goal because God desires us to be a living sacrifice that is displaying His love to one another and to the world. Ephesians 4 verse 1, look what Paul says. He says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord. Who's he a prisoner for? He's not blaming Roman authorities here, is he? Hey, I'm in prison because these Roman guys arrested me. No, I'm a prisoner because I am serving the Lord. I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. So to live a life worthy, to live a worthy life as saints. That's the first thing. We have been called to live a worthy life as saints. So Paul is a prisoner. He's in chains, calling the safe saints in and around Ephesus who are not in chains to live their life in a manner that is worthy. He uses the word urge here. Urge is a loaded word. Paul is summoning these saints. He is exhorting these saints. He is instructing these saints. He is begging these saints to walk in a worthy manner. Our manner of life as a saint is to be lived in a worthy way. So what does the word worthy mean? To have worth or value? to have worth or value, a worth that is equal to one's position to live suitably. So Paul is urging the church in Ephesus to not just know how to live a worthy life, but to actually live a worthy life. Now, many people here would probably say, well, stop the bus, hold the phone. Now you're stepping on my toes, pastor. You mean it's not just what I believe that is important, but it's how I live? Absolutely. And God has given the church to hold all the saints accountable for not just what they believe, but how they live. This is where people get their feelings hurt. This is where people says, church, they don't need church discipline. Just give me principles or nice pictures or different things, principles that I can live by, but don't call us to action. Paul is declaring here to be a saint is to be a servant. To be a servant is to do what our King commands. So we are to live as God tells us to live. Well, what does this mean? This means our hands will get dirty. What do you mean by that? There's no one in this room who's lived a sinless life this week. Your life is messy. My life is messy. And so when we interact with other saints, guess what? We're going to get messy. To be a saint is to be a servant. Our hands are to be dirty because to live a worthy life, we're gonna get messy. We just don't deal with doctrine here. We walk with people. People are messy. See, the most times, many people, they love doctrine to the point where they love it because it doesn't require them to do anything else besides use their brain. That's the end game. They use this, but it doesn't really move into action. Paul is equipping the saints for what? The work of the ministry, not the doctrine of the ministry, but the work of it, which includes both. That's what he's declaring. Work is to be done unto the Lord and according to the Lord. Both doctrine and application are needed, and both are to be valued in the life of a saint. So what does that mean for simple people in this room? What about the person who says, I don't have anything beyond a high school degree. I don't even have a high school degree. I didn't go to seminary. I didn't get all that higher level stuff. That just wasn't me. Does that mean we just close our books and we put it aside and we don't try hard to know the Lord and to apply the things of God? Absolutely not. You're a member of a church because it is the elder's job to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. What happens when a church fails is when the church views the elder's job as doing the work. That's why many churches crumble. That's it right there. It crumbles because if I am doing my job and the other men who are elders are doing their job, that means you're equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. So it's, I'm equipping you and we're all doing ministry. We're doing work together as the body. Dr. Martin Lowe Jones observes here that the apostle Paul is teaching the Ephesus saints that we are to have equal weight to doctrine and application. The scale is to be balanced. So the intellectual individual in this room, you're gonna struggle to apply because you are prone to love doctrine so much so that many times you just stop with that. And the one who loves to have experiences and to be on the go constantly struggles to apply the foundational truth to what they do and how they live. Paul declares here that both are equally needed if we as saints are to live a worthy life. Doctrine is important. It is the most important thing about a person. What a person believes about God, what they believe to be true, that is the greatest thing about them. And what we believe to be true will give feet to how we live. So in order to remain balanced, we must have equally We must equally value both, equally value both. John 14, 15, Jesus was not lying when he said this, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So to proclaim love for the Lord Jesus is to keep his commands and his commands go beyond our mind, don't they? Or do they stop? Is it just something we memorize and teach our kids to memorize? Do we just indoctrinate other individuals? Do we indoctrinate children with the things of God or do we teach them the things of God and then walk with them and show them how to live out the things of God? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. See, it transfers to our heart and they move our life to work for the Lord. This is why the Lord summoned up our greatest commandment this way, found in Luke 10, 25 through 27. Behold, a lawyer stood up to him, to Jesus, to put him to the test saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? He answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. So what shall I do to inherit internal life teacher? You love the Lord. What do you love the Lord with? All your heart. Is that it? All your mind. all your soul, all your strength. Our mind is not the sum of us as individuals. Our mind is not the only thing that is to love the Lord. Our life is to declare love for the Lord. Our strength, our inner man will produce fruit for the outer world to see. Do y'all grasp that? It doesn't end with meditation. It doesn't end with memorization. It is to go forward and produce fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was declaring here that in order for anyone to inherit salvation, you must be perfect in every way so you will never receive it. Salvation is not earned. It is a free gift of God by His grace. Grace is what makes Christianity distinct. If you went out yesterday, all the women gathered together and they took different tours to different places, learning about different religions. And I heard one of the comments was, after they visited one of the locations, that the man says, the one thing I don't understand about Christianity is the word grace. Well, why is that? Because grace is getting what you don't deserve. You take away Christianity from every other religion on the planet. Everyone else thinks that you're inherently good enough and you can earn your way. Of course, we're not going to understand grace. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. That's the beauty of the gospel. That's why Christ had to come. That's why he had to die in our place, because you and I will never be good enough without the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our mind is not the only thing. It is not the sum of us. We are to love the Lord. Our inner man will produce fruit for the outer world to see. See, God's grace is Jesus Christ. We are to believe in him. We are to turn from our sins. He is the only payment. He is the one who took our place and paid the price that we could not pay. See, doctrine and application are important. See, look at the life of Jesus Himself. Look at the life of the apostles. Look at Paul. Was Paul in prison just teaching classes? No. Both are to be practiced in our lives. They are both needed to walk worthy, holy lives before the face of God. Hold your spot in Ephesians 4 and turn with me to James 2. James 2, beginning in verse 14. It says, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to him, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving him the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also a faith by itself, it does not have works is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Oh, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? was on Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar. You see that faith was active along with works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled. It says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and the same way. was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." See, one of the beautiful things about that passage is many people actually think that in the context of that passage, what James is saying is, I mean, who's not going to help somebody in need? but he is talking about the body of Christ. He's saying there are other brothers and sisters in Christ who have come to you asking for help and your mind is so dull and your mind is so far gone to the things of this world that you look at another brother or sister in Christ and says, you know what? I cannot help you. Oh, you need this? Let me pray for you and let me just send you on your way. I see that every week. You know how many people knock on this door during the week and they knock on the door and they say, I went to Potter's house, I went to another church down the street, I went to this church, I had to set up meetings. I'm a member of those churches and they will not help me for another week until they can set up a schedule. It's like, wow, are you serious? Now, I'm not naive to think that many of those people are lying to me, but when they come in those doors, number one, I'm gonna help them spiritually. I'm gonna serve them the gospel on a platter. And then number two, I'm gonna help them out physically with whatever we have that we can give. I mean, we are to help one another. The body is to be at work. To have faith in the Lord is to have works for the Lord. Otherwise, there is no walking a worthy life because the individual is spiritually dead. So how is your walk, Saint? God called you to himself and God calls you to doctrine and application. So are you lacking in doctrine? This means your application could be wrong. It is time to get your mind transformed. It is time to make sure that what you are doing is biblical and not tradition. Oh, this is what Western world struggles with so much. We become obsessed with tradition that we abandon the Bible. We've always done it that way. That's how it should be done. If we just got back to doing what we should be doing, we would live simple lives. Or are you lacking in application? It's time to apply your knowledge. It's time to put your faith into action. That means put down the three or four books that you're reading right now and go live out what you know you should be living. It's time to equip others and leave a legacy of faith. It's time to make disciples. A legacy of faith is not a building. A legacy of faith is pouring your life into the life of another individual. making a disciple who makes others disciples. And praise be to God, this wasn't all that was said here in Ephesians 3.1. It says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner, how? Worthy of the calling to which you have been called. So as saints, we are to walk worthy, worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Our calling is not something we choose, but something we were chosen for. We have been called out, we have been set apart, we have been elected by God Himself, called out from death and given the gracious gift of life, life eternal. And this gift is to be lived in a worthy way according to the One who gave it to us. See, doesn't it mean something when it says, we were chosen to live a worthy life, not that I chose this worthy life? That changes everything. A dead man does not make decisions. We were chosen to live a worthy life, a worthy way before a holy God. So as a saint, as a new creation, we have understanding, we have ears to hear, we have eyes to see. And this results in a life lived for the Lord Jesus. Let me give some application of this. Imagine you've been following the Lord Jesus for 25 years. Imagine that your friends, your family, individuals you go to church with, they look at you and they know, yes, that person has verbally declared before me and before other people that I love the Lord Jesus. They have heard that outside of church. and come out of my lips. They have heard me say that I love Jesus. I'm a member of this church. I serve the Lord and doing different things. And for 20 years, that person also declares, you know what? You just, the Lord asked too much of me just to share the gospel. So that's too much. That's a really radical statement. So much so that we've ignored it for so long that even parents don't think it's their job to point their children to Christ in the home. And the ones who actually say that they do or that they don't have time for it, they actually put more time toward the things of this world than they do their own souls or their children. And that's something that as saints will be judged for as well. So imagine that you've been following the Lord for 20 years, but the gospel has never been good to you. Because for the gospel to be good, that means you'll share it. Otherwise, it's not really good news. You'll share it. We are a new creation. We have understanding. We have eyes to see the things of God. We have ears to hear the things of God. I don't know if you see things or hear things like I do. I have no clue. I cannot look into your life and say that. When I flip through the television channels and I hear the Lord's name being used in vain over and over and over again, When I walk through the mall that I try to only go to once a year, I'll walk around individuals and you see how people dress and you look at people. And over a period of time, alls I see is a sea of lostness. When I look out and I see a sign, it's not visible to the eye, but a sign that I see, And I just look out and I see, bound for heaven, bound for hell, bound for heaven, bound for hell, bound for heaven, bound for hell. And I become overwhelmed. And then you come into the church and you talk to individuals and you see and you hear about their lives and you have to wonder, That whoever's behind this pulpit, sometimes you feel like you have the weight on your shoulders and you're preaching the word of God. And you're like, when's this going to take application? When's this going to apply to the lives of the people in these pews? When's it going to result in a life changed? And here's the absolute truth. You can be Matt Chandler standing up here. You can be John Piper standing up here. You could be Tozer. You could be Spurgeon. But if the people in the pews, if they don't get on their knees, if they don't meet with God every day and get into His Word and seek to apply His Word, it doesn't matter who's up here. It does not matter. You will not see life change. It's you and the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. We must understand this. And coming from a man in chains, he got it. He was living this portion of his life as a prisoner. See, God's will for our life includes suffering. It is good and pleasing. Suffering will exist in the life of the saints. All who live a godly life in Christ Jesus, they will be persecuted according to 2 Timothy 3, 12. Suffering for our faith in Christ. Now, is it not encouraging that Paul penned these words while he was in prison? I mean, that's paramount. A prisoner for the Lord is encouraging us to walk in a manner worthy to which we have been called. And we have been called to holiness. Our lives are to be and will be lived differently. If we are not living differently as saints, the command to repent is on the table and it must be dealt with. It must be dealt with. We are called to live worthy lives as saints. So what does a worthy life include? What attributes are to be on display in my life? How am I to walk? Well, I'm glad you asked that question. Ephesians 4 verse 2. Walk with all humility and gentleness and with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. So I love this structure of Paul's wording. We are to walk with all. If you underline, if you highlight, I would do so. All. It explodes off the page. We're not going to walk with a little or with some, but the command, the expectation of a holy God is to walk with all because that's what he does. Our goal, our aim is not, what can I do to get by and still live my life? It's not your life. If you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, if you are a saint, it is no longer your life. Yes, do you have the choice to do what you want? Absolutely. And your choices will define if you're a saint or not. That's what they will do. We've been called to holiness. We've been called to holiness. A worthy life includes these things. Our thought process, our transformed mind is commanded to ask this question, how am I to fully live for the Lord? How am I to fully live for the Lord? And as a saint by the power of the Holy Spirit, we look into the word of God and we obey the commands of God. It's not that we just look and we end and we take notes. No. So when we as saints look at Ephesians three, two through three, We see some commands of attributes that are to be seen in our life. So our response to this, we are to put on these characteristics. We are to clothe ourselves with these attributes of Christ as His chosen children in this world. Attribute number one, a worthy life includes walking with all humility. A worthy life includes walking with all humility. Humility, to think or judge with lowliness. It is honestly accessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness. And when we do this assessment, we are to proclaim this by the way that we live. Humility is not something that was seen as a great trait in Ephesus at the time of this letter. In fact, humility was distasteful. It was negative. It was viewed as you are a coward if you are humble. See the Romans and the Greeks, they didn't even have a word for humility. A word did not exist in their language. It was foreign to them. Even today, by many, humility is viewed as weakness. Pride is what you need, not humility. You need to be satisfied. You need to be prideful. You need to boast in what you have done, but humility is the mark of the gospel, and humility is a mark of a saint. We cannot honor the Lord unless we live life in a humble way. Pride in ourselves is not the answer. Self-exaltation is not the way. Humility is the way, and not just a piece of it, but having all humility. Is this you? It's not me. You think I'm humble 24-7? You can ask my wife. The answer's no. Listen to these words, Philippians 2. If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Oh, how we would be different people if we did that. how the outside world would look in and see like, oh my gosh, Christians love one another. But I don't understand the love that they have for one another because they actually consider others more important than their own life. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. This is why some of the men in this church, they look at me and like, our pastor is really weird because he starts asking me questions that concern the details of their lives. Why has he put so much care and focus on my interests and what I do outside of these church walls? Because I'm commanded to. If our life is to be lived for the glory of the gospel, I must, I have to look out for the interests of others. Have the mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. So those in the form of God, he did not count a quality with God, a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself. by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. We're to serve. We're to count others more significant than ourselves. We will not have this mindset if we are not in the Word of God. Even when we are in the Word of God, we still struggle with this. It is still a struggle. We are to walk with all humility. The second thing that Paul says, a worthy life includes walking with all gentleness, with all gentleness. When we are humbled by the Lord and when we daily put on humility, we will also be gentle or meek. We will accept God's dealing with us as good with no disputing and no resisting, knowing that he is purifying us. We will rely upon Him and not on our own strength. We will trust in His goodness and His control over all situations. We will not occupy our lives with self, but we will occupy our lives with the Holy Spirit and we will love others. We will remain humble and submit to the Lord. We will live powerful lives by the Holy Spirit under the control of God. We have self-control. We will be gentle. We will not become easily angered. We're to walk with all gentleness. Is this you? Do you have self-control with God? Do you have self-control with family? Do you have self-control with the lost? Do you walk with all gentleness? The third aspect of worthy life includes walking with all patience. Patience. We are not patient people. It'd be easy for me to say our generation and all the generations in this room, we're not patient people, but the reality is none of us are patient people. Patience, long suffering, endurance. We are to suffer long. We are to be patient with each other. Romans 5.3, More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Suffering produces patience. So know this, if you pray for patience, you're also praying for suffering. Oh, no. It's true. That's how the Lord works in our life. Suffering produces patience, endurance. We are called to suffer. This produces it. Are you a patient person? Do you trust the Lord whose timing is perfect? Are you patient with those whom you struggle to get along with? Or are you just patient with those whom you naturally get along with? I mean, really think about that question. Really think about it. Like there's many people in here who you may not have anything in common with me except the most major thing is you're a child of God. You may not be bald. You may not like to shoot. Maybe you don't like spending time with your children. Maybe you don't like to read at all. Maybe your hobbies are totally different from mine. But yet, I'm called to be patient, not just with those that I naturally get along with in life, but I'm called to be patient with those whom I don't naturally get along with as well. We are to suffer long. We are to be patient. Suffering causes God's children to rely upon Him. And reliance upon Him results in endurance. And endurance is what gets us to work as saints. It's what gets us to work. Sometimes we don't get woken up until we go to the hospital. Sometimes you don't get woken up until a tragedy happens. Suffering produces patience. A worthy life includes bearing with one another in love. You tolerate, you endure, you hold up, you bear with. You endure, you bear with. It's easy as a parent for me to think about this because that's a portion of my life right now. I sit up front with my family and I'm worshiping the Lord Jesus. And Colby doesn't want to be still. He's moving around. He's walking on the pews. He's trying to climb all over me. We're trying to point him to Jesus right now. He's saying, no, that's not me, but it is. That's a part of my job. I'm going to be patient and lovingly endure all this because I am pointing him to Jesus. This is love, love that goes out and extends to others. Even when we are wronged, we are to endure the wrong as Jesus did. And the greatest example of this is Christ himself. He's been nailed to a cross. He's hanging there. And what does he declare? Lord, forgive them for they do not know what they do. I would have never said that. Lord, give them what they rightly deserve and do it now. That would have been my response. Lord, forgive them for they do not know what they do. Do you bear with one another in love or do you demand that you be treated perfectly all the time? See, that reveals the flaw. That reveals our sin. That you think that you demand to be perfectly treated all the time. Never ask God for what you rightly deserve, because you and I deserve nothing but the wrath of God. We are to extend grace. Do you extend grace? The fifth thing. which is what Paul has been writing forward to, to bind all this together. A worthy life includes eagerness to maintain the unity of the spirit. All of these attributes, all these characteristics of Christ are all pointing to this one overarching umbrella, unity. Saints are unified by the spirit. This is what we know. But here we are told to be eager to maintain this unity, work hard at keeping the unity, not being divisive or wanting separation, not causing frustration or being argumentative for the purpose of our own pride. We are to work for unity. See, the Holy Spirit binds people together, making peace, right? But this inward work by the spirit is to be an outward work and fruit of the lives of God's children. God makes peace. We are to work at maintaining it in the church. Are you a peacemaker? Do you work at keeping unity? Are you quick to gossip and slander, quick to be divisive, to cause arguments? Sometimes we need to remain silent. Sometimes we need to pray. And when the Lord permits us, we need to open up our mouth with all humility. So Amy and I have almost been married for 12 years. It'll be 12 years in December. When we first got married, we had lots of problems. Psychology told us never to get married. I'm an only child. She's the oldest. We got told, you're going to butt heads your entire life. Well, I mean, that's true. We're sinners. So that's going to happen. But there's different areas where we have grown in. And one of those areas is being, you know, sometimes when we get into arguments, we just don't let it rip, so to say. come across something and you think everything's a battle. When we first got married, I wanted to be right. I wanna be right all the time and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to accomplish that so that I can win the battle. Anybody else been there? Okay, I'm the only one. I appreciate that. That's pride. It's absolute. pride. And sometimes the best thing is to keep our mouth shut, to spend time in prayer. And when we have allowed our anger to go away by asking for forgiveness and giving it to the Lord, we open up our mouth with humility. We are to walk this way because of who we are now in Christ. He has made us this way and we are to walk this way. The grace of God is to be visible in our lives. It is to be lived out among God's children and the world. One thing you will never see here is you'll never see an expectation that we are to be perfect. If you have children here, it's okay if you need to pull your children aside and discipline them. It's okay if you need to sit down and talk to them about how you're to act and what you're supposed to be doing. It's okay if they're running through the halls. And if you're an adult in this room, you're expected to encourage and equip not only other saints, but you're to encourage and equip other children in this room to live an obedient life. We're to walk this way because of who we are. And so if you're sitting here right now and you're like, you know what? I really, I don't want to walk like this. I don't, I don't want to pursue holiness. I don't want to live a worthy life. I don't want to live according to the commands of God. This is just not for me. My statement to you is repent and believe. Cause if that's not you, then you are not saved. You're not. Repent and believe in the gospel. And if you're sitting here right now and you're saying, you know what? I've been going to this church for years, but I'm not pouring into anybody else and I'm okay with that. Well, God's not. He is absolutely not. Repent and believe. If you're an enemy of God, God's wrath remains on you. Repent and have faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. So to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. God has called us to himself and therefore we are to walk as Jesus did. 1 Peter 1.15, write that reference down, 1 Peter 1.15. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. So doctrine and application are needed to live a holy, obedient life for the Lord. So I urge you saying, I summon you, I exhort you, I beg you to walk in a manner that is worthy before the Lord. God has purchased you by the blood of Jesus and brought you into his eternal kingdom. That's what we do. Look at it this way to paint a picture. say that you've been adopted as a child of God. And he's like, oh, so you've been brought from being a child of Satan into being a child of God. And God has brought you graciously by his grace, by the payment of his son, Jesus, into his kingdom. So imagine that you're in a visible kingdom that you can see right now with your eyes. And so one day the king, He's going to step down off his throne, and he's going to walk all throughout that kingdom, and he's gonna say, either you did what you were supposed to be doing as a servant in my kingdom, or you did not do what you were supposed to do. See, God knows. In any church, you have individuals whom you just struggle to really know. That's just reality. That's the world that we live in. There are people, as scripture says, who they are putting on a costume and they are acting like sheeps, but they're actually goats dressed up like sheeps. They've put on the hour clothing and they've been playing a game with the Lord. But one day God's gonna get up. He's gonna say, you know what? I'm past all your games. I know if you're mine and God's gonna, better words, he's in a clean house. He's going to walk through His kingdom, you're not mine, you're not mine, you're not mine, you're mine, you're mine, and He's going to give the reward. He knows. He absolutely knows. He has purchased His children by the blood of His Son, and He knows whose soul has been covered. by the son, because God himself has brought him into the fold. We are to not walk in the ways of this world. We are not to be consumed with vanity. We are do not live as if this is heaven. This is not heaven. We do walk in a worthy manner before the Lord. Because as a saint, you're not walking to your death. As a saint, you're walking home. That's where you're headed. You're headed home. Are you walking with humility? With all humility? Are you walking with all gentleness? Are you walking with all patience? Do you bear with one another in love? Are you eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit? See, as a saint, you belong in God's kingdom, in God's family. You are His child. To not walk worthy is not acceptable to your calling. I have to be honest, this was a really hard sermon for me because I look over this list and I can tell you circumstance after circumstance. I haven't walked with all humility in this. I haven't walked with all gentleness in this. I haven't walked with all patience in this. Bearing with one another in love, I'm very quick to just say what I wanted to get done. Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Well, I don't know if that really describes me. It's a list that we struggle with. It's a list that we go home and we wrestle with. It's something that we look at and be like, you know what, this is how I am to be walking. Therefore, I am to work at walking this way by the power of the Spirit. That's a conclusion. We get home and we wrestle with the Lord. We read this and we obey the commands of God because we belong to the family of God. And what He has done in our life is the most important thing. It is absolutely the most important thing. But here's the question. For many of us this morning, it's not the most important thing. Your children are the most important thing. Or your immediate family is the most important thing. Or your job is the most important thing. Or your collection of whatever it is, is the most important thing. or it's video games, or sports, whatever the hobby may be. But as a child of God, Christ should be the most important thing. Therefore, when He is declaring here, I urge you, I demand you, I ask you, walk in a manner worthy with all humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. That's our calling to walk this way. Next week we'll get more into this.