Amen. Today I'm going to preach a little bit of a different sermon. It's sort of topical. It's rare here that we do a topical sermon, but we're going to today. And if you have your Bibles, I'd like you to turn to Ephesians 2. Look at verses 19 and 20. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 and 20. And the Word of God says, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Amen. We look at a passage like that and there's a few things there that might throw us. What is the therefore therefore? The therefore's therefore is because we've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We have, the sacrifice has been made for us. We are no longer guilty in God's sight, therefore we can come into His presence. So the therefore's, that's why the therefore's therefore. We're no longer strangers and foreigners. God knows us. He knows us by name. He loves us. He cares for us. And we're fellow citizens with the saints. What is a saint? You're a saint if you're a believer. I'm a saint if I'm a believer. Even though, you know, sometimes the horns come out anyway, but we're saints. We're not saints like the Roman church would have or the Eastern church would have or other churches. Those aren't real biblical saints. We're saints because the word saint means set apart for the purpose of godliness. And that's what this message is really about today. You're set apart for the purpose of godliness. And there's a lot of ins and outs about godliness. And members of the household of God. You're part of a household. You've not only been adopted so that you can cry Abba Father to God the Father, but We together are members of a household. We've been fitted together and we've been brought together and God in His providence and His sovereign mercy and His ability to rule all things has brought us into this place and given us everything that we need for life and godliness. We look at our little church, and we might think, well, we'd like to have this, and we'd like to have that, we'd like to have the other. Well, we might. And when it's time, we will. And when God says it's time, He will provide. But right now, this day, at this moment, in this church, we have all that we need today for life and godliness as members of the household of faith. And we've been built on the foundation of the apostles. What does that mean? The apostles, they were the writers of the scripture that God used under inspiration to write down the very Word of God that we could have God's thoughts. We could think God's thoughts after Him. We can know what God wants us to do. So we're built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. We hold to not only the Newer Testament, but we hold to the Older Testament. We believe it's all God's Word. Old and New Testament. It's really one book with different stages of age, so to speak. But it's all applicable. It's all for us, and it was preserved through the centuries, through the millennia, for us to know, to read, to study, to believe. The apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. From Genesis 3.15 all through the Scripture, every single one of the covenants that God made with man, Jesus Christ was the cornerstone, the basis for every one of those covenants. So the Apostle Paul, he explains the composition of the church so that we might understand what God has done and so that we might understand who we are. It's very important that you understand who you are. as called out people, as called out ones, as saints. You're not supposed to be like the world any longer. You're to see yourself as different from the world. And the longer you are in Christ and you grow and you mature and you are sanctified, set apart, you're to be so much more different, as Mike Hall would say, differenter than the world. So you must understand who you are, but also you have to understand what you are called to do. Paul says that all who are in Christ are the church. I didn't say in the church, though you are in the church. All who are in Christ are the church. We're the church. We're a segment of that church that God has ordained from the foundation of the world. We're His people. Now, there are many other of His people. We're not the only ones of His people. We never even want to give a scintilla of the idea that we might think we're it and we're the only ones that have any truth. We're not. We have the truth of God's Word, but we even get some of that wrong. We just don't know where it is. When we learn where it is, we'll correct it, right? We'll correct it. So we're his people. Part of his people. And that's been so since the foundation of the world. When were you saved? Before the foundation of the world. When were you identified as his household? Before the foundation of the world. So in space and time that we're here and we are The church. We ought to be what the church ought to be, which means we ought to be what we ought to be. So, I want us to think about the church. The church at large, we all know about the church at large, but today I want us to think about the church particularly, and this church particularly, and calling particularly, in fact your calling in particular, and duties particularly, your duties particularly, as we are part of as we are the church. And we want to also understand God's vision for us at Reformation Bible Church, as we live and as we move and as we have our being. Because we, by grace, are members of this special family that belongs to God. Well, let's get it settled in our minds, first of all, who owns us? I want you to understand, first of all, before we set the table, that you are not your own. You don't belong to you, and you don't belong to me. You belong to God. I want you to turn in your Bibles. This is really worth looking at. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. And it says, "...or do you not know?" So when he starts out with that, he's talking to very mature people here. People who knew their Bible and yet they had missed this point. "...or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, And you are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Romans 6 says that you are slaves of righteousness because you've been bought with that price. And a while ago, unless you were lying, you looked at this bulletin and you read the Heidelberg Catechism, and I asked the question, what is your only comfort in life and in death? And you said, my only comfort in life and in death is that... Can you do it? I am not my own. You are not your own. You're owned because you were bought at a price. And what was that price? It was the price of God the Son, of His blood. So as we come to this, as we look at this study today, we need to keep the main thing, the main thing. Because the main thing is always to keep the main thing, the main thing, right? You've heard that before. When we look at our theology and we look at our practical responsibilities, we need to keep the main thing, the main thing. So I'll ask the question, what is the chief end of man? Can you do it with me? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Now, we use that word in this service already. We've heard the word glory about 15 times. It was in our hymns, it was in our bulletin, it was in our prayers, it's in the scripture that I've read so far and on occasion. But what is glory? Shouldn't we really, if glory is so important, shouldn't it have some weight in our lives? Well, that's exactly what glory means. The word glory, kabod, means weight. How many of you know what a beatnik is? I know what a beatnik is. I hear, I see quizzical faces. Audrey's got, what's a beatnik? Beatniks were hippies. They were the flower children. They wore the beads in the flower church. They were oddballs even in the 60s. And they had this saying called, heavy man, heavy. You'd say something and they'd say, that's heavy man, heavy. Well, you know what? That's what we could say about God. Heavy man, heavy. When we think about glory, we want to think about the gravity of all that God is. We want to think about the substance of all that God is. We want to talk about and think about the significance of all that God is. We want to take into consideration the worth of all that God is, and we want to remember the importance of all that God is. Because the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is to glorify God. The main thing is to glorify God. And this church, so now I want you to think about us as a church. As a church, our duty is to glorify God. That's why we gather in worship. We don't gather in worship to hear the songs as much as we like them. We don't gather in worship just to meet our friends as much as we love our friends. We really gather here together as a body, as a family, a particular group, in order to give glory to God. When we come through those doors, we ought to be changing our thoughts and saying, okay, now here I am. I'm gathering with special people, not a special place, with special people to glorify God. And the second part of that question, what is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. As a part of this local church, you, it's your duty, it's your job to be happy. How about that? It's your duty to enjoy God and to enjoy God's people and to enjoy the service to God and the privileges that you have as members of the church. You have great benefits in this life which come from justification and adoption and sanctification. And I said, what are the benefits which do flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? They are They are God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace and perseverance there into the end. So when you come into God's presence and you think about His glory and His greatness and His abilities, He's exercising all of those things on your behalf. So you're supposed to exercise yourself in worship. On His behalf. What is worship? It's declaring the worth of God. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. So again, what is worship? We gather, the first thing this church, the highest mission this church has is worshipping God. And it will always be that. And He's let us know Him so that we can know that He's worthy of our worship. But let me ask you in your own mind right now. How high a priority is worshipping God for you? How low a priority is worshipping God for you? How neutral is worshiping God for you? I think that so many people, they can take it or leave it. They can, any, Mark Twain said, you know, little rain keeps more people out of the church than it does out of baseball parks where they get wet. I think it's true. We haven't really embraced the concept that God wants us to gather and worship Him and that we need to endure the pain, we need to endure the hardship if there's hardship, we need to do whatever's necessary to be with His people in His presence when we can come before His throne and worship Him. It's very important. So, a little ache or pain, or a toothache, or a headache, or a, you know, whatever it takes, my priority is to be here if I can be here. And what about how strong is your desire to worship God? Or maybe I should ask how weak is your desire to worship God? Or how deserving is God of worship? Or how undeserving is God of worship? How important is worship to God? How unimportant is worship to God? I ask those questions because sometimes we really don't throw out the trash and we don't keep the good. We don't understand where we're supposed to be. Well, Psalm 89 verses 5 through 8 tells us where we're supposed to be. Psalm 89, 5 following, And the heavens will praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints, that's you. For who in the heavens can compare to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? And, of course, that's rhetorical. No one. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. O Lord God of hosts, O Lord God of armies, who is mighty like You? And, of course, the answer, there's no one mighty like Him. There's no one that can compare to Him. So if the Mighty One has said to this church, to the people of this church, that worship is of the utmost importance and His glory is the main thing, then what could keep us away from being here in His presence if we understand that it's God, it's Yahweh who wants us here? Who are you going to obey? The world, the flesh, the devil, or God? Aren't those the options? I don't know of another option. The world, the flesh, the devil, or God? We're always obeying somebody. Well, this church exists for the worship of God. And if you're a member here, I'm going to challenge you to participate in the worship of God as often as humanly possible. Make your calendars work so that Sunday is set apart for God. Make your work work so that your Sundays are set apart for God. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh is a Sabbath day unto the Lord, he says. And is this important? Well, in all of the Bible, there's one thing that God says He's looking for. Listen to this. John 4. But the hour is coming and now is. Here we are. When true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. And spirit means the Holy Spirit helping us, and truth according to the Bible. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Can anybody find anywhere else in all the Bible that God says, I'm looking for something in particular? No. But here He says, the Father is seeking those to worship Him, and it says, God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Very important. We need to feel, not the weight of this, even though glory is weight, is heavy, heavy man heavy. But we need to feel uplifted and buoyed up that we can be in the presence of the Almighty God. And we can be in the presence of the Almighty God and be there safely. We're not here to be crushed and destroyed and put down and annihilated or cast away. We're here to be embraced by God. And we're here to embrace God and to embrace His truth. So the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Make Him the priority. That's your challenge. If you're one of us, be one of us. If you're one of us, be here if you can be here. Anybody not understand? Okay. Second, the second mission of the church. What would you think it is? Get something in your mind. What is the second mission of the church? If you just thought evangelism, you're wrong. Second mission of the church is not evangelism. The second mission of the church is the same as the first mission of the church with a different angle. The second mission of the church is the glory of God. And if you know somebody who is not a believer, you know somebody who does not know God, They are not committed to Him. They do not have faith in Him. They have not repented of their sins. If they're in that condition, they are not able to bring glory to God the way we can bring glory to God by worship. The second mission of the church is recruiting worshipers for God through evangelism. Think about that. If you just are out there to get people saved, saved, saved, and that's your mission. I can't down that. I think everybody here knows I'm all for evangelism. Anybody doubt that? I don't think so. But I don't do evangelism with the priority of getting them saved. I do evangelism and it overcomes the barriers, it overcomes the fears, it overcomes the tiredness, it overcomes the... Do you ever get some time where you just don't want to do anything else? You just want to plop down and do nothing? But if there's somebody that you can have access to to tell them the gospel, you have access to them to recruit them as a worshipper of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. What does Scripture say about this? It says, You know, John 14, 6, Jesus talking. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me. So I don't care who's out there doing what. I don't care what they believe. If they don't trust Christ, they're really not worshipping God. They can't come to God. And if our primary goal happens to be the salvation of the soul, then we're nothing but Christian humanists. But if our mission is to recruit a worshipper that God can receive glory He deserves, then we are recruiting worshippers and we have the second mission of the church in its right place. We will be fishers of men for the glory of God. But we want to be fishers of men and not Christian humanists. By bringing people to the Father through Jesus, is that a limitation? Or is that a statement of precision? It's a statement of precision. When Jesus says that narrow is the gate and the way, He's not saying it's narrow and it's straight so that you can't come in. He's saying it's narrow and it's straight so that you can come in, so that you'll know the only place to come in. He's the only way. Let's say we were in one of those daytime, not talk shows, like Price is Right or something like that. Huh? Game show. That's the word I'm looking for. Thank you. And Cory's my man. And Cory's, and here I am and I'm Monty Hall and Cory's standing here and I say, okay Cory, you can, you can choose door number one or you can choose door number two or you can choose door number three. And Sidney says, hey Cory, Door number one has lions behind it that will eat you alive. And door number two has a bottomless pit. And if you open the door, you're going to fall, and you're going to fall, and fall, and fall forever into utter darkness. But behind door number three are all of the majestic riches of the world that you could possibly have. So Cory, door number three is it. By saying, Cory, door number three is it, am I saying Am I being mean to Corey? When I say Jesus is the only way to heaven, am I being mean to you? No. Any other door you try to open is a door to disaster. A door to hell. Except for the door through Jesus. He is the only way. So your role is to learn the gospel, and to learn how great God is, and to be able to go to people and tell them how great God is, and how much they owe to Him, and what is going to be their end unless they go through the door of Jesus, unless they see Him as the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me. Now to this church. This church offers you opportunity to learn the gospel. On Monday night, the men are learning it. On Tuesday night, the women learn it. On Thursday night, the men learn it. And if you want private lessons, I will give you private lessons. And I said that out loud in public, so I'm committed. If you want private lessons, Give me a call. We'll do it. But it's the job of this church to be recruiting worshipers through evangelism. And if we don't recruit worshipers through evangelism, we're gonna die. We don't want to die. I want to be here. I want to hand this... One day I want to hand this holy desk off to another man, and I want him to be here about 50 years, and I want... not in this room, I want our own room, but... and him 50 years, and another 50, and so forth. Well, that's the first mission of the church is to glorify God. The second mission of the church is to glorify God by recruiting worshipers for God. And this church is committed to that vision. This church is committed to that work. And I want you to be committed to that work because you're part of this church. And the third and last thing. We need to be doing works that glorify God. Now, notice that I didn't say works that merit favor with God. What can you do to merit God's favor? Nothing. He will be no man's debtor. You can't pay Him or buy Him or persuade Him. There's nothing you can do to have merit with God. Jesus has all the merit with God that is needed and He imputes that to our account. John 5, 14 through 16, though, talks about our good works. and why we should do good works. Listen to these verses. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. So we want to be a church that is on a hill that people can see and they'll say, that church is about glory. That church is about goodness. That church is about family. That church is about the joy of the Lord and eternal life. That church is solid as a rock. You're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket. but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Now here it is. So let your light, you and you and you and you, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father. See that word glory there again? That they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. So you're to do good works. Not for merit. You're to do good works that they're going to be seen. You don't do works and hide them. You do good works and you show them. Not egotistically. When you do a good work, you want the reflection of that good work to be pointed to God, not to you. And yet, you are the mirror that's shining that light toward God. And this church needs to be doing good works. And we're committed to doing good works for the glory of God. Everything that happens in this church, and I'm going to give you more in the weeks to come, but today I'm going to give you these three. We worship for the glory of God. We recruit worshipers for the glory of God. And we do good works for the glory of God. And this church is committed to those things. And there's nothing like you ladies who can come up with ideas about how we ought to do something good for somebody. Y'all do it all the time. And y'all amaze me. We have a wonderful deacon who's very sensitive to people's needs. And he does good works. And how do you define a good work? Is it just being nice to somebody? Uh-uh. There's a theological standard for something that's a good work. If God's going to classify it as a good work, it's got to be done according to the law of God. It's got to be done in faith. And it's got to be done to the glory of God. It's got to be done according to the law, it's got to be done in faith, and it's got to be done for the glory of God. You see how everything we do is wrapped up in the weightiness of God? The reality of who He is? The magnificence of His person, the magnificence of His presence, the magnificence of His promises. I don't usually do three Ps in a row, that's not me, but you got it. His person, His presence, and His promises. It's not bad. He's magnificent. He is worthy. And therefore, this church, we want to live and do what shows His worthiness. So be part of it. Be committed to be part of it. Help us. Give us ideas. Give us energy. Put your shoulder to the wheel here so that we can glorify God to the end of time. Have your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God forever. So says Peter. Amen? Amen. Please prepare yourselves to receive the Supper of the Lord.