Well, as I said a few moments ago, that today is our 76th anniversary as a church, and in light of this, I want to take a pause in our study of Mark, because I want to share with you five non-negotiable truths for the church, things that we can do to examine ourselves as to where we are as a church, things that we can focus on. as we continue in our 76th year here, and as we move into our 77th year. So, as we do this this morning, I want to talk about, as I said, non-negotiables. But before I do that, I need to explain to you what I mean by that. Non-negotiables is somewhat a big term, but it's a term that speaks of unchangeableness, something that is permanent, something that is fixed, something that is unalterable. And there are things like that in the Bible that are fixed, that are unalterable, that are non-negotiable, that you and I are obligated to believe. And they are clear, crystal clear. For example, We say that the deity of Jesus is non-negotiable. It is unalterable. It is permanent. It is fixed. In Isaiah 9-6, Jesus is called in the Old Testament, the mighty God. And in the New Testament, like 1 John 5-20, He's called the true God and eternal life. And statements like these abound. And as I said, they are non-negotiable. They are not subject to change. They cannot be changed. And this is the truth that the Bible teaches whether you acknowledge it or not. But I will tell you that everyone will acknowledge it, whether you're believing or unbelieving, all throughout eternity. Every person that is in hell because of their refusal of Christ and the gospel, they will confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and they will bow with their knee to His Lordship. And that will be all through eternity. And as I said, this, again, is something that is fixed, and something else that's fixed and non-negotiable is like His resurrection. The Bible presents this, too, as absolute. Jesus said himself in John 10 and verses 17 and 18, for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. That phrase, take it again, is referring to the resurrection. No one takes it away from me, but from myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again, this commandment I received from my Father. And that too, as I said, is something that is fixed. Another truth that falls in the same category would be our salvation. Salvation is a non-negotiable truth, but unfortunately there are people that don't think it's fixed because they'll run around and say that you can lose your salvation, and what a horrible experience that that is. you know, to go every day that either you have it today or you don't have it today, and it's based upon you and your behavior. I'm thankful that salvation is not based on that. It's based upon Christ and His atoning work and His keeping power to keep me and you as well. And I'm thankful that even when I sin, I have not forfeited my salvation. I cannot forfeit my salvation. But as I said, salvation is fixed, it's eternal, it's unchangeable, it's forever. And Jesus said in John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Either that's true or it's not. Either that's true or Jesus is lying. And I'll tell you what, if Jesus is lying, I'll be the first to chunk my Bible into a trash can and walk out of here. Because I have given him my life just as you've given him your life. And we live on those truths, don't we? I mean, if you're having a bad day or a bad week, it is the truths of the Word of God that are non-negotiable that you go back to and affirm. And those are the things that strengthen you and encourage you. And so, as I talk about non-negotiables today, in fact, I want to give you five of them as it pertains to the church. That's what I'm talking about. In our 76-year history, we need to ask this. what our church has been and is still committed to be. And I trust that if it hasn't been this, it will become this. But I will also quickly point out to you that this has been the overarching purpose for everything that I have done here in the seven years I've been here. It's been based upon these five non-negotiable truths. So let's see what they are. The first one is a high view of God. A high view of God. I believe that it is absolutely essential that a church perceive itself as an institution for the glory of God. That means that God must be glorified in all that we do. In the little things of our life as well as in the big things. 1 Corinthians 10.31 says this, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Everything you do. Now, the eating and drinking, of course, the context in 1 Corinthians 10, they would sacrifice meats to idols, and some would say, well, an idol is nothing, it's okay to eat the meat. Others, you know, these meats were being used in these pagan sacrifices, so they didn't want to have anything to do with that. And there was a little bit of contention going on in the body because you had the stronger believers saying that, you know, again, what is meat? It's nothing. What is an idol? That's nothing. Christ is my God. Christ is my Savior. I can do this for the glory of God. But yet there are others out there that were weak in the faith and they could not eat with a proper conscience. And so they had a continual offense over these strong believers. But again, the overarching purpose of everything that we do is for the glory of God. I hope you realize that. As you sit here this morning and as you contemplate what I'm sharing with you, that you're asking the Lord to give you lofty thoughts of Him. R. A. Torrey says the apostle concludes the subject by giving them a general rule sufficient to regulate every man's conscience and practice. that whether they eat or drink or whatsoever they do, they do it all with a habitual aim to the glory of God by considering His precepts and the propriety and the expediency, appearance, and tendency of their actions. So obviously the question would be, what is your habitual aim? What are you aiming for in your life? Are you aiming for self-fulfillment? Are you aiming for a better life? Or is your aim to give God glory? That no matter what happens in your life, the good, the bad, the ugly, is that your purpose? Do you consider His precepts? Do you consider the propriety and the expediency and the appearance and the tendency of your actions? Because again, I know for myself, that's what I want. I want to glorify God in everything I do. Now, do I do that? Unfortunately not. Do you do that? Again, unfortunately not. But is that your aim? Is that the direction of your life? Is that what you're pursuing? In everything that we do, we are to glorify God, according to 1 Corinthians 6.20, in our body and in our spirit. Now that's the total you right there. You're made up of body and spirit. Some like to use the trichotomy, which is body, soul, and spirit, but many believe that soul and spirit are very similar because they're both immaterial. So the question is just simply that. Are you, in everything you do, glorifying God in your body and in your spirit? Because as a Christian, they belong to God. You're not your own. And so, quit living like you belong to no one else, but live like you belong to Christ. And here's some ways that we can do that. So you might want to jot some of these down. Psalm 50 and verse 23 tells us that whoever offers praise glorifies me. So, simple question here is, as we were singing those songs, and I know we were struggling through them because of the problem with the screen and so forth, and unfortunately our hymn book doesn't have every song we ever sing, but did you still seek with all your heart to offer Him praise? Did you pray for me while we were doing it, trying to get this stuff to work right? Pray for Cody as he's advancing the slides. I mean, all these things are going on. while we're singing and unfortunately we're not having some more people to help with some of this stuff that you're left to it yourself and you just do the best you can. But I'll tell you the number one thing that I don't want to happen in any service is something to distract you. And to me, all that is is a distraction. Problems with electronics, problem with screens, problem with all this stuff, that's just a distraction. But still, in the midst of that, can you praise God? As that psalm says, whoever offers praise glorifies Me. The rest of the verse says, and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God. Hebrews 13, 15 also says, through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that confess His name. Now that's continual praise. That's coming from our lips as we confess His name. And this is really what we've been created for. I mentioned the catechism, that's on the wall over there, that man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That's essentially coming from Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43, 21 says, the people whom I form for myself will declare my praise. That's what we're in the business of doing. And so, again, is that what you're doing? And that's one of the ways that we can glorify God in our body and in our spirit. The second way that we can do this is when we trust him. You know, one of the hardest things that you and I have to do when we sin and we repent of that and we're dealing with the sting of that and all of the emotion that comes with it and so forth, but part of moving on is trusting God in his word. I mean, 1 John 1 9 says that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive you of all your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Do you believe that? Because I'll tell you what, the devil doesn't want you to believe that. That when you fall, when you sin, he tries to keep you down, doesn't he? Make it where you can't get up. Or when you do get up, Then he throws all kinds of doubts at you. Oh, you're not a Christian. Christians don't live like that. You say you love Christ, but really you love yourself, or really you love your sin. So it does involve trusting God's word. believing God's word, taking him at what he says. If he says, if you confess your sins, he's gonna forgive you, what does that mean? Exactly what you just heard. Romans 4.20 says that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. When God told Abraham that he was going to number his seed as the sand, he believed God even though his wife Sarah was barren. See, I believe that this is trusting God in the impossible. Same is true for us when we pray. In fact, I was thinking about Jacob and Rachel. You know, he prayed 20 years that she wouldn't be barren and that she would have a child. The Midrash, which is a collection of Jewish stories, said it wasn't 20 years, it was 14 years. But either way, that's a long period of time to be praying like that for God to open up her womb. How many of you have ever prayed for a long time like that over an issue and up to this point, God said no? I mean, that's how it is for my son, Samuel. He's 13 now, and he's had seizures for 12 years. We've been praying for 12 years that God would wipe them out. And so far, he said no. How do I know he said no? That's a no-brainer. How long did I say we've been praying? 12 years? I woke up at 3.30 this morning with one. And the hardest thing on a Sunday morning is to get woke up at 3.30 when you're getting up at 6. And plus, you haven't been feeling good throughout the week, so. But either way, God gets the glory, you know? And it really depends on how we view these things, how we see it in perspective. But he did trust God with her infertility, did he not? And he knew that it was God who opened and closed the womb. In fact, he told Rachel that too. Am I in the place of God who's closed your womb? A third way that we can glorify God in our body and in our spirit is when we confess Christ. God's confessing Christ glorifies God. I mentioned this verse earlier, but let me mention it again and be more specific with it. Philippians 2.11 says that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. When someone confesses and agrees with Scripture that Jesus Christ is Lord, that brings glory to God because that's the truth of Scripture. Now, as I said earlier, every person will confess. The thing is is that you don't want that to happen in eternity to where you're forced into that as an unbeliever that left this life without Christ, because now you're in hell, and yes, now you're forced to it, now you will confess it, but it'd be much better, and I'm not even putting the weight to that, but you understand it, that if you confess him now, confess him as Lord now, And there's no reason why we shouldn't, unless you're unbelieving. Because He is Lord. And the Scriptures affirm that over and over. So the ways that we can do this is by praise and trust and confession. And another way that we can do this is when we bear fruit. You know that there is no such thing as a non-fruit-bearing Christian. You know that you bear fruit as a Christian. Now, some of us might be looking for a lot of fruit, but the fact is that as a Christian, you bear it. You produce it. Jesus said to his disciples in John 15, 8, By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. So this is the evidence that we belong to Him. That's part of our calling. That when we bear fruit, we're showing everyone that we belong to Him, because the fruit that we're bearing points to Him. He said in verse 16 of the same chapter, He told them, You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you. It's not just bearing the fruit, but it continuing to be born in your life. Some other ways that we can glorify God in our body and our spirit is also when we use the spiritual gifts that God has given to us. That will also bring Him glory. 1 Peter 4 11 says, if anyone speaks, Let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. So when you use your gifts, you bring glory to God. And I've talked about spiritual gifts on so many occasions, so I'm not gonna belabor the point, but I would just say this, that every Christian should know what their gift is and use it. And here's your main reason, because that brings glory to God. Your secondary reason, because this is how we minister to each other. And of course, another one I would give is the one that's probably most uncomfortable for most of us, is when we suffer for Christ, that too brings Him glory. Peter said in 1 Peter 4.14 that if you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. God is glorified when we suffer for Him. when we die. Did you know your death can bring glory to God? Well, this is what Jesus said to Peter, John 21, 18, Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This, he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God And when he said this, he said to them, follow me. Here's how you're going to glorify God when you die. Somebody's going to carry you to a place you don't want to go. They're going to force you to do something you don't want to do. But this is how you're going to glorify me. And tradition does tell us that Peter was crucified on a cross, but he requested that it be upside down because he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same way that our Lord was crucified. So he sought to bring glory all the way to the end. Now that's how we want to do it, right? That's how we want to finish. We want to finish well. Because everything about us is for that reason. So God must be glorified in all that we do if we're going to be an institution for the glory of God. And this also means that we have to take Him seriously. Some people don't take God seriously. That's unfortunate. But we must do that, and how you do that is through the fear of the Lord. There must be a fear of God in your life. And when I talk about fear, I'm talking about that reverence that we are to have for Him. You know, when we think of fear, we only think of the other side when it talks about being afraid of something. But you know, in a glorious way, God has kind of taken that away from us to where we can revere Him. But let me speak more specifically about what it means to fear Him because it is connected to some things. Over in Psalm 34, if you'd like to look at this, beginning at verse 11, the psalmist says, Listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it." That's his answer. This is how you can fear the Lord. It's by keeping your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit. It's by departing from evil and doing good and seeking and pursuing after peace. See how it's connected? Another verse that would essentially tell us the similar truth would be Proverbs 8, 13, which says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way, and a perverse mouth I hate. So the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. In fact, it says in Proverbs 16, 6, that by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. So when you fear it, it's much easier to depart from it, right? Or rather, when you hate it. Proverbs 23, 17 says, do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day. So every single day, this is what We're to be doing. We're to hate evil. We're to turn from it. We're to turn from pride and arrogance, perverse mouth. We're to depart from evil, be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the time. And to have the fear of the Lord really is to see God as He has revealed in the Scriptures. Isaiah 6-3 tells us that God is holy, right? And Psalm 5-4 tells us that He is righteous. It says, You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. Our God is righteous. Our God is holy. James says it this way, He is untemptable by evil. You can't tempt God. He is not temptable. We must take God seriously. We must exalt Him. We don't want to have a man-centered church. We want to reach out to everyone in the love of Christ. But God has to be the focus of our worship and our life. So when you look at your Bibles, don't look at your Bible as a book full of formulas for solving all your problems. It's a book that reveals God. Amen? It's a book that reveals Him. So the fear of God helps us to do this. It helps us to move from a man-centeredness to a God-centeredness. Unfortunately, this is something that we have to battle with all the time, to make sure that God is at the center of everything that we do and not ourselves. We, by nature, are sinful, selfish people, but we also want to be those who are centered on what God says. And again, there are ways to do that. To be God-centered, you have to think biblically, you have to act biblically, you have to speak biblically, you have to live biblically. Everything that you do is governed by Scripture. So much so, like Spurgeon said, that if you were ever pricked, that you would bleed bibleme, bleed Bible. In other words, that when you come up to difficult situations, what comes to your mind and what comes out of your mouth is the Word of God and not you. Not what comes from your heart. So thinking biblically, thinking biblically comes as you're continually renewing your mind with Scripture. How often do we need to do this? All the time, right? And every time that you are in scripture, that's what you're doing, whether you're reading it or hearing it taught. you're renewing your mind. Romans 12 says, I therefore, or therefore I exhort you brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. The word transformed in that verse is where we get the English word metamorphosis. And this is speaking of a change in outward appearance. The word itself is used in Matthew 17 to speak of Jesus at His transfiguration. And just as Christ briefly and in a limited way displayed His outward nature, Christians should outwardly manifest their inner natures as well. Jesus showed who he was in that transfiguration. You and I, every day when we live for the glory of God, we are showing who we are. Everything is not always outward. We have to focus in on the inward. The outward is revealing the reality of what's going on inside. And we do that, as I said, by renewing our mind. And that kind of reformation can only occur by the Spirit of God's work in your life. So when you think biblically, then you're gonna talk biblically. When you think biblically, you're gonna act biblically. So again, this is what our desire and our goal is. This is what we're after. Thinking biblically, talking biblically, in acting biblically. In talking biblically, it says in Colossians 4, 6, let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each one. When we talk about talking biblically, we're talking about where we cast off the works of darkness and we put on the armor of light and we're walking as in the day, as it says in Romans 13, 12. We're not walking in revelry and drunkenness or in lewdness and lust and strife and envy, but we're putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and we're not making any provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. And the idea of provision there means that you're planning ahead on how you can please the flesh. John MacArthur says, Most sinful behavior results from wrong ideas and lustful desires we allow to linger in our minds. J. Vernon McGee concludes by saying, Oh, how many believers are making every provision for the flesh but are making no provision to go into His presence. This is the last thing we want to please. It's us. We want to please God. And again, we want to be that institution for the glory of God. So having a high view of God is something that you're pursuing. This is something that you're after. And this is something that needs to be and must be at the foundation of everything we do. I mentioned last week in our FOF class that when we're talking about foundations and you already have an edifice up and so forth, you can't really see what's at the heart of the foundation anymore because it's covered up with everything else. But when you start pulling everything back, then you begin to discover what was that built upon? What's your life built upon? What's your Christian life built upon? Is it built on the word of God or is it built on Christ? or is it built on yourself, on your selfishness? So God must be glorified in all that we do. He must be taken seriously. We have to move from a man-centeredness to a God-centeredness. Let me give you a second non-negotiable truth. Not only are we to have a high view of God, but we are also to have an understanding of the absolute authority of scripture. This is what the reformers referred to when they talked about Sola Scriptura. They magnified Scripture. Unfortunately, not everybody does that. There are some that undermine God's Word. They do that by what they teach. They do that by what they listen to. The church is being told many different things. Let me just give you an example of some of this. You know, if you go all the way back to Genesis and you see the word day that occurs in Genesis 1 and 2, some want to come along and say, well, that's not referring to a literal 24-hour days, that's referring to millions of years. Now, we would expect that from the unbelieving community, wouldn't we? But unfortunately, we're getting that from the believing community, too. We're allowing what the culture dictates to come in the church. And if you don't believe me, then you're blind to what's going on. Homosexuality, lesbianism, all of those different things that have come into the church, ordaining women pastors, ordaining homosexual pastors, all of that. The church has changed, but not in a good way. And how can we continue to be that witness in the world if we become what the world is? How can you talk about things that the Scripture says are an abomination if you don't see them as an abomination? Or you interpret Scripture culturally. This Bible transcends culture. It transcends humanistic views. Take even the doctrine of election. There are some people that hate that doctrine with a passion. And then there are some that believe that God looks down through the quarters of time and He sees who's gonna believe, and based upon that, He chooses them. That is a faulty hermeneutic. That is not what that means. The Bible tells us, especially in Ephesians 1, 3, but that's not the only place, that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Our being chosen by God was not based upon us, it was based upon Him and His pleasures. In fact, in that verse it says that He chose us for Himself. It's used in the middle voice. We have been chosen for Him. As I said, this really overarches with glorifying God. The sooner you understand that, the better. But we're also hearing other things. Things that have been brought up that have been detrimental to the church would be teachings on the openness of God, or the new perspective on Paul, or even the emerging church. These are things that came out many years ago. Paul told Titus that the men he was to appoint as elders were to be those who hold fast the faithful word as they had been taught, that they may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. You want those kind of men in place, that they don't succumb to the culture, they confront it. And those who come into the church that want to bring the culture in, and want to change the church to accept their sinful views need to be those who know how to exhort and convict those who contradict the truth. The church is not only undermined by these things, but also by those who come along with their visions and their revelations, even people that say, God said to me. I don't believe they understand what they're saying. You want to know how God speaks today? Well, we've been doing it all during the service. I read to you from Hebrews 9 when we started this morning. Hebrews, the entire book is the word of God. You want to hear God speak? Read it out loud. That's God speaking in your voice. Agree with me on that? Anytime you read Scripture, that's God speaking. We have to uphold the truth of the Word of God, because I'll tell you what, the longer that the Lord leaves us here, of course, our work is the same to make disciples, but it's going to get harder and harder to do that. with a culture that has now turned its heels against the church. How do you know that the church has been turned against? Well, the coronavirus. Didn't that reveal some things for us? What happened during that time? What was the first thing that was told to shut down by the government? It was the church. You remember that? Do you know what remained open while the church was closed? The bars, they remained open. How about the rioting in the streets by Antifa and all those groups and their lawlessness? Did they stop them? They tell them, you can't riot in the streets, you can't protest because of the coronavirus. But where were they? Where was the government that imposed this on the church? Churches were sued during that time, those who were opening up anyway. Now, the reason why we didn't have trouble here in Florida, because we have a great governor. If you don't think so, then go visit one of those states that are run by Democrats. That's where all the rioting's going on. All the Democratic states. Enough of that. But see, the point is, we have a lot going on around us in our culture and either we can confront it head on or we can become it. And I'm not interested in becoming it. Are you? We're an institution for the glory of God. We have yielded ourselves to the absolute authority of Scripture because this is the final authority. This is authoritative. There used to be a little slogan that said, when E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone listens. Forget that. When God speaks, everyone should listen. And even if you're not listening, you will listen. As I said earlier, from Philippians 2, every tongue's going to confess that Jesus is Lord. Upholding God's Word, that should be a high priority for us. It should be a high priority for you in your life. And you demonstrate whether you view Scripture that way every single day that you wake up. Every single day that you go throughout the day, do you read the Scripture? Do you hear it taught? Do you meditate on the Scripture? Because if you do, then you're seeing that this Word is to be upheld and that this is absolute authority. Jesus said it this way in His temptation as He was being tempted by Satan. He said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That is a wonderful verse for expository preaching. Why? Because expository preaching focuses on every word. That simply means then the kind of Bible that you have in your lap right now should not be a dynamic equivalent. It should be an essential literal that has been translated from every word, not thought for thought, but word for word. Every word matters. Words matter. Do they not? You don't think so. Next time you're at the airport and you get on a plane, you slide a little note to the flight attendant, tell them you're hijacking this plane. You'll find out in about two seconds how serious they are about that, especially after 9-11, right? Most planes now have air marshals on them. They're armed. Thankfully so, right? Because you have that lawlessness going on. But God's word has to be our highest priority. It has to be seen as really the only means for spiritual growth in our life. It's like 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, all Scripture is God-breathed and it's beneficial. What's it beneficial for? For doctrine? For reproof? For correction? For instruction in righteousness? Why? So that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And the man of God in that text is speaking of the pastor. Here's how the pastor can be fully equipped is when he is fully surrendered to Scripture. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter 2, 2, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow. Isn't that what you want? You want to grow, don't you? I mean, when I came to Christ, 30 plus years ago, the desire of my heart was to grow. I didn't want to stay a baby. But unfortunately, there are some people that remain as babies. They never grow because they're not feeding on the very thing that's going to cause the growth. Reading devotions about the Bible is not reading the Bible. You realize that, don't you? We provide material for you to read to help you and to teach you as you're studying the Bible or as you're reading your Bible, but, you know, those things are not reading the Bible. They're reading things about the Bible. You profit from reading the Bible. In fact, there's a blessing attached to it. Revelation 1-3, blessed is he who reads and keeps the things that are written in this book. There's blessing attached to it. I'm not specifically speaking of Revelation, but isn't that true with all the Word of God? The Puritan Joseph Ayling, who lived from 1634 to 1668, he was an English nonconformist Puritan preacher. He wrote this. Oh, you saints, how you should love the word, for by this you have been converted. Tie it about your neck, write it upon your hand, lay it in your bosom. When you go, let it lead you. When you sleep, let it keep you. When you wake, let it talk with you. You that are unconverted, read the Word with diligence. Flot to where it is powerfully preached. Pray for the coming of the Spirit in the Word. Come from your knees to the sermon and come from the sermon to your needs. So a high view of God, the absolute authority of Scripture. The third non-negotiable is this, sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. If you have a high view of God and are committed to Him, then you must go along with what His Word teaches, and the teachings of God's Word literally makes up sound teaching. In fact, the word sound, the word itself means healthy. Healthy teaching. Paul uses that nine times in the pastoral epistles, five times in Titus, always in the sense that The truth produces spiritual well-being. Healthy teaching. Doctrine is teaching. There are people who come along today and say, well, doctrine doesn't matter. Doctrine matters. It matters what is taught. I mean, in the Bible we see that there are false teachers and then there are true teachers. There are false shepherds and there are true shepherds. The false shepherds, the false teachers are condemned and exposed and are rightly to be put out of the church. The true teachers are not. Those are the ones that are to teach and uphold the word of God and the fellowship. But, you know, when you talk about healthy teaching, we need to teach things that everyone can hold on to. You know, very few Pastors will teach on God or on life and death, or teach on heaven and hell and man and sin. These are things that the Bible teaches. These are things that are healthy teaching that we must teach on. When's the last time you heard a sermon on angels? Or a sermon on the Holy Spirit? Or a sermon on the position of the believer? Or a sermon on the flesh and how to deal with it. Or a sermon on the world. 1 John 2 says, Love not the world. When was the last time you heard a sermon on that? Well, I know you heard it here because we went through 1 John. But we must teach these truths or what we teach is not sound. It is not healthy. Some people think that the teaching of hell does not promote any kind of spiritual well-being. And I would just say this, if that's true, then why did Paul call for a spiritual examination in 2 Corinthians 13, 5? It says, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless you have believed in vain? How important is that? What's the consequences if you truly haven't believed in Christ? So the doctrine of hell actually causes you to examine yourself so that you're not self-deceived. That's the spiritual benefit of that. Because it's only in this life that you can do that. Because once you leave, it's sealed forever. You either go to heaven or you go to hell. So Paul told Timothy then, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. And then in verses 2-10 he talks about five groups in the church and what they are to commit themselves to. Listen to what he says. He says, the older men are to be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. The older women likewise, which means that they are to be committed to the same things the older men are, but he adds to it that they are to be reverent behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, And then he turns to Titus and says, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you. So Titus had to focus this on himself as well. Next he says, "...exhort bond-servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." You know, when you are obedient to the Word of God, you're holding it up before the world. You're magnifying the Scripture. But when you're disobedient to it, you're dragging it down. You're bringing a reproach to the Word of God when you're disobedient to it. Paul told Timothy essentially the same thing, 2 Timothy 1.13, to hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you have heard from me in faith and in love, which are in Christ Jesus. So, we have to teach truths that people can hold on to, and we must commit ourselves to go beyond the superficial in our study of the Word of God. In other words, we have to be diligent in our interpretation of Scripture. You've got to be diligent. You want to accurately handle it, don't you? 2 Timothy 2.15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. The background of that passage, Paul was a tent maker, they would take goat skins and they would cut them and you wanted them to be straight, you better try to sew two things together and you got one of them not straight, what's it leave, a gap? And then if you try to pull it over, it kind of buckles. You had to cut it accurately to make it work. That's how we are to be when we handle scripture. If you come to something in the Bible you don't understand, what do you do? Do you research it? Do you go looking for the answer? Or do you walk away, hoping that maybe we'll teach on that one day? Well, I will tell you now, if it's at the end of Mark, it's going to be a while. I believe the church today doesn't study accurately the Word. They don't handle it accurately. and they listen to whatever is blowing in the wind, and they adopt that as their interpretation. Listen to, in order to keep from being children tossed to and fro, you have to have teachers of the word of God that are going to instruct you accurately with the scripture. Paul said to Timothy, there's three things I want you to devote yourself to then. And it's found in 1 Timothy 4.13. Till I come, give attention to reading. By the way, that was the public reading of Scripture, so here's one of the reasons why we do that publicly. Exhortation and doctrine. You know, that is a definition of expository preaching also. Read the text. Explain the text. Apply the text. That's what expository preaching is. We read the text, we explain it, and then we apply it. I spend more time on interpretation than application for a very important reason. Because if I just sit here and throw out a bunch of application, some of you might not even apply to. But interpretation does, doesn't it? If I give you the correct interpretation of a passage that we're working through, then you're left with whatever the Spirit brings in your life to apply it. Some things you apply immediately, some things you apply later. But when he says give attention, that means to pay attention. It's a nautical term. It means to hold a ship in a direction, to sail towards that. It means to hold one's course toward a prize. In other words, it means to pay attention, give heed to it, and follow it. What's he to pay attention to? Well, again, he says reading, and this was the public reading of Scripture. And then he says exhortation. That's the act of exhorting. You could even refer to this as encouragement. Sometimes it's a rebuke. And then he says doctrine, and again, that's the word for teaching. If we commit ourselves to these three things, then we're gonna go beyond the superficial. So the fourth non-negotiable, and it really kind of all just bleeds into one another, and that is personal holiness. There's a goal. The church is an institution for the glory of God. We seek to have a high view of God and to create that in your life. Because when that happens, you'll look at the scripture as authoritative in your life. You'll look at what it's taught as being healthy teaching from the scripture. And its goal is personal holiness. We are called to live a pure life. Peter reminds us of this in 1 Peter 1 14, when he says, as obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct. Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. God is holy. He is the standard that we are measuring ourselves against. Not each other. Standard's not high enough when we measure according to each other, because what we will tend to do is take the lower road. We look at a believer that we admire, look up to, and we see them fall, and we go, well, they're human, number one. They fail, two, they're sinful, just like I'm sinful. But if you've elevated them too much, you're gonna fall with them. but we look at them and we measure our lives next to theirs, and that's wrong. Don't measure your life against each other. Measure your life against what God said. You know, it says in Matthew 5, 48, Jesus said, you shall therefore be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. See, there's the standard right there. Paul speaks of this also in 1 Thessalonians 4, when he's showing us how we are to handle our bodies. Listen to what he says. I finally then brothers exhort and ask in the Lord Jesus that you receive from us as to how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk. That you excel still more for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. But this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification, or in being holy. Your calling to follow Christ is to be holy, but it's not that you're walking in your own holiness, you're walking in the righteousness of Christ. You're to know how to handle your body. Not giving in to lust. Not using one another to get what you want. That's called manipulation. In fact, we should be encouraging each other in sanctification. Not everything does that, though. Not everything encourages sanctification, so we have to work on that, too. And part of working on that is just being careful at what you expose yourself to. Things that you read, things you listen to, things that you watch. And some things that you watch, or some things you listen to, some things you read, you can't do that without having some kind of consequence to it. And sometimes the consequences are very devastating, especially if it's an image that you can't get out of your mind. 2 Corinthians 7-1 says that we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It's something that we have to do in each of our lives. Or as 1 John 3, 3, everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Again, he is the standard of purity. He is the standard of perfection. He is the standard of righteousness. And since you and I have this hope in us, we purify ourselves. We deal with our sin. So that means we have to enforce a standard of holiness. You know, I wish that I could stand up here and say that before I came to Christ that I had a pretty clean life, but it was far from that. The first verse that ever haunted me was this verse, Ephesians 5, 3, and 4. It says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. I can't say that that was my life before I came to Christ, because I was a fornicator. I lived a very unclean, covetous, impure, foolish, talking, coarse jesting kind of life. But not anymore. Giving of thanks. Do you give thanks? Are you thankful? Are you grateful? That simple statement right there, our question is how we can enforce this in our life. You have to put to death the deeds of the body. And the Lord helps us with this process. Praise God for that, right? But what happens if you don't? Well, here's what's supposed to happen. We're supposed to help each other. But unfortunately, what happens many times is we point our finger at each other. And we judge each other to such a point that it's not righteous judgment, it's unrighteous. We're not helping each other. Because here's how you help each other. Maybe to turn to Matthew chapter 18 for just a moment. Here's how you help one another in being holy. And this is how the church maintains holiness. within herself." Matthew 18, beginning at verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let it be to him, or let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Church discipline is so foreign in the church today. There's a church here in Jacksonville, very, very large church. If I said its name, you'd know what it is. The pastor forced into a resignation. And they've been in court now. Do you know that we're not to go to court over church issues? What's happening by them going to court? They're bringing reproach to the church. They're saying, we can't settle this, that God has not provided a way for us to settle our disputes among one another, but I just read to you where He did provide that way to settle it. And first, it's personal. You see someone in sin, You're obligated by the fact that you saw it to go privately to them and to seek to get them to repent. And when you do that, I encourage you, make sure you do it with Scripture. And if they don't hear you, it's not over. Now you take two or three witnesses with you, and you go back to that brother or sister in a private situation. And with the help of two or three witnesses, you're seeking to bring this brother or sister to a place of repentance. Nobody else knows about this. In the first step, it's just between you and them. In the second step, it's just a couple people that know. No, what happens many times in the church, somebody wrongs you and then you're not godly enough to keep it to yourself. You share it with others. And you slander one another. That's not the remedy. What's going to happen if you do that? That's going to make it worse. It's going to get other people involved in it that should never have been involved in it. Here's where the whole church is involved, is after the first two steps. If they don't hear the two or three witnesses, then it's told to the church. And now the whole church is involved in going to this individual and seeking to get them to repent. That means, according to 1 Corinthians 5, that you've got to be careful with your fellowship with them. Your fellowship with them has one purpose, to get them to repent. What happens if they don't repent? The fourth step is enacted. Verse 17, if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. If he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. What's that mean? What's a heathen and a tax collector in this context? You treat him like an unbeliever. And you put him out of the church. And now you're preaching the gospel to him. because their behavior is demonstrating a lack of Christ in their life. So, first non-negotiable, high view of God. Second, the absolute authority of Scripture. The third, sound doctrine. The fourth, personal holiness. And the fifth one, the last one, is spiritual authority. Spiritual authority. A church must understand that Christ is the head of the church. We have a problem with that, don't we? Here's where we have a problem. And that he mediates his rule through godly men called elders or pastors. I know, as we're talking about the church in the FOF class, we were talking about this this morning, I know that there have been many pastors that have abused their authority. I know that. And I know sometimes I've done it. But praise God that when you realize it or somebody points it out to you, Maybe you were unaware that you were doing that, but there are some that are very aware that they're doing that. I wanna tell you something and you can hear it from me right now. I have no interest in micromanaging your life. Why would I wanna micromanage your life? I have enough time micromanaging my own. You understand that? I don't wanna micromanage your life. I'll tell you what the word of God says while we're together. And if we get to be together individually, we'll do the same thing. But listen, you and I have to submit to the Scripture, both of us. I have to live a holy life just like you're called to live a holy life. I have to do the very things that I'm calling you to do as well. But God has put spiritual authority in our lives, and we should be thankful for that. There are a number of verses that point this out, so let me just see if I can bring the thread to you as we bring this to a close. Colossians 1.18 tells us that Jesus is the head of the church. He's head of the body. 1 Timothy 5.17 says that the elders are part of that oversight and ruling in the body. It's one of the reasons why you have pastors in local churches. Each church has its own self-governing. He told the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20, 28, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. My responsibility as a pastor is to give oversight to the church, but that's not the only thing I'm called to do. The other thing I'm called to do is right here. I'm a teaching shepherd. Teach the word, this is how you're gonna grow. This is the food that I give you week after week. This is the food that you are to take in every day. And I'm not talking about just for me, but I'm talking about every day you should be taking in a steady diet of the word of God. And you should be listening to other good teachers of the word. The whole point of the Reformation moment that I had been doing for, what, maybe two years or so, was to expose you to other teachers. The responsibility that the Bible gives for pastors is to oversee the affairs of the church. Here's another way that it's looked at, 1 Thessalonians 5.12. It tells us that they labor among you, and they are over you in the Lord, and they admonish you. Hebrews 13.7 says they rule over you, they spoke the word of God to you, Hebrews 13, 17 says also that they rule over you and watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. I'm gonna give an account for you. Every pastor will give an account for the flock that he is over. So that verse in verse 17 says let him do it with joy and not with grief because that would be unprofitable for you. First Peter tells us they are to shepherd the flock of God. They are to serve as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being an example to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. See, this is the design that God has for His church. Christ is the head of the church. He mediates his rule through godly men called elders or pastors and then deacons, they come along and help implement what is taught by the elders and what's the role of the congregation is to submit to it. So if we're gonna be an institution for the glory of God, we have to have the right framework, we have to have a high view of God, We have to understand the absolute authority of Scripture. We have to understand sound doctrine. And we should seek after personal holiness and submit ourselves to those whom the Lord has placed over us as spiritual authorities. So this, beloved, is what should be at the heart of the church. This should be at its foundation. And my purpose with all of my heart for the seven years of my time here is to lay that foundation. That's why we do some of the things we do. That's why we major on teaching the scripture like we do. I really believe it's beneficial for you if we teach through expositionally the books of the Bible and cover them as they're written instead of just bouncing everywhere and all over the place and you don't really know the flow of anything because you never studied the flow of it. Now listen, I understand this and you should too. None of this is ever possible. without a relationship to Christ. You won't sit there eager to take it in, and I wouldn't be up here eager to give it to you if I didn't know Christ. So some of you might in here not have a relationship with Christ, and you need to have one, and you need to have it today. And why do I say it that way? Because you're not promised tomorrow. You're not promised the next couple minutes. So you need to take advantage of what you're hearing today. Jesus Christ is Lord. Will you bow your knee to Him? Will you confess that with your mouth? Do you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? See, Jesus died in your place. He died for your sin so that you could be right with God. And you can't be right with God apart from Christ. So come to Christ. Give your life to Christ. Quit pursuing yourself. Quit pursuing your own dreams, your own direction, your own passions, and pursue Christ. Pursue Him. So if you're here today and you have not come to Christ, come to Him right now. Whether you're a little child or whether you're an adult, come to Christ. Father, we thank you so much for your word today. I hope it was clear and plain to everyone as it was presented. And I pray your spirit will do his work in our hearts. Thank you for your truth. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for 76 years. We pray for many more. And we pray that we will see ourselves as it was presented today, and that we would pursue these truths. We pray all this in Jesus' name. All God's people said.