Amen. Please be seated. Now, I know that there are a bunch of mothers here this day, so I begin by wishing all of you mothers happy Mother's Day. Mothers, we love you, and we pray for you, and we thank God for you. And so mothers, keep doing all that God calls you to do. Now, as we come for this morning to take up the theme of Christian unity, I ask you please to turn with me in your copy of the scriptures to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians. Chapter four, as we continue to make our way through this wonderful epistle, picking up at verse one, and I'll read to verse three in your hearing. Ephesians chapter four, at verse one, the Apostle Paul, by the direction and aid of the Holy Spirit, writes the following and says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Brethren, let's once again pray and ask the Lord's blessings on our time. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for this opportunity, this occasion to be in your presence once again as your people. We thank you, O God, that you've given many of us in this place hearts tuned to sing your praise. Oh, God, thank you for making us who were once not a people to now be the very people of God, to be those who love you, worship you, and serve you. We're so grateful, Lord, for your tremendous work in our hearts, translating us out of the kingdom of darkness and putting us into the kingdom of the son of thy love. We bless you, great God. We know that salvation is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of you who show mercy. God, you have shown so much mercy to us, your people. We are humbled to the dust. We thank you, Lord, that you did not pass us by, but you chose us to be your own. And in time, space, history, through the gospel, by the Holy Ghost, you made us your own. And here we are this day. So we worship you, we praise you, we bless your name. And we ask, oh great God, that as we come this morning to your word, that you would give us help in our considerations, that in your light we would see light and be found walking in that light all of our days. Give us grace, we pray, and please all of these mercies in and through that wonderful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Now, it was Charles Simeon, that great expository preacher from another generation who rightly said that the end or the goal of all true religion is practice. The end, the goal, the aim of all true religion is practice. In essence, he said, to use the words of James chapter 1, that it was the doing of the word of God and not merely the hearing of it that truly mattered most in life. Now, to be sure, dear brothers and sisters gathered with me here this day, Simeon was absolutely, he was thoroughly correct in what he said. He was spot on, and this is because what we learn in true religion is true doctrine. And true doctrine is never meant to be an end in itself, no. But rather, it's meant to be the foundation for how you and I are to live as the people of God. You see, Church, biblically speaking, and mark it down, true doctrine is to lead to duty. And true theology is to lead to practicality. Now, if ever there were a person who knew this firsthand, surely it was the Apostle Paul. This is the case, and this is why, for example, when you study his letters, you see quite often that they shift from principle to practice, and from orthodoxy to orthopraxy. And to prove this, all one would have to do is just look, for example, at Romans 12 and verse 1. For there, having expounded, having opened up many of the glorious doctrines concerning our beautiful salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord, Paul then begins the practical portion of that letter by saying what? By saying, I beseech you therefore. That is, in light of all the things that he had been writing of previously, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, how he tells us when he says, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Additionally, Along these same lines, having just opened up to us the glorious realities of new life in Jesus Christ our Lord in the first two chapters of Colossians, Paul then very practically begins chapter three of Colossians by saying, therefore, since then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand God. So here we see that Paul shows us that throughout his letters, doctrine and practice are to be inseparable. He shows us that they are always to go together establishing in his letters first who we are in Christ and then second what we are to do because of this. Well as we come then for today to Ephesians chapter 4 and our consecutive expositions to this book we see that Paul continues the same pattern. We see that having just taught us many theological truths in the opening three chapters of this book, he now moves to the practical portion of it in the following chapters. He moves from dealing with our position in Christ to now our practice in Christ, teaching us that right conduct always has its footing in true Bible Let me say it again. Right conduct always has its footing in true Bible doctrine. Now, Church, this is absolutely crucial for all of you to get in this place. And I say this because whenever you see a believer, whenever you see a Christian not living as he should be living according to the Bible, This can always be traced back to a defective understanding of some biblical truth, of some Christian doctrine. Oh brethren, I say that this is the case. Thus the cry of many churches in our day, which says, we want less doctrine, is really deadly. It's really devastating. And why? Well, it's because you and I cannot take away Bible doctrine from our lives without paying a very big price for it. We cannot do that. Ah, but having said that. Conversely, whenever you see a believer living rightly according to the Bible, why is it? Well, it's because he has correctly understood a biblical doctrine. By the grace of God, he or she is walking in it. Well, this then, of course, is why in this church, in this place, We teach Bible doctrine. This is why we teach the scriptures line upon line and precept upon precept and this so that all of you can live as God would have you to live. May it be then that as we begin this new chapter in Ephesians chapter 4, that this very thing will be true for all of you here this day. O church, I say may it be true for all of us. to the end that we will be doers of the word and not hearers only, and this, to the praise and glory of our great God. And so, as we begin for this morning, notice with me first from verse one of this chapter, Paul's serious call for Christian unity. Look again at his words. With me there in your Bibles, he writes saying, I therefore, The prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Now, I am right. I am right. Correct, in calling these words here, Paul's serious call for Christian unity, and I say this because the sense in the original language is that of him saying, I, even I myself, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech, or we could say, strongly urge and exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." You see here, brethren, Paul's words are really quite emphatic, especially in the original language, having a strong sense of authority in them. And the present tense verb, beseech, tells us that this was that which he was calling the Ephesians to do, and us as well, it was that which he was calling all of us to do as an ongoing matter. The present tense tells us that what he's calling us to is to be habitual. So here, the point is, the Apostle Paul is not playing games in his words. Get that. Very emphatic. Ongoing. He's not being casual in them. This is not a suggestion. And why? Well, it's because if his words are not followed by us, then life in the church will be terrible. That's why. If they are not put into practice, then our gatherings will be filled with all kinds of problems, on the right and on the left, and what a great tragedy that would be. Ah, but beloved ones here this day, if you and I follow his words, life in the church will be blessed indeed, even as it is this day. If we heed them and do them by the grace of God, we will know God's best to be sure. Now, when Paul says here in our verse, look at the language again, I therefore, I therefore, Prison of the Lord beseech you. The word, therefore, is a word of summary. Summary. And what it's doing is looking back on all that Paul's been teaching in the previous chapters and now pointing us forward to live in light of those teachings. Just as we saw in Romans chapter 12 or heard when I said and quoted it in your hearing, just as we heard when I quoted from Colossians, the word therefore looks back on all that Paul's been writing and now it points forward. Live in light of these things here as Dr. Lloyd-Jones correctly says, quote, the apostle proceeds to make a great appeal to the Ephesian believers and this in order for them to put into operation the things that he has been teaching. Now, that Paul here reminds his readers And us as well, for the second time now in this letter, that he is the prisoner of the Lord reminds us once again what? Well, it reminds us that he's writing from jail, right? This is the fact of the matter. For as you may recall, Ephesians is one of his prison epistles that he penned while he was incarcerated. and this for preaching the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, as I mentioned some months ago when I was preaching back in chapter 3 and verse 1 of this book where Paul uses similar language, it's striking that he calls himself here now in our passage in view the prisoner of the Lord, quite literally the prisoner who belongs to the Lord, a genitive of possession, but not the prisoner of Nero, the prisoner who belongs to the Lord, but not the prisoner of Nero. I mean, it's noteworthy that even while he was in this very difficult situation, he knew nonetheless that he was captive to one, even Christ. Now, I love, I rejoice over this Christ-centeredness about the apostle. Even when things were going bad for him, And why? Well, it's because even while he's locked up in prison, he sees himself nonetheless in a close, warm, spiritual relationship with the Savior. Even in this hard circumstance, He sees Himself forever joined with Him. And this is important for all of you to get here this day, my dear brother and my dear sister. And this is because it reminds you that whatever you might be going through in life, it's never apart from Christ. Never apart from Christ. It's never separated from Him who loves you and gave Himself for you. Therefore, I say in view of this, dear brother, dear sister, you can always take comfort in life, regardless of what might be happening in your world. In view of it, you can rest knowing that come what may, Jesus will be with you and He will see you through all things. Blessed be His name. Well, as Paul goes on, to give us the essence, we could say the core of the heart, the sum of his serious call for Christian unity. He begins next by saying, in the second part of our verse, look at his words with me there in your Bibles. He writes, I beseech, again, I continually urge and exhort you, that is all of you Ephesian believers, to do what? Well, he says to walk, to walk. worthy of the calling with which you were called. Now, mark it down, the word walk here, is important for you to see, to note, as it is a key word in the second half of this letter, which makes perfect sense, because in the outset I said Paul has doctrine in the first three chapters, and after that, practicality. But the word walk here is important for you to note down, as it's a key word in the rest of this book. In fact, negatively speaking, as you probably recall, Paul has already used this word back in chapter two and verse two of this book, When he's speaking there about our non-Christian lives, before we were saved, he said that while we were dead and trespassed in sins, look at it with me there in your Bibles, Ephesians 2 and verse 2, he describes our lives by saying, in that deadness of sin, which you once did what? Well, he says, in which you once walked, there's our word. And how? Well, he says, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, The spirit who now works, or quite literally energizes, works in the sons of disobedience. So again, brethren here this morning, this was our lives before God saved us. This is how you and I used to live. I would praise God no more. Yes, praise God that in his rich mercy toward us, he saved us. And then he totally transformed our lives so that now we are walking in a different way. In a very, very, very different way. Ah, but having said this, When the apostle uses the word walk here in our passage, what exactly is he speaking about? Well, he's speaking about how it is that we who are true Christians are to conduct ourselves. Here, this word walk is being used metaphorically with reference to how it is that we are to live as Christians, how it is that we are conduct ourselves as Christians. And all of this by the grace of God. Now again, the apostle speaks about this throughout this letter. So that, for example, in verse 17 of Ephesians chapter four, he says, look at it with me there in your Bibles, he writes, this I say therefore, and testify or bear witness in the Lord, what? That, the word that giving us the content of what he's gonna say, you should no longer walk, there's our word, That is, you should no longer live and carry yourselves as the rest of the Gentiles walk. That is, unsaved Gentiles. And how do they walk? Well, Paul answers the question, telling us that they do this. Look at the language. The prepositional phrase answering the question. They walk, they live, they conduct themselves in the futility of their mind. In the futility, in the vanity of their mind. And then, just to give you One more example of this, in this regard, he says next, in Ephesians 5 and verse 8, get the words with me there in your Bibles. Ephesians 5 and verse 8 he says, for you were once, what? Darkness. Not in darkness, but darkness itself. But I'll deal with that when I get there eventually. But now he says, in contrast to that, as Christians you are light in the Lord. What's the result? Here it is, walk. What's the command? What's the imperative? Walk. Again, carry yourselves as children of light. Something great and amazing has happened in your life. You've been transformed by the power of God. Walk as children of light. Well, jumping then back to our verse in view, Ephesians 4. Verse one, here is Paul begins his ethical exhortation. Again, transitioning in this book, he begins by speaking about our conduct, our conduct. He speaks about how it is that you and I who are true Christians are to live by the grace of God. Consequently, he says next, look at his words again with me in your Bibles, he says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk, to conduct yourselves, how? Well, he says, worthy, worthy, worthy of the calling with which you were called. And so, what then does this word worthy here mean? Well, quite literally, the Greek word means equal weight. Equal weight. It's a unique word and it means equal weight. So that what? So that what's on one side of the scale is to be equal with that which is on the other side of the scale. And so what does this mean, practically speaking? Well, practically speaking, it carries the idea of one thing being the equivalent to the other thing. Equal. Equal. Thus the point is, brethren, our practice as Christians is to be equivalent to our profession as Christians, you see. Church, the point is, as Christians, you and I are to walk in a manner that is fitting or appropriate or suitable to and in line with the high calling to which we have been called as God's children. Now, having said this, we should ask next, what is the specific calling that Paul says here we were called with. Well, clearly, church, it's the calling that led to our salvation, right? Clearly, it's God's divine, salvific, effectual calling which regenerated us and then made us true believers, which calling we were chosen for. from the foundation of the world, even as Paul speaks of back in chapter one of this book. Oh, dear ones, I say that this is the calling that made us spiritually alive from the dead, being the calling that Paul speaks of in Romans 8 and verse 31, when he wrote there saying, quote, moreover, whom he predestined, what did he do? These he called. He called. And whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. And so, summarily speaking, when the Apostle says here in our passage that you and I who have been saved are to walk worthy of the calling, with which we were called. This means that as believers we are to live consistently with that dignified position that we have as the redeemed sons and daughters of the living God. That's what it means. It means that we are to live in a manner which is commensurate with someone who says, I belong to Jesus and Jesus belongs to me. Ah, but having said this, what is this actually to look like in our lives as the call? In other words, how is this whole matter to manifest itself, especially among ourselves in The church, well, having given us his serious call for Christian unity, Paul answers this question next in the following verses, and we'll consider it secondly under the heading of the specifics in this regard. Here, as he gives us the answer to this question in no uncertain terms concerning how it is that you and I who are Christians ought to walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called, he says that we are to do this first in verse two Not with some lowliness, no, but rather, he says, with all lowliness. With all lowliness. We might say with every lowliness. Which means what? Well quite literally it means with all humility of mind. It means quite literally with a humble mindset. Now brethren, these words before us here, this particular word, it really is the foundation for everything else that Paul will say in the following words. Everything else that he will go on to say. The word lowliness and all that it means. It's the foundation for what follows. And while at this time Romans and Greeks had no word like this in their vocabulary or a corresponding action, this is not to be so for us as God's people. Not to be so. Romans and Greeks would despise this issue of lowliness in someone. It wasn't even in their vocabulary, scholars tell us. It wasn't a corresponding action. But as Christians, it's to be in our vocabulary, and it's to be in our lives. Wasn't part of theirs. But as Christians, Church, you and I are to have a lowliness about us, which grows out of a real sense of our own shortcomings and weaknesses in life, which will therefore not allow us to be full of ourselves, full of pride, being opinionated and arrogant individuals, no, but rather in view of who we understand ourselves to be. Sinners saved by grace, we will be unpretentious people. We will be self-effacing individuals down to earth. People who esteem others even better than ourselves. To use Paul's language in Philippians 2 in verse 3, Oh yes, church, if you and I are going to walk worthy worthy of the calling with which we were called, then we need to have a true humility about us. That's the sense in the word. If we're going to walk in line with our calling, then we need to have a true humility about us which doesn't think less of ourselves, no, but rather it thinks of ourselves less. Ah, but not only is there to be this in us because Paul says next in our verse, look it, he says that there's also to be a gentleness. He says that there's to be a mildness about us. It's a good way to understand the word gentleness. A mildness about us which stands in opposition to what? Well it stands in opposition to a roughness. about us. It stands in opposition to a harshness about us. Can you imagine a true Christian having roughness about them? Harshness about them? No, it's antithetical to their calling. Thus, in essence, Paul says here that there is to be a meekness about us. A meekness. Which is not weakness, no, but rather it's a self-restraint that keeps all aggression and hostility at bay. Our dear one simply stated, I say that as called Christians, there is to be a tenderness about us so that we are like our kind Lord Jesus Christ. who in the only passage in the Bible that describes his heart, he himself describes it in Matthew 11 and verse 29 by saying, I am rough in heart, I am harsh in my inner being. No, no, no, no, no, he says, in the only verse that describes his heart, I am gentle, I am gentle, and I am, quote, lowly in heart. Well, thirdly then, Paul says here that as Christians who are to walk worthy of the high calling with which we have been called, he says we are to do this with long-suffering. With long-suffering. Which means what? Well, it means with patience. Patience. Patience, patience, patience. It means that we are not to be those who easily get frustrated or become impatient or short-fused with the brethren in our church? No. Consequently, this is why Paul goes on next in our passage to say that we are to be long-suffering, how? Well, he says, by bearing, or we could say by forebearing, or we could say by putting up, by putting up with one another. And this not with a grumpy, poor, bad attitude, no. Nor with a cold, distant, loveless type of disposition towards the brethren in this place that barely acknowledges them, no. But rather, the Apostle Paul says that all of this is to be done how? Look at the words. In love. Can you all say it with me? In love. That's the whole climate, the whole realm, the whole sphere for how all of this forebearing with one another is to be done. The prepositional phrase answering the question, how is it to be done? What's the tone? What's the texture? What's the tenor? In love. In love. In love. He says it's to be done en agape, in love, so that regardless of the personalities and the temperaments that we see in others in our church that we might not particularly like always, each one nonetheless is to be shown all goodwill with a resolute commitment to do each one good and to give ourselves sacrificially for them. For that's what the word agape means. Brethren, I say that this is what the word love here is all about in our passage. For, as John Owen, the great Puritan, correctly says, this love is, quote, a fruit of the Spirit of God. And if you've got the Spirit of God in you, it'll come forth from you. In fact, it's the first fruit. This love in our passage is, quote, a fruit of the spirit of God, an effect of faith, whereby believers being knit together by the strongest bonds of affection on account of their interest in the one head Christ and participating of the one Holy Spirit do what? Well, here it is. And here's what all of us need to do with reference to every member in this church. They do delight in, value, and esteem each one and are in, rather, a constant readiness for all those regular duties whereby the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of one another may be promoted. What a great definition of how we exercise agape love in the church, in the church. They're in a constant readiness. for all those regular duties whereby the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of one another may be promoted in the church." Well, in view of this, I must pause to ask each and every one of you here this day who name the name of the Lord, you're here this day, you say, I'm a Christian. I must ask, dear brother, dear sister, do you truly want to walk worthy of the high calling with which you were called by God? I asked, do you really want to keep harmony in this place and not be a source of contention and disunity? Well, here then, brethren, is what you must do. Here is what you must do. Here is how you need to live and treat others in this church by the help and grace of God. And this is because the absence of these things in you will cause great quarrels among us. The absence of these things will lead to great problems in this place, and so I say, may God help us all. May God help us all. May God help each and every one of us. May he himself give us all the strength in this matter to do what he calls us to do, for if you and I are going to walk worthy of the high calling with which we were called, as I trust you all want to do, and if we're going to honor the great name of our God, then these things must be lived out by us. They must. be lived out by us. This is not optional. This is Paul's apostolic directive. Well, as he concludes then, his description of the worthy walk, he urges us with one more trait that brings home the essence of his preceding words. Here, in this climactic sentence, which is a constant biblical, ethical, moral obligation that is laid upon all of us as Christians, Paul says that as believers, we are to be deliberately involved in, look at his words with me in your Bibles, he says first in 3A of this chapter, that we are to be deliberately involved in, conscientiously involved in what? Endeavoring. Endeavoring. Or we could say striving and making every effort to keep, or better translated, to maintain and uphold the unity of the Spirit. Which is to say what? Well, it is to say the unity or the oneness which the Holy Spirit of God has already produced in our hearts if we are true Christians, and this by virtue of us being born again. By virtue of us being new creations in Christ Jesus. For when he saves us, he puts love in our hearts toward our brethren, he puts unity in our hearts towards them as well. Yes, Church, here Paul says quite literally that we are to take great pains. That's the sense in the original. Great pains to zealously do this. And the present active participle highlights to us that this action is to be ongoing. It's to be habitual. He says that we are to strive in this regard. Strive in this regard. Don't be passive, no. He says, be persistent so that we keep guarding and protecting this unity among ourselves that the Holy Ghost has given to us in conversion. And why? Well, again, it's because if we are true Christians, then we already have this unity in us toward the brethren. But you see, church, the apostle here doesn't say that we are to get the unity of the Spirit, no. Rather, he says, we are to keep it. We are to keep it. We are to maintain it. And so this then is what he was urging upon these Ephesian believers and us as well. He called them and us as well to let nothing get in the way of the oneness that they shared. Especially since all of them were coming from such different backgrounds, different places, the Greeks and the Jews, they're bringing all those various things into the church. It's a perfect recipe for destruction. Paul says, no, don't let it be a perfect recipe for destruction. He says, walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, and that'll never be the case among you. They came from different backgrounds, therefore they definitely needed to hear these things if things were going to go well in their midst, just as we need to hear these things if things are going to go well in our midst. Now, it's interesting to note that Paul, who at this time, as I mentioned in the outset of the message, was currently bound in jail, in chains, as the prisoner of the Lord, when he wrote this letter, speaks lastly in our verse, look at it, about us striving to keep the unity that the Holy Ghost produces in us. How? Again, he's bound. Here's how you do it. You do it, quote, in the bond of peace. The bond of peace. So what does he mean by this? Well, What he means is that peace or harmony is to be that bond which binds us together. That's why I take this genitive construction. He means that peace is to be that ligament or glue that keeps us as one in this place all of our days. Therefore, peacefulness among ourselves is to be the clasp to the whole thing. The clasp to the whole thing. Now, of course, as a side note here, having said this, none of this negates the fact that if there's sin in our midst, it needs to be graciously called out and repentance will have to be expressed. For sure, none of this negates any of that. Ah, but beloved brethren here this day, even though this is so, the point is The overall climate in the church is to be one of gospel harmony. It's to be one of gospel peacefulness. And this is because this is exactly what we've been called to. Just as Paul says in Colossians chapter three, you have been called Well, here then, is where we end the exposition of this wonderful turning point in this great and glorious epistle. Here as Paul has transferred and transitioned from belief to behavior, and from doctrine to duty, he's directed our hearts and minds to this whole matter concerning what? Concerning Christian unity, or Holy Spirit-produced oneness among ourselves. And so, having seen all of this, what applications can we take for ourselves, firstly, in this place, who are Christians? For us, for you here this day. who desire to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." Well, there are four things that I want to say. The first is, if this is going to happen in our lives, in the church, then we must inquire much, secondly, we must think much, thirdly, we must pray much, and fourthly, we must attend much. Firstly, we're going to have this beautiful portrait happening among us. In our church, Grace Community Baptist Church, North Providence, Rhode Island, what must we do? Make it practical, pastor. OK, I can do that. Here we go. First thing, we must inquire much. That is, we must regularly ask ourselves, are my attitudes and dispositions towards others in this place promoting unity and love and the bond of peace or not? We must inquire much. Inquire much. Inquire much in our own hearts. Ask ourselves that question. You might want to ask someone else. You could do that. You might want to ask your spouse, honey, are my attitudes and dispositions towards others in the church promoting unity and love and the bond of peace or not? It's a good question. Inquire much. Ask yourself before God in the theater of your own conscience, am I contributing to all of these things or not? But second, we must think much, not just inquire much, either again with ourselves or someone else. We must think much, that is, think much about how much damage we will cause in this church if we are not living as God would have us to live and what great sin that would be. Think much about that. You want your name attached with that sin, with that division? Oh, friends, the Bible says he who destroys the church, God himself will destroy. And so watch it. All of us must watch it, think much about the lack of lowliness and lack of gentleness and all the impatience and how I'm not really loving people according to the Bible, my stink attitude, et cetera. How all those things might be the source of division in the church, think much about it and flee from such things. But not only this, thirdly, we must Pray much, pray much. That is, we must daily look to Jesus for help. Because we all have within us enough remaining sin to bring great shame to God's name in this place. Enough remaining sin. Thank God it's not reigning sin, but it's remaining sin. Even as Bob spoke of recently, it's remaining sin. If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves and the truth, the Aletheia, is not in us. We have sin, we have remaining sin. So we've got to pray, O Lord Jesus Christ, help me with this thing. We've got to pray to Jesus, John 15, verse 5. Why? For He says there, without Me you can do nothing. You can't do these things. I can't do these things. By nature, we're not lowly. By nature, we're not gentle. By nature, we're not long-suffering. By nature, we don't want to bear with one another. We want to say, man, oh man, whatever. I'm done. And walk away. That's not biblical. And you do want to be biblical, right? You do want to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called. So it may not just be something, oh yeah, I want to do that. No, do it by the grace of God and do it by looking to Christ. Lord, I need help in the church in these things. Lord, I need help in my marriage in these things. Lord, I need help across the whole spectrum to do these things. Help me, help me, help me. And then fourthly then, not only must we inquire much and think much and pray much, but we must also now attend much. That is, we must constantly be in this place on the Lord's Day under the Word of God, and this so that God can continue to conform us more and more into the moral image of Jesus Christ, our lovely Lord, who, as you may know, exemplifies all the graces that we've seen today better than anyone else. For indeed, he is full of all lowliness, all gentleness, and all longsuffering. And he certainly puts up with each and every one of us. Thank God for that. Amen. Thank God for that, brethren. Amen. So we attend much under the word of God. We're a church. We hear the Bible preached again, line upon line, precept upon precept. I need the Word of God. There's no shortcuts in the Christian life. God has means of grace. You read your Bible, they gathered on the Lord's Day. So be here, whenever you can, as much as you can, whenever the doors are open, be here. Why? Because you need to be here. I need to be here. That's the Christian life. I need to attend much upon the things of God. Maybe you think you've already arrived, so you don't really need to be here Sunday evenings or early in the morning. Maybe you think you've got this. Friend, you don't have it at all. None of us have it. We haven't arrived. We're all disciples, we're all pupils, we're all learning, we're all being sanctified. And it's in the church where God has ordained that this would happen the most. Well, I end then for today by speaking to anyone here who's not a true Christian. And this by virtue of being born again, because that's what a true Christian is. You've gathered with us here this day. We are delighted to have you. We love having non-Christians here. And so what can I say to you, my dear friend, from our passage, but simply this, if you know anything about your life in truth, With reference to all your lies, your lust, your theft, your blasphemy, your drunkenness, your fornication, your pride, your covetousness, your dishonoring of mother and father, et cetera. If you know just an inkling about your life before the perfect, holy, flawless God of the Bible, then you must know that you're in big trouble with Him. You must know that. Maybe you're here this day because you know that. Maybe conscience is pricking you and you feel guilty before God. You know that you're guilty before Him. Therefore, what must you do this day? Well, you must turn from your life of sin and ask Jesus to rescue you. Children here this day, older folks, teens, whoever you are, turn from your sins and ask Jesus to rescue you from the judgment of God. Do you, because of your sin against Him. You must turn to Christ, owning your sinnerhood before Him. This is what you must do. And as you do, Christ will forgive you. Christ will receive you. And on what basis can He do this? Well, He can do this on the basis that 2,000 years ago in love on Calvary's hill, He willingly stood as the substitute of the guilty with all their sins upon Himself that they committed against God. And there on Calvary's Hill, Jesus was punished for all of our sins in our place. And he made a full and final atonement to God for all of them. He did this for the guilty. He did this for sinners. And so what now? The Bible tells us that everyone who turns from their sins and puts their trust in Jesus' person and work alone for salvation, calling on Him to redeem them. The Bible says they'll be saved. And the word saved simply means rescued, rescued from the judgment of God. They'll be completely forgiven and find great mercy and grace in Him. And so, this then, my dear non-Christian friend, is what you must do This day, even now, even now. Today's the day to own your waywardness before God. Your breaking of His commandments. Your self-centeredness, your pride, all of your sins. Today's the day that you must own those things before God. Confess them to Him. Confess them to Him in Christ. And go to Jesus, the one the Father sent into the world to save sinners, asking Him to cleanse you and to forgive you and to make you a brand new person. Oh, my friend. Come to Christ by faith. He's the willing. He's the living. He's the able Savior who is able to save To the uttermost, all who come to God through Him, turn from your sins and trust in this Christ alone to be your Savior, to be your wonderful Redeemer. Well, let's pray and ask His blessings upon our time. Let's pray together. Our great God, we thank You for Your Word. It is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, O God. But having said that, we pray that it would pierce us this day. May it be that no one here this day walks away unchallenged, unchanged, and even unconverted. O God, Your Word is plain. But as your people, we need help to do what it calls us to do. So Lord Jesus, give us help to be the kind of people you want us to be. Fill us with the Holy Spirit to this end. That this place might be a wonderful place. That it might be a place as it is now, full of gospel, harmony, and grace. And for any here this day, O God, who don't know you in truth, might today be the day of their salvation. Time is near. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. We pray and ask all of these things in Jesus' name alone. Amen.