Dear new professing members and dear congregation, how can we be wholly happy church members? That's the question that I want to address with you this morning from the Word of God. God's recipe for a wholly happy church membership. Holiness reaps happiness. You never get to be happy by looking for happiness and therefore becoming holy, but you get happiness. Through obeying God, being holy, walking in his ways, hence the order of the title of this sermon, God's recipe for a holy, happy, church membership. The words of our text you can find in Psalm 37, 3-7. And I'll read again only the opening words of verses 3, 4, 5, and 7. Trust in the Lord. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Rest in the Lord. So with God's help, our theme then is God's recipe for a holy, happy church member. I mean, you will see first that that member trusts in the Lord. Second, delights in the Lord. Third, commits his or her way to the Lord. And fourth, rests in the Lord. Trust, delight, commit and rest. Trust in the Lord. What a wonderful beginning to our text this morning. This is foundational for all of life, for church membership as well. Trust in the Lord. Everything that this text says this morning, including this, Applies not only to these new members, new professing members, but applies to every one of us. And would to God that this morning. As we hear this wonderful material that every one of us would renew our vows with zeal and joy. Trust in the Lord, are we doing that, dear congregation? Dear member of the Church of Jesus Christ, is every one of us leaning on the Lord, depending on the Lord, looking to the Lord, trusting the Lord for every blessing? Now, this means, of course, by way of negation, that we are not to trust in anything else. Isn't that right? We are not to trust in ourselves. We are not to trust in our own gifts. We are not to trust in what we've accumulated. We're not to trust in our riches or our abilities. We are to trust in the riches of God's grace. That he supplies gloriously in Christ Jesus, we heard moments ago. In other words, we're to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he is and all that he does. In his person. In his work. That's where we are to go. That's what we are to do. To believe in Him alone for salvation. And to trust in Him alone for daily provision. And so every day, dear class, every day, we are to be going to Him. We believe this is the foundational doctrine of this church. Because we're a Reformed church. We believe in justification by faith alone. We trust only in the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't ever think about trusting in anything else. For your salvation, for the foundation of your life, don't trust in your repentance, don't trust in your tears, don't trust in your spiritual or moral works, don't trust in the covenant works, trust only in Jesus Christ, in the God of the covenant of grace. Faith pins all its hopes on this glorious Savior, this glorious triune, covenant-keeping God in Jesus Christ. Don't you dare, don't dare look anywhere else or lean anywhere else. It's all in vain. Trust in the Lord. You can't be holy You can't be happy putting your trust anywhere else. But notice, trust in the Lord is in all that the psalmist says, he says, trust in the Lord and do good. And do good. Some people act like the Christian faith is nothing more than believing in Jesus, and then that's all there is to it, trust in the Lord, and then I'll go my own way and do what I want to do. Well, that's the furthest thing from the truth. The Bible presents a whole soul, a whole life Christianity that involves head and heart and hands and do good. The end is a connecting and. Faith is actively obedient, those that trust in the Lord will go out and do good. And that is your calling as new professing church members. Not just to come to church, which is wonderful and receiving and come prayerfully, please come expectantly, please come prayerfully praying for the minister, praying for the church, praying for your own soul, please. But more than that. Come and do good. Come not only to receive, but come to give. Give as instruments of good. Console the afflicted, relieve the widow, remember the poor, befriend the outcast, reach out to those in need, show an evangelistic heart. To others. Remember what James said, pure religion and undefiled before God and the father is this to visit the father and the widows in their affliction, the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. That's your calling, dear professing members. And that is true, not only for you personally, it's true for your future. One day, most of you, if not all of you, will be married. God willing, most of you probably will have children. That's true in your relationship in the home to your family, even now, but true also with future family members, you must be instruments of good. People must be able to look at you as as teenagers or as young adults or your brothers, your sisters, your parents and one day your own family, your spouse, your children must be able to look at you and say. You not only trust in God. But you do good. You live a Christlike life. There are fruits of righteousness to be found in your life. So in other words, whenever we're justified, we also must be sanctified. Wherever there's faith, there must be good works. The one is the inevitable outgrowth of the other. You can't be saved by God, trusting in Christ alone and find all your life in Christ and not bear fruit and not do good. Now, the world speaks about doing good in an entirely different way, of course, you know, than the Christian does. The world sees good as only something externally good. But when the Bible speaks of doing good, it means, yes, works that are tangibly good, but those also have a good root. That is, they're done for the glory of God. They're done out of faith. They're done according to the spirit of the law to love God above all my neighbors, myself. These are good. things, and God alone can give you grace to do that. You really can't do good until you're in Christ, trusting in Him. The trust must come first before you can truly obey to do good from the heart. Trust and obey. There is no other way, said a poet. And then, says the psalmist, thou shalt dwell in the land and be fed. You see, When we live lives that are trusting in Christ and doing good out of that trust, being sanctified out of our justification, then we shall dwell in the land and be fed. Then the Lord will, in other words, take care of us. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you. That's the point here, you see. Then thou shalt dwell in the land and be fed. God will take care of those who take care of others, not only outwardly, but also spiritually. And then you will dwell internally in that land that flows with milk and honey, the Canaan of God's glorious covenant. And so, young people. I want to say this to you this morning. You're making confession. It's not just an individualistic thing this morning. It's not just you making confession. You're making confession for the whole church. You're part of this family by your own conscious decision. Now, you're taking over the vow, the baptismal vow your parents made for you some 17 to 20 years ago. You're taking that over now and you're saying, I stand upon that same vow. I assume the responsibilities of that vow. And so this isn't just about me. This is about God. This is about God's church. This is about God's glory. This is about service. This is about serving others. This is about doing good. That's why we asked you in front of the elders, what ministry in the church do you want to serve in? Because membership isn't just about Receiving, it's about giving. That's true for every one of us. That's why we get very concerned when we have church members who don't participate in any ministry. It bothers us because. Belonging to the bride of Jesus Christ is a give and take. You can't be married to someone and have it all be a one sided relationship, can you? It's got to be. My dad used to put it this way, a two way street, a good marriage is a two way street, a good church membership relationship is a two way street. You're giving, you're receiving, you're contributing as well as drinking in. Do good. And you shall be fed. But now there's one warning here that we must give the obedience, the doing good, the sanctification. Which must flow out of our trusting, out of our justification. There is no merit, just as there's no merit in faith because it's all in Christ, so there's no merit in our doing good because that too is by grace. That's why the Belgic Confession says so beautifully. God is not beholden, God is not obliged to us for the good works that we do, but we to him because he gives us the grace to do it. So your obedience neither contributes nor adds anything to your justification. It doesn't bring your salvation. It proves your salvation. It evidences your salvation. But it's never the foundation of your salvation. That's only the blood of Jesus. Not what my hands have done can cleanse my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee, can rid me of this dark unrest and set my spirit free." The poet says, or as Augustus Toplady wrote, simply, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. So we're duty bound to live in obedience, but it would prove to be our utter ruin if we lived on our obedience. Our best obedience, our best doing good is not even worthy of a thank you from God because we're just. Unprofitable servants. Only returning. A drop in the bucket compared to what God has given us in Jesus Christ. And even then, our best works are imperfect and are stained with sin. And so it's totally God's righteousness. That is the foundation of our salvation, but as we do good and live out of that, you see, we know the joy of service, we know. From holiness, the bridge to happiness, and we find that contributing in the church And in the ministries of the church and beyond the ministries of the church to our neighbors and our associates at work and wherever we move in God's providence in this world, we find a true joy. And we get fed. We live in the land and we are fed. Not just with earthly bread and drink, but with inward joy. holiness reaps happiness, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey, says the poet. So this is the first. Ingredient in God's recipe, a foundational ingredient in God's recipe for holy, happy church membership, trust in the Lord and do good. The second ingredient in that recipe of true. Happy, holy church membership is delight thyself, delight thyself in Christ, of course, in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. True church members are people who purposely, consciously, By the grace of the Holy Spirit, make God the great object, the supreme object of their joy and their love. In the original Hebrew, you know what it actually says, take exquisite delight. Get the greatest joy of your life. In the Lord. Give God your first, your best, your chief, regards. Look to him as the greatest source of all, all blessedness is the fountain of every blessing. And meditate. Your private time every day with God, but also throughout the day, meditate on his blessed character, his blessed perfection, delight in him, delight in his word, delight in prayer, delight in communing with his people, delight in Bible reading, delight in the means of grace, Seek grace to get your joy, your deepest springs of joy in the Lord. Now, that's a challenge. That's a challenge in a computerized world. That's a challenge in a world where everything is hankering after you. Get your joy here. Get your joy there. You've got to do this. You've got to be aware of this. You've got to buy this. There's so many things for you young people to do. It's unbelievable. But I say to you this morning in love. The chief end of man, Westminster Divine's got it right. Is still today. More than 350 years after they wrote it. Yes, in all ages. From Adam to the end of the world. The chief and the man is to glorify God and to enjoy him. Forever. May I ask you this morning, are you enjoying God in Jesus Christ? Can you say with Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Are you delighting in God? You see, when you delight in God supremely, Then you can delight in other relationships out of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can delight in the things you do out of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when God is supreme. Then everything falls into right place. Seek first the kingdom of God, seek first God and his righteousness, all the other things shall be added to you. That's the beautiful thing about a person who delights in God. You see, he's got stability in his life. He can then enjoy. He doesn't put all his marbles in one basket, in one person or in one job or in one thing. No, everything is grounded in God. And so there's room, there's strength, there's a reservoir to withstand disappointments because my deepest joy is in God. And no matter what happens to me, that doesn't change. delight yourself in the Lord. There you find strength. There you find a stable life. There you find true holiness and true happiness. To delight in God is the most joyful thing in all the world. When you rejoice in God, then what happens, young people, is no matter what happens to you, your greatest joy overcomes. That sorrow. Then you are strong in your own weakness. Strong to handle whatever comes your way. Delight thyself in the Lord. Where does that delight come from? Well, it comes from the Spirit of God. He's able and He's willing to give it to you. You don't have it of yourself. It comes from God's grace. It comes from a clear conscience. It comes from a holy and frequent familiarity with God, comes from a close life with God. It comes from looking back at God's past mercies and looking forward to future hopes of glory. It comes from a God oriented life past, present, future. Don't delight in sin. Don't delight in carnality. Delight in God. You see, it's sort of like a teeter-totter. When one side goes down, the other side goes up. When you start finding your delight in sin, your delight in God will go down. When you persist in low levels of obedience, you will persist in high levels of carnality. And you will have low levels of delight. It's inevitable. So please, Don't let Satan influence you, don't let the world influence you, don't let your own flesh influence you. God must be number one. And it must stay that way. And then notice the amazing, the amazing result, if you delight in God, he, verse four says, shall give thee the desires of unheard. Isn't that amazing? Here we're talking about putting all the desire in God and God says, as you put all your desire in me and your delight in me, I'll give you the desires of your heart. You see, true happiness doesn't come from looking for happiness in myself, I've got to be happy first and then I'll serve God. No, that's not the way it works. It's not the way God made us. God says you delight in me and I'll give you the desires of your heart. God's got to be number one. Well, you'll never be happy. Remember the story I told you in confession of faith class, I've said it from the pulpit as well. My dad took me out on the carpentry job for the first day and said, there's a hammer and there's a saw. You don't ever try to nail home that nail with a saw and don't ever try to cut that board with a hammer. I said, well, I know, I know all that, dad. Of course I know that. Well, I said, I'm telling you that because. That's the way to live. You don't. Try to live a life. Of glorifying God. By serving yourself. When you serve yourself, it's like trying to it's like trying to nail home a nail with a saw, it's like trying to cut a board with a hammer doesn't work. Because God didn't make us that way. God made us for service. God made us to delight ourselves in God. That's why we were put on this earth, to glorify God. And as soon as you don't glorify God, we're missing the purpose for why we're here on earth. You can be successful everywhere else. But if you don't delight in God, your whole life is a failure. Delight yourself in God. He'll give you the desires of your heart, the desire to have real relationship with Him, the desire to have real relationship with others. Delighting God, He'll give you the desire of being conformed to His image. He'll give you the desire of being separated from worldly things. He'll sprinkle the blood of Jesus Christ with power upon your conscience. You'll find your joy in Him. You'll find your peace in Him. His love will be shed abroad in your hearts. That will give you joy and energy to serve others and you'll have a life of joyful service, holiness. will reap happiness as a faithful church member who delights in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the third ingredient of this recipe is commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust in Him. He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. Commit thy way actually means, in the original Hebrew, something very interesting. The literal meaning is roll over. Roll over your way unto God. What in the world does that mean? Well, it means that you are to take the whole burden of life, all your cares, all your needs, and you're to roll it upon Jehovah. Martin Luther used to say this. He said, I feel like I have the whole Reformation with all its cares on my shoulders. And at night when I go to bed, I bow my knees and I say, Lord, I'm getting out of harness now because I need some sleep and I'm going to roll over all those cares unto thee. And in the morning, I'll get back in harness again. But you see, he had a place to go with his pairs. And when you commit your way to the Lord, you roll everything over onto him. Your providential future you roll onto him. Many of you don't know who you're going to marry. You don't know what kind of job you're going to do. You don't even know if you're going to have children one day. There's so many things you don't know. You don't know if you're going to get cancer or have heart attack. There's so much you don't know. Roll over your future onto God. As a child commits himself to a father, so commit yourselves to God in perplexing ways, in depressing ways, in crooked ways, in mountainous ways. Commit yourself. Unto God. In every providential way, but especially in every spiritual way, trust him with the care of your soul, he'll manage your soul rightly roll over your soul upon him. He'll take care of you. He shall bring it to pass, says our text. So don't ask for your ways, but ask for his way. Whatever his way will be, that will be the best way for you. Horatius Bonar says it so beautifully. Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be. Lead me by thy own right hand. Choose out the path for me. Smooth let it be or rough. It will still be the best. Winding or straight, it matters not. It leads me to thy rest. I dare not choose my lot. I would not if I might. But choose thou for me, O my God, so shall I walk aright. Take thou my cup, and it with joy or sorrow fill, as ever best to thee may seem, choose thou my good and ill." What a beautiful way to live. Then you can roll everything over. unto God, and He shall bring forth thy righteousness. He will vindicate you. He will bring it to the light. He'll bring it to the light, and thy judgment is the noonday. No shade of reproach will remain upon you when you live a life of rolling everything over unto the Lord. Oh, the final ingredient of this wonderful recipe of a holy, happy church member is to rest in the Lord. But we'll look at that after we sing. Psalter 84, I graciously will teach thee the way that thou shalt go. 84, those stanzas. ♪ And with my God above me, I counsel them below ♪ ♪ To think me not unruly, or slow to understand ♪ be the first of buildings to be my rightful head. The Charles of Orient, in the first O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Ingredient number four in this divine recipe is rest. Rest in the Lord. and wait patiently for Him. Literally, in the Hebrew, be silent to the Lord. Be silent to the Lord. Not with a begrudging, fatalistic silence, but with a submissive silence. To be silent and submissive before the Lord is a great gift. You really want to be holy? Be silent before the Lord. You really want to be happy? Be submissive to the Lord. How can I be submissive to the Lord? What does it mean to be submissive to the Lord? Well, it means it means four things. It means, first of all, to acknowledge the Lord whenever he comes with anything that seems to cross your path. Acknowledge it is the Lord. It is the Lord. Secondly, it means to justify the Lord. When things don't go your way, it means to say it's right, Lord, I'm a sinner, I don't deserve. I don't deserve anything but trial, I don't deserve anything really, but death and hell justify it. Thirdly, true submission approves the Lord. It says it's not only right, it's not only is the Lord, it's not only right what he does, but it's well. Because I trust him with my soul more than I trust myself, so I know everything is well, whatever the Lord does. It's one thing to say the Lord has taken it to bow under, it's another thing to say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And then fourthly, true submission cleaves to the Lord. Cleaves to him as my greatest friend, even when he seems to come against me as my greatest enemy, it casts myself upon him. True resting in the Lord is not passive. It's active, it's prayerful, it's clinging, it's cleaving, it's saying, I won't let thee go, Lord. If I perish, I perish, but I will perish at thy feet. Lord, thou dost shut the door on me. Shut the front door on me. I'll come around and come through the back door. I can't be away from Thee. That's true resting. True waiting. True submission. Clings and clings to the Lord. It acknowledges Him. It justifies Him. It approves Him. And it clings to Him. What a sweet, holy, happy life that is. And we can wait in holy patience for God to clear up providential difficulties. and believe that God is never too early and never too late. What a holy, happy life it is when we don't go in front of God and yet don't linger far behind Him. What a holy, happy life it is when we surrender and roll over everything onto Him and then follow Him and cling to Him and won't let Him go until He blesses us. You see, that takes away all the anxiety, doesn't it, for the unknown future, because we know that whatever God does is well and right and best. Well, you say that's a lot easier said than done. Oh, I agree with you there. But the beautiful thing is that the Holy Spirit. Can work that frame of mind in us. And if you're a believer, you know exactly what I mean. You've been in difficulties. They've overwhelmed you. You've been full of angst inside, anxiety, and you don't know where to turn and you went on your knees or you read something or you heard a sermon. And the Holy Spirit came in with it and you bowed under the Lord and you rested in the Lord and not a single detail of those circumstances changed, but you changed. And suddenly all the angst was gone. And you had a peace that passes all understanding. And you rejoiced. You rejoiced so much that you wouldn't even change the difficult circumstances at that particular moment, if you could. And you cried out then with the psalmist, It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Dear professing members, dear congregation, what kind of church members are you? Are you part of God's recipe? Have you tasted the sweetness of his recipe for holy, happy church membership? Are you trusting in the Lord? Are you delighting in him? Are you rolling over your way upon Him? Are you resting in Him? You need all four. All four of these ingredients. Some people just talk about, well, if you just delight in the Lord, that's all you need. Just join the Lord. No, no. The Bible says you need all four. You moms, you know what it's like to make a recipe of something. And you throw in this ingredient. You throw in that ingredient. And you throw in another thing. You cook it or you bake it and you present it to your family and there's something missing. And you say, oh, no, I forgot the salt or I forgot the whatever. Something's missing and it tastes bad. You see, if you leave out any one of these four. Something serious will be missing in your life. And you won't be a holy, happy church member. So lay these four things before you. Delight, commit, trust, rest, examine your own heart. And ask the Holy Spirit for this fourfold grace. So that you, too, might be a truly holy, happy, church member serving the Lord in spirit and in truth. Amen.