The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 25, 2008, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I read in your hearing but one verse, and it is this, Nevertheless, that which you have, hold fast till I come. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, your Word is clear, and we pray that as we take the Scriptures into our hands and set its truth before our minds, you would come by the Holy Spirit upon preacher and upon each one seated before you and speak with clarity, speak with power. O Lord, come to us. our hearts thirst to have dealings with you. Do us good for your namesake. Amen. Hold fast that which you have until I come. These words of the risen Savior addressed to the church in Thyatira form the basis and the framework of this last series of sermons that I will preach to you as one of your pastors. I hope it won't be the last series of sermons I ever preach to you. I can be a guest preacher, and I can preach another series of sermons. In fact, I might have to come back to complete this series. This text does form the basis and framework of this closing series of sermons that I'm presently bringing to you, and I've entitled it, Counsel to the Members and Friends of Trinity Baptist Church. Parting words of counsel. And in these messages, I am not taking the time to establish truth by careful, responsible, painstaking exposition, but rather I'm pointing you to truths that have been established, some of them many times, by that kind of exposition and urging you to hold fast to those truths. The first and foundational word of counsel was a two-pronged word, and it was this. by faith and love cling tenaciously to the person of Christ, and out of faith and love obey resolutely the word of Christ. Then the first specific application of that foundational counsel was this, hold fast to your biblical churchmanship. And what will that involve? Well, thus far, I've addressed four things that that will involve. I hope to address seven. I've addressed four, addressed two more this morning, and the final one, God willing, next Lord's Day. I've urged you, in holding fast to your biblical churchmanship, to hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning the unique place of the church in the saving purposes of God. The church is the, not an, but the pillar and ground of the truth. Christ is committed to build only one organism, organization, institution. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Secondly, I've urged you by way of counsel and exhortation to hold fast your conviction and practice regarding the necessity for doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the Church. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And according to Ephesians 2 20, the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, not their persons, but their teaching. Jesus Christ himself in his person and his teaching being the chief cornerstone. Thirdly, I urge you to hold fast to your convictions and practice regarding the maintenance of biblical standards for membership in the church. For admission, the standard ought always to be Acts 247. And the Lord added to them, daily such as should be saved. And our goal ought always to open the doors of the church only to those who give credible evidence of being united to Christ in saving faith. And then in our expectation of those who come into the church Our standard ought always to be passages such as Acts 242. Of the 3,000 that were added, Luke can write, these continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers, the full orbit of church life. They continued steadfastly in all of those facets. And then I've exhorted you in holding fast to biblical standards and practice of church membership, not only with respect to admission, expectations, but retention within the church. Matthew 18, 15 and following makes plain any professed believer who's determined to continue in sin must eventually be placed outside the church. And anyone who falls into gross and grievous and unpenitent moral deviation, 1 Corinthians 5, is to be cast out of the church. And then last Lord's Day, I gave you this counsel. Hold fast to your convictions and practice regarding the worship of God. May you always be a church characterized by worship that is God-centered Bible-dominated, prayer-saturated, and spirit-animated. That you will be a people who read the Bible, sing the Bible, preach the Bible, and pray the Bible. It is that kind of worship that God requires in our hand. Now then, with that review behind us, What I propose to do this morning is to address two more lines of truth that comprise the heart of biblical churchmanship. I've exhorted you, hold fast to your biblical churchmanship. What will that involve? Well, not only the four things already mentioned, but now two more this morning. Here's the fifth. Hold fast your convictions and practice concerning the necessity for upholding biblical standards for the recognition of office bearers and implementing biblical directives for the function of these office bearers. Hold fast your convictions and practice concerning who gets into office as elder or deacon and how those men are to function within the office of elder or deacon. What a thrilling thing it was in our early days. I'm talking about 1967 to be precise. When we as a small group of people, we weren't even a constituted church, I was recognized as a teacher and leader no membership, no elders, no deacons, and we were wrestling with our Bibles about what the Word of God said specifically and clearly about these issues. What is an elder, a pastor, an overseer? What is required for anyone aspiring to that office? How should someone function in that office? What's required of one to be recognized as a deacon? How does a deacon function? Those were thrilling days when some of us for the first time, as I mentioned in my testimony in the previous hour, I had no ecclesiology. Salvation Army doesn't function as a church. They don't try to function as a church. They function like a spiritual army. You call it a corps, not a church. The leader's not a pastor, an elder. He's captain or major or general or whatever else he is. And there is no sense of ecclesiology. I went to two colleges. Because they are interdenominational schools, they took no position on ecclesiology. I can remember in my theology course at Columbia Bible College, when we came to the issue of baptism, we were asked to read so many hours on one side and so many hours in the other and write a paper on which we felt was the more compelling arguments. That was it. No doctrine of the church, whatever. So in those early days, back in 1967, what a thrill it was to say, look, our Bible speaks to these issues, and God is telling us what a deacon is, what an elder is, what is required to enter that office, and what is required to function according to the will of God. So I counsel you, dear people of God, to hold fast to your convictions and practice in these matters that have been hammered out from the word of the living God. First of all, in the standards for recognition. I've said hold fast your conviction and practice concerning the necessity for upholding biblical standards for the recognition of office bearers. What's involved in that? Three things. Gender, character and grace, and proven giftedness. Hold fast to your convictions in these areas. First of all, regarding the gender of office bearers. The Scriptures are clear that redemptive privileges are genderless. Do you hear me? Galatians 3.28, in Christ there is neither male nor female. You are all part of the one new humanity in Christ. You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 3, 31 to 35, Jesus has a group of people gathered around Him, listening to His words, and He says, who is my family? When people come in and say, your family are outside, your mother and your siblings, they're out there, they want to speak to you. Jesus said, who is my family? and looking around at those attached to him in faith and holy desire to hear his word, he says, here is my mother, here are my sisters, here are my brothers. Scriptures are clear that redemptive privileges are genderless. Furthermore, the scriptures are equally clear that there are many ministries and functions in the church open to women, some even especially assigned to women. Titus chapter 2, Paul says, I will that the older women Train the younger women. There is a specific ministry, and this church has in the past two years been made aware of this in a heightened way. And so what I am saying about office and gender must in no way, no way cast a shadow over the full redemptive privileges of every woman. Your justification is as glorious as any man's, your adoption, your reception of the gift of the Spirit, all of your privileges in Christ, and a host of ministries open to you. But the word of God is equally clear that the teaching and governing function of the mixed assembly is to be done by males only. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 12. The Word of God could not speak more clearly to this issue. I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. And with such a clear statement of the mind of God through the apostle concerning behavior in the house of God, you'd say that should be the end of the discussion. But my dear brothers and sisters, tens of thousands, and that's no exaggeration, of pages have been written in the past 25 years Many trying to wiggle out of the clear teaching of this passage and thank God God's raised up some champions to answer them in books that are 500 pages in length. I've waded all the way through one, I'm in the process of wading through another. where feminism, with its horrible, pagan, godless, anti-Christ roots, has infiltrated in the Church, and there are those trying to tell us that this matter of office-bearing in the Church should not be limited to men. And the pressure will come on this assembly. I don't know of it being there yet, but it will come. Mark my word, it will come. And I'm exhorting you in the language of my Savior, hold fast that which you have. A biblical standard for the recognition of office bearers, first of all, with respect to gender. Secondly, with respect to character and to grace. When we read 1 Timothy 3 verses 1-13 where Paul gives the requirements for those who would seek the office of an overseer and those who would be placed in the office of a deacon. The overwhelming emphasis is not upon gift, personal charisma, it is upon Christian character. It is upon a blameless, balanced, matured, proven Christian character, and all of that joined to a disposition of willingness to exercise servant leadership in the house of God. Character and grace stand out far above anything else so that Paul can say if someone desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work, the overseer must be without reproach. No just cause to point the finger and say, how can that man lead with that in his life? And then he goes on with regard to deacons, deacons in like manner. And then he gives the specifics of what constitutes blameless, balanced, matured, and proven Christian character joined to a disposition. of willingness to exercise servant leadership, to be like their Lord who said, I am among you as he that serves. The one who could say, you call me master and Lord, and so I am. Our Lord was conscious of his unique place of leadership, but he fulfilled it and discharged it with the spirit of a servant. And you, as God's people, must look for these things in character and grace and disposition in those that you place in office. And then thirdly, proven giftedness. 1 Timothy 3 says, of those who would be pastors, they must be apt to teach. One Greek word, an apt teacher. And ability to take a block of God's truth and to lay it out clearly and convincingly so that you are instructed. In Titus 1, the language is this, he must be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine and to refute the gainsayers, an ability to handle the Word of God in such a way as to shut the mouths of those who oppose the truth and to instruct and build up the people of God in that truth. And then in regard to deacons, 1 Timothy 3.10 says, let deacons first be proved. Proved as to what? a disposition of servanthood, some capacity that will enable them to serve in fulfilling the requirement and function of the diaconal office. So I say to you, dear people of God, Hold fast to your convictions and your practice concerning the necessity for upholding biblical standards for the recognition of office bearers, but also in the implementing of biblical directives for the function of these men in those offices. And what is the biblical standard for function? God uses a number of words for pastors. He calls them elders. He calls them shepherds. He calls them overseers. He calls them governors. They are, in the language of 1 Timothy 5, to shepherd the flock of God which is among them. Not with carnal, weight-throwing authoritarianism, Peter says, exercise oversight, not as lording it over, that is, in an oppressive, authoritative demeanor, but making yourself examples to the flock. We do not lead just by example. No, he says shepherd. Shepherds go out ahead of the sheep. They mark out the path for the sheep. They are aggressive in protecting and preserving the sheep, in guiding the sheep, putting a crook around the neck of a straying sheep. This idea that there's no element of authority, no element of holy aggressiveness is nonsense. We're shepherds. We're to shepherd the flock of God, Acts 20 and verse 28. We are to rule, Hebrews 13, 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them. For they watch for your souls as those that shall give an account that they may do this. That is, that they may exercise their rule with joy and not with grief. For this were unprofitable to you. They are to take care of the Church of God, 1 Timothy chapter 3. If a man rule not well his own house in the requirements of character, how shall he take care of the Church of God? He's to be like the head of a household, aware of the conduct of the various children, aware of what's going on in the life of the family of God. In short, pastors, elders, rulers, overseers, they are to administer the rule of Christ by the word of Christ with the disposition of Christ. That's what God says. And again, I go back to those early days when coming out of that denomination where there was no real biblical awareness of the function of an elder, we bent over our Bibles and I had the joy of expounding the passages from which I've quoted and to see the people rising to this saying, yes, this is what we desire. Deacons, they are to serve. They that serve well as deacons. The diaconate, as Mr. Driese reminded us on Friday night in our gathering in the school, is not a ruling office, it is a serving office. The deacons exist to free the pastors for their distinctive labor. Acts 6 and verse 4, they are to be the hands of Christ reaching out to the needy among the sheep of Christ in cooperation with and in submission to the overseers. And dear people, listen to me, listen to me. When we had hammered out those standards both for admission to the office and function, God put us to the test. There was one man who, in the previous denominational framework, had served as an elder for years. But when we came to 1 Timothy 3, we found these words, no brawler, no striker, but gentle, not contentious. It was proverbial that this man was a striker, not with his fist, but with his tongue. He loved a verbal fight. He was a brawler. He was a striker. He was contentious. And when the congregation was asked to express its mind concerning men that should be put forward for the office of an elder, I remember praying. I said, Lord, it's crunch time. It's crunch time. The people have been instructed. This man expects he will be put forward. He's always been in a place of leadership, but oh God, give your people the grace to be biblical. God answered prayer. That man was bypassed. Within a few months, he left the church and we never saw him again. His nose was bent because there was a group of people determined to be obedient to the Bible. Then there was another precious man who had served as an elder by the name of Frank Nixon, whose godly character eminently qualified him to be both an elder and a deacon. But when Frank saw and the people saw that he had no gift of aptitude to teach, he was terrified to even lead in prayer in a prayer meeting. He was bypassed as an elder. but recognized to serve as a deacon. Dear people, when I preach this stuff, I'm not giving theory. This is your heritage in Trinity Church. This is your heritage. People taking this book seriously. Seriously. Hold fast that which you have to become. Hold fast. Hold fast to your convictions and practice regarding biblical standards for the recognition of office bearers and the implementing of their function in the life of the church. A little more history. In those early days, to make sure we were doing this, We had a monthly joint elders and deacons meeting. Pastor Dixon and I were recognized as elders, and there were, I think, three men recognized as deacons. So when we were trying to get this all worked out, we had a monthly meeting. And we'd sit there and say, no, no, no, that's your job as elders. No, no, that's your job as deacons. Working through, seeking to follow the tracks of our Bible. That's why I feel these things so deeply. I cannot forget those hours seated around a table with an open Bible, seeking to be sure that all of the contours of our life as the people of God were shaped by the Scriptures. I had one man, when I discovered 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that God had actually given us a standard for elders. I went to him. He had been a mentor to me in a number of areas. And I said, so-and-so, isn't it true? And God's told us, here's the standard. We don't need to be out on the sea of subjectivism. Now, Al, be careful. If you take that literally, you're never going to have any elders. That's the ideal. but don't expect it to be worked out. I said to myself before God, if there aren't men who meet the standard, we'll go without elders before we lower the standard of the Word of God. So that's my first, but number five in the series of my counsels and exhortations, hold fast your conviction and your practice concerning the necessity for upholding biblical standards for the recognition of office bearers and implementing biblical directives for their function in that office. Then I come, number two, for this morning, hold fast to your convictions and practice regarding the ministries you are to perform to one another and to the entire church in its corporate ministries. Hold fast to your convictions and your practice concerning the ministries you are to perform to one another and to the entire church in its corporate ministries. The church in the New Testament is called a family, the household of God. It's also called a body with functioning members with Jesus Christ as the head. And if you were to take a concordance, as I have done, and look up the words one another, you would find more than three dozen references to the one-anothering privileges and duties we sustain to each other. More than three dozen. And in the light of this, many of you who have been here over the years will recognize these words. I have said again and again, Trinity Baptist Church is not a mere preaching station. It is not a platform for Albert N. Martin and others to exercise their gifts of preaching and teaching the Word of God. That's not who we are. People on the outside think, many, that that's what we are. This is a preaching station where A. N. Martin exercises his gift along with other gifted men. No, you have heard me. carefully, repeatedly expounds such passages as 1 Peter 4, 11, 4, 10, I'm sorry, according as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. You've heard me quote and expound Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 15 and 16 where in the imagery of a body Paul says, speaking truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head even Christ from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies according to the working in due measure of each several part makes the increase of the body to the building up of itself in love. We are not a preaching station. We're a family. We're a household of God. We're a body. And we have these manifold one-anothering privileges and responsibilities. And I want to highlight several of them. Calling you to hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning these ministries, you are to perform to one another and to the church in its corporate responsibilities. What are they? Can you think of the one that's at the head of the list? John 13, 34, 35. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." We're commanded not to feel love, but to love. Love is doing. Love is 1 Corinthians 13, in action. And when you read 1 Corinthians 13, we're told what love does, what love does not do, and when it says love bears all things, that means you're going to do things that demand I bear with them, and I'm going to do things that demand you bear with me. Love haunts not itself, is not puffed up, seeks not its own, is not provoked. Well, you're going to do things that would, left to myself, provoke me. But when I will to love, I will not allow myself to be provoked. Peter says, have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover a multitude, not just of peccadilloes and weaknesses and quirks. It says love covers a multitude of hamartia, of sins. of violations of the law of God that don't warrant rebuke and reproof or church discipline. And so you and I have this privilege of exercising fervent love after the pattern of Him whose love took Him all the way to a cross, held Him to that cross during those frightful hours when the heavens were shrouded in blackness. And when the fury of the wrath of God was funneled upon his head, until he cried, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus said, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. He loved us, Paul says, and gave himself up for us. Gave up himself to what? To the fury and the wrath of his father. And so we are called upon to have the love that bears all things, believes all things, that hopes all things. Furthermore, we are told to engage in mutual exhortation and admonition. Hebrews 3.12, Exhort one another while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The writer realizes that my own sin may deceive me, but it hasn't deceived you, and you see it, and when you do, what are you to do? You're to lovingly exhort me, my brother. Are you aware of that? Are you conscious that? I am concerned for you. This is a responsibility. 1 Thessalonians 4.18, where for comfort, the Greek word is exhort. Draw alongside comfort one another with these words. Exhortation is not just pointing out fault and sin and calling to repentance. It's words of encouragement. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 19 or 14, admonish the disorderly. He's writing to all of the brethren. When someone is stepping out of order from the norms of Scripture, we're to admonish them. One of the marks of spiritual maturity, according to Romans 15, 14, Paul says, I am persuaded of you. You are full of goodness, full of knowledge, able to admonish one another, to point out one another's faults, to call one another back into the way of righteousness. My brothers and sisters, though pastors, have an official admonishing responsibility, 1 Thessalonians 5, know them that are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and esteem them highly in love for their work's sake, you have a distinctive responsibility to admonish one another. This is God's means of keeping the body healthy as the members of the body minister to one another in mutual exhortation and admonition. And then we are to engage in mutual benevolence. Proverbs 3, 27 and 8, withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Say not unto your neighbor, go, come again. Tomorrow I will give it. when you have it by you? 1 John 3.16 If you see your brother have need, and shut up the bowels of your compassion, how dwells the love of God in you? Let us not love in word only, but in deed and truth. And so I admonish you, hold fast to your convictions and your practice in this area, which as a church has been exemplary over the years. And then there's mutual burden, Barry. Galatians 6, to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, putting our spiritual shoulder under the burden of a brother or sister. Mutual empathy, Romans 12, 15. How often has this been quoted in our prayer meetings? Weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Mutual confession of sin, James 5.16, confess your sins one to another, pray one for another. This is a biblical duty. And I have sought to set the example from this pulpit, confessing my sins to you when it was necessary, when I've had pulpit sins and speech sins, to acknowledge my sins and to seek your forgiveness. And then, above all, mutual intercession, Ephesians 6, 18, above all, Paul says, with prayer and supplication for all of the saints. Dear people, that's just a sampling of the 36 plus one another in passages. And I am saying to you as my parting words, hold fast to your convictions and practice concerning these ministries you are to perform to one another and also to the entire church in its corporate ministries. I'm speaking of those situations that demand the involvement of the whole body functioning like a well-coordinated athlete in accomplishing a common task of the church. This past Friday night was one of the most beautiful expressions of that that I've seen in all my years among you. At one point I stood by my chair and I just looked out And if I could have performed a miracle and extended my arms, each of them about 150 feet, I would have wrapped it around all of you and drawn you to my breast. There were the young men and women, white shirts, black skirts or slacks. The young men with their white shirts and their black trousers, serving cheerfully, joyfully. Others standing behind the serving tables. Pastor Smith leading with dignity and grace. Behind the scenes, Pastor Carlson organizing. If ever I saw Trinity Church functioning as a body, it was Friday night. That doesn't just happen. You don't come in and say, oh, we're going to have an affair. No, no, no, no. That was a manifestation of who you are. You're not a preaching center. You're a body. You're a family. And how beautifully you expressed that on Friday night. And my parting words are, hold fast both to the convictions and to the practice that enable you to function in that way. Year after year in the pastor's conference, the whole church gets mobilized to serve these men and men of God who come weary and battered and often discouraged. They return with fresh vigor and nerve and courage. Why? You've ministered to them as a body. You still going to have the pastor's conference even though you relocate pastor? Yes. as long as the leadership and this church as a body and the men who come will be having a pastor's conference. And God willing, I'll be a part of it. Last year, during one of the workshops, I told the men that I would be relocating, and I said, brethren, I want to know how many of you feel this pastor's conference meets needs that no other conference meets. And you would like to see it continue. Almost all the hands shot up spontaneously. I then said, I'm making a pledge that when I make out my yearly calendar, those dates in October will have first priority. You have a ministry as a body. It's not my conference without you. There'd be no such conference. The retreats. How can I ever forget when for two years Three evenings a week, meals were brought to my door during those most difficult times when Marilyn was fighting her losing battle with cancer. How can I forget it? It was the church functioning as a body. I counsel you, dear people of God, hold fast. Hold fast to those convictions. They should not change because I relocate to Michigan. What verse in the Bible is going to be rewritten? Not a one of them. The convictions are rooted in the Scriptures. Hold fast that which you have until He comes. So, we come around full circle in these, my parting words of counsel to you. as you cling tenaciously to the person of Christ in faith and love. And as out of that faith and love you seek to obey resolutely the word of Christ, hold fast to your biblical churchmanship. Have you got the six points? You got them? I'm going to work this week on trying to reduce them to some cute little acrostic. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I hope you've got the substance of it. Hold fast to your convictions and your practice concerning the unique place of the church in the purpose of God, concerning the necessity of doctrinal purity and unity in the life and ministry of the church. Hold fast to those things pertaining the membership of the church. the worship of the church, officers in the church, and the mutual ministries God calls us to exercise to one another. Now, I have in my notes two final words of application. We've got some of you sitting here who are living in a common law relationship. Did you know that? You know what a common law relationship is? When a man and a woman agree to live together as husband and wife, but take no marriage vows, make no commitments. Any given day, he can say, well there sweetie, been nice living with you, enjoying you as a wife, but I'm out of here. Any given day, she can say the same. That's what a common law relationship is. People living as husband and wife, but no commitments. I'm speaking to some of you. You have a common law relationship to this church, and that's abnormal. If you find its ministry refreshing to your soul, and you find its people a delight to your heart, then what keeps you from getting married? What keeps you from saying, look, I want to be a part I want to make the commitments of heart and of will so that when the going gets rough, I can't opt out on a whim. I'll have to work through the tension with a brother or sister. I can't run away from it. I'm committed. I would challenge some of you to go to your Bibles and see if the Bible anywhere recognizes as a Christian the person who's not committed. to Christ's church. I'm just throwing out your challenge. Go to your Bible. Don't go out of here mad and go to a preacher and say you don't belong to Trinity Church. I didn't say that. Don't react emotionally. Listen to what I'm saying. Go to your Bible with this question. Does the Bible recognize anywhere a person as a Christian was not a part of Christ's church. Well, what about the thief on the cross? Yes, he is an exception. What about the Ethiopian eunuch? Well, we don't know what happened when he got home. Any more? You've run out of examples. You've run out. When you read the book of Acts, The Lord added to them such as were being saved. Those being saved were added. Being added to Christ meant being added to his church. Read the letters of the New Testament. Who were they sent to? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to everyone and anyone out in the Ephesian area that claims to be a Christian? No! To the churches! Nobody got these apostolic letters but those who were part of the churches. So I challenge you, who are living in a common law relationship, why are you in that common law relationship? If you love Christ, you love His truth, you love His servants, love His people, those are marks that you're in Christ. By this we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And if you're in Christ, you ought to be found in His church, delightfully committed to its ministry, to its discipline, to its life. And then I say to you who are not converted, the church is not your Savior. And though I've been preaching about the church and what it means to maintain and cling to biblical churchmanship, The church is not your savior. You've got to get into Christ and then you come into his church. It's an imperfect but a blessed fellowship of the saints. How can I ever measure the enrichment that has come to my life from you, the people of God in this assembly? So I plead with you, if you are not in Christ, why not? He's been set before you from this pulpit times without number. We've tried to lift him up in his loveliness, in his compassion for sinners, in his sincere offers of himself and of his salvation. We've tried to terrify and frighten you with the biblical language of judgment and hell. And I make no apologies for that. For the scripture says, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Get into Christ, then come into his church and into this happy fellowship of those who love him and want to please him. Hold fast that which you have until he comes. Those words were spoken to a church in what is now the land of Turkey. There's no church there now. Somebody didn't hold fast. Somebody didn't hold fast. They let this go and that go and that go until finally Christ said, I'm going. But that's his threat. To the churches there in Asia Minor, if you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand. The lampstand is gone. Dear people, it could be gone from this spot in Montville unless you hold fast that which you have until he comes. Let's pray. Holy Father, how we thank you for your word, that word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And how we pray that you will take that word that we have sought to lay before your people this morning and make it effectual for years, even for generations to come. Oh, God, do it for the praise of the glory of your grace, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.