First, I'll have you at Luke six and 27, the book of Luke, the gospel according to St. Luke. I'll just have you to pinpoint yourself there. Excuse me. Verse 27, actually, but let's open with a word of prayer. Father, thank you. Oh God, for your great love that you had for us in dying for our sins. Thank you, Father, that you've given us your holy word, that we might open it, Father, that you might reveal yourself unto us. We know that another name for your word is it's your revealed will. Lord, I pray that, Father, we would understand that more than that, you would give us understanding in it. Open thou our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of thy word this morning. We thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord, for his cross, for his death. Father, suffering a death that I cannot even imagine for my sins, thank you that Our Lord is not in the grave, he did not stay dead, but he rose again according to the scriptures on the third day. And we know, Heavenly Father, that you approved of his perfect life and sacrifice. Help us now, Lord, to exalt him. Father, help us in thy word this morning, in Jesus' name, amen. We've all heard the term godliness. If you're in Christ, you want to be godly. And you say, are you telling me that? Well, no, I'm just repeating what you're thinking in your own mind. If you're a Christian, you want to be godly. But what is godliness? What is it exactly? What does it look like? Of course, there's an outer look to it. But is that really where it originates? Now I'm speaking to Christians, I'm speaking to those that are believers in Christ. I'm speaking to those that have been born again by the Spirit of God. If you're not a Christian, you cannot be godly. You cannot be. To be godly is to be godlike. I'll explain to you what I mean in a moment. God-like or Christ-like in your character, in your lifestyle, in how you behave, in how you act, and most importantly, how you react to the situations of life. Now I can see. How you act and react among both saints and sinners in the world. How you react will be in measure according to who you are, according to your godliness or lack thereof. Luke 6 27, here's an example of what godliness looks like on the outside. It's not the only example, but we'll take this one. Jesus said, but I say unto you which here, love your enemies, that's God-like. Do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, that's God-like. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other, and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asks thee And of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. I always like to emphasize, not as they've done to you, but as you would that men would do to you. you do likewise unto them. For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? Or what's special about that, to love those that love you? And Jesus said, for sinners also love those that love them. If you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive again, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. So if that's what God-likeness, Christ-likeness looks on the outside, how is it formed on the inside so that it will look like that on the outside? Well, first and foremost, you must be born again, but to the Christian, godliness will not be formed in you apart from intentional effort on your part. If you're gonna be godly as a Christian, then you must intentionally give yourself to it. Now, look at Colossians 3. Colossians 3, here's some of the deliberateness or the effort that must be undertaken by you, Christian, if you would be godly in your deportment, in your conduct, in your character, in how you act and then you react, then this is one example, again not the only example, of what must happen in you. Verse five, chapter three, Colossians. Did I tell you to go there already? Yes, Colossians 3, five. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Mortify meaning kill those attitudes, those lusts, those sins that would rise up in your mind that you would be tempted to partake in. Paul says, cast them out, kill them, mortify. Therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, inordinate affection, meaning an inordinate desire for something, an insatiable desire for something. Listen, you can desire something that's lawful, but an inordinate desire for it is sinful. So that's what an inordinate affection is. Paul says, put that off. evil concupiscence, that is licentiousness, wickedness in the heart, covetousness, put it off, which is idolatry. For which things say, in other words, this is why the wrath of God comes on those that are lost upon the children of disobedience. In the which you also walk sometime when you lived in them, but that's no longer who you are. But now you also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, Filthy communication out of your mouth. Don't lie. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds. In other words, that's no longer who you are. Now, there's a putting off and a mortifying of the old man, of the deeds, the old things that you used to do in Christ. You're to deliberately put them off. This is something that you're commanded to do, Christian. That's not just going to automatically happen. You need to put it off. And then, with the putting off of these filthy garments, you must put on the new garment, the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. where there is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. In other words, every single Christian of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue is called to do this. Now, here's how godliness is formed on the inside. Put on, therefore, is the elect of God, holy and beloved. deliberately put these things on, adorn yourself with vows of mercies, compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. In other words, practice these things. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, on purpose go and forgive him. You do it on purpose. And above all these things put on charity which is the bond or the glue of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you're called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Listen, if there's gonna be an egress of godliness out of your life, there must first be an ingress of the truth of God's word and of the practice of God's word in your life. So if there's gonna be a righteous egress, there must be a righteous ingress. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. That takes a deliberate intention. You have to intentionally do that. This is the work of the Christian life. Put on these things, and then let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And here's the second part that takes work. Don't just know it by rote or by memory, but let it dwell in you richly in all wisdom. That means in application of it, living, practicing those things that God teaches you in his word. Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now, Just back to the thought, you don't have to turn back there, but back to a thought, because we're talking about godliness, right? Godliness or godlikeness. In other words, you should resemble God in your life as a Christian. The more and more you grow in grace, your life should be assimilating or You should be being conformed to the image of Christ. You should more and more look like Christ in character in your life with every passing day. In the book of Luke, when we read that, Jesus said, when you do all these things that I've commanded you to do, when you practice these things that I have taught you, he says, then you shall be the children of the highest. Remember that? We read that a moment ago. Then shall you be the children of the highest. You know what he's really saying? Then shall you look like my father. You'll look like God the father, because that's how he behaves. God loves his enemies. God blesses them that curse him, curses him. So that's how God looks. Listen, as children do often resemble their fathers, We know in look. But have you ever noticed that children actually do the things that you do? They have all the defects of your character. And you warn them. You say, I didn't teach them that. It's just in them. And sometimes you shake your head. And you say, boy, I wish they weren't like me in that. Well, now as a Christian, Christ is in you. And so now you should look like or be God-like. You should be Christ-like. You should resemble your Heavenly Father. What is godliness? It is reverence and love for God from the heart, which is afterwards seen in outward obedience and practice. It's seen in the life, it's a reverence, it's a love for God. But it's a love and an attachment to God from within that is seen in outward obedience and practice to his commands in our lives. Listen, it's God's revealed will that sinners turn from their sins to Christ, right? It's God's revealed will. If you're lost today, it's God's revealed will. If you wanna know what the will of God is for you, if you're a sinner, turn from your sins to Christ. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you're a sinner, you qualify. Come to Christ. You come to him, he says, I will not cast you out. So that's God's revealed will. It is also God's revealed will for every Christian after he saves them to be godly. So why isn't every Christian godly? And I'll tell you that godliness, and don't take this wrong, but you already know what I mean. If you close this, you don't have a steady, devoted intake of the word of God, you don't think upon it, you don't love it, which it doesn't make sense that a Christian will be like that, but you stray and godliness, it will begin to wane in you. It will, I'll tell you it's happened in me. You stray, As the song says, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. So it's God's revealed will that you be godly. Listen to what Paul wrote. For whom he did foreknow that he would save, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. That word image is like an icon. That's what it means. The Greek word is icon. So you should be conformed to the image of Christ. Not that you look like him physically, but that you look like him in your character and how you behave in the world. That's what Luke six is all about. That's how Jesus lived in the world. He was perfectly God-like because he was God. Well, he told us, he says, be therefore merciful as your father in heaven is merciful. We're to be like him. And so that's who we are to be. Now, how can I become godly? How may I gain or achieve this godliness as we have just read? How can I be conformed, fashioned into the image of God's son? Now, first of all, listen, if you're a child of God, if you're a Christian, you should want this. You should desire it. You shouldn't be saying, well, I don't want that. And let me just put a qualifier in here. You're just sitting here thinking, well, I don't really want that. I just want to go to heaven. Well, let me just correct you and tell you, if that's how you're thinking, you don't really wanna go to heaven. If that's how you're thinking. So I know if you're in Christ, you want godliness, you want to be close to God, you want to live like Christ in the world. So how may I be godly? How may I become godly? Well, first things first, you must be born again. We talked about that. You cannot build a house upon the sand. You know what'll happen. Mr. Jesse knows. Put a bunch of studs in the plate on a bunch of sand and build a house. It might stand for a little while, but just push it. It's going to fall over. So as you cannot build a house upon the sand, you cannot be godly apart from possessing the spirit of Christ within, without being saved and made new. The foundation must first be laid, that is Jesus Christ. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. If you've not turned from your sins to Christ, humanly speaking, you cannot achieve godliness. You can achieve a form of godliness, and the scripture talks about that. There are those that have, they're very religious. They have a form. It's like the appearance of godliness, but it's not real. It's not actual God-likeness. If you're gonna be godly, you need Christ within. Romans 8, just listen, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, Christian Paul's speaking to, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. See, that's what makes you a Christian. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So if you have not the spirit of God, if you're not saved, if you've not turned away from your sins to Christ, then you cannot be godly. If God's spirit is in you, then listen, this is what the scriptures say are true of you. You have a new heart and a new spirit. You have a new nature. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things will become new. Understand this, and then I'll move on from this. In your salvation, it's not like a ticket or a pass that you get from God that gets you into heaven, and when you die, you redeem it, but you never live for God, and your life never changes. That's not what it means to be saved. When God saves a sinner, 2 Corinthians 5.17, your old life in this world ceases. It stops. You're the same person but you've been remade within. It's because God has given you a new heart and a new spirit. He saved you from your sins. He's given you his nature, his nature within. So your old life ceases, your new Christian life begins. How? So how does it begin? I mean, after God saves you, so how does it commence? Let me just use two examples from the scriptures. Do you remember the man at the pool of Bethesda, John chapter five? You remember what Christ told him after he healed his eyes and after he went and found Christ in the temple? Same thing he told the woman who was taken and caught in the act of adultery. You remember that? And Jesus says, where are those that were going to stone you? Has any man condemned you? She says, no man, Lord. He says, neither do I. He told both of those, the blind man who could now see and the woman who was taken in adultery. And this is how your Christian life should commence. Once God saves you, it's as if Christ gives you this very same command, go and sin no more. He told the blind man, lest a worse thing come upon thee. He added that. But that's the Christian life. Go and sin no more. Now, do we keep that perfectly? Well, no, but we want to. See, that's the difference. I don't wanna sin. That should be imprinted with a granite and diamond pen upon your heart by God. I don't wanna sin. And the scriptures tell us, if any man sin, we have now an advocate who we didn't have before, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And so, beloved, that's how the Christian life begins. See, in Christ, you will no longer live in sin or love your sins, but you will hate your sins. And in your new life, you will continually turn from your sins. It's a growth and maturing process. Righteousness and godliness are what should begin to come forth from your life when God saves you, rather than unrighteousness and ungodliness. But listen, even for the genuinely saved, godliness is not, here's what you gotta know, godliness is not just gonna happen automatically. It's not just gonna happen. God saves you, he sets the foundation, but now, remember this, godliness is not just going to happen automatically without any discipline on your part, without any effort, without any spiritual cultivation, without any training on your part. I don't wanna do all that. It's a must. What does Peter say? He says, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Desire it and take it. Second Peter 3.18, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You take the new, Little Jojo, if anybody saw the video of him trying to snatch his daddy's ice cream, you need to see that. Ralph's holding ice cream, he's just reaching out and grabbing it. And Ralph pulled it away and tried to eat it, and he just kept reaching for it. That needs to be us. Need to be reaching for it. If Jojo didn't eat, Jojo wouldn't grow. Jojo would die. And so Christian, you need to eat. you need to put forth effort. 1st Timothy is where our text is actually. You'll see this principle that Paul spoke to Timothy about. Look at 1st Timothy chapter four. We'll just read 1 to 8. Paul says, Now remember, this is a pastoral epistle. Paul is writing young Timothy's, helping him in the ministry. I believe Timothy was an elder in the church at Ephesus. He says, these seducing preachers will speak lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused. if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up or trained in the words of faith and of good doctrine. whereunto thou hast attained, but refuse profane and old wives' fables, and here's really the text, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise, see there's spiritual exercise and there are spiritual disciplines, and there are bodily exercise and bodily disciplines. Paul says bodily exercise profiteth little, means it's of little value. There's some value to it and profit, but it's not like godliness and spiritual exercise. And that's what he says. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation. This is faithful. So first, exercise thyself. Listen, in your Christian life, you are called to exercise yourself. The Greek word is where we get our word gymnasium from. To exercise yourself. The meaning is to train. It's to discipline yourself in your Christian life toward godliness. That's gonna take effort on your part. It's like the professional athletes who train and discipline their bodies in the gym, exercising both their bodies and their minds for their sport. And this is the example which Paul is using to teach us, beloved. If you would be godly, you need to spend quality time each day in the spiritual gymnasium, if you get my drift. exercising your heart and mind, training to gain and achieve that which you should desire in godliness. Listen, when I was serious about working out back when I was, this is back in the 1980s, I wasn't missing a workout for anybody. Including, not missing it. six days a week, sometimes twice a day, wasn't going to miss it. Well, how does my spiritual life measure up to that? I have to hang my head so often. But listen, as the athlete is going to have habits in their training and they are going to discipline themselves, the example Paul is using, And every day, brethren, you and I need to have holy habits. We need to exercise ourselves in our, if I could use the word craft, in our vocation, biblical word. What's your vocation? You're a Christian. You profess to be a Christian, so you need to exercise yourself in it. To be a Christian should be synonymous with being godly. That's what it's synonymous with. Listen, we all admire a devoted brother or sister in Christ when we see one. We see a godly brother or sister in Christ, isn't that right? You see one and you know them and you know, man, they've always got such a gracious conduct. And we admire that when we see it in them. We might even say in our hearts, boy, I'd like to be like that brother or sister. You see someone that you admire, and what you're really admiring in them is godliness, Christ-likeness. Isn't that right? Has it ever happened to you? You see someone, you say, boy, I wanna be like them, and really, The deeper meaning is I want to be like Christ in them. That's what I want to be like. But what you don't see in that brother or sister that you admire and what you see outwardly, if I could say the performance, it's not a performance, but what you see on the outside happens because of what you didn't see and what you can't see. See, you didn't see the spiritual struggles that that brother or sister went through. You didn't see them agonizing in prayer. You didn't see them confessing their sins. You didn't see their secret prayer life. You didn't see their spiritual training and discipline out of the sight of everybody else that took place in their heart. You didn't see their meditation. You didn't see them struggling in the scriptures. So what you don't see is the hidden work that brought forth what you actually do see. See, all you see is their performance. You actually see what looks so admirable. Give you an example, and I use this a little bit on Wednesday night. US Airways flight 1549, Cactus 1549. I love the story. Captain Sully Sullenberger. Here's what everybody saw. The whole flight took, I think, 208 seconds. Everybody saw the performance. Everybody saw his airmanship. What is now called the miracle on the Hudson happened January 5, 2009. Everybody saw and applauded and hailed Captain Chelsea Sully-Sullenberger for landing his A320 Airbus aircraft, a large airliner, that's not a seaplane, with the wheels up, with 155 souls on board, in the Hudson River, and kept it in one piece. Wow. See, stuff like that wows us, doesn't it? Here's what nobody saw. years of training and discipline. He had over 20,000 flying hours. In the US Air Force, he was a fighter pilot, flew F-4 Phantoms. In this very airframe that he was in, he had over 4,700 flying hours. That's what nobody saw. They didn't see the years of training and discipline, including countless hours in a flight simulator being presented with emergencies like that and crashing in the simulator. He crashed probably 50 times in the simulator. I don't know that for a fact, but nobody saw how many times he failed. But he did all those things behind the scene, and he trained, and he disciplined himself in his craft of flying big jets so that he could handle an emergency like losing both engines below 3,000 feet, lower than the altitude of any other pilot in history. And he landed it on the water. See, when we behold things like this in wonder and amazement, and we are wowed by what we see, and we are wowed by what looks effortless and second nature in performance, what we didn't see is the training behind the scenes. What we didn't see was how many times Sully crashed. What we didn't see In, for example, the perfect figure skater who does three triple axels. Isn't that what it's called when you twirl around three times? The perfect figure skating routine. What we didn't see was when the arena was empty and how many times he or she fell and smacked themselves on the ice. Or how many times a solo violinist messed up before he went out before the audience and sat in the first chair and played that violin concerto. So understand that in the Christian life, godliness doesn't just happen apart from exercise and discipline and training and practice. Listen, when we see the word of God say, love your enemies, you can't just read that and say, oh yeah, that's nice, go and love your enemies. When you see the word of God and when you read it, tell you to pray for them, which despitefully use you and curse you, you gotta practice it. Exercise yourself in those things. Yes, pray. Ask God for the ability to do those things, because sometimes it just grates us and we bristle when we are confronted with things like that. Sully, it says, he said when they hit those birds, he had a moment of panic and he says, this can't be happening to me. How often do we say that? This can't be happening to me. Listen, there's grace given to every believer from God to live their Christian lives. And being a Christian, understand this, it's not a skill that an unsaved person can learn from the Bible like math is learned from a textbook. You can't learn Christ or learn godliness apart from having the Spirit of God or the help of God. And so yes, you need to go to God, that's work. You need to go to your secret prayer closet, you need to say, Lord, I wanna be godly. Lord, help me. But you'll never be godly if you're never going to put forth the effort to exercise yourself unto godliness. Paul commanded Timothy, there's a negative part of this precept, and before Paul commanded Timothy to exercise himself to godliness, he commanded him to refuse and reject things in your life that would disintegrate godliness and erode it. There are things that will erode your godliness, even religious type things. This is where we have to be so careful, because I can tell you the blood of the Pharisee runs through our veins. We have to be so careful that we don't become Pharisaical in our own lives. Look at Timothy. All of these references are there. 1 Timothy 1, 3. Look at what he says here. He says, as I besought thee, 1 Timothy 1, 3, to abide still at Ephesus, and when I went into Macedonia, thou mightest charge them that they teach no other doctrine. They were false teachers. And he says to Timothy, don't give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. So don't get into things that just cause strife. and contention, and they don't edify unto godliness. It's what Paul's telling Timothy. Look at chapter six in verse 20. Chapter six in verse 20. So there's a positive aspect here to exercising yourself to godliness, but there's also a negative aspect of rejecting and refusing things that would erode and disintegrate godliness from our lives. chapter 6 and verse 20, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so called, which some professing have aired from the face. See the effects of it? You can get wrapped up in things that are religious that can push you away from Christ and godliness. 2 Timothy 2 15, Second Timothy 2.15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but notice, but shun or reject profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. You see that? We need to be wise concerning that. And then 2 Timothy 4.2. Actually, go to Titus 3.9. Let's just go to Titus 3.9. Paul tells Titus here, avoid foolish questions. You ever get tied up in that? Somebody just got a hobby horse? A Christian hobby horse. And it's really a way to pick a fight. We shouldn't be fight pickers. We should be those that edify. I'm not saying don't contend for the faith. But what is it that motivates you? He says, avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and they are vain. So refuse and reject these things. These so-called theological issues, these religious hobby horses that only cause strife and contention, and that increase to more ungodliness, turn from these sinful practices. And then, of course, he gets to our centerpiece, exercise yourself unto godliness. Exercise yourself in the things that are pleasing to God and in the truths of God that will conform you to the image of Christ. When you exercise yourself in these things, only then will you resemble Christ in God-likeness. Now, look at 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter one. This is a perfect text for this, I think. I love this passage. 2nd Peter 1 and verse 1. Notice, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith, obtained means they received it by divine allotment, just wanted to throw that in, with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Pay attention here. According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. How does it come? Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. What is virtue? It's another way of speaking of virtue, it's moral excellence. Christ was the most virtuous man to ever walk the planet. The Proverbs, who can find a virtuous woman? Verse four, he says, whereby are given unto us through Christ, exceeding great and precious promises. Notice that by these, you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. How do you assimilate? How does this divine nature begin to unfold and blossom in your life? Verse five. And beside this, giving all diligence means make every effort. Notice, these are deliberate things that you must do, Christian. Add to your faith virtue. And to virtue knowledge, you could put the word add there. Add to virtue knowledge. Add to knowledge temperance. Add to temperance patience. And to patience, notice godliness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you, notice, if these things be in you and, what's the next word? Abound, grow, mature, flower. This should be happening in you, but it won't happen unless there is some spiritual training going on in your life. need to go to the spiritual gym. How often do you go to the spiritual gym? How often do you go to the physical gym? How much time do you spend, do you give God the best time in the spiritual gymnasium, exercising yourself unto godliness? And listen, it's not just in the study and in the prayer and in the struggling in prayer and meditation, now it's practice. See, that's where it's seen. There must be the inward formation before there will be the outward practice. In other words, when somebody sees the performance out there, it's going to be because of what happened behind the scenes. It's going to be because of what happened in the prayer closet. It's going to be because of what happened weeping on your face, mortifying, besetting sin out of your life. See, that's where godliness begins to form, and you begin more and more to be conformed to the image of Christ, to become what you shall be. Driving toward that thing, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You keep pressing, you reach for the tape. You got to make every effort. That's the Christian life. Jesus told those that followed him around for a free meal, labor not for meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endures to life eternal. Stop working and expending yourself for that which has little value. Expend yourself. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. That's where you need to make every effort, so these things must be in you and abound so that you won't be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. But what a promise that is. That must be you and I, Christian. The ninth fruit of the spirit is temperance, self-control, discipline, exercise yourself unto godliness. So in closing, listen, just as the professional athlete trains and exercises religiously to perform in the games, and just as the pilot of big jets trains to fly his aircraft, and knows what to do when he loses both engines with 155 souls on board. If you think about Sully, knowing that if he could not land that aircraft, 155 souls would die, including himself. So just as the professional athlete trains and exercises for the games and the pilot to fly his aircraft, and the musician to play that solo concerto, so you and me, Christian, if we would be godly, which if you're in Christ, you will desire, then you must exercise yourself. And if I could say, religiously, you hear people say, I do this religiously. What do you do for Christ religiously? Exercise yourself religiously, habitually, in the word, in prayer, in meditation, off the field, out of the sight of every other eye. And then, in practice, and if I could say on the field, or in the world. Listen, we're not trying to perform. We're not trying to put on a performance. We're not actors. but we should want to be able to be godly. We should desire godliness so that we may draw others to our Lord Jesus Christ. We want them to see Christ in us. That's the truest definition of godliness, godlikeness, is they see Christ in us. And so that's what we should desire. And so when you see someone that is godly, Know that what you can't see is the training and the discipline, the cultivation and the exercise that consistently happens. And know that if you stop, it's perishable. It'll wane. You'll drift. And so be careful. Listen, that's, it's, It's who we should desire to be, and the spirit of God is in us, and so it's who we should desire to see. If you're lost in here, understand that you can't just conjure godliness. There are many that do. They try. They turn over a new leaf. I'm just gonna be good. It never works. There's, to the lost, a form of godliness. It's really talking about the religiously lost, but to those that are lost, You can't just synthesize godliness. You must be saved from your sins. God must put a new heart in you, give you his spirit. Only then, beloved, are you to begin. And only then can you begin to exercise yourself rather than exercising yourself on other things. Exercise yourself onto godliness. I pray the Lord would help us all with this. Listen, this is really one of the bedrocks of what we all need in the Christian life. We wanna show Christ in the world. We wanna be bright lights in the world. We need to be putting oil in the lamp behind the scenes. And so we need that. Amen, let's dismiss in prayer. Father, we ask that you'd please help us. Lord, I pray that you would visit each of us. Father, give us, oh God, a hunger and a thirst after righteousness. Father, help us to always have the Lord Jesus Christ, his person, his work, his excellent person. as frontlets to our eyes. May our eyes always be toward him. May we desire to be like him in every way, even as we read in Luke. Oh Lord, we don't want to be actors or pretenders. Lord, it's the last thing that I want for myself or any of these. Father, we want the earnest of your spirit in our hearts, and we want to have our strength to come from thee. Lord, we want to devote our lives to you, and then we want to show you in the world. and be faithful ministers of the gospel, faithful witnesses. So help your people. Save the lost if there's anyone here, Father, and they have not turned from their sins to Christ. Oh God, show them that they may know that Christ came to save sinners, sinners such as they are. We trust you for that. And we wait for it and pray for it. Bless your people as we go to our homes. Be with our dear brother, Randy, as he brings the message this evening. I pray you'd bring us back and Lord, bless us with your presence. Be with the Eskines as they expect a birth shortly. Lord, we pray for them. And Lord, again, bless all of these precious souls this day in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, brethren, 530, we'll see you back, Lord willing. And we are dismissed.