for any organization to run effectively, it must be structured with a figurehead to whom people can look for guidance, for wisdom, and for instruction. A nation needs a prime minister or president. Local authorities need a chief executive officer. Business needs a managing director. School needs a headmaster or headmistress. A sports team needs a captain on the field of play. And then when we come to the Bible, the Bible states that a family needs a figurehead, a father, if at all possible, to give advice, to show leadership to those who are young and vulnerable in a very difficult and dangerous world. A nomination has an archbishop or moderator. A local fellowship has a pastor or elders. In every walk of life, wherever you turn, leadership is absolutely vital. The church needs leadership. And God has made provision for that. in the gift of his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus. He is the head of the body, and to him we should look for wisdom, for guidance, and for direction. And that's the verse that I want us just to ponder a few moments on, verse 18. And it says that he is the head of the body, the church. He is the head of the body. There are just probably three things I want to leave with you regarding this. The first is that in Christ, the church is chosen. In Christ, the church is chosen. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, and again we'll be roaming a little bit tonight. In Ephesians 1, 4, the Apostle Paul says this. He chose us in him. You know, if you are a Christian tonight, you have been adopted into the greatest and most privileged family on earth. And it's not because you have done some great thing to achieve it. It's not that you deserve this privilege. It's not because you have some special status in life. It's not because you have elite family connections. And we do not work our way into this great family. We are chosen to be members of it. by God's grace alone. And what is even more amazing is that we were chosen before the world ever came into being. Before the Creator said, let there be light, you were chosen. Do you know, this is mind boggling. It is truly. God knew you before the dawn of time. He knew when you were going to be born. He knew where you were going to be born. He knew through whom you were going to be born. He knew where you would work. He knew where we would serve him. And I'll tell you this, he knows the exact moment you're going to leave this earth. And you cannot rush your departure before the time. You cannot delay it one second. You can't hold it back either. We were chosen in eternity past to be prepared for eternity future. What a wonderful God. we have. I want to move on to the second. In Christ, the church is preserved. Not all the hosts of evil can bring down the church of Jesus Christ. From its conception on the day of Pentecost, The enemies of Christ have endeavored by various means to reduce the church to dust and ashes. Our early church fathers were persecuted. They were imprisoned. They were burnt at the stake. They suffered many forms of torture to denounce their faith in the Lord Jesus. You know, earlier this year, we live literally in the garden of our son and daughter-in-law. And we help one another. And in the spring of this year, we thought we'd do some extensive gardening. A lot of the trees, bushes, shrubs, they just needed pruning and needed dealing with. And so we went to task. We got a load of rubbish. And we thought, right, bonfire time. So one lovely, calm evening, we set fire to this great bonfire. And as it blazed, we still put items on it. And I remember particularly picking up a log of wood. and bringing it to the bonfire, getting as near as I could, that would be about one, two yards away, and throwing this log onto the bonfire. The heat was intense, and I never moved faster in my life to get away. And then when I got away, I stopped. And one thought came to my mind. 1955 to 58, sorry, 1555 to 58, many of my brothers and sisters, heroes of the faith, had to stand in the middle of such flames and gave their lives for the cause of Christ. I could get away. They were in the midst of it. And I'm telling you, friends, throughout the world today, in many parts of the world, believers are suffering immensely because they will not denounce the name of the Lord Jesus. That persecution continues. And yet, despite the persecution continuing, the Church has been preserved and the Church still grows. You know, the Church, the enemies of the Church, will never ever understand and grasp the fact that the Church expands and grows through persecution. Kill three here, And 12 will be born again over there. And that has always been the situation from the day of Pentecost. Jesus said, I will build my church. And Satan and all his followers, no matter what they do, no matter what they try, will never, ever overthrow the church of Jesus Christ. And the church is continuing to be built in China. There are more evangelical Christians in China than the population of the whole of the United Kingdom. In many parts, look, ISIS. You've heard of ISIS, haven't you? ISIS has shot itself in the foot. And I'll tell you why it shot itself in the foot. Because Muslims, in parts of the world where ISIS has been around, have been asking some big questions. Is this what's happening in our name? Is this cruelty what's happening in our name? We have a lady in our church. She was a missionary in China for many years. And she informs us regularly of information that is happening throughout the world. And she tells us that many, many Muslims today, in the Middle East and Far East, are turning to Christ. They cannot understand that all this is happening in their name. God moves in mysterious ways, is one understood before. And never, ever forget this important fact. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only organization on earth that never loses a member through death. Any other organization, whatever you're a member of, when you die, your name's struck off. If you're a Christian, when you die, you just go to higher service. In the Lord's Prayer in John 17, Jesus thanks the Father that all who have been given to him, he will protect and none have been lost. Now, my father, was a sergeant major in the British Army during the war. Some people say, why do I shout? Well, now you know. But he was a sergeant major in the army during the war. Now, I remember some stories, but I'd love to have got more stories. But those men just didn't say much about their experiences during the war. And one respects that. But he told me this story. I don't know whether it was referring to an experience he had or a fellow sergeant major. But this sergeant major was a believer and he took every opportunity he could to talk to his men about the Christian faith. He didn't ram it down them, he just talked to them and let them ponder it. And one day he was talking to a young corporal of his. And the subject got on to Christianity. And the sergeant major was explaining the main principles of Christianity. And the young corporal said to him, sir, with all great respect, the people under your care know that you're a Christian. They know by the way that you live. They know by the way that you care for us who serve you. But sir, it's no good me becoming a Christian. Sir, if I became a Christian today, by this time next week, I will be back into my old way of life. The standard is too high, sir. I couldn't maintain it. I couldn't keep it up. So it's no good me beginning. The Sergeant Major didn't say much more on that point, but he just went into his pocket and he brought out a pen. You see this pen, young man? Yes, sir. Why is that pen not falling to the ground? Oh, sir, don't treat me like that. It's pretty obvious, isn't it? It's not falling because you're holding it. Well, you're even gripping it. You're not going to let it drop. Correct, young man. That pen is not falling to the ground because I'm gripping it. And any person who becomes a Christian is just like that pen. You grip tight. You are held fast. He will not lose one of those who are his children." The conversation ended. They separated. The war ended. A number of years after the war, the Sergeant Major was making his way to one of London's mainline stations. I cannot remember which station it was, but as he was making his way along the platform to catch his train, he noticed on a joining platform a young man. He looked across at the young man, faces familiar. Then the young man looked across at him, and the young man began to wave. Is he waving at me? And then all of a sudden, the penny dropped. It was one of his corporals. In fact, it was the corporal he was talking to. And the corporal held his hand up. And he went into his pocket. And he brought out a pen. And he gripped it. No word was spoken. But that Sergeant Major got on his train. Very thankful man, because at least one of his men proved that when Jesus saves, Jesus keeps. And that is a truth we should never, ever forget. Those he has chosen, he preserves. And if you're one of his children tonight, one of his true children tonight, you can be assured he will keep you to the end and beyond. He will never ever lose one of his children who he shed his precious blood to save. Let me turn to the third point. Remember, in Christ we are chosen. In Christ we are protected. but in Christ the church is sanctified. Chosen, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, kept by the power of God. Just remember, friend, as I said this morning, all our past sins have been buried into the depths of the deepest ocean. They've been carried as far as the east is from the west. They will never be remembered against us anymore. But now, in Christ, the church is being sanctified. It's being made holy. It's being made like Christ. Go back to Ephesians 1 and verse 4. Just remember what the Apostle told us. He chose us before the foundation of the world. For what purpose? To serve him? Not initially. Paul goes on to tell us so that we might be holy and without blame before him in love. You see, there's a battle going on in your life. It's an intense battle. I know because it's going on in my life too. And this is the battle. The world is trying to mold us into its image. That's what the world's trying to do. But the other side of the battle is that God is trying to mould us into the image of his son. That's the battle. Wherever you go, the world is trying to mould you by its adverts, by its television programmes, By what you hear on the radio. The world is trying to mould us. And it's doing pretty well in many cases. But God is trying to mould us too. And he's trying to make us more like his son. God wants to transform our character. God wants to renew our conduct. God wants to guide our conversation. He wants us to become more like His Son. In other words, He wants the beauty of Jesus to be seen in our life. You know, I was brought up with some of the old choruses. I'm glad I was. And one of the old choruses goes like this. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all his wonderful passion and purity. O thou spirit divine, all my nature refine until the beauty of Jesus is seen in me. He wants us to take time to be holy and to speak oft with our Lord. When I left school, I went into the retail business and I worked in a family jewellers in my hometown of Barnsley. And when I started work, one of the things that I was instructed on was the importance of valuable metals, where the metal comes from and its process from the ground to a shop window. Now, I'm cutting a lot short here. But gold is refined from the very depths of the earth. And it comes to us in a very raw state. The first stage is that it has to be refined. It has to go through a very hot process so that all the dirt and the filth and the impurities are removed. And that furnace is hot. And then it goes into the hands of a polisher. And that polisher will work on that precious metal. And he's never satisfied with that precious metal. until his own reflection is seen in it. If he can't see it, it's no good. He's got to see his own reflection. Now, if you ladies have got gold rings or necklaces or whatever you may have, and you can see your reflection in it. No, there's no need to start looking at it. Don't panic. But if you can see your reflection in it, it loves you. If you can't, I'd start worrying right now. But you should be able to see your own reflection in the metal. Let's look at God here. You know, when we are converted, There are times when we too go through the furnace. The furnace of affliction. Have you ever said to yourself, why has God brought me through this? Why God brought me into this situation? Why is God, why, why, why, why, why? God brings us into the furnace of affliction or whatever it may be. to get rid of the impurities in our life. Trials are not sent to impair us. Trials are sent to improve us. And that's what God wants for you and for me, that our life, our spiritual life, may be improved. We then go through the polishing procedure God has to polish us, and it's not always comfortable. But again, he polishes us so that Jesus and his reflection may be seen in and through our lives. You see, there's one thing God doesn't want. the worst thing of all. He wants us to mature in the faith. He wants us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. I conclude. He is the head of the church. You're part of that body if you're a Christian. So he is the head of your life. It's in Christ that you were chosen from before the beginning of time. It's in Christ that you are protected. And he will keep you. He will preserve you to the very, very end and beyond. And it's in Christ that we're being sanctified. We're being made holy. God has a very difficult job in making that process happen. But he'll still work on it. He wants you and me to become more like Jesus. Can there be anything better than that? We will never be perfect in this life. Let's get that clear. We will never be perfect in this life. But the full process will be complete when we come to the next. We will be as he truly wants us to be. Perfect in Christ Jesus. Oh, I thank God tonight the Queen isn't the head. I thank God tonight the Pope isn't the head. I thank God tonight the Archbishop of Canterbury isn't the head. I thank God tonight that Jesus, the wonderful son of the living God, who died and shed his blood to save us from our sin, to save us from hell and its consequences. I'm thankful tonight that he is my head. He is the head of the church. May we never, ever forget that fact. And we're gonna sing about it. We're gonna sing 343.