Ephesians 4:1 Part 2

But turn with me to Ephesians chapter four and

verse number one or you can look upon the

screen

and I want you to think with me for a minute

about the high position that we have as

Christians.

Being in Christ. What all we have learned

about in the first three chapters of the

book of Ephesians. God has blessed us with

every spiritual blessing in the heavenly

places

in Christ. Remember we are the recipients of

the unsearchable riches of Christ. We are

one with Christ. We are in union with Christ

by faith and we are one with one another as

believers

and we are citizens of the kingdom of God and

we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That's

just a

brief summary of all the other details that we

have learned in our study verse by verse of

the

first three chapters of Ephesians and because

of what we've learned about who we are in the

first

three chapters as I told you chapters four

five and six are now going to teach us on the

basis of

that. This is how we are to live. That's why

we get the there for in verse one of chapter

four.

We learn in the New Testament that the apostle

Paul was a beggar and not a street beggar not

a

guy out there begging for money or for food

like you see at our intersections or at the

gas station

every time you go to the gas station. You know

Paul was a beggar in terms of passion.

For example when he stood before a grippa in

Acts 26 there at the very end of verse three

he said this to a grippa. Look at the word. "I

beg you to listen to me patiently."

In 2 Corinthians 5 20 he said, "Therefore we

are ambassadors for Christ as though

God were making an appeal through us. We beg

you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God

."

In Galatians chapter four and verse number 12

he said, "I beg of you brethren become as I am

."

So Paul was so committed to divine truth that

he didn't mind begging people

to respond to the truth. He didn't mind ple

ading and imploring people to act upon what

they heard

from him. Look at our text here in Ephesians 4

1. He says, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the

Lord,

implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the

calling with which you have been called."

And there's a sense in which that is what I do

every Sunday with you. Whether it's an evangel

istic

message proclaiming the truths of the gospel

and calling you to repentance and faith in

Christ Jesus

or whether it's a message today on living the

Christian life. Every Sunday I am pleading

with you

to understand with your mind and act with your

actions upon which that I am preaching to you.

Whether it's to come to Christ on His terms of

repentance of faith or

as we see today for you and I to walk worthy

of the calling with which we have been called.

For every God called pastor, ministry and

preaching are not just intellectual exercises.

If I'm doing this work here that I'm doing

today the way God wants me to be doing it,

then I too am a beggar and a pleader. It isn't

a matter of me just laying out to you some

theological information and then assuming that

you are going to respond to what I say

intellectually

if you determine that it's logical and

reasonable for you to do that. That's not the

transaction

that's happening here between us. What's

happening here between us in the Sunday

morning sermon

is a matter of the heart for both me and for

you. The prophet of God in the Old Testament

was a

passionate man. Jesus as we read in the Gosp

els was a passionate man. How many times do you

read

in the Gospels that phrase about Jesus? He

cried out and you see him weeping over the

city of

Jerusalem and at the grave of his friend Lazar

us. You read those words and you feel them

and you know that he cared for his people.

Paul was the same way in his ministry. The way

that he

dealt with the churches that he started and

ministered to, preaching in the whole whole

package of ministry is not to be approached

with any kind of intellectual indifference.

Look again at Ephesians 4-1. Paul does not say

it is essential that you walk worthy.

He doesn't say that. He says, "I implore you

to walk worthy." He's begging them.

He's begging the church under the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit for all time and the reason

for that

is because Paul knows that until you Christian

are on the track of walking worthy, God is not

going

to be glorified by your life. You will not be

fully blessed in your life. The church cannot

fully function the way it's supposed to in the

world if her people are not walking worthy.

That's why he's so passionate about it.

Remember from last time we talked about the

fact that first we must know and then we can

do. First you learn doctrine and then comes

duty,

which is a delight for Christians, not legal

ism. First you learn theology and then comes

right

living and just consider when we talked about

this in Sunday school what has happened to the

influence of the church in America since

doctrine and theology were dumbed down in

favor of shallow

man-centered Christianity light and the

foolishness of the slaying in the spirit and

all of that

garbage that is not Christianity. The proof is

right in front of us every single day.

The church has very little influence in the

culture, if much at all. As I said this

morning,

we've gone from positive influence, neutral,

now negative, where the things do we say,

Christian truth that has been the truth and

will be the truth for all eternity

is now looked at as hate speech. This goes out

on the internet and I say homosexuality is a

sin,

transgenderism is a sin. That's viewed as hate

speech on the internet. One day might be taken

down, might have the opportunity to be on the

internet just for saying things that are true

of the biblical Christian faith and have been

true for thousands of years.

That's why here at Providence we're swimming

against the stream.

We're emphasizing sound doctrine and theology

through verse by verse expository preaching

and

doctrinally sound teaching in our Sunday

school hour. We have to regularly be renewed

in the

spirit of our minds. Remember we can't

function on what we don't know and don't

forget this.

Just having theological knowledge without

acting upon it is useless to you. It's of no

good to you

if it doesn't affect how you live your life,

but at the same time you do have to have it

in order to act and behave the way God wants

you to. If you don't know the Word of God,

you can't protect yourself from sin. David

said your word have I hid in my heart that I

might not

sin against you. You can't do battle with the

world, the flesh, and the devil without the

knowledge of the Word of God. Remember what

Paul said? Let the Word of Christ richly dwell

within you. And so we have to know the Word of

God, but let me tell you there is an element

of

danger in knowing. We have to know God's Word

to get through the rigors of this sanct

ification

process that we're in. We have to know God's

Word to be able to fulfill God's will in our

lives, but there is a danger in knowing

because once we know, we become accountable

for what we know.

In 2 Peter 2, verses 21 to 22, Peter is

talking about an apostate who had the

knowledge of Christ

but went back to their former life, never

having really committed themselves to Christ.

It was in their head, but it was not in their

heart. And commenting on that, look at what

Peter says in verses 21 to 22, "For it would

be better for them not to have known the way

of

righteousness than having known it to turn

away from the holy commandment, handed on to

them.

It happened to them according to the true

proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit

and a sow after washing returns to wallowing

in the mire." And that is serious. He's saying

,

"Better that you never know than that you know

and then you turn away from it." Well,

Brother Philip, if that's true, we better call

all the missionaries home, right?

I mean, it's better that they not know than

they know and reject the truths. Well, that's

true,

but then there's that little thing that Jesus

said about going out into all the world and

preach the gospel to every creature, right? A

command, not a suggestion, because better

than knowing and not responding is knowing so

that you can respond, so that the Holy Spirit

can work through the power of the gospel in

your life. And the same is true of us in our

Christian

world. Is it better to not know a whole lot

about the Bible so that you're not quite as

accountable

when you get to the end of your life? No. The

best of all is to know it to the best of your

ability and then to do it. Be heroes of the

Word and doers of the Word. That's the point.

Seek both to know and to do. That's how you

fulfill God's plan for your life, Christian.

And the reality is all other alternatives and

types of living that are out there are misery.

They may have fleeting moments of so-called

happiness, but outside of the Christian life,

it's misery. And if you're a Christian to know

it and not to do it,

is continually knowing the chastening of God

in your life as he scourges every

of his family member that he loves. So learn

the truth and obey the truth. That's what Paul

is

saying. And here in verse 1 of Ephesians 4,

again, Paul is literally begging us. That's

what the word

implore means. Implore, begging to walk worthy

, because this is the standard. Remember Coloss

ians

3 verses 1 through 3. "Therefore, if, if you

have been raised up with Christ, what are you

to do?

Keep seeking the things above where Christ is.

Seated at the right hand of God. Set your

mind on the things above, not on the things

that are on the earth, for you have died,

and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

What a passage. We went through it a while

back.

So, question. Can we do this? Can we walk

worthy as Paul is begging us to do? Well,

I hope by now in our study of Ephesians you

already know the answer to that question,

because Paul has been teaching us that we have

all the resources that we need in order to do

that.

We have this high and exalted position as

being in Christ that we've been learning all

about in

the first three chapters. But Jesus said, "

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am

meek,

lowly of heart." And don't forget, especially

you men, meek doesn't mean wimpy. Meek means

power

and strength under control is what meek means.

And we're fixing to see that our high position

,

as Christians, demands a lowly walk. Look next

in Ephesians 4-2. How do we walk, Paul,

with all humility and gentleness, with

patience, showing tolerance for one another in

love,

being diligent to preserve the unity of the

Spirit in the bond of peace? Yes, we are

exalted as a people, as Christians, blessed

with all the spiritual blessings in the

heavenly

places in Christ. Yes, we have an eternal

inheritance. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit in

dwelling us, the fullness of God Himself, as

Paul says in Ephesians 3. We own the

unsurpassable riches of Christ. We are joint

heirs with Christ. But all of that means that

while we

are here during our sojourn on this earth, and

it's a short one, according to Jesus,

according

to Paul here, we ought to walk very low. So go

back to verse 1 and let's look at this word

walk.

Y'all are not in a hurry to get through Ephes

ians, are you? Okay, I'm just checking because

you're

not going to get through it in a hurry. The

word for walk here means simple, daily conduct

.

Walk is a very important New Testament word.

This is the whole theme of the last three

chapters of

Ephesians, the first 16 verses. Here in

chapter 4, we're talking about walking in

unity. In Ephesians

4 verse 17, look what it says, that you walk

no longer as the Gentiles also walk in the fut

ility

of their mind. Chapter 5 and 6 here in Ephes

ians describes a love walk, a light walk, a

wise walk,

a spirit walk, and finally a warfare walk. The

idea is a lifestyle, daily conduct,

also that your lifestyle be worthy of the voc

ation to which you have been called.

And again, can we do it? Well, go back again

and read the ignition switch. Ephesians 3, 14

to 20.

Commit and yield yourself to the Holy Spirit

and be strengthened by His might in the inner

man.

Go back and read that section again. We have

all the resources that we need to accomplish

what Paul

is begging us to do. The power is already

there. Remember Ephesians 3, 20, now to him

who is able

to do far more abundantly above all that we

ask or think. Look at that phrase, according

to the

power that works within us. That's every

Christian. Now go back to 4-1.

Paul says, "Therefore I the prisoner of the

Lord." It's funny, Paul started out chapter 3

the same

way. Look at 3-1. "I, Paul, the prisoner of

Jesus Christ." Well, why does he keep

referring to himself

like this? Well, think of this. Down here in

Responsibility Land at that time, he was

literally

a prisoner in Rome, but he never saw it that

way. And this is a great truth for us to

remember

and a great pattern for all of us to follow.

The apostle Paul had the ability to see

literally

everything in his life in the light of eternal

perspective, in the light of how it affected

Christ, not him. In other words, Christian.

There is only one way to live, and that is

interpreting everything with reference to the

divine, everything that happens in your life.

That'll really help you if things go south

next week in the presidential election.

Now, listen. You have to work at this. I have

to work at this. But listen to me.

If you will condition your thinking to seeing

things and interpreting all the circumstances

of life from the small things to the big

things in relation to God and the eternal

perspective,

you will discover that that is the best way to

live. Above all other ways. This is

interpreting

everything, seeing everything that happens to

you in your walk as a Christian on this earth,

everything as the providence of God. Whatever

you encounter, your first thought is

immediately

vertical. Whatever happens, I don't care what

it is. The first thing you think, what does

this

mean, God? What does this providential

circumstance mean? How does it affect you, God

, not me?

And again, man, you have to be in the word

regularly to keep this up. You can't do it

without it.

Because all of us have trouble in our lives.

All of us have varying degrees and kinds of

troubles,

and all of us have varying degrees of

intensity of troubles in our lives. Now,

you can live like this. Something bad happens

to you. And you can, even as a Christian,

you can be Eor from Winnie the Pooh. Oh, woe

is me. Oh, poor me. Why do all these problems

happen

to me as if nobody else has the troubles that

you do? Or as if you have the worst troubles

in human

history? Believe me, whatever troubles you are

going through right at this moment, no matter

how

bad they are, I can give you an example of

somebody who has it 10 times worse than you in

less than

two seconds if you ask me at the church. Try

me and see. Try me. We have troubles in

relationships,

troubles in marriage, troubles in the family,

in the workplace, in the church, money

troubles.

If you are thinking all the time on the

earthly level,

you're just always going to be in Eor mode. Oh

, woe is me. Why is this happening to me?

But if you have the word of Jesus Christ

dwelling in you richly and you are striving to

live in the

wisdom of the Proverbs and you are immediately

thinking, Lord, what are you doing here in

this?

Let me get on my knees and pray. What are you

teaching me here in this? How am I to respond

to this in a way that glorifies you? Not easy.

I'm not telling you that it's easy.

We all, starting with me, wax and wane in

living this way. But if you are a Christian,

you know that what I am saying is absolutely

the best way for you to live. You know it.

The average, unregenerate person only thinks

in a worldly way. That's the only way they can

think.

They only focus on their money and their work

and how they're going to make more money

and their leisure and their entertainment.

Those are the things that are prominent in

their life.

In what I call the small little box of the

things of this world. That's all they can

ever think about. Wake up, eat, go to work,

come home, eat, flip on the TV, be entertained

,

go to sleep, wake up, eat, rinse, repeat,

rinse, repeat. And when trouble comes,

dumpster fire, dysfunctional reactions every

single time.

I see average working class American. The

wealthy, yeah, they have more

creature comforts, but they have just as many

problems. In fact, I would argue they have

bigger

problems than what we do in the working class.

Just look at the lives of some of the rich and

famous. Even Christians get off the path of

the King's Highway, as it's referred to in the

Pilgrim's Progress, which if you haven't read,

I highly commend to your reading.

Even Christians live this way to varying

degrees,

but I'm pleading with you. If you focus in and

strive to live daily,

one day at a time, because that's all you get,

and that's the only pace you can live at, is

one day at a time, walking in the Spirit with

the Word of Christ richly dwelling in you,

responding to every event in your life with

eternal perspective. Again, I'm going to tell

you again, that is the best way to live. Now,

I can tell you for myself, sometimes I get

there.

A lot of times I don't, but I'm always

striving for it. I'm always working at it.

When I fall off

the horse, I get back up on the horse, ask

forgiveness, and keep riding. Reminding

ourselves

of this on a regular basis is critical. Pre

aching this on a regular basis is critical.

Living our

lives on the divine grid, if you will. It

doesn't matter if an EMP happens if you're

living on the

divine grid. That means if all the lights go

out. You know it's the best way to live.

Really, whether you're talking about a

believer having spiritual maturity,

this is right here what you're talking about

most. Seeing and responding to everything that

happens

in life only in the light of eternal

perspective and divine providence. That's

spiritual maturity.

You can handle whatever goes down in life

because its definition is not dependent upon

how it affects

you. What does God have to do with this is

your first thought. How is this affecting him

in how I respond? It's living as David said in

Psalm chapter 16 verses 8 and 9. He said,

I have a very flawed man, a very flawed

believer. I have set the Lord continually

before me because

he is my right hand. I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejo

ices.

My flesh also will dwell securely. In other

words, I'm living with God as the point of

reference

for everything that happens in my life. God is

the divine interpreter of every aspect of my

life

from the smallest things to the biggest things

. And when I do, as David said, live like that,

my heart is glad and my flesh is secure. Now

go back to verse 1 and chapter 4.

And again, let's think about him referring to

himself as a prisoner of the Lord. I beg you

to

walk wordedly. It seems that he is throwing

the fact that he is precisely at the moment of

writing

this letter of a prisoner. In other words, he

's doing it because right now he's saying,

I'm in a bad situation. I'm in a prison. I'm

not in a spa.

And so I think part of his point here is,

Christian, walk worthy no matter what it costs

.

Prison in every era of time is not a place you

want to be. Trust me, I have stories.

But he's saying, in spite of what's happened

to me, you walk worthy of the calling with

which

you have been called. Follow my lead, he's

saying. The word here for worthy

has to do with equalizing the scale. And as a

Christian, you should be striving for your

life pattern to be equalized with your

identity as being in Christ. That's what you

should be

striving for. And even if you find yourself in

prison, that shouldn't affect you.

Because if somebody reads this and says, well,

I mean, that's easy for the apostle Paul.

He's Paul to say walk worthy. He just throws

the fact that he's in prison here just to

remind

all of us. This ain't easy. It might lead to

prison for you. It might lead to death

as it did for him when his head was chopped

off of his body. That's how he died.

Not one of the very many hard circumstances

that Paul had to deal with in his life that

none of us will probably ever come close to

having to deal with ever change his commitment

to walk

worthy, not one beaten stone, shipwreck, go

through the list. So his appeal here

is rooted in his own negative circumstance of

being in prison. And he begs even as a

prisoner

for everybody to walk worthy. Now, don't

forget that this is behavior that's based on

right thinking.

You know the truth. Therefore, this is how you

live. That's what he's saying. There's not one

hint of any kind of legalism or legalistic

thinking in anything that I'm telling you here

today.

This is simply us taking in the word of God

and all of the blessings that we have been

blessed with given to us in the first chapter,

three chapters of Ephesians, and our response

to all of God's goodness to us is simple. Obed

ience. Obedience. That's not legalism.

That's the natural reaction, the natural out

working of a regenerate Christian in how we

live our

lives. We are not responding to God out of

fear. The fear of the Lord is a separate

category and

that's a different sermon for a different day,

whole separate category. We're responding to

God in this category right here in which I'm

preaching in this context out of gratitude.

Paul is saying, "I've just given you three

incredible chapters of God's amazing blessings

.

Now, would you just walk worthy?" That's what

he's saying. I'm begging you to walk worthy,

not only because that's what Lord buys God,

but it's also, again, I hammer the nail again.

It's

the best way for you to live. Again, hear me.

I'm not saying this is easy to keep this

perspective

every single day. It's hard for me too. So

many times, one step forward, two steps

backwards.

Huh? Anybody hear me on that? Especially

serving in the ministry. There is never

a moment. There is never, ever one second in

over 23 years of serving in the ministry where

I can say,

okay, I reached a goal. Let's celebrate. All

the saints are perfected here. Let's have a

party. No.

The work is never done. Sunday is always

coming and there has to be a sermon from

behind the

pulpit and I'm the dude to do it. There's

always continually things to pray for.

People going through problems all the time in

their life, just in this little small church,

just like I am. The work is never done, which

is just all the more reason for me to keep,

to strive, to keep this, this eternal

perspective on a daily, regular, continual

basis. The same for

you. As I strive in working towards spiritual

maturity in my life, guess what? I want the

same

thing for all of you. I want you to be

striving for the same thing that I am. Again,

because I know

that's what's best for all of us. It's like

Paul said, Galatians 4-19, my children, with

whom I am

again in labor until Christ is formed in you.

And for you to grow in Christ likeness and

spiritual

maturity, that's why I'm laboring, Paul says.

And I want the same thing for all of you and

for me too.

We're all in this same boat together. I'm just

the preacher. That's it. Now go back to 4-1.

You didn't think we were going to get out of

verse 1 today, I hope. But we're going to

close with this.

This is incredible. He implores us to walk, we

learn what that is, in a manner worthy of the

calling with which you have been called. So

our walk, our lifestyle, should be equivalent,

he is saying, to the calling with which we

have been called. What is this calling? Well,

who called you?

Who called you to Christ in John 6-44? Jesus

says, no one human, that's ability,

come to me unless the Father who sent me draws

him. Romans 8-30, and these whom he predest

ined,

he also called, and these whom he called, he

also justified, and these whom he justified,

he also glorified. That's all written past

tense because it's done. Who called you? God

did.

Who chose you in him before the foundation of

the world? God did. Who wrote your name in the

Lamb's

book of life before the world? God did. You

have been called, Christian, effectually.

Jesus told

his disciples, you have not chosen me, but I

have chosen you. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26-30

,

for consider your calling, brethren, that

there were not many wise according to the

flesh, not many

mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the

foolish things of the world to shame the wise,

and God has chosen the weak things of the

world to shame the things which are strong,

and the base things of the world, and the desp

ised. God has chosen the things that are not,

so that he may nullify the things that are, so

that no man may boast before God, but by his

doing,

you are in Christ Jesus. 2 Thessalonians

chapter 1, verse 11, Paul says to this in,

"Also we pray for you always that our God will

count you worthy of your calling." 2 Peter 1,

10, "Therefore brethren, be all the more

diligent to make certain about his calling and

choosing

you for as long as you practice these things,

you will never stumble." Think of this.

If I just checked out all the religions of the

world, look at Islam and check that out,

I'll look at Judaism, I'll look at Buddhism,

and I might just even check out living a

totally

secular life, well I already checked that one

out, and all those things considered,

I decided by mind after looking at all that, I

think I'll choose Christianity. I think that

'll

be the best way to live, and if Christianity

was nothing more than a simple choice out of

many

choices, I mean, I would have to have some

level of commitment to it, right? I mean,

if I decided to do it, in my mind I would be

thinking, well this is worth doing, I mean,

that's what anything, if you're a sane,

logical person, if you decide to do something

that it

should be worth doing with all your heart, or

why else would I do it? But on the other hand,

if I understand that I'm a Christian because

the sovereign, eternal, almighty creator of

God

who rules heaven and earth and everything in

it wrote my name in a book before the world

began,

then I should add a tremendous sense of

response in the way that I live my life,

if indeed he did choose me and I didn't choose

him. You see the difference? You should feel

the

difference. We don't just wonder in, like we

do at Piccadilly in the line and say, well I

think

I'll have some of that hamburger steak regular

in that baked chicken, and then God doesn't

say,

well okay, if you thought through all the

options and you choose my way, okay, come on

in, you're

in that. That's not how it works, folks. God

chose you, Christian, what the Bible says,

and that's a very high calling. Ephesians,

Philippians 3, verse 14, "I press on toward

the goal for the

prize of what we call the God of Christ Jesus

," Saint Timothy 1-9, "who has saved us and

called us

with a holy calling, not according to our

works, but according to his own purpose and

grace,

which was granted to us in Christ Jesus, when

from all eternity," That's eternity past. You

can't get around it in the Bible. Hebrews 3-1,

"Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a

heavenly

calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high

priest of our confession. Our calling is high,

it is heavenly, and it is holy, and such a

calling by such an infinite God demands quite

the response, does it not, with our life."

Really for us, folks, that's really the most

important aspect of our life that we walk

worthy of our calling. From the moment that

you came to

Christ, until the moment that you see him face

to face, that's really all that matters, that

you

live up to who you are in Christ, that you

live up to the high calling with which you

have been

called. It really doesn't matter how much

money you make during your short time on this

earth,

or how you dress, or how nice your house is,

or your car, or that you get a promotion at

work,

it really doesn't matter that you're able to

get every little extra thing that you need or

want,

it really doesn't matter in the big picture

what your education is, or what your

profession is,

or how many worldly honors and accolades you

get. Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of

God and

all things you need will be added unto you."

Have you not found that to be true?

And that means really when it comes down to it

, only one thing matters, walk worthy

and bring glory to God with your life every

day. Who cares about prestige and being well

known in

the world? I mean, I really thank God that

right now at this season in my life, because I

'm closing

in on the 60s, that I work at a very low level

, blue collar job, and I pastor a very small

church.

You know why? It keeps me humble. And God

knows something about me. I need to be kept

humble.

I mean, I hate even saying that. I mean, is

that a humble brag right there that I just did

?

I promise I don't mean for it to be. I'm just

telling you the truth.

We are so blessed as Christians. You know what

Jesus says?

"If you love me, just obey me." Is that true

of you? I hope it is, and I pray that it is.

And now what we're going to do is we're going

to celebrate what he did to make all this

possible.

We're going to celebrate what he did on our

behalf on Calvary's tree

to make it even possible that we would have

the desire to believe. So I want you to turn

with

me to 1 Corinthians as we always do 11. And I

want to explain this every time.

I want you to get it ingrained in your brain

and in your heart and in your soul when we're

talking

about what we're doing in the Lord's Supper so

that you can put all this together at the same

time.

Because I don't want anyone to ever walk out

of a Lord's Supper depressed.

You should walk out of here singing. You

should walk out of here with joy in your heart

after we

have the Lord's Supper, but at the same time

recognizing what we're going to read about

here,

starting in verse 27, man, they were acting a

fool at the Lord's Supper in the church at

Corinth.

Paul had to get on to him starting verse 27.

He says, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread

and drinks

the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner

shall be guilty of the body and the blood of

the Lord.

But a man must examine himself, and in so

doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of

the cup,

for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks

judgment to himself if he does not judge the

body

rightly. For this reason, many among you are

weak and sick and a number sleep." Of course,

that means that they died. That God literally,

they got to the point where they were just so

much in willful sin as a Christian that he

took them out of this world and he killed them

. That's

what that means. Now, on the one hand, I

always read that to get you to recognize the

gravitas,

that means the weightiness, not only of what

it is that we're doing here,

but also of the reality of you keeping a short

account with God by the confession of your sin

.

Remember, there is the judicial, positional

forgiveness of all every single solitary one

of your sins past, present, and future because

of what Christ has done for you as a

substitutionary

atonement for you as a believer. All sins are

forgiven, okay? Righteousness of Christ imp

uted.

Not our righteousness, but his righteousness

gets us right with God. Not our performance as

a

Christian, but Christ's performance on our

behalf gets us right with God. Get that

straight,

but we're still down here in responsibility,

land, dealing with our flesh and our sin,

and we sin, and so it's right and it's fitting

for us as believers to acknowledge that

reality on a

daily basis, and then we get this wonderful

opportunity corporately together at the Lord's

table to acknowledge that reality, but don't

just stay there. Deal with it. We're going to

have a

moment of silence for you to deal with it, but

as soon as you deal with it, run immediately

to the cross,

and there you see King Jesus, and what he did

for you absorbing all of the wrath that you

deserve,

and absorbing all the terror of hell that you

deserve in himself who knew no sin,

that we might become the righteousness of God

in him, all of that comes together at this

table.

So let's bow our heads and close our eyes and

consider those biblical truths,

and then I'm going to pray in a moment and

invite you down to the table.

you

you

you

you

[BLANK_AUDIO]